InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Haunted ❯ Shadowy Terrors ( Chapter 3 )

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HAUNTED

By Kanna_Hiraku

/Hunting you I can smell you - alive/
/your heart pounding in my head/

Chapter 3-Shadowy Terrors

"Can't you do anything, hag?" Inu-yasha yelled.

"Yes-I can ask ye to please shut up," Kaede snapped as she patted Kagome's fevered brow with a cool cloth.

Inu-yasha growled and stormed out of the hut. Miroku and Sango stared after him.

"He is really worried about her," Sango said, looking down at Kagome. Inu-yasha had brought the teenager in a few minutes ago, and in that time she had developed a horrible fever. She was pale and sweating, but her skin felt like ice.

The demon-exterminator looked at the medicine woman with worried eyes. "Kaede, have you any idea what is wrong with her?"

Kaede shook her head sadly. "Alas, no. This old woman's sight only stretches so far. Miroku, can ye sense anything?"

The monk shook his head; he kneeled at Kagome's side, across from Kaede. He held his staff over Kagome in one hand; his other was in a prayer-position by his chest.

"All I can feel in a darkness in Kagome's soul," he said. "Usually her soul is so pure-when explained in colors, Kagome's soul is white, the color commonly connected with innocence and purity. But now. . ." He trailed off.

"But now?" the two women leaned closer.

"Now, her soul is tainted with black; it's like a shadow has fallen on it." Miroku spoke slowly, as if choosing every word carefully.

"Do you think it may be Naraku?" Sango asked, but she was interrupted by Kilala pulling on her sleeve.

The little cat-demon was mewing frantically. "Kilala, I'm busy; why don't you go play with Shippo?" Sango asked patiently, prying the teeth from her kimono.

But the kitten just danced around, plainly worried. All eyes except the unconscious Kagome's was on her.

"Did . . . Something happen to Shippo, girl?" Sango asked. Kilala nodded, worry in her orange eyes. Sango frowned and stood. "I'll go look for him," she said, heading for the door. "You help Kagome." In an instant she was gone.

Kaede and Miroku stared at each other, then down at Kagome. "First Kagome collapses in the forest, and then Shippo disappears," Miroku mused. "Could these events be connected?"

Just then Kagome's eyes opened. The only problem was is wasn't truly Kagome.

~*~

Shippo stared around himself fearfully. All around him were shadow-shapes, moving along the ground like oil. He trembled in fear.

*Why didn't I go straight to the village?* he thought, dismayed. That had been the original plan; after all, it was getting dark. But then he had smelled something sweet on the breeze and went to investigate. This was where it had landed him.

A shadow slithered over to him; rising off the ground, a tendril was about to wrap around his tail when it was smacked away by another shadow.

"Fool!" hissed a voice. "You know what Massssster commanded-we are meant only to frighten him, not kill him!"

"But he sssmellsss ssso good!" protested another voice. Shippo shook his head; was he hearing things? "Jussst one little nibble!"

There were murmurings of agreement from the other shadows. Shippo shook even more; he was dead. The shadow that had first reached for him reared up; red eyes seemed to stare into his very soul, and a mouth open in the blackness. Shippo found himself gazing at very sharp teeth. That was when he screamed.

"Hiraikotsu!" a familiar voice called from across the clearing. A huge boomerang tore threw the shadow, making it rip like paper.

"Sango!" Shippo cried, tears of relief running down his cheeks. The girl had torn off her kimono to reveal her armour.

"Shippo, run!" she called, and threw Hiraikotsu again, slicing a path through the shadows. The fox-demon literally ran for his life until he was safe in Sango's arms. Once there, he wept without any shame.

A shadow came up behind Sango; she turned to late to defend or attack. It was almost upon her when Kilala lunged upon it. She had transformed into her huge cat-form, and shook the shadow in her mouth like a chew-toy, then trampled it with her flaming paws.

Sango gave a sigh of relief before leaping aboard Kilala. "Back to the village!" she cried. "There are too many!" In an instant Kilala leapt into the sky. The shadows stretched to grab her tail and hind legs, but the cat-demon flew too high and was soon out of reach.

"Report back to Massssster!" One of the shadows snapped. "Tell him of the cat at once! Tell him of the flamesss!"

One by one the shadows slithered out of the clearing, and soon the hours of darkness was filled with the reassuring sounds of peaceful night.

*~*

Back in the village, however, things weren't so peaceful.

Kagome's eyes, once a warm, innocent brown, were-Miroku could find no other word for it-evil. They were a blood crimson, and her pupils were black slits.

"Ka-" Kaede started, to find Miroku by her side, pulling her away.

"Don't bother, Lady Kaede," the monk whispered. "That isn't Kagome."

The two watched with growing horror as the teenage girl floated to her feet. Her body rippled with a coal-black aura that crackled like cold fire. The fire concentrated on her hand and formed into a long sword. Kagome's mouth twitched in a terrible smile as she raised the sword, ready to smite the two she had once called friends.

Miroku's hand reflexively went to the beads wrapped around his left hand, but he hesitated. *No* he thought, *I can't risk drawing Kagome into the wind tunnel* He let his hand drop and raised his staff, somehow knowing it would do no good against this weapon.

Kagome started to bring the blade down, but it was stopped. Kaede and Miroku gasped. Inu-yasha held the transformed Tetsuiga, its blade shining a brilliant white. He was glaring at Kagome with the same look on his face as if she was any other opponent, but there was also confusion and hurt in his amber eyes.

"How can this be?" Kaede said, staring as Inu-yasha and Kagome struggled to overcome one another. Kagome face was twisted in a look of ultimate hatred as she took in the hanyou and his sword. "The Tetsuiga is unable to fight against humans."

"We must accept that Kagome has been possessed mind, body and soul," Miroku said in his quiet way.

"I sensed no such demon," the old woman retorted.

"Maybe it isn't a demon." Shivers went down Miroku's spine as he said it. What could be more powerful than a demon to have smothered Kagome's soul without any of them knowing?

As Inu-yasha looked into the eyes of the person who had been his first friend, he felt a pain in his heart. *Kagome* he thought *What is happening to you?*

Despite all his feelings for her that he had kept bogged down, he still spoke cockily, like he would any other enemy. "I don't know who you think you are," he said, "but you'd better stop using the wench's body-I still need it." He knew that sounded totally wrong, but at that moment he couldn't have cared less-he just wanted the real Kagome back.

To his surprise, Kagome laughed, only it wasn't her cutesy school-girl laugh-it was deep and echoed through the hut. She leapt back from the Tetsuiga, swinging her sword of fire with ease, as if she had handled a sword all her life.

She regarded Inu-yasha with a sneer. When she spoke, it was a voice as deep and sinister as the laugh. "Begging your pardon, half-breed, but this `wench' is now my property. Don't forget that." She flung her hand out and an invisible force hit Inu-yasha in the ribs, sending him into the wall beside the door. Miroku and Kaede edged away as Kagome-or whoever possessed her-drew closer.

Inu-yasha had dropped the Tetsuiga on impact, and the sword hissed and returned to its antique-like quality. "Who the hell are you?" he snapped, some blood dribbling from his mouth. His teeth had cut his lip when he had been hit.

"I'm afraid I'm not inclined to give my name out to every half-breed I meet." Kagome lifted the fire-sword above her head once more, ready to strike. "But I am inclined to clean up any trash I meet." She chuckled and brought the sword down.

Inu-yasha was too fast. He dodged the blade and grabbed Kagome's wrist, forcing the sword into the ground. Still she hung onto it, the one possessing her screaming.

"How dare you! You have no right to do this, you dog!" Inu-yasha smiled grimly.

"You may have the skill," he said, "but the body you chose is all wrong. Maybe if you hadn't stuck around to kill us you would have gotten away."

Kagome smiled again; a smile of twisted venom. "I must kill," she-he whispered. "The shadows are hungry and they WILL BE FED!" With no show of effort on her part, Kagome pulled the sword out of the ground and slashed at Inu-yasha's side.

He gasped with pain and dodged away; his blood fell to the floor. Kagome advanced, preparing for another attack. "So long, puppy," she said sadistically and hefted the sword up for a final hit.

Inu-yasha bolted forward and grabbed her wrists. His leap forced Kagome to crash into the opposite wall. "Kagome, wake up!" he yelled.

"Fool! You'll never wake her-" The voice faltered, and a whisper fell from Kagome's lips: "Inu . . . yasha?"

"Yes, it's me, Kagome! Wake up now!" The hanyou was out of ideas. If this didn't work, he was dead. His side throbbed with pain, but he ignored it; Kagome was more important that any little cut.

Kagome closed her eyes; her face wrinkled with effort and pain. The black sword sizzled away, wrapping around her body once more in an unholy aura. But it started to slide off her, like an article of clothing two sizes too big. Then it shed off, pooling around her feet in a puddle of oily nothingness.

Kagome collapsed. Inu-yasha embraced her, breathing a sigh of relief into her hair. Miroku and Kaede approached the two.

"Inu-" Before the monk could finish the black puddle crackled again with electricity-it started to bubble beneath Kagome.

Inu-yasha swore and jumped back, keeping a firm hold on Kagome. The pool slowly moved around and around, forming first a whirlpool and turning into a hurricane. It spun, out of control, steadily getting bigger and bigger. Everyone in the hut huddled down, heads covered. The hurricane rent through the walls, destroying the small house, and diminished into the air.

"Miroku!" Sango's voice came from far off. "What happened?" She ran towards what had been Kaede's home, Kilala and Shippo struggling to keep up. The other villagers ventured out of their homes to see what the commotion was.

Miroku swept Sango into an embrace. "What happened?" she repeated.

Miroku looked over at Inu-yasha; he was still holding Kagome close to him. "Something . . . happened . . . to Kagome."

Inu-yasha stared down at Kagome's face, worry marring his handsome features. *Wake up* he thought. *Open your damn eyes!* Something brushed down his cheek; a tear. He ignored it as it fell onto Kagome's face.

The girl cringed and her eyes opened slowly, tiredly. She took one look around her and burst into tears.

"Wh-what's happening to me?" she sobbed.

# # #

Aah . . . the plot thickens!! You're probably going to kill me for cutting it off like this, but I have so much else to do! ^.^ I really do want to get as much work *aka writing fanfics* done as possible! (my mission-*heroic pose*)

Anyways, when I started writing this chapter, I was listening to the Chicago soundtrack *Got it 4 Christmas* and I thought `No, definitely not the music I want to be listening to when I'm trying to write depressing stuff'. So, I ran upstairs, grabbed my Evanescence CD and popped that into the computer. Aah . . . now I'm ready to write depressing stuff! *grins* Until next time!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-yasha, nor will I ever own Inu-yasha, so SCREW OFF!!