InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ How Do We Learn to Love the Ones We Hate? ❯ Devastation, the Only Thing That Could Kill the World As We Know It ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I own absolutely no characters created by Rumiko Takahashi; as much as I wish I was brilliant enough to come up with these characters, but I did not. This goes for everything but the ideas. A lot are spin-offs of different ideas in the story, but others are completely off the charts for weirdness and/or are not related to Takahashi's work at all.

 

Devastation, the Only Thing That Could Kill the World As We Know It.

 

Akane sighed as Kagome continued to pace the room. For the third hour, non-stop. Kagome was holding the jewel in her hand and staring at it as she wore the floor smooth in the line she was walking.

 

Kagome knew there was something missing. She was missing a piece of the puzzle, but a piece from a different puzzle was in that box to confuse her. It was as if she didn't have all of the information, but she didn't know what to ask to get that information, and it was driving her up the freaking wall!

 

Akane finally stood in Kagome's way, jolting Kagome to a quick stop, as she didn't see Akane until she had actually walked into her.

 

“Come on.” Akane took her hand and pulled her to the door. “You haven't eaten in two days, and passing out from hunger wont help you figure this out.”

 

Kagome sighed and slipped the jewel into her sash, like she had seen Akane do with the key to this room yesterday. It was a good hiding spot, and Kagome had discovered that the stitching on the sashes of these types of dresses prevented things from falling out the bottom.

 

“Thanks.” Kagome murmured quietly.

 

“For keeping you from starving?” Akane asked jokingly. "No problem.” She said in a monotone voice, leading Kagome down the steep steps.

 

Kagome caught on quickly. “Why aren't you with Ranma? I mean, you seem pretty close, sorry if I'm looking at it wrong.” She said, a small smirk on her face.

 

Akane blushed at the mention of them being close, but she quickly recovered her stone face and said disgustedly: “No, Ranma's with Shampoo and Ukyo now.”

 

Oops. Kagome snickered silently. That was like asking someone who's not pregnant when their baby was due. Sorry, my bad.

 

Rumika Palace

 

Sango stared in horror at the sight around her. Blood and destruction.

 

But how?! Everyone might have taken down a demon with them as they went, but how could this have been done by a bunch of low-life demons?! Sango screamed at herself, taking a few slow staggering steps forward, demon exoskeletons crunching beneath her feet.

 

“Sango?” Miroku stepped up cautiously behind her, not even daring to touch her shoulder, warned away by the single tear leaking down her cheek.

 

“How could this happen?” Shippo whispered. Inuyasha had left to go back to Kagome when the demon slayer's powder smell from the village had forced him to stop, so it was just Miroku and Shippo following Sango.

 

Sango reached down and picked up a piece of armor. Kohaku's shoulder plate. She wiped her eyes viciously, looking up in confusion when Miroku sat down beside her, his purple robe on the ground now, now holding several bodies.

 

“Let's pay our respects.” He said quietly. Shippo nodded and began digging a large grave, his hands a blur as they scraped away at the bloodied soil.

 

After three hours of burying and praying, Sango was still searching for something.

 

“Sango?” Miroku asked quietly.

 

“My little brother, we didn't bury him, but I can't find him either.” She said, tearing back a loose piece of a hut.

 

“Maybe he got away.” Shippo said, just as quietly, as if he was afraid a loud voice would make Sango attack in her sadness.

 

“Kohaku wouldn't abandon his people.” Sango shook her head, kicking a jammed door down with her heel and looking inside for anyone.

 

Shippo looked over to the sound of more demons in the distance and quickly turned back to Miroku. “We need to go, what ever was here was strong, and I don't want to be here with just us three if it comes back.”

 

“Sango. We've got to go.” Miroku told her urgently, placing both hands on her shoulders from behind and tugging gently. His eyes going wide as she reached up silently and gripped the hand on her shoulder.

 

Takashi Palace

 

Rin gaped at what she saw, and that right there had to be the biggest understatement in the world. Inuyasha and Kikyo. Kikyo draped over Inuyasha. Inuyasha smiling down at Kikyo.

 

“WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!” she screamed down at them, not even bothering to try to be polite. Inuyasha froze at the sight of her and quickly pulled Kikyo up from their bench, walking her quickly away.

 

“Inuyasha!!” Rin screamed after him, charging down the stairs when he didn't look back. Shippo would chain her to the floor if he ever saw her do this, especially in her three-month-pregnant stage, but she braced her hand on the railing and flung herself over banister, stumbling a bit when she landed on the flight below her, but she regained her balance immediately and charged Inuyasha.

 

“Inuyasha!” Rin yelled again and launched herself at him.

 

His “What the---?” as he turned was cut off abruptly and painfully as Rin collided head-on with his chest, sending them flying into the bushes.

 

“What's with you---” Inuyasha began, rubbing the pounding bump forming on his head where he had landed on a rock.

 

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!” she bellowed right in his ear. Great, buzzing for a few days after that, everything he heard would be buzzing. Just perfect.

 

“What the hell are you doing with that witch?!” Rin continued, grabbing the front of his shirt and shaking him as much as she could.

 

“What's wrong with me?!” he countered. “I'm not the messed up one in this situation!”

 

“You still didn't answer me!” she yelled back. Now the buzzing had escalated to ringing. Even better.

 

“What's wrong with being with your fiancé?!” he yelled.

 

Rin blinked, and then flew back into her tirade. “I thought dog demons were supposed to have good sight! How could you possibly mistake Kagome for that she-devil reincarnate?!”

 

“Inuyasha?” Kikyo called, beginning to search through the bushes.

 

“Look, I'm not engaged to that wench anymore, alright?!” he yelled back, trying to push her off of him.

 

“What?!” she shrieked, her eyes as wide as dinner platters.

 

“I didn't call it off, ok?!” he yelled, managing to throw her off and stand, especially ticked now that his ex-fiancé of a witch had been mentioned. “She was the one who broke it off!”

 

“You're crazy!” Rin yelled in Kagome's defense, standing up with him. “I've never seen her so happy, except when she's with you!”

 

“It was an act wench!” he shot back, his words biting Rin deeper than they probably should have. “She was just looking through me to Bankotsu that whole time!” he yelled before storming off, taking Kikyo's arm and pulling her away.

 

Rin couldn't believe it. Kagome must be sick. There was no other explanation.

 

“Damn it.” She hissed before pushing her way through the bushes. Kagome had another thing coming if she thought she could just back out of this. There was no way she could have really thought this through. Maybe she was being blackmailed. Rin thought of hundreds of excuses for Kagome, but her mind always pulled back to Inuyasha's words.

 

“It was an act wench! She was just looking through me to Bankotsu that whole time!”

 

It wasn't possible. Kagome hated Bankotsu just as much as Rin had hated Shippo when she had been poisoned.

 

Rin stormed up to Kagome's room and barged right in, not bothering to knock. Kagome looked up and Rin blinked. Had her eyes been… black for a second there?

 

Maybe I'm going crazy. Rin thought. Maybe I'm going to wake up and Kagome will tell me that she picked a date for her and Inuyasha's wedding.

 

“Kagome, did you really break off the engagement with Inuyasha? Or has he just been hypnotized? Please tell me my second idea is correct.” She pleaded in almost a commanding way.

 

“No, I did break it off.” Kagome told her, closing her diary and standing up. “It just wasn't right between us.” She shrugged. “Don't worry,” she said quickly to Rin's quivering form, “I signed a treaty with him, our kingdoms wont go to war.”

 

“And you really like Bankotsu?” Rin asked, almost inaudibly. Kagome nodded and Rin grabbed her shoulders, shaking her.

 

“Who are you and what have you done with Kagome?!” she yelled. “How could you drop Inuyasha for Bankotsu?! Are you the hypnotized one? There's someone controlling you, isn't there!” she asked frantically, knocking on Kagome's forehead gently.

 

Kagome laughed sweetly, a laugh that almost didn't seem like hers. “You don't need to worry about me. Bankotsu's as strong as a demon, he's sweet---”

 

“I don't…” Rin cut her off, not wanting to hear, and exiting slowly.

 

Fukuhon kept her worried expression on until she was sure Rin wasn't coming back, and then smiled wickedly. She groaned as her eyes went black, concentrating to turn them brown again. Jeez, that was the hardest part. For some reason, it was hard to keep her black eyes the color of other people's and had to return them to her color periodically to rest them.

 

Three Minutes Earlier, Outside Kagome's Room

 

Sango trudged along. Miroku would have been plenty willing to walk with her, but she just couldn't bring herself to knock on his door. She wrapped her coat tightly around her against the night wind gusts and bit her lip viciously to stop her tears.

 

She looked up in confusion at Rin's voice. Why was she screaming?

 

“Who are you and what have you done with Kagome?!” she yelled. “How could you drop Inuyasha for Bankotsu?! Are you the hypnotized one? There's someone controlling you, isn't there!”

 

Kagome laughed sweetly, a laugh that almost didn't seem like hers. Sango furrowed her brow at just how much it didn't sound like Kagome's laugh. “You don't need to worry about me. Bankotsu's as strong as a demon, he's sweet---”

 

“I don't…” Rin cut her off. Sango heard the door click as she walked out of the room.

 

Sango's heart stopped.

 

Kagome dumped Inuyasha? She left him for Bankotsu? Sango blinked. That laugh really didn't sound like hers.

 

She closed her eyes and replayed Rin's words in her head.

 

“Who are you and what have you done with Kagome?! How could you drop Inuyasha for Bankotsu?! Are you the hypnotized one? There's someone controlling you, isn't there!”

 

Sango furrowed her brow until it almost hurt, trying to remember back. The last part that Rin said had really rung a bell, a loud demanding bell, and she just had to find it.

 

Flash Back

 

“Oh, hello Miroku.” Sango said absently.

 

“Lady Sango, can I ask you something?” he said, reaching inconspicuously into his robes and gripping the sutras.

 

“Go ahead.” She murmured, continuing to look after the spot where Bankotsu had left. Turn away! What's wrong with me? I can't look away from there. Ok, stay calm, just ask Miroku to help you; he's a monk after all.

 

“Miroku, can I ask you something instead?” she interrupted before he had begun talking.

 

“Of course my lady.” He said confusedly.

 

Can you undo hypnosis spells? “Can you just leave me alone?” she said with a smile.

 

“I-I'm sorry?” he stuttered.

 

Sango froze. What did I…? Ok, just ask if he knows about hypnosis.

 

“Don't you know anything about a girl's heart?” she said smartly, freezing afterwards as she heard what came out of her mouth, but she couldn't stop the flow of words as they continued.

 

“If you were anything but a perverted, womanizing common monk, you might have just a little bit more intelligence in your puny little masochistic mind to realize that I've been trying to get rid of you for the past few days. And while I'm at it, I'll say that I don't appreciate you following me around like a stalker all the time.”

 

“I---” he began. Purely grief-stricken, he gripped the sutras tighter.

 

“Yes?” she said seductively. No! Stop! Don't say anything else! “Did your slowed mind actually think of anything to say?”

 

Bankotsu chuckled at the seen, he couldn't help it, it was funny. This small girl was chewing out a young man who was currently tongue tied through embarrassment and sadness. Ah well, it was fun to watch for a while, now, where would Kagome be at a time like this? He turned at stepped lightly away.

 

“Can you even comprehend the idea of a woman hating you?” she said more forcefully. No! STOP! “Shall I spell it out again?”

 

“Forgive me!” he said suddenly and pressed three matching sutras against her forehead, jolting back as they sparked with purple electricity.

 

Sango screamed. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Her hands leapt to her head and scratched at the paper, tearing at them frantically when they wouldn't come off.

 

No! Make it stop! Please! Something screamed inside her, and Sango was shocked at how much it didn't sound like her own words.

 

Her vision began to blur, and suddenly she was thrown back with a force that a full-grown mountain dog couldn't inflict. She slammed into the wall and sucked breath into her sore and stinging lungs. She looked up and froze at what was in her place: another Sango, with jet-black irises that blended with her pupils so well, you couldn't tell one from the other.

 

Miroku's hands were at the ready on his staff, he was in a stance to throw himself in front of Sango if it came to that. Sango pushed herself off of the ground slowly, breathing deeper in shock when the… thing smiled at her as if it were a sister.

 

“Hello.” The Sango-remake said softly, as if it… she was trying to be seductive.

 

“What are you?” Miroku demanded, sliding his feet farther apart into a better-balanced fighting stance.

 

“I'm Sango.” It said plainly.

 

Present Time

 

“I'm Sango.” She repeated in a daze, looking up at Kagome's balcony, ducking behind a tree as Kagome stepped out, leaning on the railing.

 

Sango stared at Kagome for any sign that it wasn't her. Her eyes going wide when Kagome groaned, her eyes suddenly black. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tightly and opened them again, now brown.

 

She looked up and froze at what was in her place: another Sango, with jet-black irises that blended with her pupils so well, you couldn't tell one from the other.

 

Sango tried to slow her breathing. Kagome's been hypnotized? No, my eyes didn't change color when I was hypnotized, but it did take my form when it was out of my mind, so… she looked back up at Kagome, her eyes the same, usual chocolate-brown. So if that's the demon, then where's Kagome?

 

One thing was for sure though, she had to find Inuyasha before anything else. The demon wasn't going anywhere, but Inuyasha could do some pretty stupid things when he was upset or angry. The last thing they needed was a spur of the moment wedding and Kagome returning the week after to find her fiancé married to her archrival.

 

Sango looked up and almost screamed as Naraku appeared in front of her. “Oh,” she said, quickly forcing herself to recover, “you startled me Lord Naraku.”

 

“So you seem to have found out about our dear friend Fukuhon.” Naraku said, gesturing up to the balcony, where this Fukuhon demon was no longer leaning on the balcony.

 

“Who?” Sango asked. She didn't know why, but Naraku scared her as much as the idea of loosing Kohaku did. You have no proof that he's dead. She told herself firmly.

 

“I think you know.” Naraku smiled at her, actually succeeding in making her shiver from that wicked and sadistic smile. “But unfortunately, you wont be able to do anything about it.”

 

“What? You're going to hypnotize me again?” she said, sliding into a fighting stance. If he knew who the Kagome-remake was, then he was most likely the one who sent her that demon that took control of her mind, and she was alone with him.

 

She was in serious trouble.

 

“You look worried. Do not be,” he laughed, “I am already married, and quite happily so as well.”

 

Sango didn't like to admit it, but she did relax slightly at his words.

 

“But I do have something that belongs to you.” He said evilly, and stepped to the side.

 

Sango's throat caught in her words. No, her throat caught in her breath. No, her breath caught in her words. No, her thoughts caught in her throat. Hell, it didn't matter, because what she saw before her almost shattered her, heart, mind, body and all.

 

Kohaku. The brother she had protected for years, standing before her. Bound literally head to toe in a bubble of grey… she didn't even know what it was. Liquid? Gas? A smoke demon? Then it hit her. Tsubaki's spells.

 

“Ko---” she tried to lunge for him, but a river of miasma flowed from Naraku and formed a circle around her, who cared about moving? She could barely breath because of the toxins.

 

“Sango.” Naraku said quietly, commanding now, no longer smiling. “I have your brother at my mercy. You will not say anything of Fukuhon to anyone. The marriage between my daughter and Inuyasha will happen. And if you say even Fukuhon's name, you will not see your brother or sister ever again. Maybe I will give you the remains of their bones if I'm in a good mood and my son's and daughter's wedding goes well.”

 

Sango looked futilely at Kohaku. His eyes were open, but he wasn't seeing her. He was standing on his now, but Sango doubted that he was the one in control of his legs, or his body for that matter. Maybe even his mind.

 

“We mustn't cause this poor boy any more suffering, should we?” Naraku asked sympathetically, with an almost pleading tone.

 

Sango broke her gaze with Kohaku's soulless eyes and stared into Naraku's cold, excited, expectant eyes. “No. we mustn't.” she said bitterly.

 

Naraku smiled and sucked the miasma from the ground with a quick wave of his hand, it disappearing in the night air. “Good.” He smirked, sweeping up Kohaku and himself under his cloak, vanishing in a small cloud of miasma.

 

Sango crumpled, her palms, and then the side of her head connecting with the cold, unwelcoming ground.

 

“This cannot be happening.” She whispered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, I know this chapter isn't very long. I despise writer's block, so this chapter was almost forced.

I'm glad it turned out ok, though.