InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Malice ❯ Shingai: Learning Fear ( Chapter 27 )

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

Chapter 27: Shingai: Learning Fear

The sunlight glinted off raindrops still dripping from the trees and plants, leaving one lost in a sparkling world of cool, damp beauty, but to the figure curled up in a puddle of mud, none of the beauty of the morning broke through the shivering or the whimpers.

The arrogant, evil being known as Naraku lay soaked and muddy on the ground, open and vulnerable to any that would pass that way: completely unaware of his current danger. He was lost somewhere in his own mind, and there was no telling when, or even if, he would become self-aware again.

Within the confines of his mind, the hanyou Naraku wandered, driven by fear and hatred - and always chased by shadows and monsters determined to destroy what was left of his short circuiting mind. Light had no place there, it never had, and so he wandered, down dimly lit corridors and through stone cold chambers, fleeing almost down to “Gehenna” and into the frozen bowels of the earth within his mind, in his haste to escape his attackers.

Anyone watching would have noticed the seemingly broken hanyou lurch unknowingly to his feet, staggering towards the open mouthed caves just beyond the clearing, looking as though he were running from something chasing him. And yet, in the world of the sane, no one was there, no one pursuing...

... Yet.

It was an undeniable fact, however, that his pursuers would come. It was only a matter of time.

A staccato heartbeat, and panicked breaths....

Fear.

Inuyasha woke slowly, the events from the night before still playing out in his mind, and he found that as he looked at it all, despite how gruesome some of it had been, he had no regrets about what he'd done to the bastard.

In fact, he'd do it again if given the chance, but he'd gotten away with it once, and he didn't think he could a second time, so he reluctantly concluded that everything from here on out should be done by both he and Kagome - together.

At that, he turned on his side and looked at his mate, and smiled a little. She looked so peaceful - he hadn't seen a look like that on her sweet face in months... not since this had all started, and it made his heart ache in a bittersweet way to see it now.

Apparently, it had been a good thing for her to take those pills last night; she'd slept straight through, and was in fact still sleeping soundly. Looking up at her window, he noted the position of the sun, and realized it was still fairly early, so he decided to let her sleep some more, and just settled in behind her and watched.

She was so important to him. He really, as he lay there and thought about it, couldn't imagine having to live without her. He didn't think he was actually capable of that anymore. Even thinking about going back to what his life had been before she came into it made him cringe in horror. Inuyasha would rather have died and gone to hell than try to exist without her.

He chuckled then, softly.

It really was ironic how he'd gone from praying for Kikyou's return, to being glad that all those things had happened back then. If they hadn't, he wouldn't have Kagome, and he'd willingly stay pinned to the damn tree for a thousand years if she was waiting for him at the end of it. He would never, ever, in his life forget the first sight he'd had of her.

Of course, he still felt badly for the pain Kikyou had suffered at Naraku's hands, and there would be justice for that, too. Last night, however, had not been vengeance for her death - last night had been all about what he'd done to Kagome. Kikyou's vengeance would be garnered by both he and Kagome, and maybe that was the way the fates wanted it, since her soul had been reincarnated in Kagome, it made a perverse sort of sense; it felt right that it would be so.

Brow furrowed, he suddenly remembered something else; something that Kagome had talked about before they came back here the other day. They'd been talking about looking for the last of the shards, and she'd said they wouldn't need to once they learned to control their souls, because then the jewel would cease to exist as such.

He didn't see how that was possible, considering that inside the shikon, rested the soul of Midoriko, and the soul of the youkai she'd trapped with her. If the jewel itself no longer had any meaning, where would the souls of those two go?

He'd have to ask her once she woke up - that was certainly something they needed to know.

With another glance out the window, he realized he'd passed quite some time in his thoughts, the sun now midway up the middle of the sky. Propping himself up on his elbow, he leaned over Kagome and ran his fingers caressingly over her cheek.

"K'gome. Wench, you need to wake up." He took an appreciative sniff - her mother was up and making breakfast, and they needed to decide whether she was going to go to school or if they were going to head back to his era to continue the search for the spider.

Kagome groaned, and then rolled over until she ran into a hard chest, and blinking her eyes open uncertainly. Blearily, she wiped her eyes before looking up into laughing golden eyes.

"Jeez, wench, thought for a minute you were gonna sleep all day."

She looked over at her clock, and then sat up suddenly, shocked. "Why didn't you wake me up before? I can't believe I slept that long!"

Inuyasha rolled over and sat up. "Keh. You needed it, K'gome, so don't bother whining about it. You haven't slept right in a long time. You're gonna make yourself sick if you keep it up."

"Yeah, but I'm gonna be late for school! Dammit!" She flew out of the bed and headed for the bathroom, leaving behind a slightly shocked hanyou.

Keh. I don't think I'll ever get used to hearin' the wench curse... it's just not her.

Climbing out of the bed, he straightened his hakama, then put on his haori, which he'd removed the night before, and went downstairs, heading for the food.

Mama Higurashi looked up as he came into the kitchen with a smile, and motioned him to sit down at the table next to Sota.

"Good Morning, Inuyasha! Where's Kagome?" she asked, as she settled a plate in front of him.

He looked up at her and grinned in thanks. "She's getting ready for school. We'll go back after she gets home."

"Well, that's good, then. She really needs to catch up on some of her assignments." She put a finger to her chin in a gesture that made Inuyasha smile inside, it was so like Kagome, and said thoughtfully, "You know, I'm thinking about signing Kagome up for home schooling. It would just be so much easier."

Inuyasha frowned. Home schooling? "What's that?” He asked around a mouthful of food.

Sota perked up in his chair, eager to explain the foreign term to the half demon. "It's where sis wouldn't have to go to school again; she'd do all her work here at home. Kinda makes sense, mom. And it would be less stressful for her. You should talk to her about it."

Inuyasha couldn't believe his ears. Not have to go to that stupid school with those stupid tests and those fucking boys?! This woman just made my year!

"It would make things a lot easier, ya know. Kagome struggles to keep up with it all, and I hate seeing her stress out so bad about it." He tried to keep the cheer out of his voice, hoping no one would notice just how much he hoped they'd do this.

Mama smiled down at him, a knowing expression on her face. "I think I'll talk to her after she gets home, then. And Inuyasha?" When he met her eyes, she nodded. "I think you and I need to have a talk after Kagome leaves, don't you?"

He stared at her, confused, unsure of what she was after. "Uh... okay."

She patted him on the back, then moved to fix a plate for Kagome, who came clattering down the stairs right then, and the talk turned general, as they all ate, and then the two left for school, leaving a slightly strained silence in their wake.

After the house had cleared of people, Inuyasha trailed uncomfortably along behind Kagome's mother, wondering uneasily what she could possibly want to talk about.

As they reached the Goshinboku, she sat down on the bench that lay at its massive base, patting the strip of wood beside her - indicating that he should sit with her. Reaching down to the side of the bench, she pulled a small notebook up, and handed it to him, and letting him read through it, she waited patiently until he was done.

Inuyasha took the notebook slowly, opening it, somehow not surprised when he saw what it was. After glancing quickly through it, he sighed, and looked up, locking gazes with his soon-to-be mate’s mother.

"Where did you find this?"

"It was on the front doorstep this morning."

He nodded. "Did you happen to see who left it?" He didn't believe they'd be so lucky, but he asked, just in case.

"No." She gazed out across the courtyard, not really taking in anything, thoughts miles away. Distantly, she asked, "So do you mind explaining it?"

Inuyasha shook his head, somewhat frustrated with the situation. "I don't know much. This is the second time this has happened... the first one we found right after we first came back. We don't know who left it, or why they did."

"Okay. I can accept that. But what about what it says...? Is this character that you've been chasing all this time really that dangerous?"

Inuyasha thought carefully about how he should answer this. He wanted her to know that things were serious - this wasn't just an amusing jaunt in the park. But, he also didn't want to over-exaggerate things, either, making her deny Kagome access to the well. That would not go over well with him at all.

"Naraku is dangerous. He is no easy enemy, and if we don't defeat him, the present that you live in now will never come to be. What we're doing is necessary... not just for my era, but for all that come after it, as well." He sighed, then, melancholy thoughts battering at him for a moment before continuing.

"Kagome is probably the most important asset we have. Without her, we can't hope to win. That's all there is to it." He spoke formally, knowing that now was not the time for his more lax speech; he needed to impress on her the importance of her daughter to the very fabric of her reality.

Her mother inhaled deeply, then slowly let it out, thinking on what he'd said, and what she'd read in the little notebook. She hated that her daughter was fighting something so horrible, so dangerous, but she also, as the daughter of a shrine herself, couldn't deny Kagome's duty to the gods. If she hadn't been meant to be a part of all this, she wouldn't have been dragged back through the well.

"I understand, Inuyasha. I don't like it, but that's my prerogative as a mother. But," she gave a small smile to the hanyou, "I will not interfere. Just protect her. Keep her as safe as you possibly can - that's all I ask." As he nodded, relief shining in his eyes, she patted his shoulder, then stood. "I'm going to go back inside. I think maybe you should read through the notes that were left for you."

He nodded and watched her walk away, then hopped into the branches of the tree and settled back to read - curiosity rampant.

Who's leaving these notes about that bastard on this side of the well?

The day passed fairly quickly, and it didn't take too long to be ready to leave again after Kagome got home from school. Not an hour after she arrived, they were packed and headed through the well.

Neither one was prepared for what they found on the other side of it.

As soon as they cleared the rim of the well, both of their jaws dropped, and they looked around in awe. The destruction surrounding them was something neither could remember seeing before.

Trees had been uprooted, snapped in half, some had been burned, obviously lightening struck, and the little dirt path that had led out of the clearing was nearly invisible in the corrosion; if it weren't for Inuyasha being with Kagome, she would have had a hell of a time even getting through.

They glanced at each other, stunned, then the same thought hit them both at the same time. If the forest looked like this, what would the village look like?

Worry for their friends settled, and Inuyasha grabbed Kagome, tossing her onto his back as he leapt off towards the place they called home on this side of the well, apprehension ripe within them both.

As they crested the hill above the village, they stopped, once again awed at the destructive power of the storm that had obviously come through last night. It looked like a giant oni had hit the village - huts were smashed, blown over, some even just completely disintegrated.

It was a mess - and that was putting it mildly.

Inuyasha and Kagome both took off at a run, heading into the remains of the village, frantically searching for their companions, and it wasn't until they found them all huddled in a circle around Kaede that they breathed a sigh of relief.

Kaede smiled when she saw them, glad that the two at least had not been in the village the night before - she doubted Kagome would have handled it well.

"Welcome back, both of ye. As ye can see-" she shook her head ruefully, eyes darting around the wreckage that had once been the village. "-we have much to repair."

Kagome looked around, still wide-eyed. "Yeah. What...” she licked her lips and swallowed. “What was it? I've never seen a storm do this much damage.”

“It was not a natural storm. During the night, it raged with the scent and miasma of Naraku - but come daybreak, it folded and faded away as though he himself had been purified. I do not doubt that some misfortune has befallen him - though he is not dead," Kikyou intoned bitterly, frowning.

Inuyasha stood there, horrified.

Shit! Was this because of what I did to him last night? Fuck... he looked around, finding himself to be very shaken up. Well, there's no helping it. We have to stay and fix the village up - we can't leave everyone like this.

Naraku will just have to wait a few days.

The broken being once known as Naraku stopped, shuddered, and dropped to the hard, cold ground, his instincts telling him to keep running, but his body telling him to sleep. There was no real thought pattern anymore, higher thinking seeming to have deserted the spider hanyou.

The only things he was aware of were his hunger, instincts, and the need for rest....

And his fear.

The fear drove him, it kept him on the run even past the time that his body should have given out, and kept his short-circuiting mind functioning just well enough to process the fact that if he stopped running before he found a safe place, in the deepest, darkest, bowels of the earth, he would most certainly die.

Never had the spider known fear. Spiders, as a whole, youkai or mortal, did not know fear - it was not in their make-up. The clever survived, and the foolish did not. It was a life of prey and being preyed upon oneself, and those who survived, those who actually attained a certain age, became even less likely to ever know fear.

Because of this simple fact, the one known as Naraku had no way to deal with the emotion that was now running rampant through his heart, soul, and mind. Most beings have, at one time or another, known fear of some sort - fear of dying, fear of losing something or someone important. Fear of injury, and fear of pain.

But not Naraku. He had no fear of death, because he had never truly believed in his own death. He had no fear of pain, because he had never believed that anyone could hurt him enough for it to matter.

And he had never had someone that he cared about, so would not fear to lose that kind of connection. He had never had any object that he cared enough for to worry enough about losing - the only thing he had ever really coveted that deeply was the Shikon - and that was something that he would gain... no matter who opposed him, so he'd never worried about losing it.

For all these reasons, he'd never dealt with real fear, so to have it thrust into his mind in the way it had been was the worst possible thing that could have happened to him. If Inuyasha had been looking for the most severe hurt he could cause the spider, he'd found it.

He had finally managed what even nature never had: He had taught Naraku about fear - it was most certainly a lesson that he would never forget.

Fear.

A/N: Once again, thanks go to Incomprehensible for excellent beta work, and to all the reviewers as well!

Amber