InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Malice ❯ The Last Stand ( Chapter 41 )

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

Chapter 41: The Last Stand

Koga watched the three huddling together talking and holding on to each other and shook his head, a little annoyed at the hanyou.

How in the hell had Inuyasha managed to get two powerful, beautiful women to fall for him? Oh, not that the elder miko was still in love with him, but at one point, she had been - and then there was Kagome.

As far as Koga was concerned, Kagome was everything he could ever have wanted - and would now never have. Hell, truth was, he'd never even stood a chance... she was, and always had been, only in love with the mutt.

He was envious, and he could admit it.

However, now was not the time to wonder over it, and as he caught Sesshoumaru looking off in the direction that the Obake had run, he frowned, then swaggered back over towards the mutt and the two females.

"Yo, dog turd! Quit with the makin' out - we got a battle to finish. We need to get moving and kill that damn thing before he completely regenerates himself."

Ginta and Hakakku exchanged glances; they knew the real reason their leader was annoyed, and they both felt badly for him. He really loved Kagome - but it had been obvious from the first that she had always wanted Inuyasha.

It had only been a matter of time...

Inuyasha pulled away from the two women, and glared at the wolf, then grinned. "Oh, shut up, Koga. You're just jealous," he said smugly. Still, he knew the wolf pelt was right - they had a bastard to finish killing.

Koga narrowed his eyes, but didn't deny it, simply letting off a warning growl as Sango and Miroku both chuckled, then he turned to Sesshoumaru. "Can you tell which way he went from here?"

"He headed back towards the other cavern - this one thinks that he tried to get through the entrance, yet failed. He is still here in this cave."

Miroku let loose a breath, glad that his sutra had held - he hadn't been entirely sure that they would; though he was a strong monk, Obake was ancient, and very powerful.

"Well, then we will find him somewhere along the rear wall of the cavern, and pin him there." He looked over at the youkai lord. "How long do you think until daylight?"

Sesshoumaru listened to his youki for a moment. "Approximately an hour, no more."

"Then we'd better get going. As soon as light starts to reach into the caverns, it will begin to weaken him even more than what he already is, and that will be our chance to strike and finish him off," Kagome said decisively, and Kikyou nodded.

Inuyasha scowled; after everything that had happened he really didn't want his mate anywhere near this bastard, but he knew that she'd never agree to step aside - despite the fact that Naraku was pretty much gone, and only Onigumo's human heart was left, she needed to see it finished to ever fully heal.

He would never deny her that chance, much as he wanted to.

"Then get over here, woman, and quite dawdling! And you'd better stay near me, got it? No more taking off."

Kagome just nodded, knowing not to argue - he was worried about her, and she knew it, though she couldn't promise what he was asking.

Kikyou chuckled, exchanging an amused glance with Kagome, and shook her head as she moved to pace beside her. With Sesshoumaru leading, and Koga and his friends following, Inuyasha paced along at Kagome's other side, every sense he possessed on high alert as they moved cautiously back towards the rear of the cavern after the Obake.

It was going to take some getting used to, this bond that Kagome had formed between them - she had never felt closer to another than she did now. And though the bond also extended to Inuyasha, since they now all shared the same soul, the bare truth was that she was bound most tightly to Kagome.

And she was alive. No longer in need of souls to survive, her body no longer cold, every drop of emotion and affection was now bound into Kagome... she was like her sister - only closer. There were really no words to describe it - the closest was as if they were twins.

All that said, she would never allow anyone to hurt Kagome if she could help it.

So Kagome now had the best protection she could - her soul's counter-part, and her mate, and then their friends and the rest of their pack.

It would be enough.

They hadn't walked long, maybe ten minutes when Sesshoumaru halted and held up a hand for silence; without question, they gave it.

After processing all the information that his advanced senses gave him, he turned, and motioned for them all to follow him as he moved back the way they had come for a minute or so, then once again motioned for a halt.

"Our prey is ahead of us, and severely injured, but still capable of causing great harm. We must be very careful; any animal that is injured and cornered becomes most dangerous."

Kagome nodded soberly - that was a truism known even in her time.

"So how are we going to do this? I'm betting he's sitting behind some kind of rock formation for added protection - he's got the advantage there."

Sesshoumaru cocked a brow as he considered it. "Indeed, miko - a good question. The best chance we have is to attempt to flush him out, but for that, we would need someone to volunteer to do so. Perhaps I should go."

"Oi, wait a minute. Maybe several of us should go. And first, shouldn't someone scope out exactly what we're looking at?"

"But as soon as Obake sees any light, he's gonna know we're coming," Koga objected.

"Actually..." Kagome glanced at Kikyou, then nodded, "we can take care of that. We can make it bright enough in here that it should even pain the Obake's eyes some - that might help keep him off-balance enough for you guys to figure things out."

Koga glanced at her, then nodded. "So it'll just be general light all through this part of the cavern... alright, me and the boys'll go check things out."

Sesshoumaru turned and began leading them back towards their enemy, and once they reached the closest that was safely possible, he nodded to the two women, and they began to glow, lighting the area around them as their reiki began to shimmer the air in great misty arcs surrounding them.

Slowly, the terrain around them began to become apparent as the light gained strength, and once it reached a certain comfortable point for the group, it leveled off, and flashlights got shut off and put away.

"Uh, how long can you keep this up, Kagome?" Koga asked hesitantly.

"For hours, Koga - it's fine. Don't worry, we won't turn out the lights on you."

He flashed an uncertain smile at the two women glowing like fireflies, and nodded, then gestured curtly to his men, and they disappeared silently into the rock formations ahead.

Oddly tense, Kagome huddled next to Kikyou, and the older woman looked at her, concerned, even as Inuyasha responded silently to his mate's upset and clenched her hand in his own.

It was coming to the last few hours of this war - the confrontations were almost over, and one way or another, would be decided on this day. It was a frightening thought in some ways...

For a little bit, it was silent, not a noise to be heard beyond the small ones they themselves made, but then suddenly, there was a roar from directly ahead, and a horrific scream; Kagome took off like a bat out of hell at the sound - she'd recognized that scream - it came from Hakakku.

"Hakakku!" she screamed back.

She'd caught everyone off-guard, including Sesshoumaru, with that move, and before anyone could stop her, she was gone in a flash of light, yelling for Ginta and Koga. The group could hear that something had gone terribly wrong as Hakakku's scream was abruptly cut-off, and sounds of rage and battle instantly started.

By the time Sesshoumaru reached the area that Obake and the wolves were in, Kagome was firing hamaya at the creature with a rapidity that even he was surprised at, tears running down her face, and only Koga, and Ginta, in sight.

It didn't take long for the others to figure out what had happened.

Obake had swallowed their companion, and Kagome was determined to bring the Obake down for it, and along with the enraged Koga and Ginta, were tearing into the creature with the need for vengeance burning brightly within them.

With a snarl of rage, Inuyasha leaped in front of his mate, knocking aside several glowing tentacles that the embattled creature had sent against her, and crouched before her, eyes once again flickering eerily red as he defended his mate from all harm.

"Bastard!" he growled ferally as he continued to destroy anything that came near her, not even bothering to draw the Tessaiga - he needed to defend his mate with his claws, needed the satisfaction of hand-to-hand combat.

Kagome herself didn't seem to even notice anyone else, her entire focus pinned on the evil creature before her - and its destruction.

Sango, Miroku, and Kikyou all fought close together, using holy powers and Sango's hiraikotsu as though they'd been doing it for years, tearing great chunks from the Obake's body as Kirara attacked from above.

Koga and Ginta were using claws and legs to attack and injure every exposed bit of the Obake they could reach, and Sesshoumaru, after taking a moment to observe, joined them, using whip and claws to tear into the beast as well.

Obake was shuddering under the blows coming from all around him, the light causing him to be unable to see without great pain, and his short-circuiting mind knew that if he didn't escape soon, he was doomed - but there was nowhere to go. He'd been trapped here in this cavern, and there was no way out. The only thing he could do, is attempt something he hadn't done in centuries... divide himself.

It was a skill that one creature he'd swallowed had had, but as he'd grown more powerful, it hadn't really been necessary to use, and he wasn't sure that he could even do it anymore - he'd enfolded so many other beings since then - some whose natures precluded that very division.

It was clear that he was going to lose most of his power from this, and would, if he managed to survive, have to spend more centuries regaining that same power - but if he did not attempt this split, he would die here... there really was no choice.

So, with all of his attention that could be spared, leaving just enough of his consciousness behind to continue to fight convincingly, he began to pull back, forcing himself into smaller parts of flesh... and then separating them from himself, and sending those small parts away.

Using the intelligence he'd gained over centuries of life, he used portions of his body that were being sliced off by his opponents, hoping that once a piece of flesh had been sundered from his body, the enemy would no longer pay any attention to it, and it could quietly disappear, moving somewhere else to re-gather.

Once these people were gone, he could once again go about regaining his strength in secret - at least, so he hoped.

But the gods were not with him on this day, and someone finally noticed those so-called discarded pieces of flesh attempting to sneak away... the miko - the one he'd wanted to take for himself.

She gave chase to those parts of him, sending purifying energy at them, diminishing him even more with every part she destroyed, until he knew his only chance was to kill her. As well as the danger she represented, was the coming dawn - he could now feel it, though his body was injured beyond bearing, and fear thickly coated what was left of his ruined throat.

Death before him, and death behind him, he once more turned all his attention on the priestess that was his downfall, and decided that if he were going to die, she was going to go with him.

With one last surge of power, he used every bit of strength he still had left to grab her, and once again pull her into himself as he scooted back behind the rocks he'd first hidden behind, knowing that taking her would kill his body. He could only hope that at least one or two parts of his flesh had escaped her notice, and that he would someday regenerate.

But he would make sure that she never would - for her, death was here.

Or so he thought.

Kagome was oddly silent even as the slimy body of the Obake once again surrounded her - her soul was telling her that this was it, that she could finally take vengeance for all who had been harmed by Naraku by finishing this body off that had swallowed him - even Onigumo would be destroyed, his human heart finally gone, and no longer part of anything.

She could dimly hear her enraged mate's screaming, and the cries of her friends and pack, and she sent a soothing pulse of love to her mate, hoping to calm him - she knew what she had to do.

In that few moments of touch with the Obake, she could feel Hakakku's soul, still struggling to avoid integrating with the creature... along with three other souls that had been swallowed by the creature in its lifetime - souls that were good, and pure.

They had been buried deep inside the foul pit that was the Obake's soul, and had suffered much in their time of entrapment.

Everything within her yearned to free those souls, to save them, to give them new life, but they were so integrated with each other by this time, save Hakakku's, that they could only be re-created as one being...

With a calmness Kagome had never felt before, she reached out with every bit of love within her enormous soul, and began purifying away the darkness of the Obake's dissolute one. Screaming, struggling, trying with every tiny bit of strength left to him to free himself from her grasp, he failed, falling into the darkness forever - for him, there would be no second chance, no reincarnation.

The blackness, the hatred, and the malice that was Obake began to dissolve into nothingness - along with every evil thing he'd ever swallowed, including what little was left of Naraku - Onigumo. Very soon, there'd be nothing left of that creature but his memory in those whose lives he'd affected.

While she did that, she spoke to her mate's mind, calming him. "Inuyasha, I need you and the others to disengage from this battle - pull away. Have Kikyou shield you all. I'm fine, and I'll be fine as long as you cooperate," she soothed, as his panic came through, and he started demanding answers. "When I'm done, I'll tell you everything - just do what I asked, quickly!"

Breaking off speaking with him, she waited, using all her strength, until she could feel the blows to the Obake halt, and then a strong spirit-shield come up around the members of her group...

Then she let go.

Every member of the group watched with awe and fear as a glow began to encompass the Obake's remaining body, slowly swirling around him and glowing brighter and brighter until they all had to turn away - it was Kagome's powerful, loving soul, brilliant, strong, and huge, it filled the cavern with life and love, touching everyone within its reach and marking them forever - none in the cavern that day would ever be the same... not even Sesshoumaru.

As much as everyone was surprised at it, Inuyasha was actually calm, as though he no longer worried for his mate; and indeed, he didn't. He could hear her in his mind, and feel her in their soul, and knew that she was okay... and knew exactly what it was she was doing with their soul.

He cast a thought towards Kikyou, and realized that she could feel it, too.

They would soon have another pack member that was as closely bonded as Kikyou was to them, for Kagome was saving that which the Obake had stolen and trapped...

She was creating a new being from the ruins of the old.

Kagome, once Inuyasha's panic had ceased, and he'd relayed her instructions to the others, had reached out with all the love she had, and surrounded the pure souls held captive within the Obake, protecting them from what she was about to do.

Hakakku, the young wolf demon, Yukio, a human man that had fallen to the Obake while protecting his son, Zinan, a water elemental taken as a young adolescent, and Hiroshi, a kitsune hanyou that was enfolded while protecting his mother - four souls that didn't deserve to be desecrated any further than they had already been.

So she protected and enfolded them, loved them, and saved them, coaxing them to combine even as she destroyed the darkness of the Obake from around them, sending his soul into oblivion. Hakakku was the most difficult to integrate, as he'd just been taken, but eventually, she managed to convince him to combine with the others, creating a new soul, but maintaining life.

It was the best she could offer.

And as the new soul began to bond together, along with a piece of her soul, she began to work on the body.

Still cocooned within the light of her soul, the remaining damaged flesh of what had been the Obake began to re-form, healing itself and taking on a new shape, she used what each being remembered of its flesh and blood body, and fed the creation process with the best elements of each one.

From Hakakku, she took youth - he'd been young, but fully mature, and this age was given to the body she was forming for the new soul. From Yukio, she took his human heart, with it's capacity for compassion and love, from Zinan, she took longevity, and from Hiroshi, she took coloring, his auburn hair and green eyes an enchanting memory that reminded her of her little Shippo.

Oh, your going to be handsome, and in the prime of your life, with all your centuries before you. What Obake stole from you will always be remembered, but you will have another life, another chance - one that no one will ever be able to take away.

Thank you, sister, came whispering back through the soul within, and Kagome beamed, her heart lighting with joy that she'd been able to save something, to bring something of beauty from out of something of such hatred and malice.

And as she let the magic flow, and watched, awed, at the new creation forming before her, she noticed something odd.

The taint that Naraku had introduced into her soul, the damage that he'd done, was gone. There was no longer any darkness visible in her soul... it was healed - gone as though it had never existed.

With that discovery, she searched every part of herself, frantically almost, and was thrilled to feel, for the first time since Naraku had attacked her, whole - whole, and strong, happy, and full of love and light.

Once again, love had conquered darkness...

Even as the light of her soul once more faded, and she was able to see her surroundings again, she realized that light had also conquered the darkness of the cavern...

A new day had finally, finally dawned.

The long night was over, and nightmares no longer existed in this place.

A/N: And it's done. I had originally planned to have a more descriptive battle, but that's just not the way the chapter came out - it didn't want to be written that way, and this is what got written. I actually wrote it, then put it away, and came back to it later, hoping to see if I could change it, but it didn't happen - it stayed this way, so this is what I decided to leave it as. After re-reading it, I'm actually more pleased with it this way - I was tired of focusing on the bad, and wanted this chapter to end with the creation and the light.

Malice is almost finished now, there's one more chapter, and an epilogue, and then this long, long journey will be finished.

Hope everyone enjoys...

Amber