InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Metamorphosis ❯ ...And Conquer, Part 2 ( Chapter 35 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: King Baka 
The battle continues.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Suspense / Romance / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.29.2009 | Updated On: 01.30.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 3.4K | Status: Completed
The battle continues.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Suspense / Romance / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.29.2009 | Updated On: 01.30.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 3.4K | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha or any of the publicly known characters, plot, etc. I’m just renting them from Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, etc. I do own the plot of this story and any original characters I’ve created. I will make no money from this fic; I write for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of my readers.
…And Conquer, Part 2
Sango nodded, her anxiety shifting toward their two hanyou companions. “I hope Inuyasha and Kagome are alright.”
Kagome could only look on in horror as her mate was slowly torn to pieces. At least, it seemed that way to her, even though her rational mind told her most of his wounds were superficial. Naraku also watched the show with great interest, delight etched into his features. But Kagome dared not attempt an escape with his spike still embedded in her neck. She remained as quiet as possible, not wanting to distract Inuyasha when he was having so much trouble as it was.
A few strands of silver hair drifted to the ground, neatly severed by the sharp blade. Inuyasha grimaced as he retreated once again, glad at least his hair couldn’t bleed. His youkai side continued to rumble in discontent, and he was beginning to reconsider his decision to hold it back. He was already losing the fight in his hanyou form; could he do much worse by going full-youkai? Hakudoushi didn’t give him any more time to think about it, charging and swinging his halberd in a wide horizontal slash meant to separate head from neck. This time, Inuyasha ducked instead of leaping back, dropping so his haunches rested on his heels. Then he launched himself upward, his right arm extended in an open-clawed uppercut. A quick reaction from Hakudoshi meant the hanyou’s hand encountered only air, or so he thought. The brat came away with three crimson marks on his cheek, confirmed by an exploratory swipe of his finger. Any thought that perhaps the kid would feel fright at this small defeat vanished when he licked the blood off the digit and smirked.
“Good, maybe this will be more fun than slaughtering a helpless puppy.”
Inuyasha snarled at the quip but made no other reply, at least verbally. He darted forward, hoping to catch his enemy off guard. But Hakudoshi was ready, and with a graceful jump somersaulted over the oncoming hanyou, his halberd lashing out and cutting deep into Inuyasha’s back. The hanyou stumbled before righting himself and turning to face his opponent once more. He bared his fangs, the brat’s smug, arrogant expression getting under his skin. Kagome’s choked gasp didn’t make him feel any better. Shit, that was a bad one. Not fatally so, but certainly serious enough to slow him down.
“Come now, half-breed. Surely you don’t intend to make it this easy, do you?” When Inuyasha didn’t respond, Hakudoshi sighed. “Well, I grow bored of toying with you. Let’s end this, shall we?”
Both parties shot into motion at the same time, closing the short distance in the blink of an eye. Inuyasha came in with a right, forcing Hakudoshi to block with his halberd. He parried the arm with the weapon’s shaft, avoiding the deadly claws, before deftly drawing the blade back and slashing. Inuyasha staggered back in time to elude dismemberment, but still received a stinging wound across his chest.
“Sankon Tetsusou!” he cried, glowing blades of youki slicing into the recently vacated earth where his enemy had stood. Just as quickly as he had dodged, Hakudoshi was attacking again, too fast for Inuyasha to duck out of the way this time. He hurriedly threw up his hand, somehow managing to grab the halberd a couple inches south of the blade and stop its progress toward his head. His relief was short lived, however; Hakudoshi yanked the top of his weapon back while simultaneously swinging the butt end toward Inuyasha’s unprotected temple. Thrown off balance by the powerful tug as he was, the hanyou had no chance of evading the blow.
He heard more than felt the impact of wood on bone, but his mind immediately jolted out of sync. Connections with reality were smashed to pieces, and he didn’t even feel when his body hit to the ground. He lacked the mental capacity to comprehend it at the time, but he was lucky to still be conscious. That blow would literally have scrambled a human’s brains. Consciousness was no help as his mind slowly pulled itself back together. He knew there was some pressing reason to get up, but for the life of him he couldn’t recall it. With the world swimming dizzily before his eyes, rising wasn’t possible anyway.
For Kagome, the moment when Hakudoshi raised his halberd for the killing blow was earth shattering. Inuyasha wasn’t going to be able to save himself this time. He was…going to die. Her soul reacted instinctively. Suddenly, her own safety was of no consequence. It didn’t matter that she would more than likely get herself killed trying to escape from Naraku’s clutches. None of these notions crossed her mind as her miko powers built rapidly and then surged from the center of her being. And suddenly she was free, the tentacles and spikes washed away by great waves of purifying energy.
“Inuyasha!” she called, wasting no time in sprinting toward him. That yell saved his life, as Hakudoshi noticed her and rather quickly deduced that he wouldn’t have time to finish off one hanyou without getting blindsided by the other. Abruptly he turned to confront the more serious threat, taking his already raised halberd and swinging it toward the approaching miko. Kagome’s momentum nearly carried her into the blade’s path, but she managed to stop herself with inches to spare. Hakudoshi took a couple leaps back, wary of the miko energy pulsating from this strange hanyou’s body. Kagome placed herself between the evil child and her still-recovering mate, glaring at her opponent with something akin to malice in her gaze. That was when one of Naraku’s few remaining tentacles caught her from behind.
She felt a pinch in her abdomen, and looked down to see the writhing appendage protruding from her gut. It was a full second before she realized what had happened, and it took about the same amount of time for the pain to set in. She inhaled sharply, her senses nearly overwhelmed by the cruel, excruciating agony emanating from her stomach. Grabbing the tentacle with both hands, she summoned her powers again. The slimy limb dissolved instantly, leaving a gaping hole in her body that oozed blood at an alarming rate. Her once clean kosode now sported an ever-expanding crimson stain. She sunk to one knee, vaguely aware of Hakudoshi’s approach but unable to do anything more than close her eyes and wait for nothingness.
And then she was moving, ensconced in familiar arms. Inuyasha carried her a good distance away to the edge of the forest, gently setting her down against a large tree. The scent of her blood had done more than rouse him to full alertness. Kagome gasped as she took in the jagged purple markings adorning his cheeks, staring into his glowing red eyes, blue irises framing white pupils. But there was a certain awareness in those scarlet orbs, harkening back to the changes seen during his last full-youkai transformation. It was that more than anything else which prompted her to ask a simple question and expect him to understand it.
“Inuyasha, are you okay?”
He shuddered a little at the sound of her voice, struggling with himself briefly before shaking his head as if to clear it. When he looked at her again, she saw even more of her hanyou in his eyes, though his youkai side still dominated.
“Yeah,” he growled, “thanks to you.” Without further comment, he deftly unfastened her kosode and hesitantly drew apart the folds, his ears facing vigilantly behind him all the while. She hissed when he pulled the fabric from her torn skin, but otherwise remained silent as he inspected her wound. It throbbed painfully, but she could tell her life was in no danger. The flow of blood had slowed to a trickle, though much of it had already drained from her body. Inuyasha apparently came to the same conclusion; he covered her back up, his relief clear in spite of his more feral features.
“Stay here,” he ordered. “Watch out for that sneaky bastard’s tentacles.”
Kagome nodded, but reached up and cupped his cheek as he turned away, bringing him back around to face her.
“Be careful,” she said solemnly. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears, only adding to the silent message conveyed by her chocolate orbs. If this is the last time I ever gaze upon your face, know once again that you have my heart, my Inuyasha.
His larger hand rose to cover hers, squeezing gently as he expressed his own emotions as best he could with his full-youkai countenance. And you have mine, my Kagome. Then, after a long moment, he turned and stonily regarded his foes, those who would dare to threaten what was his. Their bond was one of the few things in life worth fighting for, worth dying for. Tranquility settled over him like a warm blanket. Even if they died, their bond could never be truly broken. The spiritual connection was indestructible, but he would do everything in his power to ensure the survival of the physical, living bond as well.
It was difficult to let him go, but Kagome knew it was necessary. He was a far better hand-to-hand fighter than she was even without the hole in her gut. And he could once again use Tetsusaiga now that she was no longer being held hostage. That didn’t mean she had to like it; her worries were intense, indeed. But the best she could do was to protect herself, and make sure she didn’t fall into Naraku’s clutches again. Or perhaps not, she thought, her eyes darting across the field in search of her bow and arrows. There! They lay in the grass a couple hundred feet away. The bow looked intact from her vantage point, and she’d wager that at least a few of the arrows were unbroken as well. The weapons were far closer to Naraku than her, dangerously close in fact, but her blast of miko energy had fortuitously pushed the dark hanyou back away from them. Standing, Kagome tested her legs, finding that they easily had strength to support her, if not a little shakily. All in all, it seemed entirely possible to retrieve her lost weapons while Naraku was distracted. She would be careful, but it had to be done. She couldn’t leave Inuyasha to face the colossal menace alone.
Speaking of the dark hanyou, he was just now reforming his body, and he seemed none too pleased with the recent turn of events. He scowled, cursing the hanyou bitch who was still the strongest miko he had ever encountered, bar none. He had been somewhat surprised to feel an inkling of pure energy from her before, but had assumed that if acquiring youkai blood had not destroyed her miko powers, it had at least severely diminished them. So much for that idea. Snarling, he thought back to the day when he had first learned of Kagome’s transformation. (1) You knew her powers remained, didn’t you Kagura? Damn her! Even in death she betrays me.
Hakudoshi, on the other hand, was not troubled in the slightest by his master’s plight. It amused him to see the mighty Naraku taken down a peg by a half-breed miko. He should have just killed Kagome when he had the chance and let me fight Tetsusaiga. But now that Inuyasha was separated from his sword, he wasn’t about to just let the hanyou reclaim it without a fight. He placed himself between the rusty katana and its owner, sneering at his red-eyed prey.
“Do you want Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha? Come and take it, if you can.”
But Inuyasha had no intention of retrieving his sword. The blood pounding in his ears bred a desire for one thing only—his enemy’s shredded remains at his feet. He sprinted forward with a vicious growl, ducking the swing from the halberd and slashing Hakudoshi across the forearm. The child retreated a few steps but Inuyasha came on unrelenting. The sharp ‘whoosh’ of claw and blade filled the next few seconds in an unremitting cacophony. The air was entirely devoid of any accompanying sounds of blows landing, however. Finally, Hakudoshi managed to slice another gash in Inuyasha’s torso, and the hanyou pulled back. The two adversaries stood facing each other, both breathing hard and grinning widely.
“You should have gone full-youkai sooner, Inuyasha. You might actually be a match for me.”
Inuyasha might have managed a witty response if not for the blood-curdling shriek that echoed through the valley. All eyes turned to Naraku, who clutched his chest with both hands even as a swirling black void opened up in the center of it. He desperately stretched out an arm to the northeastern sky. Inuyasha’s first thought was that Kagome had shot him with a miko arrow, and he mentally cursed her disobedience. A glance in her direction only mollified his anger somewhat, as she was only in the process of retrieving her weapons. Damn wench! Why can’t she ever just stay out of danger?
Suddenly a brilliant red light soared past overhead, straight into the hole in Naraku’s chest. The evil hanyou inhaled a huge breath, almost as if a tight noose had suddenly been removed from around his neck. But Kagome didn’t give him any time to recover; a pink beam flashed in from the side. Naraku blocked the attack with a mass of tentacles, allowing his disposable parts to take most of the damage. More tentacles slithered toward the miko, forcing her to retreat as quickly as her wounded body would allow.
“Stay back, mate!” Inuyasha heard himself yell, the command sounding even harsher and more formidable than usual because of his transformation.
“I think that was his human heart, Inuyasha!” Kagome called back, unperturbed by his outrage. Inuyasha mulled that over inside his head, both halves of him coming to a conclusion that brought a positively wicked smile to his lips. Over the past several months, the separation of Naraku’s heart and body had been the key to his ability to regenerate himself no matter how many pieces he was torn into. And if the heart was now once again inside the body, then that meant he could be killed. Of course, that meant Naraku was vulnerable, and was probably thinking about doing what he always did in that situation. Oh, fuck no! We are not letting him run away again! Suddenly his skirmish with Hakudoshi didn’t seem so important. He needed to get to Naraku now, and he needed Tetsusaiga to do it.
His youkai side was unwilling to concede either of those two points easily, so Inuyasha had a major internal battle on his hands. He argued with the most stubborn, pigheaded part of himself for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few seconds. Finally, his inner demon yielded to logic and reason, yet another of the many changes made possible by his evolving relationship with Kagome. Decided, he charged at Hakudoshi again, this time leaping high over the child and landing behind him before dashing off toward where Tetsusaiga lay in the grass. Hakudoshi followed angrily at his heels, more than a little annoyed.
“Come back here, coward! Fight me like a man!”
“Sorry, kid,” Inuyasha replied as his fingers wrapped around Tetsusaiga’s hilt, rapidly returning his features and mind to normal. “But I don’t have time to mess around with you!” he cried, bringing his sword back around and unleashing the Kaze no Kizu at point blank range. Hakudoshi took the attack squarely in the chest, a blinding flash concealing him from view. When the dust settled, his head and shoulders could be seen floating amid dismembered pieces of flesh. When he spoke it was with a condescending and almost bored tone.
“You should know that you can’t kill me that w— What the hell?” Something was wrong; instead of reforming, the pieces of flesh were all drifting in one particular direction. Hakudoshi’s eyes widened in terror as he realized what was happening. “What are you doing, Naraku?! You bastard! No! NO! NOOOOOOO!” he shrieked, finally showing himself as the child he was in his last moments, as his entire form was inexorably drawn into the void in Naraku’s chest. Inuyasha could only stand and regard the dark hanyou with stunned silence as the hole closed up and the latter readjusted his robes.
“Don’t look so shocked, Inuyasha,” Naraku stated casually. “I bear no ridiculous emotional attachments to my incarnations. When they cease to be useful to me, I no longer have any reason to allow them to live. Kagura found that out this very morning,” he quipped, enjoying the ire he could see rising in both Inuyasha and Kagome at that revelation. Neither of them particularly liked Kagura, but each felt sorry for her nonetheless. They couldn’t imagine a life more retched than a short one under the control of a master as sadistic as Naraku.
“And if you’re wondering why I decided to kill Hakudoshi now,” he continued after a pause, shrugging in answer to his own query. “Perhaps it is because I have grown tired of devious schemes, or perhaps I simply desire the tactile pleasure of mutilating both of you with my own body. It is irrelevant; what matters is that both of you will die here today by my hand.”
“Not a chance, bastard!” Inuyasha retorted. “You aren’t invulnerable anymore. You’re the one who’s gonna die today!”
“Oh, please! Do you honestly believe the location of my human heart makes any difference? I have the nearly complete Shikon no Tama in my possession! I will slaughter you, Inuyasha, and then I will grind Tetsusaiga into dust. I will take my time with Kagome, however. She has wounded me too many times to be given the mercy of a quick death. The last days of her life will be consumed by suffering, and before the end she will experience torments more horrible than anything you can imagine. Her screams of agony will grace my dreams for many ye—”
“You won’t fucking touch her, bastard!”
Inuyasha’s furious declaration jogged Naraku’s memory, and a deep chuckle rumbled from his throat in response.
“Oh, yes, how could I have forgotten? I believe in your full-youkai state you referred to Kagome as ‘mate.’ How laughable! The one you truly wanted is nothing more than a walking corpse, but you desired warm female flesh to comfort you. You couldn’t have the real Kikyou, so you chose to defile her imitation instead. Tell me, Inuyasha, is Kagome your little fuck-toy?”
Kagome gasped, staring at Inuyasha with rapt attention. She held her breath, feeling that her ability to draw another depended on his response. For a long moment he said nothing, did nothing. He just stood there, contemplating or fuming, she couldn’t tell. But he appeared so regal; never before had he shared such a resemblance with his older brother. Sesshoumaru’s coldness was nowhere to be found, however, so the comparison could only go so far. Perhaps, in that singular moment, he bore a closer resemblance to his father.
“She knows I love her,” Inuyasha said quietly, barely above a whisper. “A heartless bastard like you could never understand.”
The air instantly rushed from Kagome’s lungs and her knees buckled even as she beamed joyfully. It was true; she did know. She had known ever since their first night together, though he had never spoken the words. He showed her every day with his actions, how he looked at her, with his eyes as they made love. She felt incredibly foolish for doubting him for even a second.
Naraku frowned, unused to having his emotional barbs thrown back at him. He had been quite certain Inuyasha would do what he always did—become mad with rage and charge recklessly into battle. His unbridled fury would hurt Kagome while simultaneously making him easier to kill. It irked Naraku to no end to see that not only was the hanyou not blinded by wrath, but Kagome was deliriously happy off to one side. The look on her face just about made him sick to his stomach. For even now, the similarity with Kikyou was too strong for Naraku, and he could only think of how dreadful it would be to see the dead miko that content. He wanted Kikyou to suffer; they were all destined to suffer. This happiness would not stand.
“I see. You’ve really grown up, haven’t you, Inuyasha?” Naraku conceded in a painfully patronizing tone. “A woman gave you her adoration, and you were somehow mature enough to win her trust. And now you are ready to join her in basking in your so-called ‘love.’” Pausing, Naraku grinned maliciously. “The second time’s the charm, eh? Better late than never, I suppose. But don’t you worry. You just die and leave the lovely Kikyou to me. I will take good care of her.”
“You leave Kikyou alone, you sick bastard!”
Naraku was not surprised that one of the hanyou made that type of response, but his jaw dropped slightly when he realized which hanyou had actually spoken. Inuyasha appeared to be in shock as well, staring blankly at an irate Kagome. To hear all of the self-improvement Inuyasha had made as a person, and the tremendous growth of their relationship dragged through the gutter like that boiled her blood. Her temper also flared because the devious asshole just had to throw Inuyasha’s ‘failure’ with Kikyou in his face. She had always felt some level of sympathy for the tragic priestess, but defending her was so much easier now that Inuyasha had officially chosen between them.
“What did Kikyou ever do to you?!”
“Nothing,” Naraku replied simply.
“Then why do you hate her so much?”
“I despise Kikyou because I desire her,” he answered after a brief moment of contemplation. “Or rather, Onigumo desires her. The only feeble part of me gives rise to my greatest weakness. That is why I loathe Kikyou so, and that is why her return to the underworld will be even more gruesome than your demise. I may even allow Onigumo to sate his filthy lust for Kikyou, or…or perhaps he would be satisfied with you, Kagome?”
“KONGOUSOUHA!!!!!!”
Brilliant diamond spears raced forward from Tetsusaiga, slicing through Naraku’s hastily erected barrier and tearing into his body. The attack had been sudden and vicious. Within Inuyasha’s eyes danced golden fire, burning hotly with rage. He was tired of Naraku’s attitude, his insults, his attempts to crawl under the skin with cruel remarks. He was sick of the jackass looking down on him for falling for his trick fifty years ago. Most of all, he’d had enough of the bastard’s physical and verbal attacks on the only two women he had ever cared for romantically. Those last two insinuations had thrown him over the edge. There would be no more talking, only blood. And death. Oh, yes, there would be death.
A massive surge of dark energy rocked the valley. The diamond shards which had embedded in Naraku’s flesh flew in all directions, as huge clouds of miasma rolled forth and quickly covered the entire area. Inuyasha coughed, shielding his mouth with his sleeve amid the dying grass. How the hell did his miasma get so strong? It burned his throat when he inhaled, and even though he knew how tough his body was, he was nervous about spending too much time in the presence of the noxious vapor. They had seen this sort of thing before with Naraku; his powers increased the larger his fragment of the Shikon no Tama became. The addition of Kagome’s shards seemed to be no exception. A feminine cough echoed from Inuyasha’s left, it’s heavily muffled sound meaning Kagome had the right idea. That’s right, wench, stay quiet. That bastard is probably as blind in this shit as we are. Naraku’s maniacal laughter rang out over the haze.
“Kukuku, you two can hide as long as you wish, but I will find you eventually.”
Inuyasha grimaced, eyes rapidly scanning his surroundings. Dammit, he’s right. The only question is which one of us will he find first? Retreat was not an option, both because this was their best chance to slay Naraku and they would probably be stabbed in the back if they ran. Visibility was low, but not catastrophically so. Still, he would feel a hell of a lot better if Kagome was by his side; at least then he could watch out for her. And two sets of eyes were better than one. With that in mind, he began gingerly stepping in the direction of her voice, his footfalls on the lifeless grass sounding incredibly loud to his ears.
Kagome’s sudden scream was punctuated by the appearance of a pink glow against the gloom, zipping off across the field until its light no longer reached them. She had loosed an arrow, and Inuyasha could only imagine what her target was. He heard her footsteps pounding into the grass as she ran, his ears pricked forward as he tracked them. Sheathing Tetsusaiga, he sprinted toward the sound, nearly barreling her over when they collided. As it was, he had a better view of the tentacles pursuing her, tentacles which were now closing in on the halted pair. He shoved her away and made quick work of them with his claws. Another arrow whizzed over his head, making the tips of his ears tingle and obliterating another group of tentacles that sought to take him unawares. He retreated to Kagome’s side, briefly looking her over before turning to stand back-to-back.
“You alright, wench?” he whispered.
“More or less. You?”
“Yeah. How many arrows you got left?”
“Two,” Kagome answered despondently. The rest had been broken during her earlier capture.
“Fuck.”
“You can say that again.”
“Don’t use ‘em unless you really have to.”
“Okay. So what do we do now?” Two sets of hanyou eyes continued to peer anxiously into the miasma, both knowing that another attack would come eventually.
“Hang on, I wanna try something.” Pulling out Tetsusaiga once more, Inuyasha channeled the familiar energy and smashed the sword into the dirt. The rippling blades of the Kaze no Kizu lanced outwards across the plain, dissipating the miasma for a few seconds before the poison cloud filled in again. Grinning, Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder and held his sword aloft.
“This is how we find the bastard.”
Kagome’s reply never came, as a great throng of tentacles descended upon them. She dove to one side, pain jolting from her stomach as she rolled out of harm’s way. Darting into the gloom, she was surprised at the small number of tentacles that came after her. They were easily dispatched, but she did not rejoice knowing that Naraku was focusing on her mate. Inuyasha was constantly in motion, grunting and breathing heavily as he tried to avoid the onslaught. Kagome heard a soft thud, then a flurry of activity as he climbed to his feet again and resumed his evasion. In spite of this apparent close call, it was the sound of coughing that worried Kagome the most. The miasma was beginning to affect her, making simple respiration more difficult, so she could only imagine the effect it was having on Inuyasha right now. The situation needed to be rectified, and fast. Rushing in and purifying tentacles was a temporary solution at best, but she had to do something. Drawing a blank, she was about to go to Inuyasha’s aid before an idea struck and she nearly punched herself in the head for her stupidity. Why the hell didn’t I think of this before? I can sense the fucking jewel!
Focusing her miko powers, she let her consciousness probe the surrounding area for the jewel’s aura. It was not at all hard to find, tainted as it was. In her mind’s eye, it appeared as a floating black orb, the source of great crackling streams of sinister energy. The colossal strength of the jewel, she mused, could be turned into a weakness. She locked her stare on the target, and her gaze never wavered as she raised her bow and notched an arrow. Taking aim, she let fly. The arrow had barely left her hand when she called out to her mate, trusting him to grasp her hastily formed plan.
“Go, Inuyasha!”
Naraku apparently saw the pink glow speeding toward him, as he was able to lunge out of its path, the projectile only managing to lightly scorch his robes. Inuyasha emerged into the path cleared by the arrow, taking advantage of Naraku’s distraction to escape from his relentless tentacles. But the miasma was already seeping back into the open air, and in a matter of moments the dark hanyou’s form would be completely obscured again. Inuyasha was having none of that. He didn’t bother calling the name of the attack, but that made the Kaze no Kizu no less effective. Naraku deflected it with his barrier, but his destruction wasn’t Inuyasha’s goal in launching it. The objective was to blow away a large swath of miasma and give him a clear look at his adversary, and this had been accomplished. He pulled back Tetsusaiga and told it to change form, and the sword responded eagerly.
“Kongousouha!” he yelled, the diamond spears once more battering Naraku’s barrier until it shattered. The rest literally shredded Naraku’s body, tearing through tentacle, armour, and cloth and rending flesh. When the last shard had passed, all that remained of the dark hanyou was his head, glaring at them vehemently. And hovering below the disconnected neck, about where his heart would be, was the incredible blackness of the Shikon no Tama.
“Now, Kagome!” Inuyasha cried, but the miko needed no encouragement. Already the last arrow was notched, infused with more pure energy than the world had ever seen. She poured her soul into the weapon, her sadness for all the pain and suffering caused by Naraku, her anger for the lives he had meddled with or cut short, her hope for a brighter future when he was gone. When self-preservation kicked in, she ignored it, pushing well past any limits on her power she thought were in place. She stopped only when darkness began nibbling at the corners of her consciousness. With that last of her strength she aimed and fired, immediately collapsing on her hands and knees afterwards. She watched the arrow with bated breath, praying her aim was good. And for luck.
For Inuyasha, the arrow with its massive conical shaped outpouring of power was truly a sight to behold. He watched it rush toward its target, reading Naraku’s terrified expression an instant before the world went completely white. The all encompassing color flickered black, then back to white again, a hundred times in the blink of an eye before light finally overrode darkness. There was an audible crack, and then a tremendous explosion, punctuated by a single tormented cry that faded into the wind. Out of the blast flew hundreds of thin pink lines, streaking across the sky to unknown and unseen destinations. And when the great flash of light finally faded, nothing remained of Naraku or his miasma.
One of the pink streaks plummeted into the grass near Inuyasha’s feet, and he moved to investigate, already knowing what he would find. He picked up the small object between thumb and forefinger, and raised it up to eye level. It was a tiny shard of the Shikon no Tama, shining with purity. Gradually, an exultant grin pulled up the corners of his lips. They had done it. They had killed Naraku. The air was completely devoid of his scent, as if the entire valley had been wiped clean. There was no way Naraku could have survived that incredible blast of purity, so powerful that it purged the jewel of its taint and shattered it once more. The bastard was really dead this time. He almost couldn’t believe it.
Soft laughter drew his attention to where Kagome lay on her back in the grass, beaming up at the sky and giggling uncontrollably. Inuyasha could understand her giddiness. An enormous weight that had been hanging over his head for months had been removed. His face fell when the feminine laughter turned to coughing, followed by a moan of pain. He hastily jogged over and knelt by her side, gently smoothing her bangs out of her face.
“You alright, wench?” he asked again, eyeing the crimson bloodstains on her clothing. She was in pretty rough shape. He wasn’t in great condition himself, but he would worry about his own injuries later.
“We did it, Inuyasha,” she declared in amazement, ignoring his question. Despite his concerns, he smiled down at her.
“Yeah, we did. Here,” he said, holding the jewel shard above her nose. Her expression immediately turned crestfallen.
“Sorry,” she mumbled remorsefully. “I can’t believe I broke it again.”
“Kagome, after all this time, do you think I give a damn about the jewel?” Leaning down, he planted a chaste, firm kiss on her lips, then pulled back a couple inches to stare into her surprised brown eyes. “I couldn’t care less.”
Slowly Kagome’s gaze softened, self-reproach replaced by relief and gratitude. She finally took the shard and, for lack of a better place to keep it, put it in her bra.
“We still need to collect the shards and make the Shikon no Tama whole again. Only when it is gone from this world can we truly move on with our lives.”
Inuyasha nodded, knowing she was right. But right now, all he cared about was getting her wounds bandaged.
“Come on, wench, let’s get you cleaned up,” he declared, offering her his back. Kagome tried to rise, but her shoulders had barely lifted when her strength gave out and she flopped back to the ground. Inuyasha’s eyes widened in alarm. “Kagome, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just really…” she paused, mouth opening in a cavernous yawn. “…tired.”
Inuyasha frowned, gathering up her limp form in his arms. Damn, using all that power must have really drained her.
“You overdid it, Kagome. You shouldn’t have used so much miko energy.”
“Had to,” she replied, not even bothering to open her eyes. Sensing she was well on her way to slumber, Inuyasha didn’t continue the argument. He would let her sleep; it was probably the best thing for her right now. He stooped to pick up her bow, but found that it was nothing more than a pile of dust blowing in the breeze. Holy shit! She really overdid it!
(1) See chapter 12
A/N – Just when it looked like the story was coming to its climax, the quest for the Shikon no Tama must begin anew. We can’t be done yet; we’re barely halfway through my outline!
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…And Conquer, Part 2
Sango nodded, her anxiety shifting toward their two hanyou companions. “I hope Inuyasha and Kagome are alright.”
* * *
They were not. Inuyasha dove to the right, rolling to his feet and scrambling out of range. Another near miss, just one of the dozens which had occurred over the last few minutes. And the brat’s strikes hadn’t all passed wide of the mark; he imagined his body was crisscrossed by thin red lines, bleeding freely from a hundred tiny wounds and several that weren’t so small. Each time he tried to attack Hakudoshi he came up empty handed, and ended up with deep injuries for his efforts. One on his bicep, one on his stomach, one on his thigh. But if he didn’t attack, he couldn’t win. Constantly dodging wasn’t an option, so he continued to scan his opponent for openings. Kagome could only look on in horror as her mate was slowly torn to pieces. At least, it seemed that way to her, even though her rational mind told her most of his wounds were superficial. Naraku also watched the show with great interest, delight etched into his features. But Kagome dared not attempt an escape with his spike still embedded in her neck. She remained as quiet as possible, not wanting to distract Inuyasha when he was having so much trouble as it was.
A few strands of silver hair drifted to the ground, neatly severed by the sharp blade. Inuyasha grimaced as he retreated once again, glad at least his hair couldn’t bleed. His youkai side continued to rumble in discontent, and he was beginning to reconsider his decision to hold it back. He was already losing the fight in his hanyou form; could he do much worse by going full-youkai? Hakudoushi didn’t give him any more time to think about it, charging and swinging his halberd in a wide horizontal slash meant to separate head from neck. This time, Inuyasha ducked instead of leaping back, dropping so his haunches rested on his heels. Then he launched himself upward, his right arm extended in an open-clawed uppercut. A quick reaction from Hakudoshi meant the hanyou’s hand encountered only air, or so he thought. The brat came away with three crimson marks on his cheek, confirmed by an exploratory swipe of his finger. Any thought that perhaps the kid would feel fright at this small defeat vanished when he licked the blood off the digit and smirked.
“Good, maybe this will be more fun than slaughtering a helpless puppy.”
Inuyasha snarled at the quip but made no other reply, at least verbally. He darted forward, hoping to catch his enemy off guard. But Hakudoshi was ready, and with a graceful jump somersaulted over the oncoming hanyou, his halberd lashing out and cutting deep into Inuyasha’s back. The hanyou stumbled before righting himself and turning to face his opponent once more. He bared his fangs, the brat’s smug, arrogant expression getting under his skin. Kagome’s choked gasp didn’t make him feel any better. Shit, that was a bad one. Not fatally so, but certainly serious enough to slow him down.
“Come now, half-breed. Surely you don’t intend to make it this easy, do you?” When Inuyasha didn’t respond, Hakudoshi sighed. “Well, I grow bored of toying with you. Let’s end this, shall we?”
Both parties shot into motion at the same time, closing the short distance in the blink of an eye. Inuyasha came in with a right, forcing Hakudoshi to block with his halberd. He parried the arm with the weapon’s shaft, avoiding the deadly claws, before deftly drawing the blade back and slashing. Inuyasha staggered back in time to elude dismemberment, but still received a stinging wound across his chest.
“Sankon Tetsusou!” he cried, glowing blades of youki slicing into the recently vacated earth where his enemy had stood. Just as quickly as he had dodged, Hakudoshi was attacking again, too fast for Inuyasha to duck out of the way this time. He hurriedly threw up his hand, somehow managing to grab the halberd a couple inches south of the blade and stop its progress toward his head. His relief was short lived, however; Hakudoshi yanked the top of his weapon back while simultaneously swinging the butt end toward Inuyasha’s unprotected temple. Thrown off balance by the powerful tug as he was, the hanyou had no chance of evading the blow.
He heard more than felt the impact of wood on bone, but his mind immediately jolted out of sync. Connections with reality were smashed to pieces, and he didn’t even feel when his body hit to the ground. He lacked the mental capacity to comprehend it at the time, but he was lucky to still be conscious. That blow would literally have scrambled a human’s brains. Consciousness was no help as his mind slowly pulled itself back together. He knew there was some pressing reason to get up, but for the life of him he couldn’t recall it. With the world swimming dizzily before his eyes, rising wasn’t possible anyway.
For Kagome, the moment when Hakudoshi raised his halberd for the killing blow was earth shattering. Inuyasha wasn’t going to be able to save himself this time. He was…going to die. Her soul reacted instinctively. Suddenly, her own safety was of no consequence. It didn’t matter that she would more than likely get herself killed trying to escape from Naraku’s clutches. None of these notions crossed her mind as her miko powers built rapidly and then surged from the center of her being. And suddenly she was free, the tentacles and spikes washed away by great waves of purifying energy.
“Inuyasha!” she called, wasting no time in sprinting toward him. That yell saved his life, as Hakudoshi noticed her and rather quickly deduced that he wouldn’t have time to finish off one hanyou without getting blindsided by the other. Abruptly he turned to confront the more serious threat, taking his already raised halberd and swinging it toward the approaching miko. Kagome’s momentum nearly carried her into the blade’s path, but she managed to stop herself with inches to spare. Hakudoshi took a couple leaps back, wary of the miko energy pulsating from this strange hanyou’s body. Kagome placed herself between the evil child and her still-recovering mate, glaring at her opponent with something akin to malice in her gaze. That was when one of Naraku’s few remaining tentacles caught her from behind.
She felt a pinch in her abdomen, and looked down to see the writhing appendage protruding from her gut. It was a full second before she realized what had happened, and it took about the same amount of time for the pain to set in. She inhaled sharply, her senses nearly overwhelmed by the cruel, excruciating agony emanating from her stomach. Grabbing the tentacle with both hands, she summoned her powers again. The slimy limb dissolved instantly, leaving a gaping hole in her body that oozed blood at an alarming rate. Her once clean kosode now sported an ever-expanding crimson stain. She sunk to one knee, vaguely aware of Hakudoshi’s approach but unable to do anything more than close her eyes and wait for nothingness.
And then she was moving, ensconced in familiar arms. Inuyasha carried her a good distance away to the edge of the forest, gently setting her down against a large tree. The scent of her blood had done more than rouse him to full alertness. Kagome gasped as she took in the jagged purple markings adorning his cheeks, staring into his glowing red eyes, blue irises framing white pupils. But there was a certain awareness in those scarlet orbs, harkening back to the changes seen during his last full-youkai transformation. It was that more than anything else which prompted her to ask a simple question and expect him to understand it.
“Inuyasha, are you okay?”
He shuddered a little at the sound of her voice, struggling with himself briefly before shaking his head as if to clear it. When he looked at her again, she saw even more of her hanyou in his eyes, though his youkai side still dominated.
“Yeah,” he growled, “thanks to you.” Without further comment, he deftly unfastened her kosode and hesitantly drew apart the folds, his ears facing vigilantly behind him all the while. She hissed when he pulled the fabric from her torn skin, but otherwise remained silent as he inspected her wound. It throbbed painfully, but she could tell her life was in no danger. The flow of blood had slowed to a trickle, though much of it had already drained from her body. Inuyasha apparently came to the same conclusion; he covered her back up, his relief clear in spite of his more feral features.
“Stay here,” he ordered. “Watch out for that sneaky bastard’s tentacles.”
Kagome nodded, but reached up and cupped his cheek as he turned away, bringing him back around to face her.
“Be careful,” she said solemnly. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears, only adding to the silent message conveyed by her chocolate orbs. If this is the last time I ever gaze upon your face, know once again that you have my heart, my Inuyasha.
His larger hand rose to cover hers, squeezing gently as he expressed his own emotions as best he could with his full-youkai countenance. And you have mine, my Kagome. Then, after a long moment, he turned and stonily regarded his foes, those who would dare to threaten what was his. Their bond was one of the few things in life worth fighting for, worth dying for. Tranquility settled over him like a warm blanket. Even if they died, their bond could never be truly broken. The spiritual connection was indestructible, but he would do everything in his power to ensure the survival of the physical, living bond as well.
It was difficult to let him go, but Kagome knew it was necessary. He was a far better hand-to-hand fighter than she was even without the hole in her gut. And he could once again use Tetsusaiga now that she was no longer being held hostage. That didn’t mean she had to like it; her worries were intense, indeed. But the best she could do was to protect herself, and make sure she didn’t fall into Naraku’s clutches again. Or perhaps not, she thought, her eyes darting across the field in search of her bow and arrows. There! They lay in the grass a couple hundred feet away. The bow looked intact from her vantage point, and she’d wager that at least a few of the arrows were unbroken as well. The weapons were far closer to Naraku than her, dangerously close in fact, but her blast of miko energy had fortuitously pushed the dark hanyou back away from them. Standing, Kagome tested her legs, finding that they easily had strength to support her, if not a little shakily. All in all, it seemed entirely possible to retrieve her lost weapons while Naraku was distracted. She would be careful, but it had to be done. She couldn’t leave Inuyasha to face the colossal menace alone.
Speaking of the dark hanyou, he was just now reforming his body, and he seemed none too pleased with the recent turn of events. He scowled, cursing the hanyou bitch who was still the strongest miko he had ever encountered, bar none. He had been somewhat surprised to feel an inkling of pure energy from her before, but had assumed that if acquiring youkai blood had not destroyed her miko powers, it had at least severely diminished them. So much for that idea. Snarling, he thought back to the day when he had first learned of Kagome’s transformation. (1) You knew her powers remained, didn’t you Kagura? Damn her! Even in death she betrays me.
Hakudoshi, on the other hand, was not troubled in the slightest by his master’s plight. It amused him to see the mighty Naraku taken down a peg by a half-breed miko. He should have just killed Kagome when he had the chance and let me fight Tetsusaiga. But now that Inuyasha was separated from his sword, he wasn’t about to just let the hanyou reclaim it without a fight. He placed himself between the rusty katana and its owner, sneering at his red-eyed prey.
“Do you want Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha? Come and take it, if you can.”
But Inuyasha had no intention of retrieving his sword. The blood pounding in his ears bred a desire for one thing only—his enemy’s shredded remains at his feet. He sprinted forward with a vicious growl, ducking the swing from the halberd and slashing Hakudoshi across the forearm. The child retreated a few steps but Inuyasha came on unrelenting. The sharp ‘whoosh’ of claw and blade filled the next few seconds in an unremitting cacophony. The air was entirely devoid of any accompanying sounds of blows landing, however. Finally, Hakudoshi managed to slice another gash in Inuyasha’s torso, and the hanyou pulled back. The two adversaries stood facing each other, both breathing hard and grinning widely.
“You should have gone full-youkai sooner, Inuyasha. You might actually be a match for me.”
Inuyasha might have managed a witty response if not for the blood-curdling shriek that echoed through the valley. All eyes turned to Naraku, who clutched his chest with both hands even as a swirling black void opened up in the center of it. He desperately stretched out an arm to the northeastern sky. Inuyasha’s first thought was that Kagome had shot him with a miko arrow, and he mentally cursed her disobedience. A glance in her direction only mollified his anger somewhat, as she was only in the process of retrieving her weapons. Damn wench! Why can’t she ever just stay out of danger?
Suddenly a brilliant red light soared past overhead, straight into the hole in Naraku’s chest. The evil hanyou inhaled a huge breath, almost as if a tight noose had suddenly been removed from around his neck. But Kagome didn’t give him any time to recover; a pink beam flashed in from the side. Naraku blocked the attack with a mass of tentacles, allowing his disposable parts to take most of the damage. More tentacles slithered toward the miko, forcing her to retreat as quickly as her wounded body would allow.
“Stay back, mate!” Inuyasha heard himself yell, the command sounding even harsher and more formidable than usual because of his transformation.
“I think that was his human heart, Inuyasha!” Kagome called back, unperturbed by his outrage. Inuyasha mulled that over inside his head, both halves of him coming to a conclusion that brought a positively wicked smile to his lips. Over the past several months, the separation of Naraku’s heart and body had been the key to his ability to regenerate himself no matter how many pieces he was torn into. And if the heart was now once again inside the body, then that meant he could be killed. Of course, that meant Naraku was vulnerable, and was probably thinking about doing what he always did in that situation. Oh, fuck no! We are not letting him run away again! Suddenly his skirmish with Hakudoshi didn’t seem so important. He needed to get to Naraku now, and he needed Tetsusaiga to do it.
His youkai side was unwilling to concede either of those two points easily, so Inuyasha had a major internal battle on his hands. He argued with the most stubborn, pigheaded part of himself for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few seconds. Finally, his inner demon yielded to logic and reason, yet another of the many changes made possible by his evolving relationship with Kagome. Decided, he charged at Hakudoshi again, this time leaping high over the child and landing behind him before dashing off toward where Tetsusaiga lay in the grass. Hakudoshi followed angrily at his heels, more than a little annoyed.
“Come back here, coward! Fight me like a man!”
“Sorry, kid,” Inuyasha replied as his fingers wrapped around Tetsusaiga’s hilt, rapidly returning his features and mind to normal. “But I don’t have time to mess around with you!” he cried, bringing his sword back around and unleashing the Kaze no Kizu at point blank range. Hakudoshi took the attack squarely in the chest, a blinding flash concealing him from view. When the dust settled, his head and shoulders could be seen floating amid dismembered pieces of flesh. When he spoke it was with a condescending and almost bored tone.
“You should know that you can’t kill me that w— What the hell?” Something was wrong; instead of reforming, the pieces of flesh were all drifting in one particular direction. Hakudoshi’s eyes widened in terror as he realized what was happening. “What are you doing, Naraku?! You bastard! No! NO! NOOOOOOO!” he shrieked, finally showing himself as the child he was in his last moments, as his entire form was inexorably drawn into the void in Naraku’s chest. Inuyasha could only stand and regard the dark hanyou with stunned silence as the hole closed up and the latter readjusted his robes.
“Don’t look so shocked, Inuyasha,” Naraku stated casually. “I bear no ridiculous emotional attachments to my incarnations. When they cease to be useful to me, I no longer have any reason to allow them to live. Kagura found that out this very morning,” he quipped, enjoying the ire he could see rising in both Inuyasha and Kagome at that revelation. Neither of them particularly liked Kagura, but each felt sorry for her nonetheless. They couldn’t imagine a life more retched than a short one under the control of a master as sadistic as Naraku.
“And if you’re wondering why I decided to kill Hakudoshi now,” he continued after a pause, shrugging in answer to his own query. “Perhaps it is because I have grown tired of devious schemes, or perhaps I simply desire the tactile pleasure of mutilating both of you with my own body. It is irrelevant; what matters is that both of you will die here today by my hand.”
“Not a chance, bastard!” Inuyasha retorted. “You aren’t invulnerable anymore. You’re the one who’s gonna die today!”
“Oh, please! Do you honestly believe the location of my human heart makes any difference? I have the nearly complete Shikon no Tama in my possession! I will slaughter you, Inuyasha, and then I will grind Tetsusaiga into dust. I will take my time with Kagome, however. She has wounded me too many times to be given the mercy of a quick death. The last days of her life will be consumed by suffering, and before the end she will experience torments more horrible than anything you can imagine. Her screams of agony will grace my dreams for many ye—”
“You won’t fucking touch her, bastard!”
Inuyasha’s furious declaration jogged Naraku’s memory, and a deep chuckle rumbled from his throat in response.
“Oh, yes, how could I have forgotten? I believe in your full-youkai state you referred to Kagome as ‘mate.’ How laughable! The one you truly wanted is nothing more than a walking corpse, but you desired warm female flesh to comfort you. You couldn’t have the real Kikyou, so you chose to defile her imitation instead. Tell me, Inuyasha, is Kagome your little fuck-toy?”
Kagome gasped, staring at Inuyasha with rapt attention. She held her breath, feeling that her ability to draw another depended on his response. For a long moment he said nothing, did nothing. He just stood there, contemplating or fuming, she couldn’t tell. But he appeared so regal; never before had he shared such a resemblance with his older brother. Sesshoumaru’s coldness was nowhere to be found, however, so the comparison could only go so far. Perhaps, in that singular moment, he bore a closer resemblance to his father.
“She knows I love her,” Inuyasha said quietly, barely above a whisper. “A heartless bastard like you could never understand.”
The air instantly rushed from Kagome’s lungs and her knees buckled even as she beamed joyfully. It was true; she did know. She had known ever since their first night together, though he had never spoken the words. He showed her every day with his actions, how he looked at her, with his eyes as they made love. She felt incredibly foolish for doubting him for even a second.
Naraku frowned, unused to having his emotional barbs thrown back at him. He had been quite certain Inuyasha would do what he always did—become mad with rage and charge recklessly into battle. His unbridled fury would hurt Kagome while simultaneously making him easier to kill. It irked Naraku to no end to see that not only was the hanyou not blinded by wrath, but Kagome was deliriously happy off to one side. The look on her face just about made him sick to his stomach. For even now, the similarity with Kikyou was too strong for Naraku, and he could only think of how dreadful it would be to see the dead miko that content. He wanted Kikyou to suffer; they were all destined to suffer. This happiness would not stand.
“I see. You’ve really grown up, haven’t you, Inuyasha?” Naraku conceded in a painfully patronizing tone. “A woman gave you her adoration, and you were somehow mature enough to win her trust. And now you are ready to join her in basking in your so-called ‘love.’” Pausing, Naraku grinned maliciously. “The second time’s the charm, eh? Better late than never, I suppose. But don’t you worry. You just die and leave the lovely Kikyou to me. I will take good care of her.”
“You leave Kikyou alone, you sick bastard!”
Naraku was not surprised that one of the hanyou made that type of response, but his jaw dropped slightly when he realized which hanyou had actually spoken. Inuyasha appeared to be in shock as well, staring blankly at an irate Kagome. To hear all of the self-improvement Inuyasha had made as a person, and the tremendous growth of their relationship dragged through the gutter like that boiled her blood. Her temper also flared because the devious asshole just had to throw Inuyasha’s ‘failure’ with Kikyou in his face. She had always felt some level of sympathy for the tragic priestess, but defending her was so much easier now that Inuyasha had officially chosen between them.
“What did Kikyou ever do to you?!”
“Nothing,” Naraku replied simply.
“Then why do you hate her so much?”
“I despise Kikyou because I desire her,” he answered after a brief moment of contemplation. “Or rather, Onigumo desires her. The only feeble part of me gives rise to my greatest weakness. That is why I loathe Kikyou so, and that is why her return to the underworld will be even more gruesome than your demise. I may even allow Onigumo to sate his filthy lust for Kikyou, or…or perhaps he would be satisfied with you, Kagome?”
“KONGOUSOUHA!!!!!!”
Brilliant diamond spears raced forward from Tetsusaiga, slicing through Naraku’s hastily erected barrier and tearing into his body. The attack had been sudden and vicious. Within Inuyasha’s eyes danced golden fire, burning hotly with rage. He was tired of Naraku’s attitude, his insults, his attempts to crawl under the skin with cruel remarks. He was sick of the jackass looking down on him for falling for his trick fifty years ago. Most of all, he’d had enough of the bastard’s physical and verbal attacks on the only two women he had ever cared for romantically. Those last two insinuations had thrown him over the edge. There would be no more talking, only blood. And death. Oh, yes, there would be death.
A massive surge of dark energy rocked the valley. The diamond shards which had embedded in Naraku’s flesh flew in all directions, as huge clouds of miasma rolled forth and quickly covered the entire area. Inuyasha coughed, shielding his mouth with his sleeve amid the dying grass. How the hell did his miasma get so strong? It burned his throat when he inhaled, and even though he knew how tough his body was, he was nervous about spending too much time in the presence of the noxious vapor. They had seen this sort of thing before with Naraku; his powers increased the larger his fragment of the Shikon no Tama became. The addition of Kagome’s shards seemed to be no exception. A feminine cough echoed from Inuyasha’s left, it’s heavily muffled sound meaning Kagome had the right idea. That’s right, wench, stay quiet. That bastard is probably as blind in this shit as we are. Naraku’s maniacal laughter rang out over the haze.
“Kukuku, you two can hide as long as you wish, but I will find you eventually.”
Inuyasha grimaced, eyes rapidly scanning his surroundings. Dammit, he’s right. The only question is which one of us will he find first? Retreat was not an option, both because this was their best chance to slay Naraku and they would probably be stabbed in the back if they ran. Visibility was low, but not catastrophically so. Still, he would feel a hell of a lot better if Kagome was by his side; at least then he could watch out for her. And two sets of eyes were better than one. With that in mind, he began gingerly stepping in the direction of her voice, his footfalls on the lifeless grass sounding incredibly loud to his ears.
Kagome’s sudden scream was punctuated by the appearance of a pink glow against the gloom, zipping off across the field until its light no longer reached them. She had loosed an arrow, and Inuyasha could only imagine what her target was. He heard her footsteps pounding into the grass as she ran, his ears pricked forward as he tracked them. Sheathing Tetsusaiga, he sprinted toward the sound, nearly barreling her over when they collided. As it was, he had a better view of the tentacles pursuing her, tentacles which were now closing in on the halted pair. He shoved her away and made quick work of them with his claws. Another arrow whizzed over his head, making the tips of his ears tingle and obliterating another group of tentacles that sought to take him unawares. He retreated to Kagome’s side, briefly looking her over before turning to stand back-to-back.
“You alright, wench?” he whispered.
“More or less. You?”
“Yeah. How many arrows you got left?”
“Two,” Kagome answered despondently. The rest had been broken during her earlier capture.
“Fuck.”
“You can say that again.”
“Don’t use ‘em unless you really have to.”
“Okay. So what do we do now?” Two sets of hanyou eyes continued to peer anxiously into the miasma, both knowing that another attack would come eventually.
“Hang on, I wanna try something.” Pulling out Tetsusaiga once more, Inuyasha channeled the familiar energy and smashed the sword into the dirt. The rippling blades of the Kaze no Kizu lanced outwards across the plain, dissipating the miasma for a few seconds before the poison cloud filled in again. Grinning, Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder and held his sword aloft.
“This is how we find the bastard.”
Kagome’s reply never came, as a great throng of tentacles descended upon them. She dove to one side, pain jolting from her stomach as she rolled out of harm’s way. Darting into the gloom, she was surprised at the small number of tentacles that came after her. They were easily dispatched, but she did not rejoice knowing that Naraku was focusing on her mate. Inuyasha was constantly in motion, grunting and breathing heavily as he tried to avoid the onslaught. Kagome heard a soft thud, then a flurry of activity as he climbed to his feet again and resumed his evasion. In spite of this apparent close call, it was the sound of coughing that worried Kagome the most. The miasma was beginning to affect her, making simple respiration more difficult, so she could only imagine the effect it was having on Inuyasha right now. The situation needed to be rectified, and fast. Rushing in and purifying tentacles was a temporary solution at best, but she had to do something. Drawing a blank, she was about to go to Inuyasha’s aid before an idea struck and she nearly punched herself in the head for her stupidity. Why the hell didn’t I think of this before? I can sense the fucking jewel!
Focusing her miko powers, she let her consciousness probe the surrounding area for the jewel’s aura. It was not at all hard to find, tainted as it was. In her mind’s eye, it appeared as a floating black orb, the source of great crackling streams of sinister energy. The colossal strength of the jewel, she mused, could be turned into a weakness. She locked her stare on the target, and her gaze never wavered as she raised her bow and notched an arrow. Taking aim, she let fly. The arrow had barely left her hand when she called out to her mate, trusting him to grasp her hastily formed plan.
“Go, Inuyasha!”
Naraku apparently saw the pink glow speeding toward him, as he was able to lunge out of its path, the projectile only managing to lightly scorch his robes. Inuyasha emerged into the path cleared by the arrow, taking advantage of Naraku’s distraction to escape from his relentless tentacles. But the miasma was already seeping back into the open air, and in a matter of moments the dark hanyou’s form would be completely obscured again. Inuyasha was having none of that. He didn’t bother calling the name of the attack, but that made the Kaze no Kizu no less effective. Naraku deflected it with his barrier, but his destruction wasn’t Inuyasha’s goal in launching it. The objective was to blow away a large swath of miasma and give him a clear look at his adversary, and this had been accomplished. He pulled back Tetsusaiga and told it to change form, and the sword responded eagerly.
“Kongousouha!” he yelled, the diamond spears once more battering Naraku’s barrier until it shattered. The rest literally shredded Naraku’s body, tearing through tentacle, armour, and cloth and rending flesh. When the last shard had passed, all that remained of the dark hanyou was his head, glaring at them vehemently. And hovering below the disconnected neck, about where his heart would be, was the incredible blackness of the Shikon no Tama.
“Now, Kagome!” Inuyasha cried, but the miko needed no encouragement. Already the last arrow was notched, infused with more pure energy than the world had ever seen. She poured her soul into the weapon, her sadness for all the pain and suffering caused by Naraku, her anger for the lives he had meddled with or cut short, her hope for a brighter future when he was gone. When self-preservation kicked in, she ignored it, pushing well past any limits on her power she thought were in place. She stopped only when darkness began nibbling at the corners of her consciousness. With that last of her strength she aimed and fired, immediately collapsing on her hands and knees afterwards. She watched the arrow with bated breath, praying her aim was good. And for luck.
For Inuyasha, the arrow with its massive conical shaped outpouring of power was truly a sight to behold. He watched it rush toward its target, reading Naraku’s terrified expression an instant before the world went completely white. The all encompassing color flickered black, then back to white again, a hundred times in the blink of an eye before light finally overrode darkness. There was an audible crack, and then a tremendous explosion, punctuated by a single tormented cry that faded into the wind. Out of the blast flew hundreds of thin pink lines, streaking across the sky to unknown and unseen destinations. And when the great flash of light finally faded, nothing remained of Naraku or his miasma.
One of the pink streaks plummeted into the grass near Inuyasha’s feet, and he moved to investigate, already knowing what he would find. He picked up the small object between thumb and forefinger, and raised it up to eye level. It was a tiny shard of the Shikon no Tama, shining with purity. Gradually, an exultant grin pulled up the corners of his lips. They had done it. They had killed Naraku. The air was completely devoid of his scent, as if the entire valley had been wiped clean. There was no way Naraku could have survived that incredible blast of purity, so powerful that it purged the jewel of its taint and shattered it once more. The bastard was really dead this time. He almost couldn’t believe it.
Soft laughter drew his attention to where Kagome lay on her back in the grass, beaming up at the sky and giggling uncontrollably. Inuyasha could understand her giddiness. An enormous weight that had been hanging over his head for months had been removed. His face fell when the feminine laughter turned to coughing, followed by a moan of pain. He hastily jogged over and knelt by her side, gently smoothing her bangs out of her face.
“You alright, wench?” he asked again, eyeing the crimson bloodstains on her clothing. She was in pretty rough shape. He wasn’t in great condition himself, but he would worry about his own injuries later.
“We did it, Inuyasha,” she declared in amazement, ignoring his question. Despite his concerns, he smiled down at her.
“Yeah, we did. Here,” he said, holding the jewel shard above her nose. Her expression immediately turned crestfallen.
“Sorry,” she mumbled remorsefully. “I can’t believe I broke it again.”
“Kagome, after all this time, do you think I give a damn about the jewel?” Leaning down, he planted a chaste, firm kiss on her lips, then pulled back a couple inches to stare into her surprised brown eyes. “I couldn’t care less.”
Slowly Kagome’s gaze softened, self-reproach replaced by relief and gratitude. She finally took the shard and, for lack of a better place to keep it, put it in her bra.
“We still need to collect the shards and make the Shikon no Tama whole again. Only when it is gone from this world can we truly move on with our lives.”
Inuyasha nodded, knowing she was right. But right now, all he cared about was getting her wounds bandaged.
“Come on, wench, let’s get you cleaned up,” he declared, offering her his back. Kagome tried to rise, but her shoulders had barely lifted when her strength gave out and she flopped back to the ground. Inuyasha’s eyes widened in alarm. “Kagome, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just really…” she paused, mouth opening in a cavernous yawn. “…tired.”
Inuyasha frowned, gathering up her limp form in his arms. Damn, using all that power must have really drained her.
“You overdid it, Kagome. You shouldn’t have used so much miko energy.”
“Had to,” she replied, not even bothering to open her eyes. Sensing she was well on her way to slumber, Inuyasha didn’t continue the argument. He would let her sleep; it was probably the best thing for her right now. He stooped to pick up her bow, but found that it was nothing more than a pile of dust blowing in the breeze. Holy shit! She really overdid it!
(1) See chapter 12
A/N – Just when it looked like the story was coming to its climax, the quest for the Shikon no Tama must begin anew. We can’t be done yet; we’re barely halfway through my outline!
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