InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Midnight Blood ❯ Weaknesses ( Chapter 26 )

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

Happy holidays everyone! I hope you’re full of cheer! Sorry for the long wait between updates. Lots going on in life, but I finally pushed myself to sit down and write this, marathoning in front of my computer for nine hours. Man, my wrists are tired, but I was determined to get this to you all this week! I hope you enjoy! And again, I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors I missed.  
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DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Inuyasha, nor do I take credit for Rumiko Takahashi’s genius. I don’t own Yu Yu Hakusho, nor do I take credit for Yoshihiro Togashi’s awesome characters.
@REVIEWERGODDESS: You are so sweet! Thanks for you extra long review! I'm happy you like this fanfiction's universe. Yes, Narek is a sneaky bastard. He just loves being evil (*looks around sneakily*).  I think he maaaaaay have rubbed off on me in this chapter. I must say I'm surprised with how popular Shippo and Myoga became in those last chapters. You're really taken a shine to them eh? I hope you enjoy this extra long chapter! Happy Holidays! Virtual hugs!
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@RAIRAI: Nataly? Do you mean Lilliana? I'm so sorry to hear about your arthritis and carpal tunnel. I hope you get better so that you can play your interments again.  Thank you for your concern though, that's so kind of you. I'm getting better as long as I take it easy with my hands.  Too much equals bad flair-ups. I hope this chapter brings you joy though, I know how excited you were. Happy Holidays!
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@KAGOME0123456789: You wanted a longer chapter, well, here you go! This one was twenty-two pages long! Even without authors and reviewers notes! I even decreased the margin space too!  And yes, I do really love my cliffhangers! *laughing evilly* Hope your holidays are going well and thanks so much for the review!

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Part Twenty-Six: Weaknesses
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‘‘A re you going to tell us what the hell is going on? You actually went and revealed yourself to the nightwalker king and now you want us to move through the town and look for holes in the walls?’’
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Lucy would have rolled her eyes at Xander if she weren’t already trying to string so many thought patterns together at once. Less then an hour had passed since she approached Sesshoumaru and demanded his assistance. She calculated the time difference between the two worlds in her head just as another thought interrupted her math: Narek. If Lucy were to guess, it wouldn’t take him long to find and kill Inuyasha, Kagome and Lilliana, but, if she were being honest, she knew he hadn’t. She didn’t have the strength to stretch her awareness. Knowing Narek, he would keep them alive simply to spite her. Which left her with one other option.  
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‘‘Hello? Lucy! I was talking to you!’’
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She turned to Xander and Chase. The three of them stood on top of a tall building downtown. The hot, dirty Los Angeles air pressed against her skin, only adding to her agitation. ‘‘I don’t have time to explain it all to you. In short terms, there’s another world parallel to this one where powerful nightwalkers live. They have somehow found a way to link the two worlds again, and we need to find those openings and seal them before they do.’’
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The muscles on Chase’s upper arms tightened. ‘‘Again? This has happened before?’’
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‘‘Once, long ago, but there’s no time for that now. If I’m right, it’s been less then forty-five minutes, which would mean it has been about fifteen days on the other side. We have to move fast.’’   
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‘‘This is crazy.’’ Xander kicked a stray piece of gravel. ‘‘You’re telling me that we have to look for black holes and you have to close them? I’d question the laws of physics, but then again bloodsuckers like us exist so why should I be surprised. What do you want us to do?’’
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‘‘I can’t wait for the nightwalker king to mobilize. I’ll have to force his hand. In the meantime, I want the two of you to find these holes and contact me mentally if you do.’’
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Xander jumped off the building, already working on his assigned task, but Chase remained and glared at Lucy. ‘‘You’re not going to get Narek to mobilize?’’
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‘‘I don’t know where he is and he’s not keen on answering my calls.’’
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Chase narrowed his eyes. ‘‘True, he’s been missing for the past week. Interesting how you don’t seek him out like you usually do.’’
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Lucy waved her arm dismissively. ‘‘He’ll appear eventually. Now is not the time for this. We have to hurry.’’
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‘‘What are you afraid of in this other world?’’
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‘‘Close those gates and you won’t ever have to find out.’’
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‘‘Oh god.’’ Kagome turned green. Inuyasha felt her skin turn cold in his hand. Just as he was beginning to think she was going to faint, her grip on his hand became painful and her eyes focused intensely on the ice. ‘‘Those bastards lied to us,’’ she hissed.  
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‘We’re going to find who did this and rip out their organs one by one.’
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Inuyasha enjoyed a wave of fury that washed over him from his inner demon, but he pushed away the desire to jump into that desert hole and start on a killing rampage. He turned to Narek. ‘‘So this is what you wanted us to see?’’
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Narek did not speak. Without taking his eyes off the ice that encased Lilliana, he simply walked toward the giant hole in the sand.
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‘‘Hey, you bastard! You blackmail us into coming here but don’t bother telling how you expect us to get her out?’’
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Without looking at Kagome, Narek said, ‘‘Figure it out. I’ll be in touch.’’
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Just as Inuyasha and Kagome ran forward to try and kill him, he was gone. ‘‘Damn it! How does he do that?’’ Kagome stomped her foot so hard that sand flew up around her.
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Inuyasha felt Narek’s scent fade. He was not coming back. ‘‘I wish I knew how he did so that I could kill him before he disappears.’’
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‘I could teach you how.’       
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‘&# 8216;You could teach me what?’’
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‘How to disappear, stupid. He uses his inner demon’s speed. Just let me out for a little and-’
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‘‘No.’’
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K agome tilted her head at him. ‘‘Talking to yourself again?’’
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Inuyasha sighed. ‘‘I was talking to my inner demon. It says-’’
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‘Sense! Not say! All men can feel the inner demons of other men, moron!’   
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‘‘It senses, that Narek has an inner demon. Apparently, that’s how he disappears; he uses his inner demon’s speed.’’
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‘‘I didn’t want to think about inner demons anymore. What I want to know is how the hell we’re going to get up there? Even I can’t jump that high.’’
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Inuyasha heard his inner demon laugh ironically and then he understood. ‘‘Of course. Narek would have gotten her out of there if he could reach it by jumping. How much you want to bet that the only way to get up there is to go through the spire until you reach the top.’’
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Kagome pointed from the top of the metal tower all the way down into the black hole. ‘‘If there is a base, I’d say that’s our best way in.’’   
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‘‘Keep your guard up,’’ Inuyasha told her as they slid down a sand dune.  They walked in silence, noting a stone stairway that led down into the city as they neared the edge of the crater. As he followed Kagome down the narrow steps, Inuyasha felt a breeze of hot air float by his ears.
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Climbing down the steps, the temperature dropped, but only by the tiniest of degrees. Even the stones on the walls were warm to the touch. How was it possible to be in a world where there was no sun and yet still feel like there was a ball of fire right above their heads, Inuyasha thought. He was so preoccupied with ignoring the sweat drip down between his eyes that he was shocked when Kagome was snatched from right in front of him into a small alley built into the wall.
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He turned the corner and stopped, stunned. A woman had Kagome pressed against the wall. ‘‘Oh my oh me, darling, you smell like you haven’t had a good time in ages.’’ The stranger’s finger slid down Kagome’s chin to her neck and then her breasts.  ‘‘Why don’t I ease that pain for you?’’ She leaned in closer, an inch away from pressing her lips to his mate’s.
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‘Nice,’ the inner beast hissed.   
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Kagome’s palm covered the woman’s nose and mouth. ‘‘Get off!’’
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At this, Inuyasha moved. He hooked the woman’s arm behind her back and slammed her against the opposite wall. ‘‘Didn’t anyone tell you not to mess with someone else’s mate?’’
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Rather then answer him, the female stuck out her ass and got a good rub with his groin before Inuyasha let her go out of sheer surprise. As though nothing had happened, she turned around and straightened her hair and that’s when he got a good look at her. Red eyes, chin-length, straight, black, hair, a short, black dress with a plunging neckline that exposed part of her full breasts, and she had no problem standing with her legs parted widely. Inuyasha felt like his skin was too tight.
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‘‘Hmph, neither of you are any fun,’’ she pouted, then snuck close to Inuyasha and ran her fingers through his hair. ‘‘Pretty.’’
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Inuyasha sidestepped out of her reach, grabbed Kagome’s elbow, and rushed out of the alley, leaving the strange woman and her cutesy laughter behind. ‘‘What the hell was that about,’’ Kagome said when he let her go.
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‘‘Don’t know, don’t care.’’ Inuyasha whipped his forehead with his sleeve. At this rate, he was either going to burst from repression or faint from dehydration. In front of them stretched the strange city. It was like being on the inside of a cardboard tube with toothpicks stuck through it. The walls of the tube had buildings carved into it, with alleyways that led deeper into the rocky crater. They were standing on a circular walkway that stretched out from the walls, a ten-foot wide sidewalk that spiraled deeper into the hole. There were bridges that connected the sidewalks from one side of the tube to the other, and Inuyasha shuddered when he looked down the nearest one. A group of men licked their lips when he made eye contact with them.
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Kagome glared at the people on the bridges. It was like the connecting structures were made to be playgrounds for hedonism. There were men and women either looking hungrily at others, or already in the process of going from playful kissing to something more intense. Inuyasha was beginning to wonder if the heat was from the desert, or from the intense lust that seemed to coat the air. He wished for the cold, angry mountains of the ice nightwalkers.
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They passed an alley where they heard moaning. Instead of the repressed and angry lust of their ice counterparts, the desert nightwalkers were so blatant with their desire that Kagome had to push several men and women away when they came to close to her. Even Inuyasha had to squeeze his way out of several women grabbing at him.
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Exasperated, Inuyasha grabbed the next man that came too close and held the stranger aloft by his neck. ‘‘How do you get in that tower?’’
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The man laughed. ‘‘You got a job in there or something?’’
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‘‘What’s the way in?’’
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The guy brought up his legs and wrapped them around Inuyasha’s arm. ‘‘Why bother? Only those invited by the king can get in. Where’s the fun in that?’’ He squeezed Inuyasha’s arm with his thighs, and Inuyasha felt the pain of his bones bending. His fingers weakening from the strain, he let go of the man’s neck. Almost like a snake, the man slithered around behind Inuyasha and smelled his hair.
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Inuyasha elbowed him hard in the stomach and jumped off the bridge he was standing.  He landed on the bridge directly underneath and caught his breath. He was ready to bolt when someone landed next to him and he almost fell in relief when he saw that it was only Kagome. She put her hand on his shoulder. ‘‘Are you okay?’’
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Inuyasha wheezed, trying to string words together through his nervous gasping. ‘‘If there’s ever another time we have sex,’’ he put his hand on Kagome’s, ‘‘we need to make a safety word.’’
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She pressed her lips together but he knew she would have laughed if she opened her mouth. ‘‘That’s a big ‘if.’’’
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‘‘He didn’t try to grab at you too did he?’’
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‘‘He tried, but I scrambled his memories when he touched me. Probably still standing there wondering why he thought of his mother.’’
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Inuyasha pushed her shoulder affectionately. ‘‘Nice.’’
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Kagome grinned. ‘‘Myoga wasn’t kidding about the perverts here.’’
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‘‘Don’t worry,’’ Inuyasha told her, ‘‘I’m not letting you out of my sight.’’
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‘‘I got your back too. So, uh, any ideas how we’re going to get to that tower?’’
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Inuyasha shrugged, turning to look at the tower in question. None of the bridges connected to it. Truly massive, a mile across and with no windows or doors leading inside, the inky, black, metal surface looked too smooth to climb. Inuyasha watched nightwalkers darting around above and noticed that none of the natives used as it a platform. They jumped from bridge to bridge, or from one side of the circular city wall to the other, but they never touched the tower in the middle.
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Curious, Inuyasha looked around for something he could throw. He found a small rock and hurled it toward the tower. It exploded before it even touched the black wall. ‘‘Looks like we can’t break our way in either.’’  Inuyasha let out a frustrated yowl. ‘‘Can’t I catch a goddamn break!’’
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‘‘Inuyasha look!’’
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He only had a second to look at Kagome’s surprised expression before he saw what, whom, she was pointing at. A woman disappeared behind a building at the far end of the bridge, but not before Inuyasha saw a flash of cold, blue eyes and silver hair, which sparked a familiar, and infuriating, memory of when he was attacked by human slaves.
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Kagome began asking the exact same questions he had in his mind. ‘‘What was her name? Tsubaki? What’s she doing here? How did she get here? She was in the human world last time we saw her.’’
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‘‘Well that answers a few questions at least.’’ Inuyasha moved to follow Tsubaki. ‘‘We know for sure now that she originated in this world.’’
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‘‘Wait, are you sure that following her is a good idea?’’
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Inuyasha neared a corner and pressed his back against the wall, peaking over. Tsubaki stood at the end of a long alleyway. Next to her was a brown door. Inuyasha turned to face Kagome and motioned for her to keep quiet. In the distance, he heard a soft click and the sound of Tsubaki’s footsteps disappearing.  When he looked back at where she had been, the door was ajar.
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With Kagome silently trailing behind him, he entered the doorway. Inside, there was a dusty looking office of sorts. Desks were lined up in neat rows and columns, yet the dust that coated them told him that no one had been there for a while. There were no doors or windows, and Tsubaki was nowhere in sight. Strangely enough, her scent was gone too. ‘‘Now what?’’ Kagome whispered.
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Inuyasha slid his hands over the walls, looking for an opening or a secret passage. ‘‘Any ideas?’’
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‘Give me control.’
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‘‘I’ll give you half. Kagome, if I go to far, jump into my memories.’’
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‘‘Huh? Oh! Okay.’’ She moved to stand in front of the door.
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Inuyasha waited, feeling a strange sensation creep over his mind. Rational thought slowly ebbed away from his consciousness, making him fell as though he were dreaming. Just when he was about to fall into a complete daze, the tiny voice of reason in his mind snapped and he pushed the dreamlike haze back just enough for him to not to feel completely drunk off of it. He felt half asleep, half awake, and yet completely full of energy.
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‘‘Follow the air.’’ He closed his eyes, listened, and felt every hair follicle on his skin prickle. Air pressed along his flesh, smooth, hot, and uninterrupted. He moved in a circle, letting the dry atmosphere creep over him until he felt a breeze that didn’t belong within the stillness.
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He reached out, following the movement of the tiny current. His hand met some hot stone, and he opened his eyes to look at the wall. ‘‘Here.’’ Bringing his arm back, he punched. The wall crumbled easily and he felt cheated for using more strength then necessary. As the rubble came down and the dark tunnel appeared before him, his rational thoughts jumped out at him, demanding he remember his objective.
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Inuyasha shook his head as though trying to beat the inebriation out of his brain. He took a deep breath, feeling cool air and the smell of sand and metal coming from somewhere deep in the underground. ‘‘Thanks.’’
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‘I could show you so much more,’ his inner voice whined.
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‘‘I’m all right,’’ Inuyasha told Kagome.
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‘‘Good,’’ she smiled, ‘‘let’s go.’’
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They descended, and Inuyasha was relieved that not all darkness worked the way it was in Ghost Forest. In the dark he noted just how small the tunnel was with the roof just an inch above his head. After walking for a few minutes, his feet sank into the floor and he felt the nasty squish of mud. Kagome let out a disgusted squeak. ‘‘I really hope this is just mud.’’
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Inuyasha was about to tell her that it wasn’t when he came out of the tunnel into a cavern glowing with purple light. There was a metal sort of gate at the far end of the cavern. As Inuyasha walked further inward, the mud beneath his feet became purple water. The puddle was formed by water trickling down the walls of the cave, its mist coating the air, stinging his nose like a poisonous type of vinegar.  He felt the urge to cough. ‘‘What is this stuff?’’
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‘‘It’s the king’s miasma.’’ Narek’s voice echoed in the cavern.
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Kagome yelped. Inuyasha never got to see her. Something hard hit his head and he forgot everything as his mind turned black.
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Several scents hit her nose at once: the stench of a hated enemy, the smell of a familiar icy nightwalker, the smell of a powerful fox, and another belonging to her mate. Then there was fifth smell. It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but it gave her already pounding head more pain. It was the kind of stench that crept into one’s mind and stayed there, muddling one’s thoughts. She was reminded of purple stuff she had seen somewhere.
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Purple stuff? Like water? Hadn’t they been in a cave somewhere? She felt her thoughts come together. She was on a cold floor. Cold? How? They were in a desert.  
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Kagome opened her eyes, realizing that they were the only part of her body she could move. A groan from beside her told her that Inuyasha was in the same position as she. She was hauled upright, her head pulled back to look straight. If it weren’t for the hand that were holding the back of her neck, she was sure that she would collapse in a heap. It was like all the bones had been pulled out of her body. Yet the loss of control over her own extremities wasn’t nearly was terrifying as the scene in front of her.
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Human slaves surrounded them on all sides of the circular room. They were unmoving. Their lifeless eyes, mangled arms, hunchbacks, and asymmetrical horns made Kagome’s heart, the only part of her body other then her head she could still feel, rage with terror.  
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Men with familiar faces stood at the far end of what looked like a massive audience room. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw that walls were transparent, showing the dusty city outside. Tapestries seemed to hang from nothing; at least the floor beneath her feet was completely black. But it was the men that caught her attention the most.
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Yoko Kurama, and Hiei stood to the right of a dais at the far end of the hall, watching Tsubaki across from them. Behind Tsubaki were several hundred women in white and blue kimonos, and, even though she was over thirty feet away, Kagome could feel the cold radiating off them. The women stared coldly at their guards.  Malicious looking nightwalkers leered at the women, making uncomfortable gestures and whispering to them.
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Kagome heard the sound of footsteps. Another woman with short hair entered the hall, and Kagome recognized her scandalous dress and figure; it was the woman that had almost kissed Kagome and felt Inuyasha’s hair. Then the scent that reminded her of the purple water increased, stinging her nose.  The shorthaired woman moved away and bowed as a man with long, wavy, black hair appeared.    
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‘‘Hmm? I’m surprised to see you here, Yoko.’’
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Even though Kagome couldn’t feel her fingers and toes, she was sure they were tingling with ice, for her heart suddenly felt like it was pumping frost instead of blood. She knew that voice. She had heard it in her dreams and in Koga’s memories, the voice from the darkness, the voice that felt pleasure at the thought of slowing watching her die.    
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‘‘Interesting,’’ said Yoko coolly, ‘‘considering it was your spiders that attacked my domain.’’
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‘‘I’m certain I don’t know what you mean.’’   
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‘‘You’re far too culpable to feign innocence, Naraku.’’
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‘‘Enough! The two of you can go over your squabbles after I get what belongs to me,’’ Hiei cut in.
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‘‘Of course.’’ Naraku made his way down the dais. ‘‘Yura,’’ he gestured to the scantily clad woman, ‘‘if you please.’’
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Yura smiled sweetly and move closer to the women. Kagome felt something close to panic rip through her; Naraku looked right at her and the sadistic glint in his eyes told her that he knew who she was.  ‘‘Hold a moment, Yura. What is this?’’   
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Tsubaki spoke. ‘‘This man here followed me to you with those two in tow.’’
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Naraku moved forward. ‘‘Hmm, to what do I owe this gift?’’
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‘‘Not a gift, a trade.’’ Kagome realized suddenly that the man holding her and Inuyasha aloft was none other then Narek.  So focused she was on what was happening in front of her that she completely forgot about Narek and how he had attacked her back at the cavern. For a second, hatred for him completely blocked out her terror, but then Naraku was standing only a foot away from her, replacing the empowering anger with a crippling coldness that seemed to engulf her.  
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‘‘You desire a trade as well?’’    
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‘‘These two, for that woman in the ice.’’
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Naraku raised an elegant brow. Kagome would have thought him handsome, but his perfection, his pale, unblemished face made him look gaunt and uncanny. Unlike Narek, whose good looks hide the monster beneath, this man’s beauty looked like that of corpse that was dressed up for a wake. He was pretty, but that didn’t hide what a monster he was. Like the hissing snake in her dreams, there was something just wrong about him.  
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‘‘Hmm? I find myself divided.’’ Naraku pulled Inuyasha’s head up by grabbing a fistful of his hair.  ‘‘On the one hand, I already have this one’s blood child, so I don’t really need him.’’
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‘‘You could always use a backup.  With the three of them, we have what we need.’’
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‘‘Silence, Tsubaki,’’ Naraku said evenly, though the spite in his eyes belied his calm.   
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‘‘Naraku!’’ Hiei stomped forward. ‘‘I gave you what you wanted. Now return my people!’’
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‘‘Of course. You may have your females back.’’
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With a sweet smile, Yura gestured for the guards to let the women go.  ‘‘I always fulfill the end of my bargian,’’ Naraku watched his guards part to let the women pass. ‘‘Of course, Hiei, I never promised I’d return your women alive.’’
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The room exploded as the guards and Yura pounced on the women. Hiei and Yoko jumped to their defense, but Tsubaki blocked them. The temperature dropped as the females drained the heat to defend themselves, the slaves that had been standing motionless rushed forward to feast on the ice nightwalkers and, in the midst of it all, Naraku, looking as calm as ever, spoke softly to Narek. ‘‘I thank you for bringing me these two, but I have no reason to trade the girl for them.’’
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‘‘Then the deal is off.’’ Narek dropped Kagome and Inuyasha on the floor, and Kagome felt tingling as sensation coming back to her body. The pain of hitting the ground was more welcome then the fear that lingered over her mind. She reached for Inuyasha’s pinky, and mouthed for him to be quiet.
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‘‘I don’t need a deal to acquire them. I just need you dead.’’  
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Naraku pounced on Narek and Kagome and Inuyasha rolled out from underfoot, got back on their feet and tried to make sense of the total chaos surrounding them. The ice nightwalkers were freezing anything they touched, Naraku’s people were fighting back against both them, and the feral vegetation that seemed to burse from the invisible walls and floor. As Inuyasha and Kagome ducked and dodged their way through the slaves and enemy nightwalkers, Hiei made his way behind Naraku and stabbed him with a black sword. Forgetting Narek, Naraku and Hiei began fighting each other.
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Kagome jumped out of the way of a slave that rushed toward her. Inuyasha grabbed it from behind, stopping it from catching her, and Kagome smashed its head against the wall.  In the midst of the madness, Inuyasha spotted Narek disappear through the invisible wall.
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‘‘Follow him,’’ Inuyasha whispered with his inner demon’s voice. Kagome complied without thought, moving as fast as she could through the mass of slaves, enemies and hostages in front of her. They reached the spot where Narek had disappeared and pressed their hands against the wall. But there was no wall; no hardness met their fingers. Kagome reached out with her foot, and found stairs.
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‘‘Be careful.’’ She told Inuyasha as she stepped forward. As she stepped out of the circular room, the wall stopped being see-through. They were outside, standing on an invisible staircase that must have spiraled up the metal tower because Narek was straight ahead, running with confidence over thin air.  
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Kagome and Inuyasha stepped where he did, carefully making sure that their feet met a surface as they climbed and casting looks behind them to make sure that they weren’t followed. The closer they got to the top, the more they could see the blue shine emanating from the man-sized ice crystal above.
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When Kagome’s feet touched the actual metal at the towers peak, she saw Narek punch his arms into the blue ice surrounding Lilliana’s body. The crystal shattered and Lilliana tumbled out into Narek’s arms.  She took a deep breath, and coughed furiously, her teeth chattering as she moaned painfully in her sleep.  Narek cursed, and Kagome heard screaming coming form below.  Inuyasha had finally made his way to the top, gasping. ‘‘They’re coming up the stairs!’’    
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Narek threw a knife. It zipped through the air right past Inuyasha, hitting a slave that had crept up the stairs. Inuyasha had his hands full, fighting off the slaves and enemies that were coming up from behind.  Kagome was torn between helping him and Lilliana. Unfortunately, Narek made the choice for her.  He lifted Lilliana in his arms and leapt off the tower.  
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‘‘Kagome, we need to go!’’ Inuyasha kicked a slave in the chest, sending it flying down into the crater. They kept coming up the tower like a swarm of insects, biting and clawing long before they even reached their prey, covering Inuyasha before Kagome could even get to him.
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Suddenly, the mountain of slaves on top of Inuyasha exploded, and there was a loud howl as Inuyasha emerged, getting larger as his canine form took over. With one swipe of his paws, he sent several enemies flying. Quickly he turned and lowered his head in front of Kagome. She leapt up onto his back and grabbed tufts of his white fur as he jumped off the tower, over the crater that held the town and ran straight into the desert.  The town and the noise of angry enemies faded as Inuyasha ran farther and farther. Soon, Kagome could only hear the thuds of Inuyasha’s gigantic steps.       
----
They stopped, somewhere. Inuyasha collapsed into the sand, and Kagome jumped down from his back the very moment his body began to return to normal. He stood on shaky legs, holding his head. There was no time for them to comfort each other, however, for they heard a familiar scream in the distance.
----
‘‘Go,’’ Inuyasha rasped, ‘‘I’m all right. I’ll follow.’’
----
Kagome rushed toward the voice, jumping over sand dunes, a chill spreading through her as the screaming grew louder. In the distance she saw Lilliana thrashing in the sand. Narek stood nearly, silently watching.  Lilliana was beyond hysterical, throwing up sand, kicking, and screaming. It looked as though she were fighting an invisible enemy.  
----
‘‘What the hell did you do to her,’’ Kagome yelled at Narek.   
----
He shrugged.  ‘‘I’ve done nothing.’’  
----
Kagome rushed forward to try and calm Lilliana, but the moment she touched Lilliana, images swarmed in her head, mixing with her own thoughts, and the flurry of resulting emotions made Kagome yelp. Lilliana threw her off and Kagome landed in the sand, holding her head and clenching her teeth together as she tried to make sense of the mess of feelings and memories dancing behind her eyelids.
----
In the distance she heard Inuyasha say, ‘‘what the fuck did you do, you bastard?’’
----
Narek’s response was jumbled in with the pictures that were swirling in Kagome’s brain. She curled up into a ball, wanting the dizzying flashes of terror, memories, and voices to stop.  Then there was a hand on her shoulder. Kagome grabbed hold, jumping into the memories of a calmer mind. Inuyasha’s worried thoughts for both her and Lilliana calmed Kagome’s psyche.  She blinked her bleary eyes, finally seeing Inuyasha’s face as he helped her stand.
----
‘‘I’ll be okay, just a little weak, give me a minute.  You should stop Lilliana.’’
----
She watched as Inuyasha faced Lilliana. ‘‘Lilly? Can you hear me?’’
----
Lilliana turned toward his voice. Her eyes darted this way and that, but she held still, listening. ‘‘You can relax. They won’t hurt you anymore.’’
----
Lilliana shivered, her claws digging into her arms, drawing blood.  Her dazed and confused expression didn’t fade, but she did not move away. Inuyasha came within three feet of her, carefully. Kagome watched, hoping Lilliana wouldn’t bolt. ‘‘We’re here. We came to rescue you. You’re safe now.’’
----
Lilliana’s eyes finally focused on Inuyasha’s face. She yelled, pushed him hard enough to send him flying a few feet. Then, she cast her eyes around frantically, as though looking for somewhere to hide. Just as Inuyasha regained his balance, Lilliana ran to Narek, and hid behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders.
----
Narek flinched at Lilliana’s touch.  ‘‘What did they do to your mind?’’
----
‘‘What the hell are you talking about,’’ Inuyasha barked at him.
----
‘‘So many jumbled memories.’’   
----
Practically crying now, Lilliana leaned her cheek against Narek’s back.
----
Inuyasha growled. ‘‘What are you doing?’’
----
Lilliana whimpered at his voice, putting her arms around Narek’s middle. Narek put his hands over hers, ignoring both Inuyasha and Kagome. ‘‘This is going to take time to heal,’’ he said softly, turning to face Lilliana. She looked like a lost child as she stared back at him, completely terrified of something only Narek could see. ‘‘Sleep now.’’ Lilliana’s head rocked backward, she collapsed into Narek’s arms. He lifted her up and turned to leave.
----
‘‘Oh no you don’t! You’re not taking her!’’
----
A second before he disappeared, Narek looked at Kagome and said, ‘‘you explain.’’ Then, just as Inuyasha was about to reach him, he and Lilliana were gone.  
----
Kagome stood with Inuyasha in silence for a little while. The nervous peace didn’t last for longer then a minute as Inuyasha began stomping around furiously. ‘‘What the fuck was that? What the hell is going on? To think she would seek him for comfort of all people!’’
----
‘‘Calm down Inuyasha! Lilliana would never betray you.’’
----
‘‘Then what the hell would you call that? Huh?’’
----
‘‘Okay, I understand why you would feel that way, I know it can hurt, but please hear me out.’’
----
‘‘Why?’’ He laughed and then looked at her suspiciously. ‘‘What? Where you in on something I didn’t know about?’’
----
‘‘No! Just, take a deep breath and listen. Please.’’
----
‘‘You want me to calm down when that bastard just used us as bait to rescue my blood child, and the second she’s free, she won’t let us, her family, help her, but rather goes to that traitor?’’
----
‘‘She was confused Inuyasha, I saw it all in her memories. Please! Don’t hold it against her, she was suffering.’’  
----
‘‘God damn!’’ He roared so loud that Kagome’s ears hurt.
----
‘‘Shh! We may not be alone! For all we know those desert nightwalkers could be coming after us.’’
----
‘‘Oh that would be just dandy, wouldn’t it.’’
----
Kagome’s legs shook, yet she still had enough energy to come forward and smack Inuyasha’s arm.  ‘‘All right, you’ve had a good sulk, now you listen to me. We’re exhausted, weak, and confused. Now is the time to focus.’’
----
‘‘All right, I’ll listen.’’ Inuyasha crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.  ‘‘So, for what logical reason, would Lilliana want help from him?’’
----
‘‘Okay, now don’t freak out and just listen. Lilliana and Narek knew each other when they were both human.’’  Surprise flashed across Inuyasha’s face for a second. He set his features to betray no emotion as Kagome explained about Lillana and Narek’s past together.
----
‘‘I saw it when I touched her.’’ Kagome shuddered. ‘‘I don’t know how it happened, but her memories were completely scrambled. She was reliving her most painful experiences over and over. It was so bad, that even when I touched her, I couldn’t see the world around me. I can’t imagine how much worse it was for her, alone and terrified in her own head. The only memories that gave her comfort were her childhood ones of Narek, back when he was kind and patient, back when he was her only friend in the world. That’s why he was the only thing she could recognize, that’s why she reached to him for solace.’’  
----
Inuyasha was silent for a while, opening and closing his mouth several times but saying nothing. Finally, he asked, ‘‘why didn’t you tell Lilliana and Narek knew each other as humans before all this?’’
----
‘‘It’s not my right to tell is it? It’s Lilliana’s past. I didn’t want to talk about anything that really wasn’t my business. You know how it is, don’t you?  Most human born nightwalkers don’t want to talk about their lives as humans.’’
----
Inuyasha sat down in the sand and dug his fingers in his hair. After a heavy sigh, he said, ‘‘I’m sorry.’’
----
‘‘It& #8217;s okay. I get it. But we shouldn’t stay here. They could be coming after us.’’
----
‘‘But how do we get out of here? It was hard enough navigating even with Narek’s stupid little stone.’’
----
‘‘Well, maybe you should ask your inner demon?’’
----
Inuyasha let out a defeated laugh. ‘‘All right, all right, it’s not like we have any better ideas. Hey, you got any ideas?’’   
----
Kagome watched awkwardly as he spoke, half of his conversation inaudible to her. ‘‘Only until we get out of here—how do we—if you so much as—okay, deal.’’   
----
‘‘So what does your inner demon say?’’
----
Inuyasha stood and cleared his throat. ‘‘This might be a little weird, but can I feed from you? To do this, I’m going to need the extra energy.’’    
----
Kagome swallowed. ‘‘O-okay. Make it quick.’’
----
Inuyasha’s eyes filled with red, jagged stripes slid onto his cheeks, and he pulled her close. ‘‘Now where’s the fun in that?’’
----
His burning fingertips brushed her hair away from her neck. He bit down softly. Already weak from fighting and looking into Lilliana’s memories, Kagome could not stop her legs from turning into jelly as more of her strength was drained away.  So tired, she wanted to fall asleep, the tingle of his even breath against her shoulder making her eyes flutter closed.  Just when she thought he might drain her dry, he stopped and lifted her up in his arms.
----
‘‘Keep your eyes closed. This can be disorienting.’’
----
Kagome did as she was told, too weak to resist and then her body jerked. She felt movement, the air was loud in her ears and it pressed against her face, harsh and oddly cold. It was like falling, but forward instead of down, and much faster. Inuyasha was right: the vertigo was terrible, even with her eyes shut tight.  She quickly lost track of time after a few moments. Moving so fast, she kept wishing it would end. It was a never-ending roller coaster that kept looping and swerving, even though she were sure that he never actually jumped.  
----
Stopping was worse, like hitting a wall at break-neck speed. Her head whiplashed and her body felt heavy, even though she had not done any physical activity. ‘‘You all right?’’
----
Kagome looked up. Inuyasha was back to normal. ‘‘Sorry, I’ve never disappeared before, but it was the fastest way to get out of the desert.’’
----
‘‘W-wait.’’ Kagome licked her lips. Her throat was completely dry. ‘‘Y-you disappeared? Like how Narek does?’’  She dared to turn her head around and take in their surroundings. They were back in the Infinity Meadow.
----
Inuyasha nodded, slowly sitting down. He positioned her across his lap. ‘‘It’s really weird to move that fast.’’ He brushed her bangs out of her eyes. ‘‘Are you okay?’’
----
‘‘You took way more blood then you should have.’’
----
‘‘Sorry. But we needed to get here and fast. The illusions around this place should protect us for a while.’’
----
Kagome rested her head against his upper arm, listening to him breathe. ‘‘How do you disappear?’’
----
‘‘You tap into your inner demon’s speed and let it do the rest. It does not last too long though; you can only go for short bursts, no longer then five minutes.  It’s a survival mechanism, to get you away from danger and far enough to give you a good lead to safety.’’  
----
‘‘That was only five minutes? I thought you were running forever. S-so, what do we do now.’’
----
Inuyasha covered his face with his hand. ‘‘I don’t know. Getting Lilliana back from Narek feels impossible, and then we have that whole fiasco that happened in the tower to figure out.’’
----
Kagome moved to wrap her arms around his shoulders. ‘‘I want to go home.’’
----
‘‘Yeah.’’ He rubbed her back.  The warmth of his hand spread all through her and Kagome did not want to fight the sleep that beckoned.
------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------< br> Inuyasha listened as Kagome fell asleep. He moved her so that her head rested against his forearm, feeling a little guilty for taking so much blood from her, especially when she had been so drained.
----
‘Nessisary evil.’
----
‘‘That doesn’t mean I have to like it.’’
----
‘‘When will you finally understand that I am you? You don’t have to speak for me to hear.’’
----
‘‘It’s just easier this way.’’
----
‘Yeah, whatever dipshit.’’
----
Inuyasha clicked his teeth, but then felt all his annoyance ebb away as he tried to think.  So much new information to piece together, and he had no idea what to do next. He was so tired, even after drinking from Kagome. He wanted to rest, but he knew that he should keep an eye out. He only hoped his strength didn’t fade. Perhaps the added power from his inner demon could keep him going for a while longer. There was so much about his new power he did not know. He only hoped it was strong enough to protect them from what was coming next.
----
‘You’re learning fast.’
----
‘‘But we are still don’t stand a chance all these new enemies.’’
----
‘We will get stronger.’

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