InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Midnight Blood ❯ Desperation ( Chapter 28 )

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

By: ji-an

A/N

So in my last author’s note, I asked if I should include a scene involving Narek and Lilliana, and no one replied, but hey, my story, my choice, I guess. Hopefully, I don’t get any backlash. A quick update though, sorry for the late upload. I’ve been trying to find a new, better paying job that does not treat me like an afterthought, and it’s such a pain in the ass because the universe seems to believe that brains and hard work isn’t worth jack, but getting into a nice cushy job because you know someone on the inside is the key to success. Le sigh.
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My pity party aside, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
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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: Hmm, I suppose forbidden knowledge does make a few people rather twitchy. Speaking of, your theories, man! How do you kno-never mind. I don’t want to spill any beans. Lol, a witches brew! There are no unicorns in this story, silly. Not unless Kagome puts an ice cream cone onto Inuyasha’s forehead. *Gasp* you made a Yura pun! Hah! But as always, thank you so much for your awesome review and I hope you enjoy!

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Part Twenty-Eight: Desperation
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‘‘Ah, ah, ah,’’ Yura sang.
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Something black flashed across Inuyasha’s eyes.
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‘‘Not this again,’’ he rasped.
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Like tentacles, hair looped around his wrists and ankles, shortly after he had fully recovered from their disorienting release mere minutes before. His limbs were stretched as though two giants were pulling on his arms and legs. He tried moving, but, despite the fact that Kikyo had Yura’s attention, her power over the hair had diminished only enough so that he could breathe. Just a few feet to his right, Kagome was in much the same situation. How on earth was Yura still so powerful despite the wounds and her body half turned into stone?
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‘‘Almost forgot about you two. Would you mind hanging around for a spell?’’
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Inuyasha groaned. ‘‘Bitch, please spare us from your rotten sense of humor.’’
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Yura rolled her eyes, and Inuyasha felt as though his body was covered in paper cuts. He yowled, looking down at his torso to see red crisscrosses. Raisin his head to yell at Yura, he found that she had quickly forgotten about him, opting instead to sway back and forth as though she heard some invisible song, her eyes on Kikyo.
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‘‘It would seem we are at an impasse. I don’t really want to kill this girl.’’ Yura pulled Sayo closer to her, cradling her captive’s chin in her hand. ‘‘Poor child, I really did want to deliver you to Naraku unharmed. Then again, I’m not too found of turning to stone. So, which is more important to you, your daughter’s arms and legs or your enemy’s life?’’
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Kikyo’s expression was blank, but her gaze did not lift from her daughter’s face. Sayo’s eyes were open, but no light shined them. The blood on her arms and legs dripped off the hair that bit into her skin, disappearing into the forest floor far below. Kikyo closed her eyes, and then snapped her fingers. The souls surrounding Yura vanished, but the stone creeping on her skin remained.
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‘‘How about a trade then,’’ Kikyo raised her hands, ‘‘why bother with an inexperienced revenant? I’ve guided countless souls in my lifetime; Sayo has barely begun to harness her power.’’
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Yura raised an eyebrow, smirking flirtatiously. As if to add more weight to her offer, Kikyo handed Shippo her bow. The boy’s face paled the second his hands touched the weapon, his increasing frown making him look as though he were on the verge of tears, but Kikyo stopped him with a stern look.
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‘‘Do as I said,’’ Kikyo ordered.
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Shippo looked down and closed his eyes, as though resigned to some terrible fate, but held the bow close to his chest. With a puff of smoke, he was gone.
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‘‘Release Sayo. I will go with you.’’
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‘‘Oh? And what of this stone curse you’ve put me under?’’
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Kikyo shrugged. ‘‘Insurance. I will lift the curse once you and I are out of the forest.’’
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Yura threw her head back, her cackle shaking the very air. ‘‘Of what kind of fool do you take me for?’’ She winked, and Sayo cried out as her body was mummified in hair.
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Kagome yelped and Inuyasha couldn’t breathe, the wires looped around his neck, threatening to chop his head clean off. His vision blackening around the edges, he looked up to see Kikyo holding out her hand. The only fleshy part of Yura was now her head, but she did not seemed bothered at all.
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‘‘You didn’t think I would actually trust you to come quietly now did you?’’ Yura let out a garbled giggle. ‘‘Do continue, Lady Kikyo, I have nothing left to lose! Either way I meet my end, but if you continue, you will surely lose your precious daughter? Do you want two corpses or one?’’ Yura faced Sayo. A needle like piece of hair slowly inched toward her eyes.
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When the needles were mere millimeters away from Sayo’s lashes, Kikyo put her arm down, releasing Yura from the spell. She breathed dramatically as her body was released from stone and then snapped her fingers. Hair looped around Kikyo, imprisoning her. She floated across to Yura, but just as she was within the hair witch’s range, Kikyo flashed out her arm, a wave of white light hitting Yura squarely in the chest, disconnecting her from the hair under her command. All the bodies that had been held up by Yura’s tendrils began falling. Dead, unconscious, living, all crashed through branches, toward the dark underbelly of Ghost Forest.
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The air whooshed in Inuyasha’s ears. He struggled to untangle himself from the hair, to regain his balance. His back hit a branch, and quickly, before he could fall, his sank his claws into the wood. Hanging by one arm in midair, by some miracle, he grabbed Kagome’s hand when as she was falling by. She swatted at the remaining hair on her clothes breathlessly.
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‘‘You all right?’’
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Instead of answering, she pointed behind him. ‘‘Look!’’
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Inuyasha followed the tip of her finger. Sayo’s body was hanging from a broken tree limb just fifteen feet above them. He arm protested by throbbing, but he pulled himself and Kagome up onto the branch, before he jumped up to gather Sayo in his arms. Then there was a giggle from above that made his stomach lurch.
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Yura dived toward them, her smile deranged and hungry, her fingers extended. The branch Inuyasha stood on broke apart, and he fell onto a web of hair, Sayo rolling away from his hold. He could see Kagome struggling next to him but it was no use, the three of them were flies and the black widow was mere inches away from sucking them all dry.
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A tornado of thoughts spun in Inuyasha’s mind, mixing with real terror as he realized that this could truly be the end for all of them! His inner demon was roaring furiously, but even as his body slightly expanded, the hair pinned him back down, slicing into him as though he were cheese. His mate was trapped. His body was in shock from all the torture just inflicted on him. All it would take was for Yura to simply stretch her arm and she could fully tear out his heart. He couldn’t end there. He would have failed his promise to himself and Kagome if he did. He owed them both the chance to live, to start over, and how dare the miserable world he found himself in rob him of it. He had to live!
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Yura reached out. There was a pulse at his hip. The sword! The hair held down his arm. He managed to curl his fingers around the blade and pulled it free only an inch. Yura landed on top of him and slashed at his chest, but there was no time for him to waste on pain or broken bones or muscle. Yanking the Tessaiga out of its sheath, he swung his arm as fast as he was able, and something blindingly white slashed Yura across her cheek and nose. She screamed and jumped backward as Inuyasha rolled, cutting the net beneath them. A blast of wind hit him hard as they fell. He could not see the ground below. There was a gaping hole straight ahead, like the black abyss at the bottom of a well, and he was powerless to stop himself from falling in. He closed his eyes and hit something hard.
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His ears ringing, his head and neck sore. What he wouldn’t give to stay there, his face pressed into the ground, and just let it be for a moment. ‘‘No rest for the wicked,’’ Inuyasha rasped, rolling himself over onto his back. ‘‘We have to get out of-’’
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His heart almost stopped.
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The sky above him was blue, a few stars twinkling despite the grey tinge of city pollution. With great effort, he lifted his upper body and a powerful, drilling sting attacked the sides of his head. Wincing, he pressed his hand against his jaw, and felt another shocking discovery with his fingertips. His ear. Feeling around some more, he felt that the top of his head was flat and that his eyes were watery. Whipping away a tear, he quickly discovered that his eyes were bleeding.
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He needed to get up, he needed to find his family, but when he tried to stand, his legs wouldn’t move. And then he felt it. He was lying in something wet. His own blood rose up into his mouth. It burned to breathe.
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Narek heard the commotion from a distance. Though muffled by the vast space between him and the action, he knew the sound of suffering when he heard it. He had waited until the sound died fully, about three days by his estimation. Then he had set out to investigate. Ghost Forest and the Spirit Woods lived up to their namesake. He encountered neither beast nor nightwalker. Even the souls he’d seen dancing in the Fox Lord’s domain were gone.
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The ripped apart town did not surprise him and there was little he could do for the dead bodies he’d passed. He had known this was where Naraku would set his sights on next. Years spent in that world, he’d heard rumors about the Spider King’s obsession with revenants. For whatever reason he wanted Lilliana, Inuyasha and Kagome, he seemed just as desperate to get his hands on a revenant as well.
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Narek weighed his options. Deduction could only get him so far. He knew that Kagome and Inuyasha had been in the Spirit Woods at one point, but their scent was long gone, and, while he could track them, he had more pressing matters to dwell on. So, instead, he settled on tracking their companions.
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It did not take him long to find the little fox-boy. He stood alone in the meadow, but if Narek stretched his senses, he knew there were more nightwalkers nearby. Likely, they were the survivors of the Spirit Woods. Taking purposefully loud steps, Narek made his way to the little boy. The child sensed his presence and jumped up, his eyes and body hot with suspicion. Narek took in the boy’s bruises, and debated healing him, but he doubted that the boy would understand his rather strange methods. The ability to heal was useful, but troublesome at best.
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‘‘Who are you?’’
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Narek shrugged casually. ‘‘Can you help me? I can’t seem to find my way out of here.’’ He pretended to stumble.
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The boy eyed his appearance. ‘‘You’re like Inuyasha and Kagome. Weird clothes and all. What? Are you from the ‘human world’ too?’’
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He was smarter then his diminutive size revealed. Keeping his voice friendly, Narek said, ‘‘Maybe. Those must be some strange friends of yours, if they truly are from the human world. Where are they?’’
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‘‘They disappeared Mister.’’
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‘‘Disappeared?’’
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The boy twitched in front of Narek, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. ‘‘Uh well, call me crazy, but I saw a hole appear under them and they sort of fell in and were gone.’’
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‘‘A hole?’’ Narek tilted his head as though he were confused. ‘‘That’s odd. What about the rest of the people in the Spirit Woods? Did they disappear too?’’
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The little fox glared at him. ‘‘I don’t see how that’s any of your business. Right now the only thing I’m going to do is find Lord Yoko and do what his mate told me to do.’’
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Without explaining, the boy turned and soon vanished into the valley’s illusions. Narek did not pursue. The boy nor the people of the forest were of consequence to him. Instead, he made his way back into Ghost Forest, navigating the darkness easily. If he were to guess, then Inuyasha and Kagome had escaped. If he knew Lucy, she would have already closed the opening he had used to get to Zenith. He was not about to leave Zenith, but recent developments were putting a wrench in the gears of his plans.
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Narek paused as he entered into an area with a blue glow. It was a strange part of Ghost Forest he had stumbled into when he had first arrived in this world. It was a serene little area with a tiny lagoon surrounded by white flowers, a stark contract to the red sky above. Narek suspected that this place was touched in some way by the Fox Lord’s mate or daughter. Or perhaps it was just an anomaly, a tiny spec of ethereal and fantastic beauty in a world that was painted by gothic and macabre brush strokes.
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He had never stayed in one place long. The advantage of almost never sleeping had kept him on the move. He was far less likely to return to the same place twice, much less rest there, but he had come back to this place simply because it had remained undisturbed by monsters. In the short time he had visited, once or twice in the past, neither the flowers, the white trees that fenced off this area from the rest of the forest, nor the lagoon had rippled with unwanted visits from the world’s terrible creatures or nightwalkers. Even the clear water had no fish and none of the disgusting leeches that tended to swim deep within nearly every pool in that world.
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Although he had made a point not to return to that area, for the possibility of running into another nightwalker that knew of the place was not something he’d wanted to test, it was the safest spot for the work he had to do. With that thought, Narek turned to the cause of many of his concerns.
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Curled up into a little ball under the white tree exactly where he had left her, Lilliana sobbed painfully in her sleep. Narek debated. He’d spent the last three days trying to work through the jumbled mess in her memories. He’d easily strung her childhood together, but her adult human memories had exhausted him. It was not because they were more complicated, but because the pain in those memories mirrored his own and he had debated freeing her from those memories, locking them away so that she would not have to remember. In the end, he had decided that she deserved to have all of her memories in place, including the hurtful ones, but whenever he tried to arrange her adult memories, they fell apart and she woke up screaming.
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He’d hit a dead end. Sitting next to her, he brushed a curly hair from her eyelids. There was another way to string her thoughts back together, but she was not going to like it, and he was short on time. Normally a very patient man, Narek had quickly learned that to survive in Zenith meant being quick. Healing her mind would be faster with her cooperation. Taking a deep breath, Narek jumped into the labyrinth that was Lillian’s thoughts, targeting specific memories.
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When he was satisfied, he moved away from her, lifting his hypnotic effect on her. He waited silently as she opened her eyes. The sleep faded away, confusion replacing her groggy frown. When her eyes settled on him, she jumped upward, preparing to attack.
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‘‘You!’’
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Keeping his expression neutral, he did not rise from his sitting position. ‘‘You can scream or attack me if that comforts you, but for once, would you please listen to me?’’
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‘‘What makes you think I’m going to just trust you after you-you-what did you do?’’ She stumbled backward, pressing one hand to her forehead while the other searched in the air for something to hold to onto. ‘‘I can’t remember. What happened?’’
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Narek stood. ‘‘Not surprising. Right now, I’m the only thing keeping your memories in place.’’
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‘‘What are you talking about?’’
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‘‘You can’t remember anything because someone has tampered with your memories, throwing them out of order, corrupting them, breaking them apart. Whatever you wish to call it, I am the only one that can help you.’’
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She hissed at him, or was it at the pain in her own head. ‘‘How do I know you weren’t the one that ripped apart my mind? For all I know, you are the cause of this!’’
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‘‘So is that a no?’’
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‘‘Of course it’s a no!’’
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Narek fought the urge to grunt. The added strain of keeping her thoughts in place was no help. Touch would make his job easier but he doubted she would let him do so. At least, not at that very moment. ‘‘I could have kept you unconscious, and sewed your memories in a way that best suits my interests, but I decided to awaken you so you could help me put them in their rightful place. Where is the deception in that?’’
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Lilliana took a step back. Narek grunted despite himself. She was getting out of his range. Just one more foot and he wouldn’t be able to exert his mental power over her and the few memories that gave her coherence would crumble.
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Lilliana rubbed her arms. ‘‘Why can’t I remember anyone else but you?’’
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‘‘Because I’m keeping your memories of me from melding into the fog in your head. Seeing as I was the only stimulus you recognized when you were put in this state, it seemed logical.’’
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‘‘Stay away from me!’’
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She turned and darted back into the forest before he could stop her. He let her go, and the link between them quickly broke. Knowing that she would soon realize that the distance would frighten her enough for him to easily bring her back, he waited. He was not surprised when he heard her cry out, but he was not expecting to hear the crash that followed.
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He went after her. Though unable to see into the darkness that pervaded the area outside the lagoon, he smelled and heard what caused the trouble. Dust met his nose, and the ground beneath him was pebbly and soft like wet sand. Her coughing broke the silence. She was tightly sandwiched inside the rubble.
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Narek placed a hand on the broken stone in below him and pushed softly. The stones that were piled up above her rumbled, but he felt that she was close enough for him to exert his influence. Soon her gibberish cries turned into words.
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‘‘Too small! I can’t! Let me out of here!’’
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Narek felt the rocks creak. It would only take a second for them to slide over each other and bury her. He moved fast, pushing the rocks aside just enough to make a tiny hole and slide in to cover her body with his own. The rocks crashed back down onto his back. The noise made her sob.
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‘‘No! Please! I hate small spaces!’’
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‘‘Interesting,’& #8217; he placed his palms on the hard surface of the stone beneath them. ‘‘You were never afraid of small spaces before.’’
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With his hand, he felt around their tight spot. They were buried yes, but not too deep. He could easily break them out, but he’d have to work fast. Lilliana was on her back, covering her eyes. She flinched away from his touch. Narek shifted this weight down so that he was balancing on his elbows. The rocks above groaned as they slid down with him.
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‘‘Get me out!’’ Lilliana whimpered.
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‘‘A new development for you.’’ Narek bent his knees so that they straddled her hips. ‘‘I wonder: was there something recent to cause this level of terror?’’
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‘‘Shut up!’’ Lilliana hissed. Then the chiseling of rock against rock around her made her pull her legs and arms close to her, becoming a little ball underneath Narek. Her new position made it harder for him to keep his weight off her. The concentration required to keep her thoughts in check, the rocks, and the tightness of the space grated on his nerves, but still he knew an opportunity when he saw one.
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‘‘I would prefer to be the one doing the crushing, but since you refused my help earlier, I suppose I’ll let the rocks do it instead.’’ He pretended to move. The rocks above them hissed.
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‘‘No don’t!’’
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‘‘I could get you out of this stone prison, but what will I get in exchange?’’
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‘‘What do you want?’’
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Narek smirked, wishing she could see it. ‘‘I assume you will not agree with my first choice.’’
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Her little ball became even tighter, her knees poking into his chest.   ‘‘W-what’s your second?’’
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‘‘Work with me. I could play this game with you all night, or I could make things easier for myself and knock you out. Ultimately, the best way to fix that puzzle in your head is if you work. With. Me.’’
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‘‘Are you insane?’’
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‘‘Very well.’’ The rocks above them crackled, sliding closer together as Narek moved aside. ‘‘I see you have no need of me.’’
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A pebble bounced on the ground near Lilliana’s ear, followed by another. Dirt seeped out from between the rubble. She was like helpless prey caught in a tight oven. ‘‘Please! If you move, it’ll come crashing down!’’
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‘‘All it takes is one word.’’
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‘‘I can’t!’’ She sobbed. The crunching of rocks against rocks grew louder. ‘‘Please!’’
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‘‘Yes or no?’’
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‘‘Yes! Get me out of here!’’
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Narek drew her close with one arm and blasted the rocks off him with the other. Lilliana hacked from the dirt and rubble that misted the air around their opening and he used her briefly disoriented state to his advantage, lifting her up and taking them back to the lagoon. There he put her feet back on the ground. Just as she had regained her composure, she put space between them, whipping her eyes.
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‘‘Right,’’ Narek rolled his shoulders, ‘‘let’s begin.’’
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Something smelled really rank. It was a familiar stench, but she couldn’t exactly think of the word for it. Kagome opened her eyes, and was greeted with a very grimy looking wall. A concrete wall. She sat upright immediately, her gaze following the wall’s side all the way up to the dark purple sky above, but all thoughts of relief were gone when she took a look around, and finally realized where that smell was coming from.
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Inuyasha was lifeless next to her. His chest was open. The weak thumbing of his heart could be seen beneath a thin layer of muscle, his body too weak to repair the broken bones, the snapped arteries, or even stitch together his skin. She’d seen that wound before. It was the same as the one that had almost killed him.
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Kagome crawled over to him and lifted his head, her fingers trembling. ‘‘Inuyasha, wake up. Please!’’
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There was no movement behind his eyelids, his face like a doll’s, and the soft, chugged sound of his broken breathing was the only thing that told her that he was alive. Kagome shook him and when he didn’t respond, she tried to force him to feed from her. Nothing. He wouldn’t even swallow.
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She could not remember a time when she felt so cold, not even when she had been cursed by the ice nightwalkers. The beats of his heart were getting slower and slower and there was no one that could save him this time, no one to make deals with, no that had the power to heal. He was going to die in her lap and she was sitting there crying!
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‘‘You can’t just leave me like this! Wake up, you bastard! Open your eyes, drink from me, something! What do you need me to do? What can I do? Please!’’
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He didn’t respond.
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‘‘No no no!’’ Kagome shook him, not caring that she might cause him more harm, willing him to somehow speak once more. ‘‘Come on! How do I heal-’’ Kagome gasped, looking at her hands.
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‘‘Narek uses his blood to heal open wounds. I have all of his powers. But how? He doesn’t use his claws or teeth. He uses a knife. Where am I going to get a knife?’’
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She cast her eyes around the alley desperately, and noticed the Tessaiga in Inuyasha’s hand. No time to worry about whether or not nightwalkers could get tetanus, Kagome tore off an dangling piece of her shirt, rolled it up, and bit into it hard as she sliced open her palms with the rusted blade.
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Spitting out the cloth, Kagome placed her hands over his chest. The desperation nullified any disgust, but when there was no change to his injury, she practically chocked on her tears. ‘‘Come on! Why isn’t it working? How come Narek can heal but I can’t?’’
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She pressed her hands harder over the wound, wanting him to magically recover, to have his skin pull itself together like it had done when Narek had healed him months ago. ‘‘What am I missing? Wait, Narek’s male. Is it from his inner demon?’’
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Inuyasha’s heart stopped.
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‘‘No!’’
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With nothing else, she opened his mouth and pressed her lips against his, pushing a powerful burst of air down his windpipe and then desperately pressing down on the non broken part of his rib cage as firmly as she could. After three presses, Inuyasha opened his mouth and coughed up a bloody paste, finally opening his eyes.
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‘‘Inuyasha!’’
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& #8216;‘T-too weak. Can’t regenerate.’’ His voice sounded watery, as though he were drowning.
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‘‘Then drink from me!’’
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‘‘Blood, won’t work.’’ He could barely breathe.
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‘‘Then what should I do? I don’t know how to heal the same way Narek does. I don’t have an inner demon!’’
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‘‘No need for inner demon. Blood-bone control.’’
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‘‘I don’t know how to do that!’’
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‘‘Will-’’ Inuyasha feinted.
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‘‘Will what? Power? Will power?’’
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Her own blood had dried. Kagome cut herself once again, and put her hands over his chest. Willpower. She chanted in her mind. She tried believing that he would heal, but his skin did not move.
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‘‘Damn it, damn it, damn it! Narek you bastard! Always forcing yourself on-oh!’’
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Force. He did not heal by believing he could. He healed by forcing another’s body to comply with his wishes. Kagome looked at Inuyasha’s chest, his heart. There was no time to ponder the implications. ‘‘You will,’’ she pressed her hands hard over his broken rip cage, ‘‘obey.’’
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She focused all her rage on him. All the fury that he would dare give up on her even for a second. She demanded that his body do as she ordered, imagining his muscles reattaching, his bones hardening. Her hands felt hot, her mind threatened to break from exhaustion but still she refused to break her concentration. Thinking of his lungs, she ordered them to expel all excess fluid. Then she had his ribs reattach to his breastbone, his heart reconnect with his arteries. Finally, she controlled his skin, making it stretch and re-grow. Her head spun, throbbing, her hands burned, and she gasped for air, but she did not stop until she felt smooth skin under her fingertips.
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Kagome felt like she was on the verge of passing out. Daring herself to look down, she laughed and cried. The wound was gone. Only an X shaped scar remained over Inuyasha’s heart. She pressed her ear to his chest. His heartbeat was steady, his breathing free of all gurgling sounds.
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Kagome slumped against the wall, letting her mind and her body completely unclench. There was nothing more refreshing then releasing all that panic and terror. She let herself think and feel nothing, just listening to all the noise she’d missed from the city. Zenith had been quiet, even for her hypersensitive ears. Back in the human world, she could hear the zooming of cars, the tinnitus inducing sirens from emergency cars racing down the road, the chatter of people on their phones, even the flapping of pigeon wings. The sound rejuvenated her more then blood ever could and she finally opened her eyes.
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Inuyasha was breathing evenly in her lap. Now that she no longer had to worry about his life, her nose woke up to all the other scents around them. The smell of a dumpster nearby almost made her gag. No doubt the two of them looked like two druggies on the verge of an overdose as they sat in that alley, covered in blood, their clothes ripped. Kagome’s eyes surveyed down the alley and she would have jumped up were it not for Inuyasha. Make it three druggies: Sayo was unconscious, dumped in a heap on the opposite wall of the alley.
----
Kagome banged the back of her head on the concrete wall behind her, moaning in frustration. Sayo’s presence reignited so much stress. For a moment, she wanted to go back to simply existing without worry, but the match ignited in her brain quickly became a fire. Reminders linked together faster then a forest fire spreading. Time moves differently in both worlds, which meant that there was little time to prepare for an imminent attack from the Zenith nightwalkers. If someone came after Sayo, or if Naraku found a way to burrow into the human world, Kagome swallowed. There was no time to rest.
----
She didn’t want to wake Inuyasha, but she did not have the strength to carry him. Healing him had made her arms and legs feel like a thousand tons. Were it not for the wall behind her, Kagome was sure her neck would buckle under the weight of her head, but she willed herself to move, raising her hands.
----
Kagome froze. Her palms were black. At first she thought it was oil, a slimy residue left forgotten in the alley they had found themselves in, but the smell told her differently. The blackness smelled of blood. Inuyasha’s blood.