InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Possession ❯ ThirtyFive ( Chapter 35 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: Okay, I officially suck ass for not updating in so long. I humbly beg for your forgiveness and thank everyone who has managed to stick with this story for so long. I promise it will be finished someday!

Possession 35

Many, many years past…

The rain fell heavily that night, pouring down in sheets of water that whipped the leaves from the trees. The woman sat alone, her muddied hakama soaked, and water ran from her dark hair like ribbons of distrust. She no longer young, but still looked older than her years. Sternness replaced her maidenly beauty, the blush of youth eroded by harsh circumstance and many sleepless nights.

She would wait for him. She would wait all night alone, if need be. He would come because she had asked and a creature such as he would not cast aside a promise lightly or without cause.

If you have need of this blade…

She would wait.

You need only call upon it.

He would come.

“You choose an ill-omened night to meet, priestess,” said a deep voice from the shadows.

Midoriko got to her feet slowly, keeping her hands visible in case he had any doubts. Her armor felt heavy, leaden against her flesh, and her back ached from her long-seated vigil. Still, she bowed her head in deference to the man that had come to her summons.

“It has been a long time, lord of the Western youkai.”

He smiled at that, amused by her quiet and modest tone although her request to meet had been more of an urgent demand. A creature of no small magic himself, he was bound by his own words; a vow perhaps made in haste, but made in sincerity all the same. Traveling upon moonlight, he felt her call out to him across vast distances. Cascading from the mountains in the form of turbulent streams, the message seeped into the wide plains and forests with the softness of a whispered plea.

The name of his sword, spoken by a human woman given his pledge, struck the soul of the Inu no Taisho like a hammering blow to a great bell. It resonated inside with undeniable command.

“Speak,” he said, his tone gentle for the moment.

“Every day more of them come and every day more of us die.” Her voice was steady, but he could hear the ragged edge of her exhaustion. “I have pledged my life to protect these people, but so many battles have devastated our numbers. There are not enough men to work the fields. Every crop fails from either neglect or disease. Our women and children will starve if I can't bring an end to it.”

Their suffering was nothing to him and the Inu no Taisho waived his hand in dismissal. “Then call upon your human armies,” he said sarcastically. “Let them fight to protect their own, as my kind have done for centuries. Let them bring their stink and smoke to the battlefield to protect your peasants.”

“Don't you think I've tried?” The bone-weary tone of her voice made him pause. “I've appealed to the regional lords, begged them for help. They don't want to hear about demons. Not when some of those demons wear human faces and whisper to them about wealth and power. I…”

The woman took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I have been ignored. There's no profit to be made in saving poor villages that can't even pay their taxes.”

He raised an eyebrow, an elegant lord of white and silver, but inhuman and unmoved by the plight of Midoriko's people. “And what would you ask of me, priestess? Shall I send my host of youkai to punish those human lords that know nothing of duty?”

The woman flinched, no doubt imagining the bloodshed he could unleash at will. The Inu no Taisho was proud, far too proud to meddle in the affairs of lowly beings. He and his were the last of their kind, magical creatures who had roamed the earth freely for centuries and now found themselves pushed to the far reaches by the encroachment of humans.

“I am not asking that,” she said quickly, seeing old anger begin to light his eyes like sulfur on fire. “But we are without hope now, waiting to die. You said if I had need of your sword you would come. My need is great and I beg you for your help.”

Demons had ravaged her people, slaughtering and devouring without mercy. Their rage had been building for years, their hunger insatiable. Gentle forest spirits perverted by darkness, feeding upon misery and despair. In their greed, the human warlords who battled each other constantly had awoken an unstoppable evil that hungered for the lives and souls of innocents.

All that stood between them and destruction was this one, determined woman.

“What would you ask of me?” The question was very quiet, solemn and edged by menace. Midoriko understood the ways of youkai and knew that whatever she asked now, he would give. If she asked for battle, the land of her people would be scorched by his fury. If she demanded bloodshed, he would return it to her tenfold. Then, if she begged for his protection, her people would be safe.

To live under his rule, perhaps forever.

“Give me the means to save them,” she answered, staring up at his face and searching for something, anything that might tell her where she stood. Rain splashed her cheeks, dripping from his bright armor and bone-pale hair. She held her breath and waited again.

The Inu no Taisho opened his mouth, then closed it quickly as if unsure what words to give her. Conflict and decision flickered like fireflies in his gaze, dying at last as his expression grew dark and grim.

“What is your strength?” he whispered.

“I don't understand.”

“Your greatest strength, woman.” A chill note of annoyance crept into his voice and Midoriko felt that she needed to be very careful now.

Her people called her priestess and she modestly turned away from those who would place her on an altar. Their warrior maiden, but the stench of battle and death only sickened her. While they hailed her as a pure and radiant soul, she knew they'd never see the darkness in her heart or the bitter despair that kept her awake in the night.

“I didn't ask for this,” she murmured, becoming lost as she turned inward. “I only wanted to make things better. I healed the injured or tended the sick. When they needed hope, I gave them something to believe in. When they needed protection, I picked up a sword. When I had to sacrifice…”

She couldn't continue and bowed her head, tears mixing freely with the rainfall.

“The man you killed that day, you loved him.” His dark voice confessed her secret and she nodded slowly. She had loved Maketo, silently and from a distance, knowing she could never tell him. Her love could only burden someone who was already so lost in grief. Still, she'd loved him fiercely…until she'd had to kill him with her own hand.

His anger had turned to reckless rage and in the end, his attack on the wife of the Inu no Taisho had been naked suicide.

“So he didn't know,” the youkai lord mused. “To honor our truce and protect your people, you cut down the man you loved.” He chuckled softly at her silence. “And to think that I am considered the ruthless beast…”

“Do not mock me!” The woman's voice had turned to steel and he saw the glitter of determination like ice in her eyes. “I have given everything I have!”

“Is that so?” The downpour that had soaked them both suddenly ceased, the clouds overhead parting as if by command. The Inu no Taisho regarded Midoriko sternly, more an impatient parent than an enemy about to strike her down.

He stepped forward, pleased when she would not back away. Slowly, as if contemplating nothing more complicated than his morning breakfast, he walked in a wide circle to stand behind her. Midoriko stared out at the wet forest, resolved to neither run away nor beg for his assistance.

“I have lived for a very long time,” he said softly, just behind her ear. “So long that a mortal like could hardly imagine. Your lives are brief, child, so perhaps you value each day as something precious. You die so easily, but I have seen your kind spread like a disease throughout my lands and know you better than you know yourselves.”

Midoriko took a deep breath. “Are you going speak in riddles, Inu no Taisho? If you won't help me, then say so and be gone. I don't have the time to trade insults with you.”

“You killed the man you loved,” he whispered. “How?”

“You were there, you know…”

“Yes, and you know that isn't what I meant.”

Her eyes focused on the muddy ground as if it could somehow dull her pain. “He wanted to die and he planned to die fighting. When I accepted your wife's suggestion of a truce, I took that away from him.”

Strong fingers seized her chin, forcing it upwards until she looked the youkai lord in the eye. “So he hated you then, is that why you found it easy to kill him?”

She pushed him away, angry now. “No! I couldn't bear to let him die by any other hand but my own. Nothing else would have convinced you to leave!”

Menacing and remote as the stars, he refused to waver from his questioning. “I'll ask you again, priestess. What is your greatest strength? Your sacred beliefs, your pure soul?”

“No…”

Smiling now was an excuse to show his fangs. “Your sword, then? Your ability to lead farmers into battle, to make them follow you even though you know all hope is lost?”

She shook her head. “You don't understand. I have to...they don't have...”

“They don't have anyone else,” he whispered intimately. “Then save them yourself, woman. Protect them.”

He met her gaze, ancient and immutable as the stars themselves. “By your own strength, whatever that may be.”

The forest was still, silent but for the soft, wet sound of water dripping. It fell from the leaves and branches; it slid from Midoriko's hair and made the armor of the inuyoukai glitter as if encrusted by jewels. His words echoed in her heart and made her ache.

Her strength was only that she couldn't stop caring what happened to the farmers and their families, that she loved Maketo so much that she took his burdens as her own. Even his death she had refused to share with the youkai who stood before her, offering her only riddles instead of a clean way out.

Her own strength, so he told her. Could she find the way…alone?

“These people are not mine nor is your battle,” he said, turning away from their meeting. “Your enemy attacks only to get to you, drawn to you as we are all drawn inevitably to our own desires…and destruction.”

“Please,” she whispered, not even sure what she was asking from him now.

He paused, a shimmering outline against pure darkness. “I would not face an enemy where he has all the advantage, priestess. Find the place inside yourself, the place where you are stronger and battle them there. Do not seek them out for there is no need. They will come for you.”

The Inu no Taisho was already gone, his cryptic words offering no comfort, but she understood why he wouldn't aid her. To his kind, she was the harbinger of a world that had no place for their magic and mystery.

They will come for you.

They would come and she would meet those that sought her. Her death would be solitary, a single candle snuffed easily by the howling of many voices. That would be her victory. For like so many insects, they would attempt to consume her…only to die within her deadly flame.

oOo

Kagome was breathing hard, shaking really. The memories that Midoriko shared with her meant something. She was supposed to pay attention, find an answer, but the memories left her feeling worn out and defeated. She was not Midoriko; she was not that ancient priestess who had sacrificed herself to save the lives of innocent people.

If Midoriko was trying to help her, she was doing a damned bad job of it.

“Come on,” she muttered, working at the chains again. The heavy lengths made it agony to raise her arms; all she could do was claw at the stone until her fingertips were bloody. Still, she had to keep trying to free herself while sunlight crept across the floor of the abandoned temple like the promise of death.

At sundown, she would die. Her body would be torn apart, the soul of Midoriko hidden within her living heart would be released and then devoured by the wild demons that had consumed Inuyasha. After centuries, they would finally win, finally have their revenge against the woman who had trapped and imprisoned them within her own soul.

Groaning, she slumped against the boulder. The rough surface had rubbed her skin raw and she ached with misery. When she closed her eyes, she could see Inuyasha's sadistic grin as he'd wrapped the thick chains around her wrists, tightening them until she winced and struggled as if his touch burned right to the bone.

It wasn't Inuyasha, she told herself for the thousandth time. Just a monster that had stolen his face, stolen his body, and devastated the heart and soul of the man that she knew as Inuyasha. It felt like a betrayal to call that thing by Inuyasha's name, but she couldn't bring herself to call him anything else.

As if by naming him otherwise, she finally admitted that he was lost forever.

He'd dragged her back here to wait for her death, knowing that she wouldn't beg for mercy. Her pain would be her testament to a love that had spanned across time itself. In a way, she was able to accept her fate simply because it was worth it. To know that he'd always loved her…

Kagome blinked back useless tears, wiping her eyes awkwardly on her sleeve and let the anger seep back into her heart. It wasn't going to end like this! She was determined to fight at least as hard as he had.

“To the last breath,” Kagome whispered, twisting her body until she was facing away from the boulder that held her prisoner. After chaining her arms, Inuyasha had lifted the boulder as easily as a child might heft a pebble, sliding her chain beneath it and petting her hair with false affection.

“Can't have you running away again,” he taunted. “I've got something special planned for you, something that you're really going to enjoy. I can't wait to make you scream for me again…”

She spat at him, lunging and baring her teeth as if she could tear out his heart. Instead of lashing out with a blow that might have ended her suffering, he wiped the saliva from his cheek with the back of his finger, sniffing at it curiously before licking it up. Her stomach churned and bile burned in the back of her throat.

“And this after I've made sure you won't be lonely,” he chuckled. On the other side of the room Kohaku was barely breathing, blood still dripping from a wound to his forehead. She knew he was still alive because she could see his chest rise and fall, hear a soft gurgling when he gasped for air.

Inuyasha left them with a parting kick to the unconscious exterminator's ribs, chuckling again when the young man didn't so much as moan aloud in pain. The sound was chilling; it was nothing like Inuyasha's laugh, but instead a vindictive delight in raw cruelty.

Kagome braced her legs as she pressed her back against the boulder. It must have fallen through the roof when the temple slid down the hillside, around it was debris and dirt, smaller rocks and stones. No matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't shift it. The chains kept her from getting any advantage, just long enough to allow her to sit or stand and she realized wearily she was only wasting her energy.

“What am I going to do?” Ignoring the ache in her hands and knees, Kagome knelt and started to search for anything to use as a weapon. The rocks nearby were pitifully small and easy enough to pick up, but she didn't think Inuyasha was going to back off if she threw pebbles at him.

She couldn't reach Kohaku either and watching him die slowly was its own torment. Considering that Kohaku was the one who'd put them both in this situation, she still couldn't summon up any vindictive anger. Like herself, he'd tried to do what he thought was necessary.

In the end, his plans had unraveled and he found himself caught in the same web of lies that had ensnared Inuyasha. She could almost pity him for that, almost. If it didn't mean that he would die, she would die, and the evil that he'd sacrificed everything to destroy would finally consume them all.

Searching through the rubble, she tried not think about anything but finding a way to escape. Every now and then, her hand fell on something soft and putrid, a fresh smell of decay. She shuddered, fighting the urge to vomit and trying not to inhale through her nose. Kagome didn't want to know what had died in here, what else might have suffered its last moments as she was suffering now.

Apparently, the creature that devoured the souls of demons didn't care what it did with the physical remains. She was just grateful that the pieces it left behind were relatively small and…

Something smooth and slender, fitting into her palm like an old friend. Hardly daring to hope, Kagome pulled gently, gasping in surprise when she realized what exactly she'd salvaged from the rubble. Merciful gods, she'd never imagined…left here, thrown away as useless to him now…

“Tessaiga.”

oOo

“Are you sure that we're going the right way?”

Her tone was only polite, but she found that she was losing patience quickly. Twice already they'd found themselves going in circles, backtracking again to the outskirts of the village like lost children who wandered away from their mothers' watchful eye.

“Ain't my fault, girlie,” Natsu snapped. “I only been there once and we came from the other side of the forest. Kohaku made sure we didn't know to follow him, didn't you hear?”

“I did hear you,” Rin answered, grinding her teeth. “You said you could find them, Natsu-san.”

Shippou snorted. “If he wasn't lying…”

Natsu rounded quickly on the kitsune. “Don't go running your mouth,” the big man warned. “Boss had damn good reason to keep people away.”

“Maybe you have good reason to keep us away too,” Shippou snarled, ready to believe that the human was lying again to protect Kohaku. “If this is a trick…”

“I'll show you a trick, you little rat…”

“Stop it!” Rin jumped between them before it could turn to blows. She shoved Shippou away and turned to confront Natsu. She wasn't afraid of angry men, not after being raised among dog demons. Right now, she needed Natsu's cooperation and she needed Shippou to focus on the terrain so they didn't walk into a trap.

“We don't have time for this,” the girl said, her voice edged like a knife. “I understand that Kohaku didn't share his plans with you, Natsu-san. I understand that he had his reasons and you are loyal to him. I'm not asking you to betray anything he might have told you.”

Natsu folded his arms and smirked at the fuming Shippou. “Now that's a little more like it,” he began.

“Shut up,” she snapped, trying to find that cold, uncompromising tone that she'd heard Sesshomaru-sama use on so many occasions. “Just hold your tongue and pay attention, Natsu-san, because we need you.”

Grinning, Shippou leaned against a tree. “At least we need him as long as it takes to find Kagome,” he said, flicking his claws. “After that, I don't give a damn what he…”

Rin glared at him. “If you can't be useful, maybe you should go back to Kouga,” she said, stinging him with her words. “I need you on my side, Shippou. I need Natsu-san too. We have to find them soon before…”

Running out of words, she didn't even know how to express the dread that filled her, the chill than ran down her spine like needles of ice.

They were just about to leave the village when Shiori had pulled her away from Shippou and asked to speak to her in private. She thought that Shiori was only going to tell her to be careful, but the fear in her eyes made Rin go cold.

“I'm really scared,” the girl whispered, her gaze darting nervously to the side. “Inuyasha was right, Kohaku is terrified of something. He's tried to keep it from me, but…” Shiori hid her face behind her hands, trembling until Rin reached out to touch her.

“It's going to be all right,” Rin said, wishing she could believe it. “Shiori, we'll find Kohaku and bring him home.”

“No,” Shiori whispered. “I don't think so, not now. He wouldn't have done this if he thought he'd make it back.”

The stark reality was that Kohaku didn't want them to find him. He'd gone to great pains to keep his secrets, hidden his true intentions even from his wife until eventually his betrayal was exposed. Then, as if he'd planned for this too, he'd disappeared completely.

Like a man who had already lost what he held dear, Kohaku made sure to leave himself no way to return.

Rin wasn't having it. Not this time, and not like this. When she'd been a young girl, she'd looked to Sesshomaru-sama to protect her. For a very short time, he'd protected Kohaku as well. He could have murdered the boy just as easily, only it would have been a dishonorable thing to do. Like herself, Kohaku had been a victim, a survivor…and a pawn.

“Rin?”

Shippou's eyes were dark with worry and she suddenly felt the urge to brush her hand across his forehead. The kitsune still looked tired, his face was pale against the deep red of his hair. Behind him, Natsu stood tensely, as if he couldn't decide whether or not to just leave them here.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please help me find them. I…I just want to bring Kohaku back to Shiori, before he does something he can't live with. I don't want their baby to grow up without him.”

Shippou flushed, digging a hole in the ground with his toe and avoiding her eyes. Rin thought he seemed to be struggling with himself when he suddenly shook his head and met her gaze.

“I get it,” he said softly. “Whatever it takes, Rin. We're not going home until we find all three of them. Kohaku will have to answer for what he's done, but Shiori deserves to know the truth.”

Natsu snorted, chuckling when they turned to look in his direction. “Think it will be that easy, girlie? Maybe she's better off not knowin' and you're meddling with what you don't belong to?”

“I'll take that chance,” Rin said quickly, nodding at Shippou. “We aren't his enemies, Natsu-san.”

The big man shuffled his feet and scratched at his neck. “Then we'd better get going,” he said, gruff and not looking at either of them. “The place isn't far, just at the edge of those foothills to the west of the village.”

“I knew you were running us in circles!”

Natsu didn't so much acknowledge Shippou's outrage. “We can be there by sunset if we hurry,” he said, his voice heavy. Rin thought he sounded like he'd made an unhappy decision. “If we ain't there by then…it's already too late.”

oOo

She could easily remember the first time she'd seen Tessaiga. Deep inside the bones of an ancient, massive corpse, until then it had all seemed to be some kind of absurd adventure. Like the kind of tales her grandfather told before bedtime, full of monsters and magic, everything had seemed too outlandish to call reality.

Even Inuyasha, with his surly attitude and adorable ears, seemed to play the part of a mismatched hero from a historical fantasy.

Until then, it seemed a grand undertaking. She would find the shards of the jewel that she'd shattered, Inuyasha would fight to take them back. Eventually, he'd warm up to her and together they'd complete an important and adventure-filled quest.

Along the way, she thought they'd become friends.

When she'd seen the betrayed hurt in his eyes after Sesshomaru tricked him with the image of his dead mother…that's when Kagome had gotten angry. Nobody should get away with that! Her anger made her bold enough to jump right in without so much as a second thought for her own safety.

Bullied by his older brother, goaded into a fight against someone much stronger, for the first time Kagome realized that Inuyasha had probably never had anyone on his side. So then, she cheered him on and encouraged him, dodging out of the way when their dispute turned deadly violent. She wanted him to have the sword, if only to show that stuck-up brother of his that he wasn't some worthless half-breed that didn't deserve better.

Quite by accident, she'd picked up the Tessaiga. Unplanned and unexpected, Kagome had done what neither brother could…all because their father had a soft spot for humans. Or perhaps a wicked sense of humor about his sons and their egos, Kagome really wasn't sure.

In any case, she suddenly found herself as the target of Sesshomaru's attention, and annoyance, this time for more than just being a human girl. Inuyasha screamed at her to give up the damn sword, and that would have been the smart thing to do, but as a girl who wouldn't tolerate bullies in the schoolyard, she refused. It wasn't fair.

Fair or not, she was completely surprised that Sesshomaru would try to kill her on the spot…

After all, she wasn't supposed to die in a fairy tale. Not one where magical jewels were lost and she became friends with a half-demon boy.

Naïve of her? Absolutely. Now she knew better, and now…her only hope was to use Tessaiga to save herself.

“I'm not going to die here,” Kagome hissed, wedging the tip of the ancient blade between the links of the chain. The iron was old, corroded with rust that left a fine, orange powder on her hands. Compared to her weak flesh, it was more than sturdy enough to keep her from escape. Tessaiga, on the other hand, was forged from the tusk of mighty demon and able to transform itself into a glowing fang of impossible power.

“Don't let me down, Tessaiga,” she muttered, twisting the chains where they were stuck under the boulder. Using the blade for as a pivot, she felt the links grind against each other, applying more force than she was able to with her bare hands. Both hands on the worn pommel of the sword, she forced it down…

oOo

One look into his burning mad eyes told her that he hadn't won.

Kagome screamed and pushed away from Inuyasha with all her strength, twisting in his grasp like sparrow in the claws of a hawk. He shouted a laugh, clearly delighted by her resistance and slammed her hard into a tree. Her head snapped back and for a long moment, all she could feel was sickening pain. Darkness rushed over her, a welcome sensation as her mind reeled and went blank, numbness rising over her body like a fatal tide of oblivion.

He was going to tear her apart. Swift unconsciousness was the best that she could hope for, her death would be quick.

Kagome…

Somewhere, someone called her name.

Kill me before I touch you again!

Wrenching herself away from the abyss, she opened her eyes to stare straight into the face of what had murdered Inuyasha.

“I thought you were going to pass out,” he hissed, grinding his teeth in a hateful smile. “That really pissed me off, bitch.”

His face was the mask of her darkest nightmares, twisted beyond recognition and flushed with malicious desire. The violet markings on his cheeks were almost black now, gashes of the darkness within his body. The eyes were scarlet fire, wide and rimmed with blood, pupils contracted into slivers of midnight. Even his lips were bloody, gouged by long fangs that glittered against the split and swollen flesh of his mouth.

A monster…he scared her right down to the pit of her soul where the terror had never really gone away. This was what she'd been running from for the last ten years. In despair and loathing, in shame and sorrow, she had run away to preserve what was left of her body and heart. Only to find that there had been no escape for her, no safe place to hide from what hunted her past and would haunt her future until she was finally dragged back to face…him.

“You're not Inuyasha,” she whispered, steady within her abject terror.

Growling, he seized her hair and twisted viciously until she shrieked in pain. He dragged her away from the tree and flung her to the ground, crouching over her when she tried to crawl away. Hard fingers seized her by the collar of her kosode, wrenching her to her knees while her arms flailed at him helplessly.

“Not Inuyasha?” His words smelled of sulfur, heavy and suffocating as he twisted her collar until the fabric choked her. “Bitch, you couldn't tell the difference!”

“Can…” she gasped, stars bursting in her vision. “Not him…bastard!”

The pressure on her throat eased when he let go and Kagome collapsed, coughing as spasms of pain wracked her body. He was going to kill her, probably rape her first or maybe not, maybe after she was dead. Her stomach knotted and her mind recoiled from the image of him ravaging her corpse until it was no longer recognizable as anything human.

“Don't tempt me,” he growled and she started, twisting around to stare at him. He loomed over her, threatening and dark against the brilliant morning sky. Inuyasha scowled into her eyes, pinning her as she waited for another blow. Instead, he reached out to trace the line of her cheek with his fingertips until she flinched away and averted her gaze.

“We've waited a long time to have you again,” he said, his voice sounding sick with malice. “A long time to be trapped, sealed inside this body. First the jewel, then almost freedom, just a taste before he tried to destroy us. All because of you, bitch, because he wouldn't let us eat your soul!”

Eat her…soul?

“I don't understand,” she whispered. “You could have killed me, you tried…”

His fist slammed in the ground, barely inches from her face. “Not you!” the demon shouted, furious to the point of incoherence. “Not you, not you! You mean nothing! We want her!”

Realization caught her, made her tremble deeply as if the core of her body was shaking. They knew! It was Midoriko they wanted…her they lusted to destroy. All this time, she'd thought that Inuyasha's demon blood had turned him to madness from his use of the Shikon no Tama, but in truth…Inuyasha had never used the jewel.

The balance that had held the power of the Shikon no Tama had ruptured before Inuyasha could use it, constrained by her rosary the last time she uttered the incantation. In anger, she used it. Vindictive from his perceived betrayal, Kagome had set them on the path to this ruin.

Once released from the destroyed jewel, Midoriko's soul fled, taking refuge within Kagome's heart. Nowhere else to go, lacking a body of their own…the demons of the jewel had overtaken Inuyasha, forcing him from hanyou to full youkai when his blood desperately tried to fight their invasion.

To protect her, Kagome, from their revenge against Midoriko…Inuyasha had sacrificed himself.

Her face must have given something away because she saw his expression twist, bending from rage to a predatory glee.

“We have you this time,” he whispered, licking his lips again. Sliding hot hands down her arms, his claws snagged on her sleeves and she heard the fabric rip, as surely as she would soon hear her own flesh shred from his touch. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut, unable to stand the sight of him, the pulse of her own dark fears like a heartbeat against her eyelids.

This was it, she was going to die and nothing could stop him…

Stop him!

“So it was never Inuyasha,” she said, surprised to hear her voice sound so calm. “All this time I thought he'd turned against me, but it was a lie.”

“Does that matter to you?” His voice turned mocking and she jumped when she felt the demon lick between her breasts. Forcing herself to look at him, Kagome again felt that deadly stillness, a fatal calm that resolved to give this monster nothing of herself, not even in death.

“Of course it matters.” Kagome stared at the sky, unconcerned when she felt him pawing at her skin, playing with her like a cat plays with a mouse. “At least I can die in peace now that I know he wasn't responsible for anything he did to me.”

Grinning widely, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them on either side, straddling her as he bent close to her face. Their faces were so close that she could have bumped her nose against his, and Kagome thought she might have said the wrong thing if made him look this happy.

“Die in peace?” he said, biting the words off savagely. “Don't think so, you've caused us far too much trouble. You will die screaming, priestess. It will be the last sound you hear before we make a feast of your body.”

She must be insane; she should be catatonic with terror by now. Far away from the paralyzing fear, Kagome was floating, disconnected from the threat of torture and death. It must be only an illusion, she was sure that her icy calm would burn away once he started tearing into her.

“I'm sure you're right,” she replied, not missing his scowl when she refused to beg or plead. “At least it will be quick. You won't be able to hold back, not after so many years of frustration and failure.”

Her words meant to provoke him, she was sure of it. Provoke the monster to murder her quickly instead of savoring her agony. There had to be a reason, no, Midoriko had to have a reason and a better one that just trying to save Kagome from a painful death.

In any case, it worked quite well.

Snarling with incoherent fury again, the demon seized Kagome by the throat, ready to squeeze the life from her body as easy as a boy might crush an insect. It was always going to end like this, always. She'd managed to survive without him, but it had been a half-life of lies and manipulation. This time, Kagome shivered inside, this time Inuyasha was already gone and she could follow.

I love you. I would have died for you, Inuyasha!

The hands on her neck didn't move, didn't wrench the life from her body. Frozen between one moment and the next, with life on one side and death waiting on the other, again she couldn't move forward without him. A harsh and ragged sound washed across her cheeks and tremors shook her until she had to open her eyes again.

Panting heavily, Inuyasha stared down at her with a desperate and pained expression on his face that she hadn't seen for ten years. Horrified, she thought, as if the world had shifted and become confused between reality or harsh dreams. That lost face, the deep trembling that shook his arms…she'd seen it before.

After he'd taken her, sometimes until she was exhausted and drifting, with his sweat slicking her skin and their climax like a raw wound between their bodies. Then, she'd catch a glimpse of his naked horror, disgust at what he had done and would do again. She'd blocked that face from her memories, thinking it a dream, thinking that only her hatred could protect her, that to feel anything else for him was her failure and her weakness…

Like a woman beaten so often that she learned to think of it as love, Kagome blocked those feelings from her heart. It had turned her stomach, wanting to believe that there was something behind all that pain. Better to banish them both to hell than to give herself a moment of consolation.

“Inuyasha?” she whispered, not daring to hope.

The mask shattered. Fury like a physical force raged over her, a sweltering aura of desperation and loathing. Lips pulled in a snarl; the thing that was not-Inuyasha swam to the surface and stared murderously down at her.

After all this time, we still can't kill her!

The words echoed in her mind, like a scream heard across great distance. He was beyond speaking now, and she was unable to defend herself when the demon rolled her body facedown and started clawing at her hakama. It hurt, his claws gouged her skin and she finally cried out when he seized her hips and shoved her knees apart in a single move.

We can't kill her, but we can make her wish that she were dead!

This wasn't going to be like the past. Not like when a naïve girl let herself be seduced, ruined by her doomed lover. Not like when she would have given every bit of herself to soothe his torment, to fill the howling void inside him, reaching him only during sex…but this would not be sex. Not for either of them.

This would be absolute rape and Kagome knew she'd be begging for a death he wouldn't give her before he was finished.

“Leave her alone!”

Kagome cried out and rolled to the side, covering her face when a fight erupted over her head. A slim, dark figure grappled with the demon, landing vicious blows to his face, pummeling him until the beast that had nearly violated her finally staggered, blood running down his face.

Kohaku!

“I thought I made it clear,” the exterminator snarled, “she wasn't part of the deal!”

Inuyasha shook his head, still glaring pure murder, but not raising his hands to fight back. His eyes glowed, the irises more crimson than a dying sunset and slowly, the split lips pulled into a wicked leer.

“Not part of the deal?” he hissed. “We don't remember making a deal with you, boy. That woman is ours, even if we can't kill her yet.”

Kohaku backed away, the aura of menace emitting from Inuyasha's body was almost palpable, thickening the air and turning it sodden with violence. “You did make a deal,” the young man said, his voice nearly as harsh as the demon's. “You struck a bargain for your own survival, but Kagome isn't part of it!”

“No?” Inuyasha licked his lips, savoring the taste of blood. “This body is part of your bargain, that makes her part of it as well. We have agreed…to share.”

Grimacing, Kohaku pulled his weapon and held out his other hand to Kagome. “Get up,” he muttered, not looking at her. “Stay behind me, don't look at them. I'm not going to let them hurt you, not now, not ever.”

Kagome was confused, her head was aching as if someone had used it for a battering ram and she needed to think. “Why are you defending me?” she whispered, her hands on Kohaku's back as he tried to keep the distance between her and the advancing monster.

“His bargain isn't with me,” he muttered. “It's with her.”

“Her?” A chill ran down Kagome's spine, remembering how Inuyasha had fallen under a host of ravenous demons, how Kohaku had lured them here just to be consumed by the wild demon souls that had ensnared his sister's spirit. They wanted a body they could use, Inuyasha's body, to free themselves from Sango's desiccated corpse.

A real body, full of life and powerful, one that had tasted the corruption of the Shikon no Tama…

“Oh my god,” Kagome whispered as a frail, wasted figure emerged from the forest. Eyes mercifully closed, Sango's face was still horrifying and the smell of decay followed her like a poisonous cloud. The parchment-like skin was pale as bone, peeling around her eyes and lips, hanging from her throat in shreds.

Kagome hadn't seen her closely before and now turned away to keep from being sick on the ground. She felt Kohaku shudder when the creature came closer to them, reaching out towards Kohaku with a skeletal hand.

Brother…

“I'm not your brother,” she heard him whisper. “My sister is dead. You're just what she left behind…and I swore to help you, remember?”

The hand retreated and Kagome caught her breath. Now it made sense to her, a horrible kind of sense. The thing that had overtaken Sango could no longer tell what it was, what it should be. Kohaku had never explained, not more than he intended to free his sister's spirit.

He hadn't told her that this hideous thing still believed itself to be the real Sango!

“I don't understand,” she whispered, watching the wraith and the demon-ravaged Inuyasha stand beside each other. Sango's face was void of any expression, while Inuyasha's seemed to overflow with wrathful hatred.

“They made a deal,” Kohaku said bitterly. “Whatever is inside of Inuyasha's body won't give way, won't let her take him. At the same time, it doesn't have complete control either. They fought over him, Kagome, but they've come to an agreement…to share the body and their power.”

Appalled, she shook off Kohaku's hand. “And you agreed to it?”

“Not like I have much choice,” he muttered.

Her mind was spinning. Under Inuyasha's baleful stare, she felt as if the flesh was stripped from her bones. His malevolence was like a reek in her nostrils that she couldn't escape. As for the other, she could almost see the demon souls writhing under Sango's shredded skin. Each a true horror, what did they have to gain from joining? They'd tear each other, and Inuyasha's body, to pieces like this.

Insanity…combined with pure malice…was a more horrific than should be able to survive! Unless…

Kagome stepped in front of Kohaku, gently quelling his protest with a raised hand. “I need to know,” she murmured, and fixed her eyes on the wraith-like vision of her dear friend.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked, her voice as soft and kind as she could bear under the circumstances.

Kagome…yes, you were Kagome to me…

She nodded. “Yes.” Pointing at the red-eyed monster, Kagome avoided meeting his gaze. “And him? Do you remember who he was?”

Inuyasha…half-demon…friend…

“Kagome, there's no point,” Kohaku interrupted, trying to take her arm again.

“Quiet,” she said, snapping the word with a hiss. She needed to focus on this conversation. “That's right, he was your friend, he was Inuyasha.”

“Was,” Inuyasha said, grinding out the word like a bloody curse. “He's dead now, bitch.”

“Is that the truth?” Kagome kept her eyes on Sango's withered face, willing it to continue. “Has what is inside him now…destroyed what was inside before?”

No response, she could tell it didn't understand. Persistent, working on a hunch that had come out of nowhere, Kagome wasn't finished with her questions. “Why do you want to join with them? Didn't you want a body of your own?”

Kohaku swore under his breath, she could feel the tension as he stood close behind her. Something had changed, something important. If the demons that ruled Inuyasha couldn't kill her now, something had changed.

They hadn't been able to devour Inuyasha and take control of his body. The demons already trapped within him had fought back, determined to preserve themselves and the body they'd tried to steal so many years ago. Tried, but failed in the end, as Inuyasha had nearly destroyed himself to keep them from taking over.

Didn't that mean that he was still inside, somewhere?

Destroyed…not the same…

Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach like a ball of ice. She didn't want to hear that! Kagome bit her lip, fighting to keep the tiny flare of hope alive.

“Then what do you want?” she cried out, desperate to have the answer she wanted. “What good is his body if it's already taken by demons?”

It smiled, and the smile was so much like Sango's real smile that Kagome stopped short, aching at the sight of its ghost. The smile was kind, wistful, and a little bit shy, exactly how Sango had smiled when Miroku teased her about being beautiful.

Shikon…no…Tama…

Suddenly her mind was filled with images, violent…sickening. She saw a horde of demons descending on a helpless village, she saw a woman in armor that shone with an awful light. Lusting, famished for her, they pursued the shining soul, letting their fury carry them towards her as a wave on the turbulent sea.

Then…the light exploded, blinding Kagome, blinding everything. The heat was so intense that it melted stone, carving a passage deep inside solid rock. She suddenly knew that the cave where Midoriko had battled a thousand demons had not existed before that battle. Over centuries, the rock cooled and became twisted figures, one that looked like a woman, some that were so misshapen they could not be identified as individual creatures.

And deep within the very heart of the woman-stone, a tiny, crystalline sphere had formed like a jewel. Held in place by the perfect balance of purity and corruption, so it had existed for centuries.

Kagome fell to her knees, gasping for breath and trying to clear the awful visions from her mind. She had wanted to know…

“You…you want to make another Shikon no Tama!”

“Not exactly.” Inuyasha's voice was a rasp against raw nerves. “This time there will be no jewel to constrain us. Instead, we will become the jewel!”

Like Naraku dreamed…perfect corruption!

“Absolute corruption!” the demon shouted gleefully. “Once you're dead, we'll devour that bitch's soul and make her part of it!”

She heard Kohaku's shout, felt him move from behind her, aiming his weapon for a killing blow at Inuyasha. The demon swung wide, avoiding the strike, and punched Kohaku viciously. He fell right in front of Kagome, his body convulsing and blood splattered from the wound in his forehead.

Kagome couldn't move, she wanted to stay still and quiet, rock herself to unconsciousness, if possible. Inuyasha seized her arms and dragged her to her feet, clutching her tightly in a mocking embrace.

“When we're joined, nothing will stop us from having you,” he whispered, lips brushing her ear as if to murmur a loving confession. “When the sun disappears from the sky, that's when your endless night will begin. We will grant your deepest desire, Kagome.”

He kissed her cold lips tenderly, savoring the taste of her despair.

“You will die in Inuyasha's arms.”

oOo

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