InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Prophecy ❯ Chapter 16

16

“I told you no half-breed could control the Power.” Sesshomaru gritted out. He was seething with fury. He should have realized what his body was feeling hours ago. The weak tug in the core of his body. He had felt as if someone was eating away at his soul—the tie between Kagome and him being stretched then. Not until the connection between them had broken abruptly had he realized. One moment he had felt her and then nothing. The Power that he’d grown accustomed to for so long now was absent and he knew. The bond between Kagome and him had been severed and there was only one thing that could have caused that.

For the first time in his life, Sesshomaru, The Great Demon Lord, had known fear. Fear for Kagome, the Prophecy and the world itself. The moment he’d reached the village he had smelled her. Kagome’s scent was the same but it was mixed with sweat and sex. Arousal and the sweet smell of a female who had felt pleasure. And Inuyasha.

Kagome stepped between the two, her body wrapped in a thin robe that Kaede had given her. She held her hands between the two men, keeping them apart. Sesshomaru had the right to be angry, she would give him that. She couldn’t deny what she had done and she wasn’t even going to try. She wanted to feel remorse for what she had done but in spite of herself, she didn’t felt no remorse, no regret. But she knew something terrible had happened. She was still connected to the Jewel and she could faintly feel the severed Power. The Power of the Jewel was no longer whole.

“The Power must be retrieved. Something so powerful cannot be left out in the world, not without Protection.” Meaning her. The Jewel was never meant to be released unto the world. There were demons who would seek out that Power and no matter that the power itself would kill them because they were not Chosen, once they tried to use it, the Jewel would kill them and then that sinister energy would slowly begin to defile the Jewel, hollowing out the Jewel.

“We must retrieve what was lost—“

“No, Kagome, you cannot.” Kaede cut her off softly, the look in her eyes downcast—sad.

Kagome turned, a frown on her lips. Her knees buckled as a sudden weakness took hold of body, seizing so that she couldn’t stand. Inuyasha was there in an instant, catching her in his arms as he followed her to the ground, wrapping his arms around her.

Inuyasha felt his lips curl into a sharp, fire in his eyes as his head snapped up. “What the hell did you do old hag?”

“It was not I, Inuyasha.” Kaede’s words were soft but to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, she made no sense. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“What did you do, Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru clenched his fist, the weakness on Kagome’s face leaving him colder than ever. He had never seen Kagome overcome by any weakness but the suddenness of that attack…

“What’s wrong, Kagome?” Inuyasha asked softly.

Kagome didn’t know how to answer that. She wasn’t sure what had happened. She had felt a sudden weakness in her limbs and then her legs would no longer hold her. She shifted in his arms, testing her legs but the weakness was gone. She wanted to think she had imagined it but she knew she hadn’t. The memory of that weakness was burned in her mind—she had felt near death but so far away at the same time. “I…I don’t know…but I’m fine now.”

“No, she’s not.”

They all glanced up as the cool, soft feminine voice came from above them. The wind rushed through the trees, swirling around them before Kagura appeared before them, landing on the ground gracefully. She stared down at Kagome and then shifted her gaze to Kaede.

“What the fuck do you want, Kagura?” Inuyasha snapped out.

“For you to get your act together.” She retorted.

The tension was thick, making it hard to breath and Inuyasha did not like the silent communication he saw between the two females, Kagura and Kaede. The look Kagura sent him was one of pity and sympathy.

“You still don’t have a clue, do you?”

The look on Sesshomaru’s face was the same as Inuyasha’s. Pissed and confused—both frightened for a woman they held dear for different reasons.

Inuyasha, as always, stated the obvious. “What the HELL are you talking about?”

“I cannot tell you, Inuyasha, what you should already know.”

Inuyasha clenched his teeth at Kagura’s response. She reminded him of Kaede and from her words, they both knew something that he didn’t. And they weren’t going to tell him. “I already know about the Prophecy, bitch.” She wasn’t helping matters any. Something was gravely wrong. With everything.

“Your ignorance will likely cost Kagome her life.”

Kagura spun around, the look on her face furious as Sesshomaru took a step in their direction. “You are as much to blame as Inuyasha.” And he was. She wouldn’t let Sesshomaru out of this one. Kagura didn’t understand how the two brothers could be so naïve. Sesshomaru had played a dangerous game, taking what wasn’t his and Inuyasha was in denial.

How couldn’t they know how far the Prophecy went? The consequences that would be tied to Kagome’s very life?

“Do not, Sesshomaru.” Kaede shook her head, eyeing the two brothers. They had both made fatal mistakes and the result would end in life or death. “You took what was not yours.” She shifted her gaze to Inuyasha where he held Kagome in his arms. “And you…you refuse to see. Kagome is still bonded to Sesshomaru.” She wanted to say more but the words wouldn’t come. The Prophecy would not let her speak of such things. Not until the two brothers understood the truth for themselves. Kagome was still bound to Sesshomaru but not in the sense that they were Mates. Inuyasha hadn’t given her his Mating mark. Sesshomaru’s mark on her shoulder would be like a poison to her body.

“You carry the essence of the Jewel, Inuyasha. You took her body and broke the physical bond and in doing so, took it into your body. You will need that to complete the Jewel once again. You two must go find what the Jewel has lost. It must be returned to Kagome.” She paused, cursing the Power of the Prophecy that refused to let her guide them anymore than she was. “But I warn you both, now that the Prophecy is broken and the Power broken up, it must be returned by her Mate. If it is returned by any other, Kagome will die. There will be chance for her as there is now.”

And in that, she knew Sesshomaru knew that he couldn’t restore the Power to Kagome himself. It all came down to Inuyasha. The problem with that was, Inuyasha was likely to kill Kagome himself because for him to return that Power to her, he would have to realize she was his Mate and he hadn’t. Not even Sesshomaru could tell him.

Everything was fucked.

~*~

Sesshomaru knew the bond between him and Kagome was lost. A small fragment still connected them but he knew if he took her again when the Power was restored to her, he would kill her. Inuyasha had finally taken her—his true Mate—but he hadn’t mated her. It was too late for Sesshomaru to change that. He hated with a passion, knowing that Kagome’s life was in Inuyasha’s hands. The fool didn’t even realize it. If she died the Jewel would be unstable. If Naraku managed to reach the Power before they did, Kagome was lost. The Power would be corrupted and not even Naraku would be able to control it by himself. But that wouldn’t stop him from absorbing what energy he could.

Inuyasha ignored pushed ahead of Sesshomaru. He didn’t see how Kagome could be dying. It didn’t make sense. She was healthy. Everything about her was perfect. But Kaede hadn’t lied, he would have smelled it. The thought of her dying sent pain through the region of his heart. He’d retrieve the Jewel Powers because he refused to let her die. His nose twitched as he took to the trees.

“What the hell is that smell?” He barked out, annoyed. Sesshomaru, of course, ignored him. Bastard.

Wet dirt. Soil. Something not…right. Inuyasha launched himself from the trees, soaring through the air and landed on the ground. He lifted his head and ten feet in front of him stood Kikyo. He sucked in a sharp breath, disbelief filtering across his face. “You bitch.” Inuyasha gritted out. The bitch had sealed him to that tree because she didn’t believe in half demons. Either you were human or demon.

“No creature, human or demon, should suffer a half-life.”

Those were the last words he’d heard before she had shot him with her arrow. He hadn’t seen her in fifty years and even though she had made it clear he was not meant to be in the world—she was beautiful. She reminded him of…

Someone that should be his. Someone that was his.

He frowned at the confusing thoughts and then something clicked in his mind as he stared at her. She hadn’t changed in fifty years. Her features were the same, as if she hadn’t aged. And she wasn’t dead. That wasn’t right. Kaede had told him Kikyo had died. His nose twitched again. Graveyard soil. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

She looked the same but somehow she was…different. He stiffened as she started towards him, covering the distance. Then she was there, the scent of Graveyard soil overwhelming him. She smelled like dirt. He recoiled as she moved closer, so close she touched him. Her hands slid up his chest, sliding over his red houri top. What the hell was she doing? He reeled back, or at least he thought he had, as she leaned up on her tip toes. Her hands cupped his neck before he felt her lips touch his.

Jesus, what was she doing? Kikyo hated him.

Her lips moved against his, one of her hands resting against the center of chest, warming his skin.

“INUYASHA! NO! Stop her!” Sesshomaru roared from behind him.

His senses came flooding back but he could feel the burn in his chest as she kissed him, her hand moving back, inch by inch from his chest. He jerked his head back and glanced down, watched as something glowed inches from the palm of her hand, leaving his body…He hissed, fury flooding him at the emptiness that sealed inside his body. The essence of the Jewel. His hand snaked out but she was out of arms-length before he even blinked and behind her stood Naraku.

“I know everything about you, Inuyasha.” Naraku spoke, the look in his eyes gleeful. Evil and malicious. His hand slashed against Kikyo’s form and she crumpled to the ground, her body disintegrating into bones and dust. He closed his fist around the pulsing energy and it pulsed in his closed hand, the light flaring between his fingers before the pink faded, glowing pitch black before that too disappeared. Into his body, Inuyasha knew.

“You bastard!” Inuyasha launched himself at Naraku but Sesshomaru jerked him back.

“Stop it, Inuyasha. He’s gone! We don’t have time for this.” Sesshomaru clenched his teeth, fury biting him as he struggled with the need to do Inuyasha bodily harm. Inuyasha’s human side had made him weak.

 

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