InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Breaking of Dawn ❯ Waking the Youkai ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter Fourteen - Waking the Youkai

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Shortly after discovering that the pursuer had been Miroku, Kagome and her company found themselves in grave danger yet again.

A rumbling sound alerted Kagome to a very terrifying fact… the underground corridors were caving in.

"We have to run." She stated quickly as her gaze was fixed on the direction from where the sound was originating. She didn't know if Miroku or anybody else had noticed it yet.

Miroku didn't question her, but quickly complied when she told him to carry Rin while she carried the hanyou.

"Do you remember the way out?" She yelled over her shoulder to Miroku while she tried to keep her panic contained.

Being buried alive was not something she wished to experience in the near future and if they wanted a chance to get out alive, they had to act quickly.

"Go straight forwards at the next crossroad." He yelled back. The added burden of the small girl had him panting for breath as he ran.

Kagome nodded, not really caring if he noticed or not as the crossroad came into view. It wasn't that was away, but she still didn't know if they would make it. After all, the corridor continued after the crossroad too.

Just before she reached the crossroad their chance of survival dropped rapidly and Kagome felt her heart lodge in her throat. A humanoid figure came running out from the corridor to her right and Kagome knew without a doubt who this creature was.

In the worst possible situation ever, she was confronted with her worst nightmare…

"Naraku…"

The name was only uttered as a whisper as Kagome screeched to a stop, barely noticing when Miroku bumped into her from behind.

Naraku seemed to have heard her anyway, or he had sensed their presence. Either way Kagome began to loose control of her panic as the collapsing ground came neared and Naraku turned to glare at her with vicious eyes filled with malice.

Naraku's eyes widened slightly in both surprise and disgust as his eyes landed on her group, but they soon turned back to his normal loathing expression… then he smirked, sending a tentacle towards her with incredible speed.

Kagome didn't even get a chance to blink as it snatched a hold of the jewel shards hanging from her neck and then retreated back to its owner.

"Have a nice death miko." He sneered as another tentacle shot through the `roof' in the middle of the crossroad, effectively starting another cave-in from that direction too.

"I'll cherish this memory for the rest of eternity." He cackled softly, the sound barely audible over the thunder from the collapsing earth.

Kagome turned in panic, looking both ways in a desperate attempt to see a hidden way out. There was none. They were trapped.

"Any ideas Miroku?" She asked in near panic.

He shook his head frantically and when Kagome glanced to Rin and saw her shivering in near panic too, something in her snapped.

She didn't want them to die. She didn't want any of her friends to die. She didn't want any of those she cared about, those she loved, to die…

Her blood boiled and she felt an almost intoxicating sensation with the feel of it. Power surged through her, filled her, and replaced her terror. The feeling was…

Incredible.

Turning, she pulled all of them into a tight embrace while the white in her eyes gradually began to bleed red, but the centres turned completely golden instead of the fierce blue she had seen when Inuyasha transformed. Her fangs and claws grew longer, stronger and sharper, and the old claw-marks on her arm took on the colour of fresh, crimson blood.

Of course the now complete darkness in the collapsing corridor prevented anyone from actually witnessing the change in her, but it didn't stop a startled monk from noticing the sudden growth she had in both her youki and her miko-power.

The thunder of collapsing earth grew deafening and the air filled with dust, making it harder to breathe. The walls were closing in around them.

Unlike the rest of her company, Kagome wasn't afraid anymore. In fact, she waited for the collapsing dirt to come closer. She calculated…

…and leaped straight up.

Straight through the weakened layers of earth at the exact right moment.

For a breathtaking second she was blinded by the sudden brightness of the day as she soared through the air, the remaining force behind her leap continuing to bring her higher. When they finally began descending, she had readjusted her vision and was able to make a graceful, soft landing.

The air was suddenly eerily quiet as Kagome began to look around. The only sound reaching her sensitive ears was the continued dull thunder of the collapsing corridors and she realised with a start that everyone had stopped whatever they had been doing and were now staring at her in surprised amazement.

Se began to feel really awkward until Rin broke the spell by freeing herself from Miroku's and Kagome's embrace and then running head on towards a familiar youkai lord.

"Lord Sesshoumaru-sama! Lord Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin is so happy. Rin knew that Sesshoumaru-sama would come for her!" She continued to yell in excitement as she ran towards the frozen youkai.

Kagome took the opportunity to look around on the battlefield. On the farthest end from her, near the entrance of the large building, she could see Sango pinning her brother to the ground while Kirara watched her back in case anybody chose to attack her mistress while she was vulnerable.

Farther away from the building, but closer to her, she saw the familiar glimpse of silver and crimson as Inuyasha ran directly towards her. Her heart leapt in her throat at the realisation that he was battered, but still unharmed and she began to run towards him too.

Inuyasha's eyes widened and he tried to skitter to a stop when he realised that Kagome was running towards him as well. Unfortunately Kagome didn't seem to want to stop as she sped up and tackled him to the ground with a big smile plastered on her face.

"I'm so glad you're alright. I was so worried that you'd get hurt. You're not hurt are you?" She was ranting as she straddled him to the ground, pulling at his clothes to see if he had any injuries that she couldn't sense.

Inuyasha's face flamed scarlet in a blush and he began to push her prying arms away when another fact caught his attention.

"You're transformed." He stated in a startled voice.

"Huh?" Kagome responded as she tried to come to terms with the sudden change in subject.

"You've transformed." He said again, this time a little more forceful.

Kagome stopped moving and glanced down on her extended claws, a lop-sided grin spreading on her face.

"Well… it kind of… just happened." She finally said.

Inuyasha's gaze turned harder as he glared at her.

"Are you hurt? Were you in any mortal danger?" He asked insistently.

"I swear if that bastard Naraku has hurt you, I'll shred him…" He continued, his anger rising.

Kagome was a bit startled to notice that Inuyasha's own eyes were beginning to bleed red, and her eyes moved to his side.

"Where is your sword?" She asked, suddenly apprehensive of the danger in the situation, mainly the danger towards her friends.

This time it was Inuyasha's turn to look startled, but his expression quickly turned to embarrassment as his transformation stopped and reversed.

"I lost the sword sometime during the fight and now I can't find it. I haven't really had time to look for it." He said slowly, quietly.

"Oh…" She said as she suddenly remembered something important.

"I'm sorry…" She continued, but before she could finish, Inuyasha interrupted her.

"What for? It's not your fault that I lost the sword."

Kagome's eyebrows furrowed as she glared at him.

"I'm aware of that. I was going to say that I was sorry because Naraku took the shards of the jewel that I carried." She finally finished.

"WHAT!?"

Kagome had to cover her ears at the shear volume of Inuyasha's voice. It didn't take long for Kagome to realise by the way Inuyasha's eyebrows drew together and the way his eyes sparked that he was angry. The yelling was of course a dead giveaway too.

The situation seemed very familiar to Kagome and when the memory clicked into order, she couldn't help but giggle.

"Too bad it wasn't another lecherous monk again?" She commented lightly in an attempt to cool his anger.

Inuyasha's expression barely got a chance to change after she spoke, when the ground suddenly began to shake fiercely. A rumbling sound escalated till Inuyasha plastered his ears against his scull and Kagome covered hers with her hands.

She was about to ask what was going on when something huge suddenly erupted from the building where she had been held. Planks and bricks from the sundered walls flew everywhere and forced Kagome to throw herself flat against Inuyasha in an attempt to dodge them.

Kagome was the first to recover and when she rolled away from Inuyasha's body, she was only able to utter one softly spoken exclamation;

"Uh-oh!"

Inuyasha followed closely with his own way of expressing anger and worry, or feelings of any kind;

"Shit!" He began with an angry growl, and then he continued onwards; "Damn! Fucking son-of-a-bitch's asshole!"

Kagome had seen Naraku many times before. She had stood up to him with barely a hint of fear on many occasions. She had dealt him blows on some of their encounters and she had met many of Naraku's incarnations. With the many different encounters, she had thought herself immune to any-kind of form Naraku might appear in. She had after all seen him in a human form, in a baboon-pelt, as a giant spider and as many other things, but she had never before encountered Naraku the way he was now.

Now that she had, she fervently wished that she hadn't…