InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Hidden Strength Within ❯ Chapter 24 ( Chapter 24 )

After Kagome sent Virbius and Egeria to her ‘champion’ she decided it was as good as anytime to get some rest. She slowly lowered herself onto her futon and began sleeping.

‘I didn’t realize how much energy I used until now. I can only hope that my barrier holds up against Naraku if he should try to enter my room again.’ she thought as her mind started to shut down.

As soon as sleep took her consciousness, visions of what is to come started to play out in her mind’s eye.

She was standing in a large open field with a palace looming in the background. Her son, Shippo, was a fully grown demon and was dressed as the Captain of the guards. She felt so much pride for her son’s achievement.

“I couldn’t be more proud of you Shippo. You have done so much to get to this point! I know that if your real mother and father were here they would say the same thing!” she stated as she embraced her grown boy.

“Thank you mother; however there is another matter that I came here to speak to you about. I have met someone that I would like to mate with. I would like your permission to pursue her and ask her father for her hand.”

“Oh Shippo sweetie, I am so happy for you! Of course I want you to be happy, go and ask her father and if he says no; then you tell me immediately and I will knock some sense into the idiot.” she stated.

‘The nerve that someone could refuse my son, I will kill them if I have to, so long as my son is happy.’ she thought darkly.

Shippo shied away from her when he saw that look in her eyes, ‘It can’t be good what she is thinking about. I may be more powerful then when we traveled with Inuyasha and the pack but my mother is still scary when she gets that look.’

Kagome stood there on her spot as she watched Shippo run off to the palace.

She watched as he approached a male demon that sat under a tree watching his ward paint a picture of the landscape. They looked so at peace in their tasks.

As Shippo got closer the demon Lord stood up. He approached Shippo, who quickly bowed his head to the Lord. Once the Lord nodded his head Shippo straightened up and asked what he needed to ask.

The Lord turned from Shippo and regarded his ward that was looking desperate for him to agree to the request. The Lord, who could never say no to her, merely nodded his head and watched as his ward crashed into the young captain.

The next scene was of Kagome dressed in formal attire as she attended the mating ceremony of Shippo and Rin. She was so surprised that Sesshoumaru would agree so willingly without having Shippo prove himself; but then again Shippo was the Captain of the guards for a reason.

Kagome knew that she would not be accepted for long in the because of who her mate was. She knew she needed to make her tiding to her son and now daughter-in-law.

As she made her way to the happy couple she felt eyes on her but when she looked around she could not see anyone in particular looking at her. ‘I hate not being in my true form but then again if I were he would only use it against me. This way if he makes me produce any heirs for him they will be ¾ human and ¼ demon; that is also taking that my body doesn’t purify them like it has already.’

She suddenly found herself in front of Shippo and Rin. She hugged her son and congratulated Rin all the while wishing them both a joyous and long union together, with the threat of lots of grandpups or there would be hell to pay!

When she was just five feet from the front door a figure stepped behind her and whispered in her ear, “I am sorry my demigoddess that I could not have gotten there in time to spare you. That will be my only regret that I will have for the rest of my life.”

Once that was said she spun around with tears in her eyes but all that met her sight where those of the guest to the ceremony.

‘My champion is here and sees my shameful appearance. I can only hope that he will find happiness whoever he is.’ she thought as a black cloud of miasma appeared before the front doors.

Naraku stood there with his arm out stretched. “Ready to go home, Mate?” he asked with a smirk. He knew who was there and that she hated being his mate more than anything, she would have rather been Kikyo’s copy for Inuyasha than to be his mate.

Kagome shot up in bed panting. “What in the seven hells was that all about?”

“Kuku I see you are awake now; all the more fun for me once I force you to become my mate!”

Kagome realized that there was a barrier around the room; it would prevent anyone from being able to get in to help her. She also realized that her barrier was barely present.

‘I wonder why my barrier isn’t as strong as it was just last night.’ she wondered until she thought on it more. ‘Is that why Goddess Selene gave me Virbius and Egeria, they were reluctant to leave my side this morning when I told them to leave, I sure do have bad luck…’ she sighed.

“Naraku you would be wise to stay away from me. I do not have the patience to deal with you right now, I am tired and would like to rest. Have you forgotten the barrier that repelled you last night, what makes you think that you can penetrate it this morning?” she bluffed.

“Simple my dear, it was close to nightfall when I tried to touch you. Nightfall is when your powers are the strongest so it would make more sense that come daybreak your barrier would not be at its strongest.” he stated with ease as he slowly approached her.

“Just thinking about the wondrous things I am going to do to that beautiful body of yours. I will have you screaming out my name before the end of the day my dear. If you would like I can even pose as the body of your fellow comrades, perhaps even the demon Lord Sesshoumaru that Kikyo stated you apparently became buddies with. Shall we give him a show through your link to him; after all you are his ward, I can only image that he would like to know what is happening to you at all times!”

Dread quickly dug into her heart on that. She would not be able to trust anyone that came to her door for they could simply be Naraku in disguise.

“Why would Lord Sesshoumaru care what you do to me? I am simply a ward of the western lands and nothing more. I doubt that he is even worried that I have disappeared.” she stated, though secretly she hoped that he was at least trying to find her; he was the only one that she couldn’t reach last night.

“My dear, I do not care if he is concern or not. It is the mere fact that you are his ward and by all means, his responsibility to keep safe. How do you think his pride and honor will be affected once the other lords hear that he allowed a ward of the western lands to be raped, beaten, and mated against her will?” he paused while smirking at her reaction.

Kagome shivered at the thought, ‘So is that what he plans to do to me? Well I will not go down without a fight.’

Naraku continued, “He will have no honor or pride left, he would be forced to give up his lands to his eldest ward; which would be you my dear. The only way he could possibly regain some honor is if he does the seppuku ritual called Sokotsushi. Though demon lords are above mortal samurai it would still bring a little honor back to his Clan’s name.”

“I will break my bond as his ward before I ever allow you to do something like that to Lord Sesshoumaru. Much less allow you to use me so you can attain his lands, he is an honorable Lord and as such he should not suffer because I was too weak to defend myself. You will not get what you seek Naraku.” she spat out with venom.

‘Am I always to be wanted for something I can do or bring, is there no one that wants me for who I am?’ she wondered quietly.

Naraku charged at her at that precise moment. “You will learn your place wretch.”

The barrier around her rose only to fall a few seconds later. She did not have much energy so she knew her own barriers would do nothing but drain her more.

“This will be easier than I thought. You will be remolded into my image Kagome.” his husky voice whispered into her ear as he licked it.

Kagome used all the strength she had to push him off of her bed and away from her.

Once he was finally standing back up she quickly stood up herself. ‘I won’t be able to do much in my defense if I am already laying on my back.’ she chided herself.

A tentacle shot out before she knew it and hit her across the face. She landed on the other side of the room with a sickening thud.

He smirked as she slowly tried to get up, however difficult it was with a dislocated shoulder she was refusing to give up. ‘I have desired a strong willed bitch to break for so long now. This shall indeed be your downfall demigoddess.’

She refused to whimper as she realized that her right shoulder was dislocated. ‘I won’t have the energy to heal my wounds.’ with that thought she nodded her head and charged for the wall at full speed.

Naraku watched in amusement as she charged at the wall to relocate her shoulder, she apparently did not think about how painful it would be much less that it had to be done with enough power or it would not work.

“My dear, would like me to assist you in your problem. Though watching you in pain is only arousing me more my pet!”

She tried as best as she could to stop the flow of tears that were leaving her eyes but she knew it would be in vain. She had miscalculated in the end and only ended up causing more pain to her wounded shoulder.

Slowly she got back on her feet and faced her opponent. “Naraku you will not have me as a mate. I will die before I allow you to use me or my body.”

Another tentacle shot out but this time it wrapped around her right shoulder and dangled her in the air.

“You will do nothing unless I tell you to pet, is that understood?” he growled out.

When she did not answer he jerked her arm which caused the shoulder to relocate and she screamed out in pain again.

“Do you concede to me as being more than your equal Kagome?” he hissed as he approached her fallen body.

“I will never be under you Onigumo!” she spat. “You are a worthless being that will die. You will not know victory on this day or any day yet to come. You die soon, Onigumo.” she growled out as her blue eyes began to glow red.

Naraku stood back; he did not think her wolf side could surface since it was not nightfall. ‘This is a very interesting specimen that I have chosen as a mate indeed.’

He watched as her appearance again changed to that of her humanoid demon form. Her hair was straight and went to her ankles. The baby blue crescent moon was shadowed by the star; since it was the mark of her wolf heritage that was coming out. Her two midnight blue strips on each check took on more of a dark plum color. Her red eyes held specks of silver in them as her fangs and claws began to form.

“You shall not touch me again Onigumo.”

“My dear it only annoys me for you to call me that idiots name, you must learn that my name is Naraku now and forever.” he hissed as he shot out another tentacle to encircle her neck.

Once it was around her neck he pulled her towards him which he noticed she did not put up much of a fight. ‘I will have to watch her; apparently she is very tricky, like a fox almost.’

When she was arms length from him she pulled her left arm up and slashed his face and throat. She watched with a twisted smirk as the tentacle released her and black blood oozed out of his wounds.

Kagome then began to rock her head from shoulder to shoulder to pop her neck. Once it was popped she flexed her claws and prepared to strike down Naraku again.

Unfortunately Naraku was prepared this time and shot out two tentacles. One going to either arm to pin her to the wall; when she tried to bit into them miasma leeks out and shot into her mouth.

Naraku laughed at the sight before he disconnected the tentacles to keep her pinned there.

“I will be coming back pet, I suggest you get comfortable during your wait.” with that said he left the room.

He was satisfied that he had changed his mind about Kohaku, ‘Having him help Kagura would be a use of his talents than being here with my pet. I wonder who I should pose as first. Maybe Inuyasha would be a good guise to trick her with, or maybe even Koga; her wolf side should like that a little more.’

With that he proceeded to change into the form of Koga to start making her second guess her friends, after all he did not know that Koga had already tired to rape her already so what did he know about her already be angry with the mere sight of the wolf.

Kagome stood there in her demon form awaiting Naraku’s return when suddenly Koga came barging in the room.

“Oh Kagome what happened to you? I swear I will beat that mutt-face senseless for allowing my woman to get caught by Naraku and then not even have the decency to come and rescue you.”

“Stay away from me wolf!” she barked out in demand.

Koga tilted his head to the side in confusion. “Kagome what it wrong with you; I am here to rescue you. Come on I can’t let my woman stay here with that vile half-breed, no telling what he holds in store for you.”

“I have not forgotten what you just tried to do but a few days ago, wolf. How is it that you are even here to begin with?” she barked.

“Kuku! So it seems that you don’t like my Koga disguise what do you think of this one my pet?” Naraku laughed out as he turned into Inuyasha and approached her.

Kagome began to panic, if it really was Koga she knew she could get through to him eventually but Naraku was disguising himself as her once friends and he still had her pinned to the wall with only her legs as a defense.

Inuyasha stalked towards her with lust in his eyes. Kagome’s eyes grew wider as she realized what was about to happen, inwardly she was screaming for someone, anyone to help her.

Two and a half hours had passed since Sesshoumaru entered his five hour sleep cycle to restore his strength when he suddenly bolted up and took off once again towards the northern mountains.

When Virbius and Egeria finally caught up to him they asked him what was wrong and how he managed to break through the spell.

His simple response was, “Ward is in danger.”

Virbius and Egeria looked to one another, neither had any clue as to what was going on with Kagome and it bothered them deeply but they knew about the connection that Kagome shared with Sesshoumaru and knew that he was honor bound, if nothing else, to break through anything to make sure a ward of the western land was safe.

The same thought crossed all three minds, ‘What sight is going to await their eyes once at Kagome’s location? What is in store for the young demigoddess?’