InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time After Time ❯ The Power of One in Two ( Chapter 30 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: kanna37 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 03.25.2011 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 404 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 03.25.2011 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 404 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 30: The Power of One in Two
Naraku smiled maliciously as he waited for Kikyou's agreement to his newest plan. Really, he didn't understand her hesitance over it one bit.
“Why do you not jump at this chance to once and for all take Kagome down?” he asked, curious.
Kikyou scowled at him. “Because it may not work like you think it will. Kagome has sworn to me that she has no desire for more than Inuyasha's friendship – so him choosing to save me over her will not have the effect that you are hoping for.”
“And you believed her?” he scoffed. “I never knew you were so naïve, Kikyou. Are you so blind? She is devoted to him,” he dismissed her concerns with a languid air. “But it will only work if you are game to try.”
Finally, Kikyou shrugged. “Fine. But if it does not turn out like you planned, do not blame me. I warned you.”
Naraku's eyes narrowed even as he took Kikyou up into his miasma cloud and whirled away, heading for his safe haven. It does not matter, woman – once I have what I need from you, you will join your reincarnation in death. He scowled. Now if I can just find where they have disappeared to, I will have everything I need in place.
It is time to end this – with my victory.
He hadn't yet noticed that he could no longer feel any of the jewel save for what he had – and the one that still sat in Kohaku's back.
That, and a few other circumstances, would prove to be his downfall.
~oOo~
Sugimi led Satori cautiously forward in their smaller dog forms, able to see ahead quite a ways as they were standing under the last of the trees. Scanning around with every sense he possessed, he tried to keep his mind off his mate...
He hated leaving her for any reason – but he knew he had no choice in this.
Kagome had come up with the idea that she needed to stick close to Inuyasha, as Naraku would wonder if she didn't. It might make him suspicious, so while her mate was gone, she would stay with the hanyou. Of course, they were all aware that Sesshoumaru also was watching over her, so she was well-protected.
Still... it was difficult to leave her.
At any rate, he studied the wide expanse of clearing with a frown. It seemed that a good mile of open space surrounded Naraku's lair, and there was no cover. At least, not until the very epicenter of the Tree of Ages destruction – that was completely covered in miasma, and neither inu could see through the thickness of it.
He turned to Satori and spoke in the inu language. “You take right, and I will take left. It doesn't look as though we will get much information as long as that miasma is covering everything, but at least we will know of any traps that might exist surrounding his lair.”
She nodded and, wrinkling her nose at the smell, moved swiftly off, her presence disappearing completely from his senses.
Turning, he loped off, keeping to the edge of the now dead trees and their dubious protection, eyes and nose pointed forward, keeping track of everything his senses told him.
The perfectly round clearing that the spider had set up his housekeeping in the exact center of, had nothing to mar its smoothness – not even dead stumps of anything. The land did, however, still bear the marks of the windscar, telling him a story of the battle his son and mate had fought against Menomaru.
That must have been quite the battle. This one would never have thought of combining youki and reiki in an attack – technically, those forces should cancel each other out. But there are apparently things none of us had ever considered when it comes to the nature of our powers.
He considered that perhaps that was something to keep in mind with his mate – they may need to do the same thing at some point in the battle with the spider.
Coming up on Satori's position, he slowed his pace and then stopped to meet her as she also halted. “There's nothing between here and that poison cloud at the center,” she said, and he nodded. “Same thing on that side – save the marks from Tessaiga when Inuyasha and Kagome and their friends battled Menomaru.”
“We should head back, then, and let the others know what we are looking at,” she said, turning to start back.
Sugimi joined her, both running easily through the eerie, dying forest, not really bothered much by the miasma that coated everything, their youki burning it off as they ran.
It didn't take long before they were back near the rest of the group, and, transforming once more into their human forms, they walked back under the dying trees to let everyone know what they were facing.
Walking back into the small clearing they all waited in, Sugimi moved straight to his mate, once more plastering himself to her side as everyone watched in amusement, and Kagome in resigned annoyance.
At least I don't feel odd man out, since Yuuka told me that all youkai are like this with their mates – its just something in the male youkai genetics, I guess, she sighed inwardly. And I was able to warn her of Kana's hatred, and possible plotting. She wasn't particularly surprised, though. Apparently, Kana has hated her for a long time.
She turned her attention to her mate as he began speaking. “There is a clearing after you reach the edge of the forest that is about a mile wide on every side, except the one that is scarred by the Tessaiga. But Naraku's lair is completely hidden, as it is totally covered in miasma.”
Kagome grinned as she pulled her bow from her shoulder. “Leave that to me, I'll clear that out fast enough,” she said, and Inuyasha and the rest of their original group nodded – she'd done that before, while almost taking Naraku out because he had hurt her friends.
“Keh. I'd like to know what he's got hiding under all his stink.” He caught the other three's eyes – the ones that had been with him when Menomaru had fallen. “If you remember, when Menomaru fell, the Tree went down, creating a huge hole in the ground. He might have taken that over.”
“Hm.” Kagome stuck her finger to her chin in a gesture her friends all recognized as her thinking about something. “That sounds just like a trap-door spider. They wait for their prey to step on their trapdoor, and then they fall in, and the spider gets them.”
Yuuka, who was staying close to Kagome, shuddered, and Kagome looked at her with empathy. “I'm with you – I hate spiders.”
For the first time in a while Kana spoke up, her voice impatient and snotty. “Are we just going to stand around and talk, or are we going to fight? I would like to make it home sometime, you know. Unlike some of you, I have responsibilities, and can't just go traipsing around indefinitely.”
Inuyasha glared over at her. “Shut yer trap, wench. You're the one that insisted on coming. Go run out there like a fool and get killed – one less waste of space running around, far as I'm concerned.”
Kana glared with hatred at the hanyou, and was about to do something she shouldn't have, when Sugimi's hand clamped around her upper arm with a tight grip. With menace written all over his face, he said, “This is your only warning, Kana. To attempt to harm anyone in this group is a death sentence for you, understood?”
The way he said it had her hackles rising, and she narrowed her eyes at him before wrenching her arm out of his grasp. She continued to eye him warily as he turned back to the rest of the group, malice in her gaze. Her frustrated desire had turned to virulent hatred – how dare he not give her what she wanted? She was the Southern Lady – no one had the right to tell her no, and especially as he wasn't even a cardinal Lord anymore – Sesshoumaru was.
Her plans firmed in her mind – she would stay relatively close to he and his simpering mate, and when a chance came...
They would be joining Naraku in hell.
~oOo~
They had decided to just walk out boldly, since there was really no way to hide themselves – well, except for Sugimi and Satori. And though he was blocking his presence, and Kagome was walking near Inuyasha like she normally would have before Sugimi, her mate was right by her side, still mate-guarding with a vengeance.
Even Satori, inu as she was, could only shake her head bemusedly at him – he was really being over the top. If the circumstances weren't so dire, she'd be making fun of him like there was no tomorrow.
As it was, she was quite aware that Kagome was facing danger from two sides – Naraku and Kana. She would let Sugimi worry about Naraku – she would take care of Kana. Her inner beast almost purred at that idea... she would love to sink her fangs into the fire elemental and finally finish her off for good.
Of course, she didn't know that Sugimi had already clipped Kana's claws, and fatally. It was only a matter of time until she triggered the curse, because she had every intention of killing the new mates.
Out of everyone there, Kagome was the only one that wasn't worried about Kana – she was fully confident that her mate could take care of any threat the woman posed.
And that was how the enlarged group found themselves walking out from under the dead and dying eaves of the Forest of Ages, and approaching the place where the heart of that forest had once lived.
Fair beyond understanding in a happier, more innocent time, with the advent of first Menomaru, and now Naraku, it was rotted and dead, and to Kagome, merely foreshadowed its end. She was more and more convinced that the damage done to the forest was already too much for it to ever overcome – it might take a hundred years, it might take two hundred, but the death knell had already been rung.
She wondered how long it would be before Naraku noticed them – if he hadn't already. There hadn't so far been any reaction from within the miasma covered center, so it was all conjecture at this point – though he would know in a few moments as she fired her arrow and purified the poison cloud hovering malevolently above his lair.
As they drew closer to the miasma, it moved towards them threateningly, tendrils of the poison reaching out towards the group as if to attack. Kagome simply released her aura, brushing the dark cloud back and away as it retreated before her.
Finally reaching a good spot to make her shot from, Kagome stopped, and set her stance, having everyone get behind her, especially the youkai with them.
As soon as it was safe, she took a deep breath, and closing her eyes, thought, This is it, Kagome... after this shot the battle will begin – because Naraku will not be able to escape. With one eye to the shot, she drew a bead and took it, watching along with everyone else as the arrow, trailing pink fire like a flaming comet, actually exploded on contact with the miasma roiling angrily above Naraku's hole.
The shockwave was deafening as Kagome and the others all watched in astonishment the evidence of her intense power. An insectile screeching was heard from the center of the miasma even as it began to thin and fade, unable to fight the awesome explosion of purity from the little miko.
Wide-eyed, Koga and Inuyasha, not to mention Sango and Miroku, stared at her in shock, never having seen that kind of power from her before.
Sugimi clued them in. “It is the bond of mates – of yin and yang. We both have gained from each other. What you saw was her power, boosted by mine. In effect, Inuyasha,” he said, knowing his son would understand, “it was like the times you and Kagome combined your power. Rather than destroying each other, they fed off each other, instead, making them stronger.”
And as they approached the deep crater where once stood the Tree of Ages, they weren't surprised to find a shocked spider stumbling from his hole with all his incarnations trailing behind.
“Bitch!” he yelled, irate and trying to get over the shock. “This is the last time I allow your wretched interference!”
Yuuka stared at the being in disgust, wondering how someone so psychotic had survived as long as he had. It was surprising someone hadn't killed him already.
Naraku, despite being shocked that the inu group had found him, and made it through the forest with no trouble, had thought quickly – once the fight got going well, he would bring Kikyou out, and the betrayal would begin, leaving Kagome for him to kill. It was fortunate he had arrived back with Kikyou when he had – they'd only returned about an hour ago.
He wasn't all that concerned with the extra people that were with the inu group – three females and the bratling wolf and his friends – they would bring him no harm. But... the Southern Lady, it appeared, was a turncoat – she would pay dearly for that.
“So, Kana, you take my largesse and then turn on me, eh? There will be a heavy price to pay for that, my dear,” he sneered at her, and Kana shot him a dark glare.
“I have no fear of you, Naraku, though your arrogance sickens me. You are a mere hanyou that has to rely on a jewel for enough power to even face any of us,” she said, her tone scathing. “And you aren't even an honest hanyou – but a false one cobbled together from the dredges of the youkai world.”
Naraku hissed in rage even as the inu group laughed at what Kana'd said – bitch she may be, but she was right about what she'd just said, and they all knew it. Even Kagura was trying to hide a grin.
That was all she wrote for Naraku, and he immediately exploded upward into his half spider form, tentacles sprouting everywhere, and suddenly, battle was joined, leaving everyone on the field fighting incarnations, tentacles, miasma, and fodder youkai.
Of course, at this point, Sugimi and Satori were also there, though Naraku did not know that, Satori doing whatever she chose, and Sugimi standing protectively over Kagome as she fired arrows at opponents and Naraku alike, as well as his miasma. It was clear that the spider was furious with the young woman ranged opposite him, and with a sharp gesture, he sent Kagura back into the palace after Kikyou. It was time to commence the end.
Inuyasha was still near Kagome, as though it were he protecting her, and Naraku hadn't noticed anything funny... yet. But it was all about to fall down on his head...
“Bitch!” he screamed at Kagome again, furious that she had once again wiped out his miasma. She was destroying it as fast as he could spew it. “Your time has come, miko,” he spat, “you will not leave this field alive!”
Time slowed in that moment as Inuyasha caught sight of what Kagura held, and despite his fury with Kikyou for his loss of Kagome, he couldn't see her held by the spider. As usual, he went off half-cocked, screaming obscenities at Naraku, red flashing through his eyes, as Kagome stared with a narrowed gaze at Kikyou.
It was telling that the woman didn't flinch, showing no fear and not seeming to care at all that she was being held by Kagura. As her eyes met Kikyou's, the older miko's gaze showed triumph, and it was then Kagome knew what Naraku and Kikyou planned.
She laughed, then, still holding Kikyou's gaze, and the undead woman seemed taken aback at that, her gaze suddenly turning wary.
She looked over at Naraku, who was taunting Inuyasha, and waited for the scene to play out, still shooting arrows to help the others out as needed, but keeping an eye on the developments between Naraku and Inuyasha.
It came sooner than she had thought. Kagura held Kikyou in a threatening manner, as though to slit her throat as Naraku gloated, and Inuyasha exploded, running across the field after Kagura like a madman.
It was then that Naraku's attention turned to Kagome, and with an evil grin, he stared her down.
“It looks like it's just you and I, miko. Now that you are all alone, what will you do? With no Inuyasha to save you, you are doomed to end at my hand.” He sent several tentacles flying towards her with a triumphant look on his face...
The seemingly defenseless woman didn't even move, and Narake rejoiced, thinking her devastated at the hands of Inuyasha's abandonment.
Little did he know that he was about to unleash hell on himself...
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Naraku smiled maliciously as he waited for Kikyou's agreement to his newest plan. Really, he didn't understand her hesitance over it one bit.
“Why do you not jump at this chance to once and for all take Kagome down?” he asked, curious.
Kikyou scowled at him. “Because it may not work like you think it will. Kagome has sworn to me that she has no desire for more than Inuyasha's friendship – so him choosing to save me over her will not have the effect that you are hoping for.”
“And you believed her?” he scoffed. “I never knew you were so naïve, Kikyou. Are you so blind? She is devoted to him,” he dismissed her concerns with a languid air. “But it will only work if you are game to try.”
Finally, Kikyou shrugged. “Fine. But if it does not turn out like you planned, do not blame me. I warned you.”
Naraku's eyes narrowed even as he took Kikyou up into his miasma cloud and whirled away, heading for his safe haven. It does not matter, woman – once I have what I need from you, you will join your reincarnation in death. He scowled. Now if I can just find where they have disappeared to, I will have everything I need in place.
It is time to end this – with my victory.
He hadn't yet noticed that he could no longer feel any of the jewel save for what he had – and the one that still sat in Kohaku's back.
That, and a few other circumstances, would prove to be his downfall.
~oOo~
Sugimi led Satori cautiously forward in their smaller dog forms, able to see ahead quite a ways as they were standing under the last of the trees. Scanning around with every sense he possessed, he tried to keep his mind off his mate...
He hated leaving her for any reason – but he knew he had no choice in this.
Kagome had come up with the idea that she needed to stick close to Inuyasha, as Naraku would wonder if she didn't. It might make him suspicious, so while her mate was gone, she would stay with the hanyou. Of course, they were all aware that Sesshoumaru also was watching over her, so she was well-protected.
Still... it was difficult to leave her.
At any rate, he studied the wide expanse of clearing with a frown. It seemed that a good mile of open space surrounded Naraku's lair, and there was no cover. At least, not until the very epicenter of the Tree of Ages destruction – that was completely covered in miasma, and neither inu could see through the thickness of it.
He turned to Satori and spoke in the inu language. “You take right, and I will take left. It doesn't look as though we will get much information as long as that miasma is covering everything, but at least we will know of any traps that might exist surrounding his lair.”
She nodded and, wrinkling her nose at the smell, moved swiftly off, her presence disappearing completely from his senses.
Turning, he loped off, keeping to the edge of the now dead trees and their dubious protection, eyes and nose pointed forward, keeping track of everything his senses told him.
The perfectly round clearing that the spider had set up his housekeeping in the exact center of, had nothing to mar its smoothness – not even dead stumps of anything. The land did, however, still bear the marks of the windscar, telling him a story of the battle his son and mate had fought against Menomaru.
That must have been quite the battle. This one would never have thought of combining youki and reiki in an attack – technically, those forces should cancel each other out. But there are apparently things none of us had ever considered when it comes to the nature of our powers.
He considered that perhaps that was something to keep in mind with his mate – they may need to do the same thing at some point in the battle with the spider.
Coming up on Satori's position, he slowed his pace and then stopped to meet her as she also halted. “There's nothing between here and that poison cloud at the center,” she said, and he nodded. “Same thing on that side – save the marks from Tessaiga when Inuyasha and Kagome and their friends battled Menomaru.”
“We should head back, then, and let the others know what we are looking at,” she said, turning to start back.
Sugimi joined her, both running easily through the eerie, dying forest, not really bothered much by the miasma that coated everything, their youki burning it off as they ran.
It didn't take long before they were back near the rest of the group, and, transforming once more into their human forms, they walked back under the dying trees to let everyone know what they were facing.
Walking back into the small clearing they all waited in, Sugimi moved straight to his mate, once more plastering himself to her side as everyone watched in amusement, and Kagome in resigned annoyance.
At least I don't feel odd man out, since Yuuka told me that all youkai are like this with their mates – its just something in the male youkai genetics, I guess, she sighed inwardly. And I was able to warn her of Kana's hatred, and possible plotting. She wasn't particularly surprised, though. Apparently, Kana has hated her for a long time.
She turned her attention to her mate as he began speaking. “There is a clearing after you reach the edge of the forest that is about a mile wide on every side, except the one that is scarred by the Tessaiga. But Naraku's lair is completely hidden, as it is totally covered in miasma.”
Kagome grinned as she pulled her bow from her shoulder. “Leave that to me, I'll clear that out fast enough,” she said, and Inuyasha and the rest of their original group nodded – she'd done that before, while almost taking Naraku out because he had hurt her friends.
“Keh. I'd like to know what he's got hiding under all his stink.” He caught the other three's eyes – the ones that had been with him when Menomaru had fallen. “If you remember, when Menomaru fell, the Tree went down, creating a huge hole in the ground. He might have taken that over.”
“Hm.” Kagome stuck her finger to her chin in a gesture her friends all recognized as her thinking about something. “That sounds just like a trap-door spider. They wait for their prey to step on their trapdoor, and then they fall in, and the spider gets them.”
Yuuka, who was staying close to Kagome, shuddered, and Kagome looked at her with empathy. “I'm with you – I hate spiders.”
For the first time in a while Kana spoke up, her voice impatient and snotty. “Are we just going to stand around and talk, or are we going to fight? I would like to make it home sometime, you know. Unlike some of you, I have responsibilities, and can't just go traipsing around indefinitely.”
Inuyasha glared over at her. “Shut yer trap, wench. You're the one that insisted on coming. Go run out there like a fool and get killed – one less waste of space running around, far as I'm concerned.”
Kana glared with hatred at the hanyou, and was about to do something she shouldn't have, when Sugimi's hand clamped around her upper arm with a tight grip. With menace written all over his face, he said, “This is your only warning, Kana. To attempt to harm anyone in this group is a death sentence for you, understood?”
The way he said it had her hackles rising, and she narrowed her eyes at him before wrenching her arm out of his grasp. She continued to eye him warily as he turned back to the rest of the group, malice in her gaze. Her frustrated desire had turned to virulent hatred – how dare he not give her what she wanted? She was the Southern Lady – no one had the right to tell her no, and especially as he wasn't even a cardinal Lord anymore – Sesshoumaru was.
Her plans firmed in her mind – she would stay relatively close to he and his simpering mate, and when a chance came...
They would be joining Naraku in hell.
~oOo~
They had decided to just walk out boldly, since there was really no way to hide themselves – well, except for Sugimi and Satori. And though he was blocking his presence, and Kagome was walking near Inuyasha like she normally would have before Sugimi, her mate was right by her side, still mate-guarding with a vengeance.
Even Satori, inu as she was, could only shake her head bemusedly at him – he was really being over the top. If the circumstances weren't so dire, she'd be making fun of him like there was no tomorrow.
As it was, she was quite aware that Kagome was facing danger from two sides – Naraku and Kana. She would let Sugimi worry about Naraku – she would take care of Kana. Her inner beast almost purred at that idea... she would love to sink her fangs into the fire elemental and finally finish her off for good.
Of course, she didn't know that Sugimi had already clipped Kana's claws, and fatally. It was only a matter of time until she triggered the curse, because she had every intention of killing the new mates.
Out of everyone there, Kagome was the only one that wasn't worried about Kana – she was fully confident that her mate could take care of any threat the woman posed.
And that was how the enlarged group found themselves walking out from under the dead and dying eaves of the Forest of Ages, and approaching the place where the heart of that forest had once lived.
Fair beyond understanding in a happier, more innocent time, with the advent of first Menomaru, and now Naraku, it was rotted and dead, and to Kagome, merely foreshadowed its end. She was more and more convinced that the damage done to the forest was already too much for it to ever overcome – it might take a hundred years, it might take two hundred, but the death knell had already been rung.
She wondered how long it would be before Naraku noticed them – if he hadn't already. There hadn't so far been any reaction from within the miasma covered center, so it was all conjecture at this point – though he would know in a few moments as she fired her arrow and purified the poison cloud hovering malevolently above his lair.
As they drew closer to the miasma, it moved towards them threateningly, tendrils of the poison reaching out towards the group as if to attack. Kagome simply released her aura, brushing the dark cloud back and away as it retreated before her.
Finally reaching a good spot to make her shot from, Kagome stopped, and set her stance, having everyone get behind her, especially the youkai with them.
As soon as it was safe, she took a deep breath, and closing her eyes, thought, This is it, Kagome... after this shot the battle will begin – because Naraku will not be able to escape. With one eye to the shot, she drew a bead and took it, watching along with everyone else as the arrow, trailing pink fire like a flaming comet, actually exploded on contact with the miasma roiling angrily above Naraku's hole.
The shockwave was deafening as Kagome and the others all watched in astonishment the evidence of her intense power. An insectile screeching was heard from the center of the miasma even as it began to thin and fade, unable to fight the awesome explosion of purity from the little miko.
Wide-eyed, Koga and Inuyasha, not to mention Sango and Miroku, stared at her in shock, never having seen that kind of power from her before.
Sugimi clued them in. “It is the bond of mates – of yin and yang. We both have gained from each other. What you saw was her power, boosted by mine. In effect, Inuyasha,” he said, knowing his son would understand, “it was like the times you and Kagome combined your power. Rather than destroying each other, they fed off each other, instead, making them stronger.”
And as they approached the deep crater where once stood the Tree of Ages, they weren't surprised to find a shocked spider stumbling from his hole with all his incarnations trailing behind.
“Bitch!” he yelled, irate and trying to get over the shock. “This is the last time I allow your wretched interference!”
Yuuka stared at the being in disgust, wondering how someone so psychotic had survived as long as he had. It was surprising someone hadn't killed him already.
Naraku, despite being shocked that the inu group had found him, and made it through the forest with no trouble, had thought quickly – once the fight got going well, he would bring Kikyou out, and the betrayal would begin, leaving Kagome for him to kill. It was fortunate he had arrived back with Kikyou when he had – they'd only returned about an hour ago.
He wasn't all that concerned with the extra people that were with the inu group – three females and the bratling wolf and his friends – they would bring him no harm. But... the Southern Lady, it appeared, was a turncoat – she would pay dearly for that.
“So, Kana, you take my largesse and then turn on me, eh? There will be a heavy price to pay for that, my dear,” he sneered at her, and Kana shot him a dark glare.
“I have no fear of you, Naraku, though your arrogance sickens me. You are a mere hanyou that has to rely on a jewel for enough power to even face any of us,” she said, her tone scathing. “And you aren't even an honest hanyou – but a false one cobbled together from the dredges of the youkai world.”
Naraku hissed in rage even as the inu group laughed at what Kana'd said – bitch she may be, but she was right about what she'd just said, and they all knew it. Even Kagura was trying to hide a grin.
That was all she wrote for Naraku, and he immediately exploded upward into his half spider form, tentacles sprouting everywhere, and suddenly, battle was joined, leaving everyone on the field fighting incarnations, tentacles, miasma, and fodder youkai.
Of course, at this point, Sugimi and Satori were also there, though Naraku did not know that, Satori doing whatever she chose, and Sugimi standing protectively over Kagome as she fired arrows at opponents and Naraku alike, as well as his miasma. It was clear that the spider was furious with the young woman ranged opposite him, and with a sharp gesture, he sent Kagura back into the palace after Kikyou. It was time to commence the end.
Inuyasha was still near Kagome, as though it were he protecting her, and Naraku hadn't noticed anything funny... yet. But it was all about to fall down on his head...
“Bitch!” he screamed at Kagome again, furious that she had once again wiped out his miasma. She was destroying it as fast as he could spew it. “Your time has come, miko,” he spat, “you will not leave this field alive!”
Time slowed in that moment as Inuyasha caught sight of what Kagura held, and despite his fury with Kikyou for his loss of Kagome, he couldn't see her held by the spider. As usual, he went off half-cocked, screaming obscenities at Naraku, red flashing through his eyes, as Kagome stared with a narrowed gaze at Kikyou.
It was telling that the woman didn't flinch, showing no fear and not seeming to care at all that she was being held by Kagura. As her eyes met Kikyou's, the older miko's gaze showed triumph, and it was then Kagome knew what Naraku and Kikyou planned.
She laughed, then, still holding Kikyou's gaze, and the undead woman seemed taken aback at that, her gaze suddenly turning wary.
She looked over at Naraku, who was taunting Inuyasha, and waited for the scene to play out, still shooting arrows to help the others out as needed, but keeping an eye on the developments between Naraku and Inuyasha.
It came sooner than she had thought. Kagura held Kikyou in a threatening manner, as though to slit her throat as Naraku gloated, and Inuyasha exploded, running across the field after Kagura like a madman.
It was then that Naraku's attention turned to Kagome, and with an evil grin, he stared her down.
“It looks like it's just you and I, miko. Now that you are all alone, what will you do? With no Inuyasha to save you, you are doomed to end at my hand.” He sent several tentacles flying towards her with a triumphant look on his face...
The seemingly defenseless woman didn't even move, and Narake rejoiced, thinking her devastated at the hands of Inuyasha's abandonment.
Little did he know that he was about to unleash hell on himself...
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