InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unfettered ❯ Darkness Falls ( Chapter 17 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: inufan625 
Kagome and Rin bond and Kikyou finally makes her move.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 01.23.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 1.7K | Status: Work In Progress
Kagome and Rin bond and Kikyou finally makes her move.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 01.23.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 1.7K | Status: Work In Progress
A/N: I meant to post this yesterday, but I got really busy getting everything I need to enroll my oldest daughter in Kindergarten as well as taking tours of local elementary schools. There are 50 in our district and five close to my house, so I have a lot of choices.
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha now will I make any money from this. That would be all Rumiko Takahashi and any one licenced to do so.
I want to thank everyone who reviewed. It really means a lot to me! Oh, and please don't kill me for the end of this chapter. I promise to have the next one up very soon. It's almost done!
Don't forget to check out my livejournal at http://inufan625.livejournal.com for update notices as well as the occasional teaser and short fic that I haven't posted here.
“Mama? Papa is coming back, right?”
“Of course his is,” Kagome said. “He’ll be back just as fast as he can.”
“Yeah, kid, unfortunately there isn’t much that can keep that mutt down,” Kouga offered. The wolf youkai then smiled and took Kagome’s free hand in his own. “You know, I think you’ve only gotten more beautiful since I last saw you.”
“Thank you, Kouga. And thank you for coming,” Kagome replied.
Beside his mother, Taro was frowning. He definitely didn’t like this stinking wolf. Only his father was supposed to say things like that to his mother and make her blush. He had to do something. His small growl caught the attention of both the adults, and then he kicked the youkai in the shin.
Kagome gasped in horror at her son’s bad behavior and looked to Kouga, who was rubbing his shin with his hand, but not looking entirely unamused. “Oh, Kouga, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what he was thinking. He’s usually so well behaved. Taro, apologize right now!”
“It’s okay,” Kouga said with a laugh. “He was just trying to protect the order of his pack. He’s got good instincts. I’m sure mutt face would be proud.”
Kagome’s brow furrowed. “Even still...” She knelt down to look her son in the eyes. “Taro, you need to apologize. You can’t just go around kicking people because they talk to me.”
The boy pouted and glared at Kouga. “I’m sorry you won’t stay away from my mama.”
The wolf youkai laughed even more loudly than before. “Really, Kagome, he was only doing what I hope my own son would do if some strange youkai was making himself familiar with his mother, if I wasn’t around to warn him off myself.”
Kagome shook her head and sighed. She had a feeling that it was going to be a long few days before InuYasha returned.
Rin helped Kagome with all of the various tasks around the house, and continued to be both soft spoken and reserved for the most part, speaking only when spoken to directly. Though, she did play with Taro quite often, and was quick to laugh at his antics.
However, it was because Rin did not speak often that it came as such a shock when she took Kagome aside one afternoon and boldly asked, “Do you think that Sesshomaru-sama believes me to be a fool?”
Kagome was surprised by the question that seemed to come out of nowhere. “I’m sure he doesn’t think that. Why do you ask?”
“Because he has left me here with no explanation beyond his need to secure a place for me in his lands,” Rin replied. “He has never before needed to do such a thing.”
The older woman choked on the sip of tea she had just taken, and tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t give away Sesshomaru’s intentions. “Rin, I-”
“You do not need to try and think of something to tell me that would not be a lie,” she interrupted. “Most under Sessomaru-sama’s rule accept me as a ward, or a pet of sorts. They speak of it almost with fondness as a sign that the son is not so unlike his father. I can think of but one reason that would put my acceptance into question, and but one reason that would require a hanyou to aid my Lord in defeating one of his subjects. For how else would one prove that the son of a human and a youkai has the strength to rule? My Lord consorts with no humans save me and you, and you are his sister. From this, I have concluded that he intends to make me his mate.”
Kagome was astounded by the younger woman’s reasoning, but also impressed. It had just become more than obvious that when Rin wasn’t speaking, she was thinking. She wondered if Sesshomaru had any idea at all of what he would be getting himself into, taking her as his mate. “I’m sure he didn’t keep it from you because he thinks you’re stupid. After all, I doubt he would take a stupid woman, human or youkai, as his mate. I wouldn’t let it upset you.”
“I am not upset. I know that Sesshomaru-sama has a reason for choosing not to reveal his plans to me,” Rin told her. “I merely hoped that you might be able to tell me, since I have reached this conclusion already on my own.”
“Well, he didn’t come right out and say it, but I know it’s because he didn’t want you to be hurt, if things don’t turn out the way he planned,” Kagome said. “If it turned out there was no way for you to become his mate, and be reasonably safe afterwards, he wouldn’t have to take back the declaration of his intentions.”
Rin nodded. “I assumed it would be along those lines.”
“I also think that he did it for himself as much as he did it for you,” Kagome continued. “I mean, if he put words to his desires, then it would be that much harder to pretend being with you isn’t what he really wants. It was one of the reasons I didn’t tell InuYasha that I loved him before I left. I probably wouldn’t have been able to leave if he had said it back, and at the time, I was certain that leaving was the best thing for both of us.”
After their talk, it became apparent that Rin was now much more at ease around her. She was more apt to engage in conversation, and to ask questions about the things that Taro was learning. Of course, when Kouga was around, she returned to her most soft-spoken and reserved self, but as soon as he was gone, she again acted less self-conscious.
Kagome found herself glad that they were becoming friends, despite the gap in their ages. With Sango so far away, it was nice to have another woman to talk to and laugh with. While she did have Kaede to talk to, it just wasn’t the same.
Kouga continued his sweep of his section of the forest surrounding Kagome’s home. His wolves were covering the rest of the area. The inu youkai guards would take offence if he was to go into their territory, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything to make sure that they were doing their jobs right. After all, everyone knows that wolves are superior to dogs, and it was Kagome’s safety they were talking about.
Certain that his section was clear, he returned to the spot where he told his wolves to meet him, and waited. Minutes passed, and it was as he waited that he became aware of how still the forest seemed. When you had hearing as keen as a youkai’s, you learned to block out the normal sound of wildlife and insects so that you could listen specifically for threats, but they were always there on the edges of consciousness. He knew that the total silence he found himself in was anything but normal.
He was acutely aware of his wolves as they tore through the underbrush. He listened raptly as they communicated to him what they had found, and none of it was good. His instincts screamed at him to run away, but he couldn’t abandon Kagome. With a quick command to his wolves to follow and to be prepared for a fight, he headed back towards the clearing, so that he could warn her.
Kagome jumped as Kouga came running into the house.
“Something’s coming,” he said quickly. “My wolves are almost sure that it already got all the youkai that Sesshomaru left.”
Just as he finished speaking Kagome shuddered. It was like a veil had been lifted and she could now feel the malignant aura of their enemy practically right on top of them. Taro came running out of his room, with Rin following close behind. The little boy was shaking and threw himself into his mother’s arms.
“Seal this place up and stay inside,” Kouga commanded. He then lowered his voice before continuing, “You were the one who avenged my tribe and killed that bastard Naraku. Even if I didn’t love you and even though you chose that mutt, I would still give my life to protect you.”
“Kouga,” Kagome said quietly, her voice thick with emotion. “Be careful.”
Kagome could tell it was only a facade as the wolf youkai smirked, but she was grateful for it nonetheless. “Don’t worry about me, Kagome. It’ll take a lot more than some coward youkai too afraid to show his face to do me in. Just stay inside and stay safe.”
Kagome chewed her lower lip and nodded. As soon as Kouga was outside, she began to place the sutra necessary to keep them safe around her home. While she did that, Rin kept Taro with her, holding him as they sat beside the small fire. Once the warding was complete, Kagome went to the doorway so that she could see how Kouga was faring.
The wolf youkai stood several meters away, surrounded by his pack. In spite of his distance from her, Kagome could see that his entire body was tense, and that all of the wolves had their hackles up. She rubbed her arms to ward off the chill of apprehension that had settled over her. Suddenly Kouga bent his knees and he assumed a defensive position. Behind her Kagome heard her son whining softly.
A strange mist, heavy and thick, seeped into the meadow and obscured her view of the youkai. The temperature dropped dramatically and the world darkened as if a storm cloud had been pushed in front of the sun, but there hadn’t been a single cloud in the sky.
She gripped the doorframe tightly, her fingers digging into the wood as she began to hear the sounds of a fierce battle. The sounds of snarling growls filled the air, only to be cut off abruptly, and replaced by sharp high pitched yelp and howls of agony. Her eyes filled with tears and her heart ached. She prayed fervently that it wasn’t Kouga making those terrible sounds of pain.
The cries seemed to go on forever, but in truth it was only a few minutes, before silence returned to the clearing. It was an unsettling quiet that disturbed Kagome even more than the sounds of the dying wolves.
The sky brightened and the mist receded. She didn’t want to look, but she also couldn’t bring herself to look away. The bodies of Kouga’s loyal pack were strewn around him, their bodies battered and broken. She clenched her fist against her chest as her tears fell. It was horrible, but even worse was the fact that lying in the midst of it all was Kouga. His blood pooled on the ground beneath him and his neck was bent at an impossible angle.
Unaware that she was doing it, she shook her head, disbelieving. How had this happened?
Then a flash of red caught her eye, and for a brief moment, she thought that InuYasha had returned. It wasn’t her hanyou though, that stepped out of the trees, but Kikyou. Or the thing that used to be Kikyou, rather. Kagome refused to believe that InuYasha would have ever loved anyone capable of such horrible things. This could not be his Kikyou.
She watched in horror as the dark miko lifted her bow, and realized that she intended to purify Kouga’s remains. If she did that, then there was no way that Sesshomaru could revive him with the Tenseiga. She had to do something.
Without a thought to her own safety, Kagome raced towards the spot where Kouga had fallen, and reached him just as Kikyou released her purifying arrow. She called up a barrier, but the arrow was tainted by an evil too great to be hindered by her power alone. Her eyes opened wide as pain bloomed in her thigh, and she looked down to see the shaft of the arrow sticking out of her leg.
Her body trembled and her knees were weak. Her balance began to falter, but before she slipped to the ground darkness bled from the shadows, and three times she was pierced by the essence of malevolence. The first went through the right side of her back and came out the front of her chest just below her breast. The second just missed her spine as it entered the middle of her back and sliced through her, exiting just beneath her heart. The final blow passed through her left shoulder.
The pain nearly blinded her, and she couldn’t even pull air into her lungs to scream. As she drifted to the earth she could hear Taro crying out.
“Mama!” the boy screamed. “I’m coming, mama!”
“No, Taro, you must not,” Rin said, taking hold of the young hanyou. “Sesshomaru-sama will come and he can restore her. She would not wish you to risk your life for hers. We must wait.”
Taro was beyond hearing her, and he easily tore free from the arms holding him. The only thing that mattered was getting to his mother and protecting her. As he ran, he drove his claws into his arm, and then threw out his hand. His blades of blood flew towards Kikyou, but were unable to pass through her barrier.
He was half way to where his mother lay when the world around him began to darken, and his ears began to ring with sounds of pain and terror. He could hear his mother crying out over and over again in agony, and soon it wasn’t just her, but hundreds and then thousands of screaming voices. He couldn’t do anything to make them stop screaming. His knees buckled and the black surrounded him. As hard as he fought against it, he was powerless and fell into the void.
Rin watched on in horror as Taro was lifted away by a youkai blacker than the darkest night. She had never seen anything like it before. It was almost as though she could see through it, but it seemed solid as well, even as its form shifted.
She wanted desperately to run after them, or at the very least to go to Kagome, who had been so kind to her, but she could not. Her Lord had forbidden it. He had been very clear in this matter. No matter the circumstance, she was not to place herself in danger by leaving the safety of the wards should there be an attack of any kind.
She wrung her hands, as they remained tightly clasped in front of her. With her eyes she scanned the skies, and a quiet plea escaped her lips, “Sesshomaru-sama, please return. You are needed and I am afraid.”
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha now will I make any money from this. That would be all Rumiko Takahashi and any one licenced to do so.
I want to thank everyone who reviewed. It really means a lot to me! Oh, and please don't kill me for the end of this chapter. I promise to have the next one up very soon. It's almost done!
Don't forget to check out my livejournal at http://inufan625.livejournal.com for update notices as well as the occasional teaser and short fic that I haven't posted here.
~ * ~
Kagome stayed outside, her eyes following the spot of red in the distance until she could see it no longer. An uneasy feeling settled over her. She trusted Kouga to keep his word, and she also knew that Sesshomaru wouldn’t have left Rin if he didn’t think that they would be safe. However, she still would have preferred to have InuYasha with her. She felt a small hand slip into her own.“Mama? Papa is coming back, right?”
“Of course his is,” Kagome said. “He’ll be back just as fast as he can.”
“Yeah, kid, unfortunately there isn’t much that can keep that mutt down,” Kouga offered. The wolf youkai then smiled and took Kagome’s free hand in his own. “You know, I think you’ve only gotten more beautiful since I last saw you.”
“Thank you, Kouga. And thank you for coming,” Kagome replied.
Beside his mother, Taro was frowning. He definitely didn’t like this stinking wolf. Only his father was supposed to say things like that to his mother and make her blush. He had to do something. His small growl caught the attention of both the adults, and then he kicked the youkai in the shin.
Kagome gasped in horror at her son’s bad behavior and looked to Kouga, who was rubbing his shin with his hand, but not looking entirely unamused. “Oh, Kouga, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what he was thinking. He’s usually so well behaved. Taro, apologize right now!”
“It’s okay,” Kouga said with a laugh. “He was just trying to protect the order of his pack. He’s got good instincts. I’m sure mutt face would be proud.”
Kagome’s brow furrowed. “Even still...” She knelt down to look her son in the eyes. “Taro, you need to apologize. You can’t just go around kicking people because they talk to me.”
The boy pouted and glared at Kouga. “I’m sorry you won’t stay away from my mama.”
The wolf youkai laughed even more loudly than before. “Really, Kagome, he was only doing what I hope my own son would do if some strange youkai was making himself familiar with his mother, if I wasn’t around to warn him off myself.”
Kagome shook her head and sighed. She had a feeling that it was going to be a long few days before InuYasha returned.
~ * ~
Fortunately, things were relatively peaceful after that. Kouga, for the most part, stayed in the forest with his wolves and the other youkai, only joining them for meals. And Taro seemed fine with that, as long as the wolf youkai refrained from touching her.Rin helped Kagome with all of the various tasks around the house, and continued to be both soft spoken and reserved for the most part, speaking only when spoken to directly. Though, she did play with Taro quite often, and was quick to laugh at his antics.
However, it was because Rin did not speak often that it came as such a shock when she took Kagome aside one afternoon and boldly asked, “Do you think that Sesshomaru-sama believes me to be a fool?”
Kagome was surprised by the question that seemed to come out of nowhere. “I’m sure he doesn’t think that. Why do you ask?”
“Because he has left me here with no explanation beyond his need to secure a place for me in his lands,” Rin replied. “He has never before needed to do such a thing.”
The older woman choked on the sip of tea she had just taken, and tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t give away Sesshomaru’s intentions. “Rin, I-”
“You do not need to try and think of something to tell me that would not be a lie,” she interrupted. “Most under Sessomaru-sama’s rule accept me as a ward, or a pet of sorts. They speak of it almost with fondness as a sign that the son is not so unlike his father. I can think of but one reason that would put my acceptance into question, and but one reason that would require a hanyou to aid my Lord in defeating one of his subjects. For how else would one prove that the son of a human and a youkai has the strength to rule? My Lord consorts with no humans save me and you, and you are his sister. From this, I have concluded that he intends to make me his mate.”
Kagome was astounded by the younger woman’s reasoning, but also impressed. It had just become more than obvious that when Rin wasn’t speaking, she was thinking. She wondered if Sesshomaru had any idea at all of what he would be getting himself into, taking her as his mate. “I’m sure he didn’t keep it from you because he thinks you’re stupid. After all, I doubt he would take a stupid woman, human or youkai, as his mate. I wouldn’t let it upset you.”
“I am not upset. I know that Sesshomaru-sama has a reason for choosing not to reveal his plans to me,” Rin told her. “I merely hoped that you might be able to tell me, since I have reached this conclusion already on my own.”
“Well, he didn’t come right out and say it, but I know it’s because he didn’t want you to be hurt, if things don’t turn out the way he planned,” Kagome said. “If it turned out there was no way for you to become his mate, and be reasonably safe afterwards, he wouldn’t have to take back the declaration of his intentions.”
Rin nodded. “I assumed it would be along those lines.”
“I also think that he did it for himself as much as he did it for you,” Kagome continued. “I mean, if he put words to his desires, then it would be that much harder to pretend being with you isn’t what he really wants. It was one of the reasons I didn’t tell InuYasha that I loved him before I left. I probably wouldn’t have been able to leave if he had said it back, and at the time, I was certain that leaving was the best thing for both of us.”
After their talk, it became apparent that Rin was now much more at ease around her. She was more apt to engage in conversation, and to ask questions about the things that Taro was learning. Of course, when Kouga was around, she returned to her most soft-spoken and reserved self, but as soon as he was gone, she again acted less self-conscious.
Kagome found herself glad that they were becoming friends, despite the gap in their ages. With Sango so far away, it was nice to have another woman to talk to and laugh with. While she did have Kaede to talk to, it just wasn’t the same.
~ * ~
It might have seemed odd to some that he would be so willing to guard a woman that he had lost to another man, but Kouga chose not to look at it that way. He, instead, saw it as his duty. After all, Kagome had been adopted into his pack after helping to save his tribe from those damn gokurakuchou youkai. It didn’t matter that she had chosen to be with the mutt. He didn’t like it, but that didn’t change the fact that he was indebted to her, or that he genuinely cared about what happened to her.Kouga continued his sweep of his section of the forest surrounding Kagome’s home. His wolves were covering the rest of the area. The inu youkai guards would take offence if he was to go into their territory, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything to make sure that they were doing their jobs right. After all, everyone knows that wolves are superior to dogs, and it was Kagome’s safety they were talking about.
Certain that his section was clear, he returned to the spot where he told his wolves to meet him, and waited. Minutes passed, and it was as he waited that he became aware of how still the forest seemed. When you had hearing as keen as a youkai’s, you learned to block out the normal sound of wildlife and insects so that you could listen specifically for threats, but they were always there on the edges of consciousness. He knew that the total silence he found himself in was anything but normal.
He was acutely aware of his wolves as they tore through the underbrush. He listened raptly as they communicated to him what they had found, and none of it was good. His instincts screamed at him to run away, but he couldn’t abandon Kagome. With a quick command to his wolves to follow and to be prepared for a fight, he headed back towards the clearing, so that he could warn her.
Kagome jumped as Kouga came running into the house.
“Something’s coming,” he said quickly. “My wolves are almost sure that it already got all the youkai that Sesshomaru left.”
Just as he finished speaking Kagome shuddered. It was like a veil had been lifted and she could now feel the malignant aura of their enemy practically right on top of them. Taro came running out of his room, with Rin following close behind. The little boy was shaking and threw himself into his mother’s arms.
“Seal this place up and stay inside,” Kouga commanded. He then lowered his voice before continuing, “You were the one who avenged my tribe and killed that bastard Naraku. Even if I didn’t love you and even though you chose that mutt, I would still give my life to protect you.”
“Kouga,” Kagome said quietly, her voice thick with emotion. “Be careful.”
Kagome could tell it was only a facade as the wolf youkai smirked, but she was grateful for it nonetheless. “Don’t worry about me, Kagome. It’ll take a lot more than some coward youkai too afraid to show his face to do me in. Just stay inside and stay safe.”
Kagome chewed her lower lip and nodded. As soon as Kouga was outside, she began to place the sutra necessary to keep them safe around her home. While she did that, Rin kept Taro with her, holding him as they sat beside the small fire. Once the warding was complete, Kagome went to the doorway so that she could see how Kouga was faring.
The wolf youkai stood several meters away, surrounded by his pack. In spite of his distance from her, Kagome could see that his entire body was tense, and that all of the wolves had their hackles up. She rubbed her arms to ward off the chill of apprehension that had settled over her. Suddenly Kouga bent his knees and he assumed a defensive position. Behind her Kagome heard her son whining softly.
A strange mist, heavy and thick, seeped into the meadow and obscured her view of the youkai. The temperature dropped dramatically and the world darkened as if a storm cloud had been pushed in front of the sun, but there hadn’t been a single cloud in the sky.
She gripped the doorframe tightly, her fingers digging into the wood as she began to hear the sounds of a fierce battle. The sounds of snarling growls filled the air, only to be cut off abruptly, and replaced by sharp high pitched yelp and howls of agony. Her eyes filled with tears and her heart ached. She prayed fervently that it wasn’t Kouga making those terrible sounds of pain.
The cries seemed to go on forever, but in truth it was only a few minutes, before silence returned to the clearing. It was an unsettling quiet that disturbed Kagome even more than the sounds of the dying wolves.
The sky brightened and the mist receded. She didn’t want to look, but she also couldn’t bring herself to look away. The bodies of Kouga’s loyal pack were strewn around him, their bodies battered and broken. She clenched her fist against her chest as her tears fell. It was horrible, but even worse was the fact that lying in the midst of it all was Kouga. His blood pooled on the ground beneath him and his neck was bent at an impossible angle.
Unaware that she was doing it, she shook her head, disbelieving. How had this happened?
Then a flash of red caught her eye, and for a brief moment, she thought that InuYasha had returned. It wasn’t her hanyou though, that stepped out of the trees, but Kikyou. Or the thing that used to be Kikyou, rather. Kagome refused to believe that InuYasha would have ever loved anyone capable of such horrible things. This could not be his Kikyou.
She watched in horror as the dark miko lifted her bow, and realized that she intended to purify Kouga’s remains. If she did that, then there was no way that Sesshomaru could revive him with the Tenseiga. She had to do something.
Without a thought to her own safety, Kagome raced towards the spot where Kouga had fallen, and reached him just as Kikyou released her purifying arrow. She called up a barrier, but the arrow was tainted by an evil too great to be hindered by her power alone. Her eyes opened wide as pain bloomed in her thigh, and she looked down to see the shaft of the arrow sticking out of her leg.
Her body trembled and her knees were weak. Her balance began to falter, but before she slipped to the ground darkness bled from the shadows, and three times she was pierced by the essence of malevolence. The first went through the right side of her back and came out the front of her chest just below her breast. The second just missed her spine as it entered the middle of her back and sliced through her, exiting just beneath her heart. The final blow passed through her left shoulder.
The pain nearly blinded her, and she couldn’t even pull air into her lungs to scream. As she drifted to the earth she could hear Taro crying out.
“Mama!” the boy screamed. “I’m coming, mama!”
“No, Taro, you must not,” Rin said, taking hold of the young hanyou. “Sesshomaru-sama will come and he can restore her. She would not wish you to risk your life for hers. We must wait.”
Taro was beyond hearing her, and he easily tore free from the arms holding him. The only thing that mattered was getting to his mother and protecting her. As he ran, he drove his claws into his arm, and then threw out his hand. His blades of blood flew towards Kikyou, but were unable to pass through her barrier.
He was half way to where his mother lay when the world around him began to darken, and his ears began to ring with sounds of pain and terror. He could hear his mother crying out over and over again in agony, and soon it wasn’t just her, but hundreds and then thousands of screaming voices. He couldn’t do anything to make them stop screaming. His knees buckled and the black surrounded him. As hard as he fought against it, he was powerless and fell into the void.
Rin watched on in horror as Taro was lifted away by a youkai blacker than the darkest night. She had never seen anything like it before. It was almost as though she could see through it, but it seemed solid as well, even as its form shifted.
She wanted desperately to run after them, or at the very least to go to Kagome, who had been so kind to her, but she could not. Her Lord had forbidden it. He had been very clear in this matter. No matter the circumstance, she was not to place herself in danger by leaving the safety of the wards should there be an attack of any kind.
She wrung her hands, as they remained tightly clasped in front of her. With her eyes she scanned the skies, and a quiet plea escaped her lips, “Sesshomaru-sama, please return. You are needed and I am afraid.”