InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Wandering Souls ❯ Inuyasha to the rescue and Marie's kidnapping ( Chapter 13 )

"Lea! Wait for the rest of us!" Sango cried but she could tell it was no use. "Inuyasha, go after her."

"Feh! Why should I?" Inuyasha snorted. "Let her go. She killed Kikyo!"

"Inuyasha! Kikyo killed Kagome!" Sango yelled through her anger and tears of sadness. "Lea killed her trying to save Kagome!" Her fist balled at her sides and she glared at her mourning friend. "You are the only one besides Marie who can stop her when she's like this and Marie isn't able to help her. Now go find her before we lose someone else to Naraku's plans."

Reluctantly, Inuyasha nodded giving Kagome's lifeless body to Miroku. He took one last look at her, a single tear sliding silently down his cheek, and then turned to find the enraged girl.

Inuyasha found her deep in one of the keeps rooms where she was methodically tormenting one of the lesser demon servants. She was trying to coax Naraku's location out of him. Lea wasn't having much success as the servant whimpered and cried as her claws shredded in her enraged state, Lea was not conscious of what she was doing to the creature. Inuyasha did not mind as it was a servant of Naraku, but he recognized the mood that had attached itself to the female hanyou.

By the time Inuyasha reached her, the lesser demon was dead, ripped to pieces. His blood covered Lea, mingling with the Kikyo's black blood.

"Lea, you have to stop!" Inuyasha reached out, grabbing a hold of her shoulder and spinning her around to face him. It was his first mistake as Lea's instincts took over and she swung her fist at him, connecting with the center of his chest. The blow knocked the stunned boy back several feet, but when he saw the tears falling uninhibited, Inuyasha knew she did not see him, had not even recognized his voice. Sighing he drew tetsigua and stood ready to protect himself.

Lea flew at him, sword drawn and in that instant Inuyasha's breath caught. Lea stood glaring at him; her eyes were a bright luminescent purple color that seemed to shine with the light of Marie's power that coursed through her veins. Her hair fluttered around her slender body with the waves that radiated off of her. Pain shone clearly in through the rage that burned deep in her eyes, her whole body quivering slightly and for the second time that day Inuyasha wondered if these sisters were something unearthly. When he had first seen Marie he had thought that she looked beautiful, but staring at the enraged Lea before him, Inuyasha knew she was beyond that. To him Lea had become an ethereal angel on earth, if ever there really were angels.

It was in that single moment, no longer then the span of a whispered breath that Sango was right, he would not allow another of his friends to fall to Naraku's evil. He knew he had to do something fast before Lea could kill him, but his mind was swept away by the beauty he saw surrounding the girl.

"Lea! Please," Inuyasha implored, "I don't want to fight you! We can do this together if you just stop now."

Lea growled and lunged for him, her slight hold on reality had slipped away with Kagome's death and in her distress she did not know who he was. Seeing only an enemy of her friends, Lea was ready to take his worthless life away from him.

With a half-hearted sigh Inuyasha defended against the breathtaking creature before him. The words Kagome's soul had whispered to him earlier replaying in his mind.

"I love you so much Inuyasha, but you must go on. The others need you far more then me now. Please, for me, live on and love another as I have loved you. I'm sorry that I could not stand by your side like I promised, please forgive me, but I'll always be with you and let the others know that I will always watch over everyone." It had told him showing the deep feelings Kagome had never allowed herself to admit too. He felt something else as well, he felt free. Free from the spell Kikyo and Kagome's soul had woven around him over the years. He was free to love someone else when he was ready and the knowledge gave him an inner feeling of peace Inuyasha had never experienced before. Now he would fight his friend Lea in order to save her from the pent up fury within, a fury that he knew intimately.

Outside Shippo cried, snuggled tightly in Marie's arms. "Why? Why did she have to die?"

"I don't know," Marie smoothed the kit's hair back away from his face as his tears soaked her top. "Maybe if I'd gotten here sooner or been faster, maybe she'd still be with us." Marie's voice was weak and full of both emotional and physical pain as she spoke. She was too tired to try to hide her feelings. She had grown to love the younger miko almost as much as she loved her sister Lea. The girl had a way of growing on a person, and Marie knew that Lea considered the future girl as a sister. Marie worried for her sister as she could feel Lea's distress.

"It's not your fault Marie," Shippo cried clinging tightly to her. "You did everything you could."

Neither of them had to be told about her death, Kagome's spirit had came to them in that passing moment brining the same feeling to them that it had the others. Marie had been unconscious, Shippo faithfully standing watch over her. Kagome's soul had awakened Marie, pulling her back from the blackness and filled her with a love that only Kagome could give. Marie had been startled at the unfamiliar feelings but when Shippo had begun to cry, Marie had tenderly gathered him in her arms.

She saw her then, Kagome's soul hovering over the kitsune and she could almost sense a true peacefulness coming from it. As she watched, Marie could have sworn it smiled at her with the total understanding that only death could bring. Then it was gone, it's final farewell having been said, leaving the two alone.

Marie leaned against a small rotten tree for support, cradling the kit as he cried. Her strength was gone but she fought against the impending darkness that threatened to pull her downward into the abyss once more. She would stay awake for Shippo's sake; it was the least she could do for her failure to save his surrogate mother.

"Well, well, well," A deep voice came from behind them. "If it isn't the miko and Kagome's fox kit."

Marie felt Shippo suddenly stiffen in her arms and she swung her head around to face the voice coming from the right side of the rotten tree. He was tall, his raven hair cascading around him like an ebony waterfall. From what Marie could see, he wore a white fur pelt, a hollow baboon's head lay limply to one side. His eyes is what held Marie's attention, they were pools of ebony tinged with red that made them appear as though one could fall into their cold depths and never find the way out. Evil shone in brightly in those eyes and Marie knew instantly who this stranger was.

"What do you want Naraku?" Marie demanded struggling to her feet. Silently she cursed the weakness she felt as she leaned against the tree for support. She let Shippo jump from her arms and listened as the nearby bushes rustled, telling her that he had chosen to hide.

Naraku watched the kit with mild amusement before turning his attention back to Marie. "Don't get up on my behalf," he sneered and stepped towards her. "It appears you are stronger than Kikyo first suspected. Now since your sister has defeated the dead miko you will serve in her place."

"I'll never help you." Marie coldly replied looking up at him stubbornly. She reached down for her sword but as a wave of dizziness hit her she stumbled and fell, gasping in surprise at the painful impact.

Naraku watched her with amusement dancing in those cold eyes, advancing slowly toward the fallen woman, malice showing clearly on his face. "You are mine now!"

"Run Shippo!" Marie cried out scooting back away from Naraku's reaching arms.

Frightened, Shippo felt torn between staying with Marie and going to find help, but finally hearing Marie's cry he scurried away to find help. Sango would know what to do, he told himself over and over as he raced between the rock walls to find the others.

Naraku's hand closed tightly over Marie's arm hauling her towards his hard body, but cringed as she let out an ear splitting scream. With the last of her strength used up, Marie slipped gratefully back into the dark abyss unaware of being cradled in the evil hanyou's arms.

Deep inside the keep, Lea held Inuyasha against the wall, her sharp claws digging deeply into the sides of his throat. Her right hand was poised to strike him once more with her closed fist. Her mind, still clouded by her emotions, struggled to let her true self come out. Inuyasha's refusal to fight her had almost been his undoing and he bleed from several wounds.

Suddenly, Lea heard it, her sister's horrified scream. A scream so full of fear and anguish that it snapped her out of the berserk frenzy that gripped her.

"Oh my God!" She cried staring guiltily at what she'd done to her friend. "I'm so sorry Inuyasha, Please forgive me!" Tears streamed down her face as she lowered him to the ground.

"Lea?" Inuyasha blinked half expecting it to be some trick. "Lea are you back with us?"

"I'm sorry!" she cried over and over again burying her face against his chest. Her hands wound themselves tightly in the red fabric of his clothes.

"Thank the Gods Lea!" he embraced the distraught girl, glad that she was back to herself again. "Glad to see you back." For one moment he let his cocky nature go and held the crying girl.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha, I couldn't save her. I tried, but then I saw Kikyo sucking her soul into herself and then I don't know what happened. It's my fault Kagome's dead, I killed her!" Lea cried, her heart torn in a million pieces at the loss of her friend.

"You tried, we all did." Inuyasha soothed the trembling girl. "There was nothing either of us could do." He felt tears beginning to form in his own eyes as he realized suddenly the amount of guilt and pain that had driven Lea even beyond that of Marie's powers. He too felt the guilt of not being able to protect either of the women he'd grown to love, but standing there holding Lea he understood why Kagome's soul had told him to live on.

The others would need him as much as he need them to over come their grief in the next few months.

Suddenly, Lea remembered what had snapped her out of it and lifted panic filled eyes up to meet worried golden ones. "Marie's in trouble I have to go check on her!"

Inuyasha released her at once, letting her run from the chamber. He followed her closely worry nagging at him also. He knew that Marie and Shippo were let unprotected outside and a string of curses slipped quietly from off his tongue.

"Naraku has Marie!" Sango cried the second the two entered the accursed chamber where the others had waited for them. Shippo cringed burying himself deeper into the protective embrace of the exterminator. He was crying, his eyes fixed on the covered body of Kagome. Misery shone clearly on his face, but he roused himself enough to recount the whole thing over to the two hanyous.

Inuyasha let out second string of curses under his breath while Lea began to cry even harder. Kagome's death had hit her hard and now she was afraid that her sister would meet the same fate.

"Lets get back to the village," Sango said tiredly, "Then we can figure out were to go next."

"We can't just leave her with that bastard!" Lea cried helplessly. "I'm going to see what I can find and then I'll meet back up with you at the hut." Lea darted out away from them before they could stop her. She hoped she found something to tell her what became of Marie.

She searched the entire area losing her sister's scent half way up one mountain. With defeat and bone drenching weariness, Lea returned to the village to face her friends.