Battle of the Shikon

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from InuYasha.

Chapter 1: Fatal Solution

The blue of the afternoon sky had a peaceful feel to it. Soft clouds drifted in and out of view between the closely grown forest trees surrounding the path. A faint rumble echoed from further back, making the leaves of the trees shuffle with a strange wind that forced the birds to the air. The group of travellers on the path stopped their walk to turn towards the noise. It seemed like a very strange group at first sight with three humans, one hanyou and two smaller youkai.

"What was that?" a young girl nervously asked. Her long raven-black hair hung below her shoulders beside a full quiver and bow. She wore a white sweater with a green over-cloth and a short green skirt. On her shoulder was one of the small demons, a child kitsune in an aqua-coloured haori, fur vest, and a dark blue hakama.

The hanyou of the group, a silver haired dog hanyou with a red kimono, set his golden eyes at the direction of the noise. He paused for a moment to sniff the air before answering. "It's just some weak demon," he said with a shrug, though absent-mindedly placing a hand on the hilt of a feeble looking sword at his hip.

"Let's not trouble ourselves disposing of it, if it's as weak as you say," voiced another, a violet and black clad houshi of the group. "We still have a long way to go if we want to find a village before nightfall." He shifted the staff in his hands to his other shoulder, the golden rings clinging.

The last human of the group, a taijiya from the Hiraikotsu that was strapped to the back of her pink kosoda and green mo-bakama, nodded in agreement. A small neko-youkai sat in the crook of her arm, mewing softly. "I agree with Miroku. We shouldn't waste our strength dealing with lesser demons," she said, though her eyes were set towards the source of the rumble.

The hanyou glanced back at the direction of the demon for a moment before suddenly blinking and sniffing the air again. "Wait...I know that scent! It's Naraku!" the hanyou exclaimed, now clenching his fist around the sword hilt.

Immediately the rest of the group became more alert. "What? Are you sure, InuYasha?" the young miko, Kagome, said. Her eyes locked upon the direction of the noise.

"I'd know that stench anywhere!" he insisted, scowling darkly.

"It must be a rejection demon of Naraku," explained the houshi. "Naraku, or even one of his incarnates, could never expose themselves if they were this weak."

The taijiya shifted uncomfortably. "But what is one of Naraku's rejected demons doing out here? Wouldn't Naraku have killed it before letting it go?"

Before anyone could answer, the hanyou tensed and threw out his arm as if to stop anyone from moving beyond him. "It's coming closer," he warned. "Stay back, Kagome!" The rest of them tensed as well. They didn't move, but the feeling of wait was like a lion ready to pounce on its prey.

Finally the distant image of the demon came into view as it tore free of the darker part of the forest. It took the shape of a young woman in a black kimono calmly walking along the path. She was quite beautiful in human terms with midnight black hair that fell almost to her ankles. However, her beauty was spoiled by three threatening grey-coloured spikes that stuck out of her spine and through the back of her kimono. Brutal scars also covered her arms and trailed up from her neck to her chin. Her eyes were as red as blood torn from the body and a long oval mirror sat it her hands, its curled rim the same colour as her eyes. Instead of reflecting the clearing's floor or afternoon sky above, the glass seemed to swirl with a distant shadow.

Kagome blinked in surprise at the sight of the demon. Its appearance was at obvious strong odds with what they had expected. "InuYasha, are you sure that's the demon? It looks much stronger than you said," she said, slowly nocked one of her arrows to her bow to be on the safe side. "And there's a demonic aura coming from it, but...it's different somehow..."

InuYasha frowned and unsheathed his sword with a flash of light. Taking the giant blade in both hands, he steadied it for battle. "Of course I'm sure. If it is an escaped rejection of Naraku, it's probably trying to hide from him by making a disguise."

The houshi sighed sadly to himself. "It's a pity for the scars and spikes," he murmured to himself, though it almost seemed as if he hadn't realized he had spoken aloud. Unfortunately for him, the taijiya heard his words.

"What was that?" she hissed threateningly at him, free hand curling into a fist and face into a cold frown.

"Why, nothing at all, my dear Sango," Miroku answered sweetly, waving his hand in dismissal.

"Oh, save it!" Sango growled, narrowing her eyes at him and half raising her fist as if to punch him with it.

InuYasha growled in his throat. "Enough talk. Let's just kill this thing and get going already!" he called back as he began his sprint towards the demon. The demon rushed towards him as well, raising its oval mirror to eye-level. A strange noise was coming from it, like the shrieks of dying men and women; in its mouth it could only be described as hysterical laughter

"Be careful, InuYasha!" Kagome called out, taking a step forward, her chocolate brown eyes full of worry.

"What an idiot, always rushing into a battle without any thought," the little kitsune mumbled absently, scratching his head in disappointed thought.

They watched from afar as InuYasha neared the demon. Slowing slightly, he raised his sword over his head and began to yell, "WIND--!" when a sudden thudding wave came from the mirror and shot through the air. It passed by InuYasha and rushed into the distance towards the rest of them. InuYasha froze in his tracks, eyes staring at the mirror and mouth soundlessly hanging open. Surprise was planted on his still face as clear as his nose.

"What's going on?" Sango demanded, shocked by the scene. InuYasha never froze like that in a battle. Never.

"InuYasha!" Kagome screamed and began to run towards the hanyou, Shippou tumbling off her shoulder and falling to the ground. Sango and Miroku called out her name in surprise, but pursued without a pause. InuYasha still didn't move from his spot, though his entire body seemed to be shaking as if convulsing. The woman youkai was laughing darkly, her voice still the echo of shrieking villagers. Kirara transformed into her larger form after a flash of fire as they hurried on. The nearer they got, the harder it seemed to be. It was almost as if an invisible wall was trying to push them back. Finally they reached InuYasha's side and Kagome's hand had just touched his shoulder when the three of them froze in their tracks as well.

Each had their gazes locked upon the mirror, the earthly light of their eyes vanishing as if their minds were possessed. The black shadow of the mirror was swirling within the glass, forming into something. Something was hidden beyond the dark swirl, different to each of their eyes... The woman youkai continued to laugh and began pacing forward towards them as their visions darkened...

In Kagome's eyes, fear grasped every length of her mind. Her face was twisted in a frightened frown and her body shook with the terror that seeped into her. 'The mirror...why can't I move? What...what is it doing to me?' she thought desperately. She tried to look away, but it seemed as if she had completely left her body.

For a long time, nothing happened. All Kagome could see was eternal blackness, trying to swallow her up. She would have moved her eyes if she could, but it was as if the blackness was scratching at her memory, trying to make her forget that there was an outside world. After what felt like years, a distant picture formed inside the mirror, slowly approaching her until it filled her vision. She felt the resistance in her mind fade and her thoughts with it.

The figure in the picture was herself, laying sprawled out beside the Bone Eater's Well. Rain from a black sky was pounding down upon her motionless body and a cold wind was sweeping across the yellow grass. There was a terrible slash across her throat, like the slit of a sword. Dark blood trailed out, covering the grass beside her and staining the hair that covered her lifeless eyes. Beside her was another figure... At first she didn't recognized the silver-haired man, though she knew she felt a connection to him. 'InuYasha...' she remembered. Yes, that was his name. InuYasha was kneeling beside her. The hilt of his Tetsusaiga peeked out of his hand. She couldn't see where the blade was pointed to, but she didn't need to. Somehow she knew that the blade was stabbed through InuYasha's chest, directly at his heart. One of her hands was clasped in his own, blood trailing down her wrist as his claws dug into her flesh. Her body outside the mirror trembled, but it felt as if it belonged to someone else, like the distant thunder of a far away storm. If she could have moved her arm to her face, he would have felt her cheeks damp with silent sobs.

'You look upon your future, pathetic wench.' The womanly voice was so sudden Kagome nearly fell despite being bound by the spell of the mirror.

'No...' Kagome thought. The resistance was returning, distant in the back of her mind. She could almost feel her body again, but it still remained motionless. InuYasha would never kill her...he'd never do that, he'd never harm her...

'Yes...give in to my spell...agony...fear...pain...sweet pain...it is you're future, wench...you cannot fight it.' The voice was so seductive. It was so smooth and calming, like a whisper of a breeze ensnaring her. The resistance shook and almost gave away.

'No...you're lying...' Kagome sobbed, only half believing her words. 'No! I can't believe you! I won't believe you!' The resistance strengthened bit by bit and the feel of her own flesh distantly returned to the back of her mind. 'You're lying! I'm stronger than this!' She knew it now, the woman was lying...she knew it! She had to fight, resist, never give in no matter what! Never give in! 'I won't let you hurt InuYasha! I will not let you hurt InuYasha!' Each thought pounded against the unseen barrier that hid her from the real world. Each time she refused, it pounded a little harder. By the last, she was throwing all her strength against it, desperately screaming out the names of each of her friends in her mind. 'I WILL NOT LET YOU HURT INUYASHA!' The barrier shattered...

...and her knees gave way.

Collapsing to the ground, she sucked in air, sweet air. Still, it took her a moment to realize that her breath had been locked away from her. Holding a hand to her throat, she looked up through bleak eyes and nearly screamed at the sight that awaited her. The woman youkai was standing not a hair from her face, glaring down at her with hatred deeper than she could even suspect from Naraku. The spikes on her back seemed to flare and a fire was born within every visible scar, giving off a foul heat. The woman opened her mouth wide and let out a mindless shriek in fury and one of her hands left the rim of her mirror and swooped down at Kagome's face.

Acting before she even realized it, Kagome raised her left hand and stabbed at the woman's arm with the arrow she just realized she still held. The woman shrieked again and fell sideways as the pure pink light of Kagome's powers attacked the demon's own power. Still the woman shrieked and tried to crawl backwards, bent over her arm as if to cringe around the wound. Not a moment later, the tip of Miroku's staff slammed with full force into the glass of the mirror. The glass shattered and fell to the ground like an oozing blood. The woman shrieked even louder and her entire body slammed forcefully into the ground. She let the empty rim of the mirror fall to the broken glass pieces. Unable to crawl backwards any further, avoiding InuYasha's sword became futile as it came free and cleanly tore her down the middle. Her remaining shrieks died down as the youkai crumbled into dust.

All around her, Kagome's friends fell to their knees as well, all gasping for air. She gave a heavily relieved sigh, surprised by her grin. She waited patiently as her friends regained their breaths before slowly climbing back to her feet. Her body felt strangely weak, though she had barely done much.

"I saw..." Sango whispered. Tears streamed down her face in strong flows. Her eyes were closed tight and her arms wrapped around herself. The Hiraikotsu lay abandoned at her side. "I saw myself...I was laying on Kohaku's grave and...th-there was a spear in my back, with my own hand on it..." Her words crumbled away as she let the sobs renew.

Shippou came towards Kagome with a lost expression planted on his face. Kagome bent to pick him up and hugged him close to her chest. Tiny sobs emitted from him as he whispered his own supposed future. "There was a girl, a young human girl...I was as old as InuYasha is now...I...I had my arms around her to p-protect her, but..." he gave a loud sniff, "...There was an arrow in both our throats..."

"It's okay, Shippou. It was just a demon. She lied to us to try and get us to weaken...none of the futures we saw will happen, I promise..." Kagome whispered back. If only she could be half as sure about her words as she sounded. Shippou gave another loud sniff, snuggling his face into her shoulder.

"Is everyone all right?" Miroku asked quietly, dusting himself off with a sullen look on his face. He seemed to be avoiding looking at his arm with the Wind Tunnel so hard that it was an obvious effort. Laying his hand around Sango's shoulders, he gently lifted her to her feet.

"InuYasha?" Kagome spoke softly. The hanyou was still bent on the ground, his sword back to its original form and in its sheath. His hands were on the ground for balance, but it was almost as if he was trying to avoid touching the sword at all. His silver bangs covered his face, but not the shaken frown above his chin. Still clutching Shippou to her, she came closer to the hanyou and kneeled beside him. "Hey, InuYasha? Are you okay?" She raised a hand to touch his shoulder, but he quivered and shrank away from it.

"Kagome..." he whispered. "You were dead by my Tetsusaiga...I held your hand while I killed myself right after..." The words were simple, but they struck her heart like cold steel. He had had the same vision? The notion made her shiver violently.

"Don't worry, InuYasha. Nothing like that could ever happen. I know you would never dream of doing something like that. The demon was lying," she said in attempted comfort. "That's how I broke free. I refused to believe her and I...I kept saying to myself that I wouldn't let her hurt you..."

At that he lifted his gaze to look at her. She blushed deeply, embarrassed at her words yet proud she had managed to get them out. Gold locked with chocolate brown for a moment before tearing away to be hidden by silver bangs once more. He rose to his feet and turned away from her. "We should get going," he said calmly as if the entire ordeal hadn't happened.

"Wait, InuYasha," Miroku cut in. Still holding Sango's shoulders, he turned to look at the broken mirror rim and the dust of the dead youkai. "Perhaps if we study this a little more, we could learn something useful. It isn't often that we have a demon, even a rejection, of Naraku to examine." He glanced at Sango for a moment before she nodded hesitantly. Letting go of her, Miroku approached the ashes of the demon and bent down beside them.

"What could there possibly be to find?" InuYasha growled. His face still had the sullen frown. "It isn't like Naraku would keep secrets about himself in a weak demon and then let it escape from him."

"Still, InuYasha, the smallest clue would be a great help," Miroku said absently, eyes intently probing at the ashes and mirror. "We haven't been able to--" he cut himself off all of a sudden. His eyes were wide as he stared at the ashes as if they had suddenly grown wings and flown a foot off the ground.

"What is it, Miroku?" Kagome asked, peeking over his shoulder at the ashes. Instead of pointing at something at the ashes, Miroku suddenly turned and stared at Kagome with the same wide eyes. "Miroku?" she blinked.

"Naraku never...we always knew...and..." he mumbled to himself, "...and Kagome, your..." He swung his eyes back at the empty mirror rim. "...It couldn't be..."

"What the hell are you rambling on about, Miroku?" InuYasha irritably demanded.

Miroku suddenly seemed to be pulled out of his daze and stared at InuYasha as if he had just seen him for the first time. The houshi's eyes held a strange combination of utter horror and fear, something quite rare for Miroku. "We have to leave. Right now. We need to find somewhere secluded. I...I believe I've just uncovered something important..." He gazed around them as if looking for something in the trees. "There might be spies of Naraku about. We cannot afford to have him hear this."

Before any of them could say another word, Miroku herded them away from the clearing, completely forgetting about the ashes and mirror rim. An uneasy wind blew through the forest, lifting the ashes into the air. The sky didn't seem as peaceful as it had a short while ago.

In the midst of the forest, the figure of a young woman with deep red eyes and short black hair tied up with two feathers glared heatedly at the group as they hurried away from view. A few buzzing yellow insects fluttered about her, their tiny eyes surrounded by an unpleasant black-violet. 'What are they up to?' she wondered. 'What could have the monk found? Naraku would never hide a secret in the corpse of a demon. It must have been something else...'

Naraku hadn't necessarily sent her to spy on the group. He had sent the Saimyoushou for that. She had just been here to watch the action. Sadly, there had been a pathetically small amount of that as well. Naraku should know by now that the wench's mind was a lot stronger than it seemed. What else could he have had expected besides defeat? The wench would not fall for a simple scare of what was in that mirror the demon had stolen.

'Yet that monk did seem to have discovered something urgent. If it wasn't a secret of Naraku, what was it? Could it possibly have been...?' No, the thought was absurd. After all this time, how could a simple monk suddenly realize the way to finally destroy Naraku? The possibility was so small; it would have earned Naraku a loud roar of laughter. But then why was it she did not simply dismiss it and return to Naraku? It couldn't be hope. No, it simply couldn't. After Sesshomaru refused to kill Naraku for her, why should she put even a sliver of hope that those fools had thought of something? Sesshomaru was much stronger than them, that was obvious. No, it couldn't be hope.

Still, the thought wouldn't die and she soon found herself hurrying after them on her flying feather. Part of her told her what she was doing was utter foolery, but another part said that she might find something interesting here. Apparently the Saimyoushou hadn't felt the same way as her as they had gone back to Naraku. She didn't realize it at the time, but she should have felt immense relief.

Further away from the hurrying wind youkai, a beautiful woman in a white haori and red hakama stood watching. Her long black hair hung elegantly in a folded white cloth beside a full quiver. A longbow was in one hand while the other was upturned to the belly of a strange white floating serpent.

"Interesting..." she muttered to herself before turning away and sliding into the shadows of the forest.

For the group, the day passed by quickly, though fruitlessly for the first little while. The group found no villages to stay at for the night, but luck struck in just after the first few moments of nightfall came. A small hut of an abandoned farm came into view just beyond the next grove of trees. Dead plants littered the long rows of dull grey soil, but the hut seemed strong enough to hold them for the night. Filing into it, they sat down in a circle, everyone's eyes intent on Miroku.

"So what did you drag us here for, monk?" InuYasha growled, seating himself in a corner with folded arms and sword propped up against the wall beside him.

Miroku didn't answer straight away. At first he seemed to simply be trying to find a comfortable seat, taking great care in placing his staff on his shoulder, but his movements spoke of strong hesitation. This was most unlike Miroku. What was wrong with him? When InuYasha began impatiently drumming his fingers on his sleeve, the houshi let out a deep sigh.

"Miroku?" Sango asked softly, carefully running her fingers along Kirara's head. Ever since the encounter with Naraku's demon earlier that afternoon, Kirara had stayed very close to Sango, closer than usual. She also seemed to growl angrily at the slightest unfamiliar shadow as if it were trying to sneak up on Sango.

Finally Miroku looked back up at them, gazing at each of them in turn. Kagome might have imagined it, but he seemed to have paused on her a moment longer than the others. "All right," he began. He paused for a moment as if searching for the right words. Seeming to give in to something, his shoulders slouched and he breathed out the words. "I believe I have uncovered how to finally kill Naraku." The silence was unbelievably loud.

"What? How?" Kagome finally managed to croak out. Shippou felt strangely stiff in her arms. He had to be as shocked by this the same as any of them.

Miroku gazed at her with a terribly pitiful look. "You must understand that this is only a theory and I may be completely wrong," he said nervously.

"Just spit it out already!" InuYasha demanded, hands unconsciously curled into fists.

Miroku nodded and dropped his gaze to the small fire placed in the centre of their circle. "Very well," he mumbled after a moment. "After the battle, I...I began to think about how remarkably human that demon looked," he ignored Sango's heated glare, "And then I remembered what Sango had told me a little while ago after Kohaku died." The pain of the memory was mostly diminished, now that Sango had found peace in her brother's death. They were now at a point where speaking of it was easier than it had once been. "It contained no new information besides what we already know, but it made me think. Sango, you said that the only thing Kohaku knew about Naraku was that he absorbed demons to gain their powers and used his barrier to hide himself from us." Sango nodded in agreement. "Well, it suddenly occurred to me to wonder why Naraku only absorbed demons. Humans have strengths as well, yet we've never witnessed him trying to absorb one into his body."

"That's because he doesn't need any more human blood in him. He wants to be a full demon, not a half demon," InuYasha cut in.

"Yes, that's what we've always believed. But what if there is another reason underneath? Physical strength cannot help Naraku very much, but there are other human strengths he might have wanted. For example, spiritual powers like those of a priestess or monk. Yet Naraku cannot have those powers because having them would destroy him."

"What are you saying, Miroku? Kagome has tried using her priestess powers on Naraku before," Sango commented. "They destroy pieces of him, but nothing would destroy him all at once. He would just regroup his flesh."

Miroku nodded sadly. "That is true, but one thing we have never thought of before is trying to kill Naraku from a different perspective. We have always tried to attack him from the outside, but we have never tried his own tactics and attack from the inside."

"Naraku attacks his enemies by using their emotions and souls against them. Naraku doesn't even have a heart, so what could there possibly be to attack?" InuYasha insisted, frowning deeply.

Miroku's patience waned slightly, but he contained himself by frowning back at InuYasha. "It's Kagome," he said calmly as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. Turning around, he looked straight at the young miko.

Kagome blinked and stared at him as if he had gone mad. "Me? What do I have to do with anything?"

Miroku took a deep breath with closed eyes as if to prepare himself for what he was about to say. Looking back at Kagome with the same calm expression, he searched for the right words. "Kagome...you are a spiritual being. Both your body and your soul. Attacking Naraku from the outside would do nothing to him as a whole, but perhaps if you attacked him from the inside--"

"Wait, Miroku..." Kagome interrupted in a rather shaken voice. "Do you mean that...are you saying that I...?" She stared at the houshi with wide fear-filled eyes. Miroku frowned sadly, though never breaking their shared gaze. He nodded slowly.

"What is it?" InuYasha said, looking back and forth between them. "What?"

Kagome suddenly seemed to become aware of InuYasha again. Tears were in her eyes, though they seemed too afraid to come out. "InuYasha..." she began, pausing for a moment to gulp. "InuYasha...I have to be absorbed into Naraku." Her voice was as dead as the corpse of the demon from that afternoon and colder than the crystal moon hanging in the sky outside.

Silence screamed at them. Finally, a slow creeping word whispered from the hanyou's lips. "What...?"

Kagome's hands were shaking terribly, yet the tears still refused to fall. "I...I have to be absorbed into N-Naraku's body..." she repeated, her voice becoming unsteadier by the word.

"But..." Sango softly whispered, "...But if Kagome is absorbed into Naraku, she'll die won't she?" No one seemed to be able to look away from Kagome's stricken face. Slowly Miroku nodded and managed to tear his eyes from Kagome to settle on his folded hands.

"K-Kagome..." InuYasha's voice sounded even more unsteady than Kagome's had been, if that was possible. His gold eyes locked with her chocolate brown once more, each looking into the other's face of utter horror and despair.

Ta da! Hope you liked the first chapter of my story! lol Please remember to REVIEW! Fourteen chapters in total and second one already up!