To the best of my knowledge, I don't think anyone's ever done this before. I'm not sure what anyone's going to think of this or what I'm going to do with this if you ask me to continue so reviews, commentary, suggestions, tips, ideas for a better title, a beta, whatever, would all be appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. If I did, do you honestly think I would be writing fan fictions?
Crimson life trickled down her useless arm, pooling about the iridescent jewel cradled in her palm. Salt tears carved watery trails through the carnage of battle, the dirt and gore and matted filth plastered to her skin.
Naraku chuckled over her broken body.
"So this is what it comes down to, eh my little miko?"
He stepped uncaringly over the carcasses of his subordinates to crouch beside her, reaching out to stroke the once smooth skin of her face, reveling in her corrupted beauty. He tilted her chin up, forcing her to stare unwillingly into his scarlet eyes.
"You know, you can end all of this right now."
Kagome glared at him through bloody bangs, trying in vain to suppress the naïve hope budding in her chest.
"Indeed, little Kagome. All you have to do is give me the jewel and I will never bother you or your friends again. I will even give Sango back her brother and remove the monk's curse."
Kagome attempted to wrench her face from Naraku's vile touch. His grip held firm. It would be far too easy to just give up, to surrender the responsibility, to fall and never have to get back up again… but she couldn't trust this man, no matter how tempting his offer sounded.
Kagome recalled Kikyo and Inuyasha, torn away by this hanyou's jealous spite. She remembered Kohaku's vacant eyes and Kagura's open rebellion. She thought of little Rin and Shippo, whose childhood innocence had been cut painfully short. She remembered Sango's slaughtered village, Kouga's murdered brethren and the countless villages destroyed in Naraku's mad quest for power, all for the Jewel she held in her hands.
"Never."
Naraku's pale fingers tightened dangerously. Kagome flinched but remained firm in her response.
"I will never give you the Shikon no Tama. You will have to kill me first."
Naraku's eyes glowed fiercely in the fading twilight.
"That can be arranged my dear."
He hurled Kagome to the battle-weary soil. She cried out in pain when her shattered shoulder crashed into the dirt, forcing her hand to open. The Shikon no Tama rolled beneath the body of an eagle youkai several yards away.
Naraku smirked, his eyes tracing the Jewel's path. There would be plenty of time for that later. For now, he would have his fun.
Kagome yelped when Naraku's boot forced her shoulder further into the dirt. White-hot agony exploded behind her eyes. He held her down, hissing in her ear.
"The pain is only just beginning my dear. When I'm done with you, you'll wish you had never been born."
Kagome could barely hear him through the pain-induced fog clouding her senses. She reached blindly for the Shikon no Tama. If she could just touch it…
Naraku's face had taken on a strangely contemplative expression. Kagome shrieked in anguish when the same foot that had been crushing her shoulder shattered the bone in her left leg.
Naraku grinned. Tormenting this miko was so much fun.
"Naraku."
Scowling fiercely, the hanyou turned from Kagome like a petulant child whose favorite toy had just been snatched away.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! What can one so lowly as I do for the great dog demon?"
Sesshoumaru held Tokijin forward, tilting the lethal blade toward Naraku's throat. His golden eyes absorbed everything there was to see: Kagome's bloodstained form, the straining arm, the pink glimmer beneath a fallen corpse. He allowed a small smirk to cross his lips. The miko was a clever, if slightly clumsy, child after all.
"Die."
Naraku smiled and turned toward the silent girl cringing behind him. .
"Well, it looks as though I must bid you farewell for now my dear… but never fear, I will return and finish our game. Stay right there."
Kagome shivered at the malevolent gleam in those bloody eyes. Naraku lunged forward, striking at Sesshoumaru with furious blows. The taiyoukai blocked, whirled, and spun, his silver hair swirling behind him in a graceful dance.
When both demons were too thoroughly involved in their duel to notice her, Kagome began inching her way toward the Shikon Jewel, every movement inflicting agony on her broken body.
Sesshoumaru, unknown to her, watched the girl's painstaking progress out of the corner of his eye. Though she steadily approached her goal, her movements were tragically slow. Even so, the fact that she could move at all with her great injuries impressed the demon lord, despite the fact that he would never admit this to another living soul.
Dodging a particularly gruesome tentacle, Sesshoumaru turned and landed next to the glowing sphere, scooping it up swiftly and tossing it toward the struggling female. Her slim fingers closed around the orb quickly when it rolled past. She flashed him a grateful look caught somewhere between a smile and a wince. He nodded to her.
Naraku raced toward Kagome, desperate to remove the Jewel of Four Souls from her grasp…but for all his speed, he was not quick enough to prevent the whisper that passed through her lips.
"I wish to help my friends."
In that instant, the entire clearing was engulfed in blazing light and silence reigned supreme. The pink radiance began to pulse, a slow soothing rhythm that gave pause to every creature in its range.
At its heart was an even brighter luminosity, clothed in the form of an eighteen-year-old girl. Kagome began to float, encased in a splendor so magnificent none could look upon her.
And then, her figure began to change. The face elongated into a graceful curve. The arms and legs twisted in upon themselves before they too began to lengthen. Her outline smoothed, curving and winding in graceful arcs as firebirds and dragons soared around her. Surrounded by myths and legends, the very universe felt a change occurring in the midst of this battle-worn clearing.
The pulsing light began to churn, curling in upon itself as it raced against time itself to fulfill its sacred duty. With a final brilliant rainbow flare, the transformation was complete and nothing would ever be the same.
When Sesshoumaru opened his eyes again, he beheld a legend. Standing in a dazzling array of purity was a Kirin, a unicorn.
The glorious creature was pure white, brighter than virgin snow, though her very essence seemed to shimmer with every color of the rainbow. A crystal horn of luminescent gold was her only adornment.
When the unicorn stepped forward, Sesshoumaru swore he heard the earth delight in the graceful touch of her cloven hooves.
When the unicorn shook her snowy mane, he swore he saw moonlight and silver embodied in radiant life.
When the unicorn touched the dead and dying, he swore they stood and rejoiced in the simple joy of living in the presence of this glory.
When the unicorn nudged him with a velvet nose, he swore he felt perfect love grace his soul, warming and healing injuries he had never realized were there.
When the unicorn turned on the vile one, filled with righteous fury, he swore all eternity held its breath.
For her eyes were white fire.
Purple lightning crackled across her skin.
A luminescent jewel floated inches above her outstretched horn.
Sesshoumaru saw an angel of death and, if only for an instant, felt fear.
Naraku.
The voice of the jewel was seductive, tempting. It promised great and wonderful things, if only you had the nerve to reach out and take them. It promised power and glory and conquest beyond one's wildest dreams. It promised death.
You shall pay for what you have done. This is the will of the souls of the Shikon Jewel.
The unicorn moved forward. Naraku stepped back…right into a vibrant pink barrier that closed in around the two beings, one of pure darkness, the other of pure light. .
You shall not escape your fate.
The golden horn touched the hanyou, only for an instant. His face twisted into a horrible mask of terrible pain before he was purified. Not even ash remained of the man once known as Onigumo.
It is finished.
The Jewel began to spin, faster and faster. It suddenly encased the unicorn's horn, merging in a spectacular display of color and light.
The unicorn that was Kagome nodded to them before her gentle eyes closed and she collapsed, a girl once more…though no longer quite human.
Well like, I said before, I don't think this has ever been done before. If it has, I'd really like to see it. But as such, I need reviews on this story more so than any of my other ones. So, please push the little button and make me happy!
Oh! Should I make this a crossover or keep this solely in the Inuyasha universe?