Put to Rest
"Die, Inuyasha!"
The words rung through his head incessantly. It had to be a nightmare. Some bad dream he was having. Was Kikyo truly trying to kill him again? No… it couldn't be! It had to be another of Naraku's dirty tricks to pit them against each other… He'd just have to figure out how Naraku was tricking them this time.
This wasn't a fake; this was definitely the real Kikyo. The smell of graveyard soil filled his nose and her soul collectors hovered around her. So what had Naraku done now that would make her want to kill him?
'Who said Naraku did anything?' his own thoughts asked.
No! It had to be Naraku's doing! Why would Kikyo wish to kill him? What would she gain from his death? Nothing that he could see, but yet she was still firing her arrows at him. Firing those sacred arrows that had pinned him to the tree. Though this time, the goal wasn't to seal him to a tree; he could just tell that she intended to kill him.
He blocked another arrow with his sword, but refused to use that same sword to cut her down. Even though she was supposed to be dead, even though this was no longer the Kikyo that he'd know in the past when she was truly alive, he couldn't harm her. Some part of him still loved her dearly, so he did nothing but defend himself. He was surprised that his friends weren't jumping in to save him, but maybe for once they were listening completely when he said this was his battle.
Kagome saw otherwise. At first, she'd thought that maybe they were going to let Inuyasha have his battle, but now she could tell something was wrong. They weren't paying attention at all. Were they even moving? She couldn't quite tell, but knew that they weren't about to jump in and help when their friend obviously needed help. Had they betrayed him? Had Kikyo bought them off somehow? No, there was no way!
The teen resisted a scream and shielded her eyes as another arrow flew at Inuyasha. The arrow, however, was deflected and stuck sharply into the ground. Power exploded from the weapon, tearing apart the ground and temporarily blinding them and sending the earth flying every which way. She braced herself against the force of it, which had created a wind strong enough to push her back slightly.
Her mind and heart were racing in panic, trying to think of something to do. How could she fight Kikyo? They had the same powers, didn't they? How could she possibly hope to defeat the woman she'd been borne of? She didn't know. Had no ideas. She could only stare wide-eyed.
"Kikyo! Stop this! Why are you doing this?!" It wasn't as if he hadn't asked that a billion times already. The priestess still refused to give Inuyasha an answer though. Still refused to do anything more than glare and fire arrows at him.
Without missing a beat, the attacking woman pulled two arrows out of the quiver on her back, loading them both on the arrow before aiming and firing. The pair of arrows cut through the air, seeming to form into one as they got closer and closer to the half demon.
"Shit!" Inuyasha cursed, bracing himself behind the Tetsusaiga and closing his eyes. He had to think. This was going nowhere quickly. But there was no way he'd cut her down… not Kikyo… not after all this time.
His heart suddenly jumped into his throat as he felt his sword being ripped out of his hand, as if some bigger creature had come up taken it away. The arrows had made their impact and their magic had been strong enough to render the giant sword useless. It reverted back to the form where it was pretty much useless. Where it looked like nothing more than a beat up hunk of junk that he pulled out of a dumpster somewhere. Not only that, but it flew out of his grasp to stick out of the ground much too far away to even attempt to go get it. He'd surely be shot down before he got there.
His golden eyes flew to Kikyo, panic clearly reigning through them. She'd already loaded another arrow and was aiming to fire. Inuyasha knew he should jump out of the way, knew that he should avoid the arrow somehow, but it was as if he'd been frozen in place. He couldn't even move his eyes, which now held Kikyo's. Something wasn't right about them. It was definitely her, but something wasn't right about her eyes. They'd almost turned black.
"Die, Inuyasha!"
She hadn't said it, but he heard it all the same. He was suddenly reliving the same moment all over again. His vision seemed to cloud and the environment morphed into the scene of her about to pin him to the tree.
She fired the arrow.
'No!'
"Die!"
'No!' his mind screamed.
"Inuyasha!"
Before Kagome even knew what she was doing, she'd grabbed an arrow from her own quiver and loaded her own bow. Before the raven head even knew what she was doing, she'd screamed out his name and fired the arrow at Kikyo's. Before she even knew what she was doing, she was urging the arrow to get there in time to save the silver haired hanyou.
Her voice had cut into the hallucination that had formed before Inuyasha's eyes and the world reverted to the present again. Kagome's voice never failed to have the ability to shatter whatever reverie he was in, and again it proved to be powerful enough to snap him back to reality.
Time seemed to slow down. Kikyo's arrow seemed to have lost speed, but then another arrow entered into his vision. Kagome had been standing behind him when she fired and her arrow now whizzed by his head, the slow motion seemed to have no effect on it. He watched, the second arrow approaching the first with incredible speeds.
"Get down!"
Her voice again, cutting through the reverie. Things sped up again and he found himself obeying as he pretty much literally hit the dirt. He threw his form to the ground just in time to avoid the explosive result of the two arrows colliding.
Purplish-blue magic in the form of a bright light shattered through the air, creating a shockwave that they all felt. The shockwave forced Kikyo backwards and she fell to the ground several yards back from where she'd been standing. But while Kikyo had been thrown, Kagome remained unaffected by it. She just stared in shock at what she'd just accomplished.
Her breathing was heavy, though she hadn't exerted much energy. It was almost more like hyperventilation that anything else. Had she really just done that? She must have. No one else was doing anything. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. Had it been enough to defeat Kikyo?
Inuyasha pushed himself up from the earth. His eyes flickered to Kikyo, who appeared to be down for the count. He couldn't even tell if she was still alive. And in his shock he found he suddenly didn't care. Instead, his eyes shifted to Kagome.
He could only stare at her incredulously, just as shocked as she was by her power. He could only stare at the shock on her face with an expression that probably mirrored hers. But suddenly he saw her expression fall back to panic and in an instant he knew why. His ears picked up the sound of another arrow flying in their direction, but he had a feeling it wasn't aimed at him this time.
'Kagome!' he screamed silently, trying to move in order to protect her. But his body felt suddenly very heavy and he could barely move. His blood ran cold in his veins and that only seemed to slow him down more. He even tried to will the arrow to stop dead, or for the Tetsusaiga to come back to life and stop the arrow, but neither was working.
There was no time to draw another arrow. All she could do was duck and as she did she felt the arrow just miss the top of her head. She was amazed that she'd been able to dodge it at all, much less by a hair… or two… or four…
"How dare you…"
Both Inuyasha and Kagome looked to Kikyo as she suddenly spoke. Her voice wasn't natural. Sure, there were still the woman's vocal tones in it, but she sounded almost demonic. She sounded almost possessed.
"How dare you protect a disgusting half-breed such as him!"
The words stung Inuyasha unexpectedly. Usually, he just glared and insulted the person right back when they called him a half-breed, but coming from her it was like poison. She might as well have hit him with the arrow.
"How dare you try to kill him!" Kagome snapped right back. Kikyo's words made her blood boil and her face contort into an almost snarl. Again, it was before she realized what she was doing that she'd drawn, loaded, aimed and fired another arrow. All seemed to be by instinct now.
Inuyasha watched as Kikyo did the same and knew he needed to move. The arrows would collide too close for comfort if he didn't, so he scrambled away, his legs feeling weak and useless. They collapsed beneath him, but he'd moved far enough away. He shielded his eyes with his arm as the two arrows collided. He looked again when the light vanished and saw that both women were already poised to attack each other again.
His heart wrenched. There was no way he could watch them kill each other! No way!
The women, both of which he'd on more than one occasion mistaken one as the other, simply stared. It seemed that neither was going to fire and that this match was now a match of nerves. Who was going to crack first?
He dared to attempt to stand and felt he had to put a stop to this. How, he didn't know. But he knew he had to. He took a step forward, but stopped in an instant when he saw Kikyo's arrow turn to him. Without saying a word, she fired.
Kagome panicked for a moment, but also turned her aim and fired at Kikyo's arrow. Again, she was urging it to make it in time. Urging it to stop Kikyo's. Again, it seemed to work since the two collided yet again.
Inuyasha's form flew as he'd been much too close to the collision of the two arrows this time and he'd been standing. He had no way to brace himself and felt the force against his torso and the rest of his body before being thrown backwards and making contact with the ground.
His head hit hard, and for a moment he could only see splotches of black all around him. The wind had been knocked out of his chest and he gasped for breath. His body ached with the force of the impact he'd made with the ground and he could do little more than try to regain his sight and breath.
'No!' Kagome's expression changed to panic and concern. Was he going to be okay? She felt the urge to run over to him and check, but felt Kikyo's aim trained on her again.
She reached for another arrow in her own quiver, but felt nothing in there. Her blood ran cold as she quickly took it off to make sure she hadn't just missed it, but her quiver was truly empty. Her left hand gripped the bow until her knuckles turned white, but her right hand couldn't seem to hold onto the empty quiver. She quickly looked around for something nearby to fire. Anything. Come on!
'There!'
She spotted one of Kikyo's arrows sticking out of the ground. It was close enough. She might just make it. She had to try and with little more thought took off towards the arrow.
Kikyo followed her line of vision and the path she was now running in. The should-be-dead woman fired her arrow, knowing it would make contact by the time Kagome reached that point. She knew also that there was no one to help her, especially considering that she'd rendered the girl's friends useless. They couldn't move, as much as they wanted to, and they couldn't scream out their dismay at all that was happening. Surely the girl was about to die.
Kagome managed to clasp the arrow in her hand and wrench it out of the earth, but as she turned to fire it she saw that she had no time. Kikyo's arrow was far too close. Her eyes widened before closing tightly. She didn't want to see her death. Couldn't bear to see it.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha managed to cry out, as if it would get her to move, but she only remained in place. 'No!' his thoughts begged. 'No! NO!'
Kagome was sure the arrow had made contact and that she was now dead. She felt like she was flying. Felt like she was on a soft cloud of… fur?
She opened her eyes.
"Kirara!" she exclaimed in relief and joy. She couldn't resist hugging the giant feline-demon. She buried her face in the cat demon's fur, relief flooding through her limbs.
"Damned cat," Kikyo snapped.
Kirara dodged the arrow shot at her with a sharp jerk to the side that almost threw Kagome overboard. The teen regained her focus on the situation, rather than letting the relief take over her from here. She had to think of something to do.
"Good job, Kirara!"
Kagome knew that voice. She began looking around, even searching through the demon's thick mane of fur.
"I'm up here, Kagome," the voice told her and her eyes redirected to Kirara's head.
"Myoga, what are you doing here?" she asked the flea, a look of pure shock on her face.
"I'm here to help you out." Myoga crossed his arms, a look of anger laced in his expression. He knew exactly where she was headed with that question.
"Ah-huh," Kagome regarded him and waited for him to explain just how. Maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt though, considering he was here after all and had been that close to danger. Her expression softened.
"Sango and the others are all under some sort of spell that Kikyo cast. They don't have any ability to move, so they can't help you unless you break it," Myoga began telling her.
"I don't think we have any time for that. Kirara!" Kagome shouted and the feline knew exactly what Kagome wanted her to do.
The feline flew down and Kagome watched as yet another arrow was flying in Inuyasha's direction. Her heart raced, but something told her they'd make it there in time.
"Inuyasha, grab my hand!" Kagome called as they got close to him. She reached out her hand, holding onto Kirara's fur with the other. As soon as Inuyasha had grasped her hand they were flying upwards again. Kagome helped Inuyasha onto Kirara's back.
"Master Inuyasha! So glad you're all right!"
"Myoga? What are you doing here?" He'd been about to thank Kagome, but was drawn by the shock of Myoga's presence.
"I resent that! You're both so mean!" Myoga threw a fit, jumping up and down. Steam practically came out of his ears.
Inuyasha simply stared at him with a cocked eyebrow. 'What's his problem?'
"Myoga says he's here to help us," Kagome explained. "According to him, Kikyo cast a spell or something on the others and they can't help us now."
"Unless you break the spell," Myoga reiterated.
"Right."
"How are we supposed to break the spell?" Inuyasha asked, looking back and forth between Kagome and Myoga. It was much more awkward to look at Kagome considering he had to look over his shoulder. When she'd pulled him up, he ended up sitting before her.
"Uh… that I don't know."
"Myoga! You said you were going to help!" Inuyasha snapped. "Some help you are!"
Kagome sighed. "Guess we'll just have to figure it out on our own."
Kirara jerked sideways again, avoiding yet another arrow. When they looked down at Kikyo it appeared that she was studying them, or waiting for them to make one false move and leave themselves wide open for attack. She almost looked like a statue she stood so motionlessly.
"Doesn't she ever run out of arrows?" Kagome muttered to herself.
"Eh?" Inuyasha looked over his shoulder, having not quite heard her.
"Mm." She shook her head to show the lack of importance in what she'd said. "I only have one arrow, so I can't just attack randomly."
"Any chance of me getting Tetsusaiga back?" Inuyasha asked.
"Doesn't look like it, Master Inuyasha." Myoga pointed with two of his four hands. They saw that Kikyo had now taken to standing by the sword.
"Damn," he thought aloud.
"I think we have to take her down," Kagome spoke carefully. Her eyes watched for Inuyasha's reaction and she was surprised to see him nod slowly. "You're oka-"
"It's not Kikyo anymore, so it doesn't matter," he said quickly.
Kagome frowned, knowing that he wasn't okay with it, but that he was forcing himself to be okay with it.
"We can find some other way…" she told him gently. Actually, she would have preferred to find some other way, but something was telling her this was going to end in Kikyo's death. Again.
"You just have to purify her. Some darkness has possessed her. I'm sure you're strong enough to thwart it, Kagome," Myoga told them, sitting on Kirara's head still, with a pensive look on his face.
"Do you know ho-" The look on Myoga's face caused Kagome to stop her question. "Never mind."
"So what are we going to do?" Inuyasha asked, which was odd considering he was usually the 'do now, think later' type. But, since it was Kikyo he was faced against it was the 'think continuously, do nothing offensive' side that had taken over. His thinking, it seemed, was getting him nowhere though.
"I've got an idea. Kirara, take us closer to Kikyo," Kagome said suddenly. Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at her in question, but she only shook her head.
Kagome grasped the arrow she'd managed to yank out of the ground and loaded it onto her bow, which she took off her shoulder. She began aiming.
"That's good, Kirara."
Her aim continued as the cat demon came to a halt. Kikyo looked up at her with a spark of confusion in her expression, but also a look that was just daring her to shoot.
'I'm not doing what you think, Kikyo,' Kagome told the woman silently.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha watched her the best he could, more concerned that she might fall than what she was doing at the moment.
"Don't worry. I've got this," Kagome said, releasing the arrow.
Kikyo watched as the arrow came towards her, feeling no need to dodge. Obviously the girl had terrible aim for the arrow was going to miss her. She was surprised when she suddenly felt her shoulder jerked backwards and she heard the strap of her quiver snap. When she looked behind her, she confirmed that the sound she'd heard was Kagome's arrow striking and mangling her quiver, as well as the arrows in it. She turned to glare back at Kagome.
"Score," the teen breathed out a sigh of relief. She'd been concerned that Kikyo might try to move out of the way, which would have meant either, a) the shot would have been for nothing or b) that she'd have hit Kikyo.
"Nicely done," Myoga praised, nodding his head to show further his approval. "But now what are you going to do?"
"Wing it," Kagome told them, barely realizing that they probably wouldn't understand the term.
"Going to grow wings?" The look on the hanyou's face was filled with confusion.
Kagome ignored his question, looking to the ground to see how far up they were.
'Heheh, okay. I can do this. This is nothing. Just a little jump,' Kagome thought to herself as she swung her feet around to hang over one side of Kirara's back. It looked like she was trying to side-saddle.
"What are you-?" Inuyasha began and his heart leapt into his throat when he saw her jump down. "Kagome!"
She landed hard on the ground, feeling the shock rise up through her legs, but she shook it off. Besides that shock, she was fine and began to walk forward, her eyes fixed on the woman that could have easily been mistaken as her twin. Kikyo just stared back, unmoving.
Inuyasha, Myoga and Kirara watched incredulously from the air. Just what was she doing now? Was that what she had meant by winging it? Jumping down? Somehow, he didn't think so.
Kagome took a deep breath, daring to approach Kikyo further than she already had. She didn't know just how the woman would react and almost didn't want to find out. When she was within a foot of the woman, she saw Kikyo grab the Tetsusaiga and even as she swung it, Kagome didn't dodge. The blade cut into her shoulder, which caused her to flinch, but she continued her approach. Kikyo stared perplexed, not even noticed that Kagome took the sword out of her hand when she was close enough to do so.
Kagome ignored her bleeding shoulder and the pain that seared through it, tossing the blade aside as she held Kikyo by the arms with her other hand.
'Please work,' she prayed silently.
She placed her hands on Kikyo's shoulders now, closing her eyes and concentrating her powers. Kikyo began struggling against her grasp, but somehow Kagome managed to hang on. She opened her eyes, staring into the other woman's face, more specifically into her almost black eyes. As nervous as Kagome was, she didn't look away and she was able to control her shaking body.
"Let my friends go, Kikyo," Kagome ordered, but it didn't sound much like an order.
Though Kikyo shook her head and glared, she was shocked to find that Kagome's friends were permitted movement once again. The group was confused, but she saw out of the corner of her eye that the cat-demon and the half-breed had landed by the group and seemed to be explaining the situation. She would have looked at the group full on, but Kagome's gaze commanded her own. It was like a spell had been placed over her now.
"Whatever evil has its hold on you, I'm going to make it go away now," Kagome told her quietly. A certain fear jumped into Kikyo's eyes, as if she knew something that Kagome didn't.
"No," Kikyo said. "I won't let you." She struggled to get free again.
"Don't worry, it won't hurt, I promise." Kagome added in thought, 'I hope.'
She concentrated again, her eyes not leaving Kikyo's. She bore into them, concentrating on annihilating the darkness that was there. The priestess was struggling to get away, still to no avail. Kagome felt very suddenly like her powers were drained from her, but knew that it wasn't the case. As a result of this feeling, Kagome saw all the darkness in Kikyo's eyes vanish. The woman's form went limp, but Kagome was able to catch her in time and lowered her to the ground.
"Kikyo?" Kagome questioned, concerned that she'd done something wrong. There seemed to be no response. "Kikyo?"
"My time is finished," Kikyo said simply, a slight grin on her face of the likes that Kagome had never seen before. It seemed so innocent… like it belonged to any regular woman or girl.
As the rest of her friends approached, she felt the life leave Kikyo. Somehow, she just knew, the woman wouldn't be opening those eyes again. She looked up, and with the others watched the soul collectors disband, leaving their mistress' form behind.
"What happened?" she heard Sango ask.
"I don't know." Kagome shook her head, her eyes returning to Kikyo's form.
Myoga, who sat on Kirara's head still, even though she was in her smaller form and in Sango's arms, speculated, "I think in the end, Kikyo was consumed by her hatred to the point where it changed her completely. In purifying her, you probably allowed her soul to finally be free."
"So now she can rest in peace." Miroku reworded, looking down at Kagome and Kikyo.
"Precisely."
The monk raised a hand in prayer, speaking some words that were too soft to hear.
It was later that Kikyo had been given a proper burial, which would hopefully be permanent this time. Kagome's shoulder had been bandaged by Kaede and she currently wore an outfit that was very similar to what Kikyo's had been, since her shirt needed to be washed (if possible) and mended. She hadn't wanted to wear this outfit, considering, however, there wasn't much else she could do. She hadn't brought an extra bag of clothes.
"So my sister's soul is perhaps finally at rest," Kaede confirmed what she'd understood from the story from Miroku and Sango's standpoint. Shippo even pitched in a few times, and Myoga, too, but Kagome was rather silent, just staring at the fire. Inuyasha was out somewhere; all assumed that it was at Kikyo's grave. As much as Kagome wanted to go to him, she didn't, just sitting in the little hut with her knees drawn to her chest and her back leaned against the wall.
"Yes. Unless someone revives her again, she can now be free to live in the afterlife," Miroku nodded.
Kagome wondered if that was true. Hadn't Kikyo been revived because that witch had taken part of her soul to put into the form of bones and grave soil that looked like Kikyo? If that was the case, wouldn't that mean that Kikyo's portion of their soul had returned to Kagome, considering that she was the woman's reincarnation? Was that how she'd known that Kikyo had perished?
The girl stood wordlessly, walking towards the door of the hut out into the cool night air.
"Kagome?" Shippo question and was about to follow her before he felt a restraining hand.
"Let her go for now, Shippo," Sango said with a slight smile. She didn't let go of the fox demon child until he'd taken a seat on the floor again.
Kagome just allowed her feet to go wherever they pleased. She knew where they were taking her and didn't make any action to stop them. It was no surprise to her that she ended up walking right to Kikyo's grave and it was no surprise to her to see the form standing there in front of it was Inuyasha's.
She stopped farther back and stood there watching him for a minute. She couldn't tell what his attitude towards all this was. Was he sad? Was he angry at her? He hadn't spoken to her between the time that she'd left him to jump off Kirara and now, so she was worried that maybe he was. She was well aware how sensitive a situation this would be.
Her approach was slow and careful and she watched to see if he'd acknowledge her presence. She figured that he knew she was there since his senses were so sharp, but he hadn't done or said anything yet. Even when she was standing right beside him, he didn't say anything.
Kagome stared at the plot for a moment, wondering again what had become of Kikyo's soul. She hoped that whatever had happened to her soul was better than what had happened to her in life and her re-life. The thought of Naraku made her glare involuntarily, but she quickly pushed it away. She could worry about that later.
She glanced at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye. His face was unreadable and his focus was solely on the grave.
'I wonder how long he's been standing here like this.' Kagome thought. "Inuyasha?" No response. "I'm… I'm sorry that this ended in Kikyo dying…" She didn't look at him, the ground seeming far more interesting at the moment. "I didn't know it would ki-" She was surprised to find herself suddenly in his grasp. Why did it always happen like that?
For a long moment he didn't say anything, just standing there embracing her. Neither of them broke this silence during that long moment.
"I'm glad you're all right," he finally said, though somewhat quietly. "I didn't know what you were doing, but I was worried… and then she took my sword to you…"
"I'm fine," she reassured him. "My wound barely even hurts." Which was somewhat the truth. It hurt, not as much as it had, but it still hurt. Considering how Inuyasha's blade was in its regular form, the cut hadn't been the cleanest, but after Kaede had tended to it, the pain started to subside.
More silence, but then he spoke again. "In the end I don't think it was her anymore… but, do you think she's okay wherever she is?"
Kagome felt her heart tighten slightly as his concern had turned to Kikyo, but answered anyway. "I'm sure her soul is at rest now, like the others have been saying."
Of course, she couldn't be sure, but she was keener on reassuring him and making him feel better than anything. If it had been a flat out lie, she wouldn't have said it, but she didn't think that Kikyo's soul would be somewhere bad.
After a moment, she pushed away from him gently, looking at his face as she spoke, though it was still unreadable. "Come on, Inuyasha. Let's head back."
He released her from his grasp and she stared at him a moment before turning to head back. Whether he would follow or not, she didn't know. She soon found out though as he was suddenly at her side and taking hold of her hand. Her gaze turned to him, and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing. She looked back ahead as they walked through the night to return to their friends.
End
Author Note: In case anyone is curious (though I'm sure they're not) this is a re-write of an older fanfiction I had entitled "I'm Sorry". It's quite different, but still with the same basic idea in mind. Anyway, always glad to hear what people think. Any reviews are much appreciated.
-L. Barton