The day was almost normal. The birds were singing in the trees, which whispered in a soft breeze as the sun shone down from on high. An azure sky stretched from horizon to horizon with barely a cloud to disturb its great face. There was nothing to suggest that something was coming, that today would be the day that everything changed. It was almost toonormal.
The first sign that something was wrong were the long white bodies of the shinidamachuu twisting and weaving through the trees, some grasping dead souls in their spindly legs, the others scouting for news. Kikyou was sitting in the fork of a long-dead tree, shinidamachuu surrounding her body and bringing her the dead souls that were her sustenance while the others searched for signs of Naraku. The tree and the surrounding area was glowing, the lights of the deceased spirits shining like hundreds of tiny spotlights. The undead miko's eyes were closed as she absorbed soul after soul, trying to conserve what strength she could get from the dead souls.
One shinidamachuu in particular wove its way through its brethren and perched on Kikyou's shoulder. The miko didn't open her eyes as the shinidamachuu gently gripped her shoulder with its fragile legs, its red eyes intent as it relayed what it had seen to its undead mistress. "I see," she finally said, and the ghostly youkai floated off of her shoulder and back to its fellows, twisting and undulating about her as they continued to deposit souls into her body. "So Naraku has made his move."
Kikyou opened her eyes and lifted one pale hand into the air. The shinidamachuu immediately wove themselves into a living harness and lifted her gently from the tree to deposit her on the ground. Kikyou shifted her arrows onto her back and hefted her longbow, ready for the long journey that would take her to the village where she had once served as miko. The reason she was heading over there was because her shinidamachuu had witnessed Naraku's entourage heading in that general direction, spreading shouki and murderous youkai all over Nippon as he did so. It was as if Naraku no longer cared about hiding, which could only mean that he thought he had the upper hand in strength. Many villages had fallen across Naraku's path, and the shinidamachuu had told her that they were completely decimated, skeletons and withered buildings the only evidence that people had once been there. At the rate he was traveling, Naraku would make it to his destination in only a few hours, by next morning at the latest.
'Naraku, your evil has gone on for far too long,' the undead miko thought as the shinidamachuu lifted her once more and began flying in the direction of her one-time home. 'I will personally be there to escort you to Hell. Then I will be free to return to my eternal rest once more.' As she flew through the night air, Kikyou looked up at the heavens above, her eyes thoughtful, although her face remained dismally neutral.
'InuYasha...'
Meanwhile, two ōkami youkai were running slowly across the landscape of the Sengoku jidai, panting and wheezing as their wolves tailed behind them, all of them panting along with their masters. All of them were following a large whirlwind, which moved far faster than any of them. "KOUGA!" Hakkaku and Ginta shouted in unison, sweat trickling down their faces as they continued to run. "Why are we running so fast?"
Kouga didn't answer; he just kept on running, his whirlwind hot on his heels as he rushed through the meadows like a lightning bolt. Earlier that day, he had caught a whiff of Naraku's scent, and without further ado had stopped hunting food and started hunting his arch-nemesis. 'Time to avenge my pack once and for all!' he thought bitterly as the land flew beneath his feet.
Not only that, Naraku's scent was heading in the direction of the village where Kagome and that dog-breathed mongrel InuYasha called home, and Kouga would be forever damned to hell if he let Naraku kill his intended woman. The ōkami prince pushed himself harder, positively flying towards the village of the Bone-Eater's Well, pursued by his yelling, panting and positively exhausted subjects.
'Today, Naraku...today is when I rip out your damn throat!'
Dawn came slowly, spreading its misty tendrils over the village of the Bone-Eater's Well as the sun steadily rose in a sky that was swiftly filling with dark clouds. Gaka watched it rise, noting the heavy cloud cover that threatened to hide the sun before it was fully risen. 'Amaterasu only hides her face when an unconquerable evil threatens to swamp the Earth,' Gaka thought sadly as the sun soon became covered in clouds. 'Amaterasu cannot bear to watch those on her beloved Earth lose their lives to evil, and so chooses champions to fight the evil in her stead. Whether they win or lose is up to the weavers of fate, who have long before decided how the world will end.'
Gaka moved his eyes from the sun towards the village behind him, the inhabitants of which had come out of their houses and were now milling about, confused looks on their faces as they took in the mass of dark clouds and the thunder that had started up not too long ago. The artist easily spotted the people who he considered to be his friends, despite the short amount of time he had gotten to know them.
"Look at the sky!" Shippou was crying, jumping about before latching onto Kagome's chest and clinging there with all of his might. "Why is the sky so dark?"
"I don't know, Shippou-chan," Kagome replied, hugging the kitsune close to her body as she shared a worried look with Sango, who was fingering her Hiraikotsu and stroking Kirara's head in a soothing fashion.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Miroku murmured as he raised his cursed hand in front of him and prayed fervently to the Buddha and Kami above, hoping against hope that it wasn't what he thought it was.
InuYasha said nothing. His pupils were dilating rapidly as he frantically scented the air, turning his head left, right, and up before repeating the process. 'Something's coming,' he cursed to himself, 'but I don't know what it could fucking be!'
Gaka got up from his position on the ground and walked over to the group, his black eyes very solemn. "I think it would be best if we moved away from this village," he told them, his voice very soft. "Something very evil is coming, and we do not need the innocents to be slaughtered." The images of the deaths of his own village flashed across his mind, and Gaka shivered involuntarily. 'No more,' he thought. 'No more slaughter.'
"Yes," Miroku agreed. "Something evil is most definitely coming. I don't yet know what it is, but...it..." Miroku trailed off, his back stiffening as his hand white-knuckled Shakujou. As one, the group turned and faced the West. A fierce wind gusted in their faces, bringing with it dead leaves and-
"Naraku's scent!" InuYasha howled, and as one the group tensed, hands flying for weapons. Shippou wailed and ducked his head, crawling onto Kagome's shoulder and burying his head in her neck. "It's Naraku's fuckin' scent!"
"Oh, Kami, not now," Kagome whispered. Her shoulder was still stiff, she needed time to practice, to recover; how could she protect everybody like she was supposed to if her shoulder was hurting her? Her clammy hands tightened on her short red bow as she tried to concentrate. 'I can do this,' she told herself, even as her body trembled with fear. 'I can stand by my friends and fight!'
Even as she thought this, InuYasha turned towards her and ground out, "Kagome, head for the well. I want you to-"
"NO!" she shouted back, startling everyone around her. "You are NOT sending me away! Not now! Not when I need to stay with you!"
InuYasha looked taken aback, then he regained his composure and bellowed, "You don't NEED to stay with us; you fuckin' need to GET TO SAFETY! I am not going to risk you when you're just recovering from being hurt, dammit!"
As the argument gradually escalated in temper, Kagome and InuYasha moved closer together until their faces were mere inches apart, their cheeks reddening as they roared and yowled at each other. Neither of them seemed to notice the bewildered stares they were getting, so intent were they on their fight.
"I don't care if I'm recovering; you need me here, and you know it! And besides, you fight all the time when you aren't even halfway healed! I'm healed and only a little stiff, and I'm sure once I fire a few arrows I'll be FINE!" Kagome yelled, jabbing InuYasha in the chest with her index finger.
InuYasha wasn't going to back down without a fight, and promptly snarled, "Yeah, I fight when I'm wounded 'cause I AIN'T FUCKIN' HUMAN! I can take a lot more shit than you, Kagome, don't think you can even take half of what I can!"
Kagome seized InuYasha's haori with both hands and shook him with every word she spoke as she gritted out, "I don't care about any of that! I-AM-NOT-LEAVING-YOU!" Kagome's strength seemed to double in her anger, since she managed to shake InuYasha hard enough to make his teeth rattle, if only slightly.
The hanyou grudgingly admitted that arguing with Kagome was only wasting precious time to get away from the village and find a suitable battle-ground. He wasn't going to force Kagome down the well, not when she would just turn around and come right back again, and then he wouldn't be there to protect her from whatever might be roaming in the woods during the fight. "All right," he grumbled, surrendering to the miko's will. "But you have to promise me something."
"What?" Kagome snapped.
InuYasha grabbed her shoulders and brought her face right up to his, their eyes meeting as gold stared sternly into brown. "I want you to promise that you'll stay by me at all times. If you're coming with us, I am gonna fuckin' protect you with everything I have. I am not going to let Naraku kill you," he growled as his hands squeezed Kagome's shoulders, though not with too much force, since he didn't want to break her collarbone.
Kagome blinked up at him, touched by his almost loving speech. Well, as loving as InuYasha could get. "I promise," she lied. How could she promise to stay with him when anything could happen? It was Naraku after all, and he had managed to separate them more than once before. It satisfied InuYasha, though, who let go of her shoulders with a small nod.
Miroku and Sango walked up to InuYasha and Kagome, Sango having taken advantage of InuYasha and Kagome's brief argument to change into her taijiya outfit. Kirara stood beside her, transformed into her battle-form and ready to follow her mistress wherever she went. Miroku looked grim, but determined.
"All right," InuYasha started as he looked around at the group members that surrounded him. "This is it. This is the day when we send Naraku back to whatever fuckin' hole he crawled out of!" InuYasha drew Tetsusaiga with a flourish, the youkai blade transforming into its true self as the hanyou rested it against his shoulders, his golden eyes as hard as steel and just as cold. "I ain't gonna lie to you; I have no fuckin' clue whether we're gonna survive or not, but I'm sure as hell ain't going down without making sure Naraku goes down with me." Miroku and Sango nodded their agreement, while Kagome looked at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes.
InuYasha growled his acknowledgment, then turned to Shippou. "Shippou, I want you and Gaka to stay with Kaede and the other villagers." Shippou opened his mouth to protest but InuYasha cut him off with, "I don't wanna fuckin' hear it, Shippou! This isn't going to be like the other fights with Naraku, an' I ain't gonna guarantee your safety when I can't even guarantee my own. You're only a kid, no matter how mature you are at heart, an' I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I got you killed." Shippou closed his mouth, tears in his eyes as he nodded reluctantly. InuYasha smirked at him as he reached down and ruffled Shippou's orange locks. It was the first time he had truly treated the kitsune gently. "You gotta protect Kaede and that baka Gaka for me, all right?"
Shippou nodded more fervently this time. "I'll guard them with my life!" he promised, trying to look determined even though the tears were still shining in his bright emerald eyes.
InuYasha turned to Gaka, who was watching him, sadness etched into every line of his visage. "Not only are you not a fighter, you've got shikon-no-kakera with you, whether you want to admit it or not, an' that's gonna make you a liability to us. I'm gonna have my hands full fighting Naraku and protecting Kagome, so you've gotta stay here, all right? And don't paint while we're gone, that'll just draw attention to yourself." The artist just looked at him, his sadness becoming more pronounced. "What?" InuYasha asked, slightly unnerved by the stare the weirdo artist was giving him.
"I cannot help but feel that this day will only end in sorrow for you, my friend," Gaka said softly. "I will do as you say, but know that nothing can stop me painting, not even all the darkness in the world. Also, know that I love and cherish all of you as I have not loved and cherished for almost ten years." Gaka looked at each of them in turn as his black eyes filled with tears, his hands folding over his stomach as he lifted his face to the sky. "May Amaterasu watch over you even as she hides her face from the rest of the world," he breathed. Then he lowered his face to the kitsune who looked like he was seconds away from bursting into tears. "Come, little Shippou. Let us join Kaede-sama and my Amaterasu in her hut." Shippou nodded and leaped onto Gaka's shoulder.
Before Gaka turned and started walking away the kit managed to sob, "G-good luck, you guys!" As the young artist's back vanished into the crowd of villagers, they could hear Shippou sobbing uncontrollably.
Kagome sniffed and scrubbed her eyes fervently with her sleeve. 'Poor Shippou-chan. He knows that this might be our last goodbye, and we can't even spend time over a long farewell.' Sango and Miroku looked saddened as well as they mounted a mournful looking Kirara. InuYasha just looked more pissed off, which was sort of his way to express upset. "Hop on, Kagome," he told her as he crouched down. Kagome nodded and got onto InuYasha's back, pressing her face into his neck as his hands wrapped around her legs.
Kagome let a few tears fall out of her eyes as InuYasha began leaping through the trees, followed closely by Miroku, Sango and Kirara. 'Please don't let this be our last goodbye,' she prayed to whatever Kami might be listening to her. 'Please let InuYasha, Miroku, Sango, Kirara and myself make it through this final fight alive so we can go on with our lives and rejoin our loved ones.' The faces of her family rushed through her mind. Her mama, Souta, and her jii-chan; none of them would have any idea of what she was getting into back in the Sengoku jidai, five hundred years before their time back in the Heisei jidai. Then she thought of how InuYasha had tried to force her to return home before the fight began, and of how she had refused to go. 'I'm sorry,' she told the images of her family that still rushed through her head. 'I chose InuYasha over you guys. But I know you'll understand. I love InuYasha with all of my being, and I am going to stand beside him, no matter what our future holds.'
InuYasha finally stopped running when he reached a large field that was far, far away from the village where Kaede, Shippou, Gaka and the other villagers were hiding. The clouds overhead had darkened considerably as they moved farther and farther away from the village. The sky was practically black, lightning bolts flashing regularly from cloud to cloud as thunder boomed and wind howled.
Kirara stayed in the air, although she let Miroku jump off of her back and onto the ground. The houshi knew that he fought better on land than he did in midair, and he wouldn't hinder Sango so much if he was on the ground. Kagome got off InuYasha's back, landing lightly on the balls of her feet as she grabbed an arrow from her quiver and nocked it to the string, ready to start fighting at a moment's notice. InuYasha readied his Tetsusaiga and got into a defensive position in front of Kagome. 'Nothin' is gonna hurt Kagome while I still have enough breath in my body to fight!' he shouted silently as he exposed his fangs in a feral snarl.
To their surprise, Naraku was not the first person/youkai to arrive at the field. A whirlwind appeared in the distant East, twisting and turning as it made its steady and speedy way over to the field where InuYasha and company were currently situated.
"Great, just what I didn't need," InuYasha growled, an annoyed look flashing across his tawny eyes.
"Don't be so sure of that," Kagome chided gently as she put a hand on the small of the hanyou's back, trying to soothe him with her touch. "We need all the help we can get, especially since this is starting to look like our final fight. Don't turn your nose up at a potential ally, InuYasha." InuYasha gave a small snort of derision, but managed to relax a little as the whirlwind got even closer.
It burst through the trees that surrounded it and abated just as suddenly as it had come as Kouga stopped running and looked around. "Hey, Kagome," he greeted, giving her a wave rather like a salute. "How's my woman doing?"
"Not right now, Kouga," Kagome hissed nervously, very aware of the less-than happy hanyou standing in front of her. He was giving Kouga a look that would send a lesser person to the grave. "InuYasha needs all of his concentration to go into the fight, y'know."
Kouga shrugged. "If dog-breath dies in battle, you'll be free to be my woman at last. If he wants to go and get distracted, all the more power to 'im." At that moment, InuYasha resolved to pay as much attention as he possibly could to the dark hanyou when he arrived, lest he should be killed and Kouga get Kagome.
"Look!" Miroku, who had long ago tired of InuYasha and Kouga's squabbles over Kagome, had turned to the northeast and seen a ghostly glow steadily approaching the field. Then several shinidamachuu floated into the field, their white bodies undulating through the static air.
Miroku and Sango looked at each other, resisting the urge to groan aloud. So not only was Kouga here, but Kikyou was coming too? With both Kagome and InuYasha's rivals in the vicinity, it was going to be an interesting experience, to say the least. Miroku took note of the now forced smile on Kagome's face. He knew that she was going to stick to her 'we need all the allies we can get' hypothesis, but she, like InuYasha, was not happy that her rival had shown up for the fight.
Only a few seconds after the first shinidamachuu arrived, the main entourage came, bearing Kikyou along with them as they floated silently to the ground, letting the undead miko drop down to the Earth as they disentangled themselves and floated away. Kikyou fixed the group at large with an almost uninterested stare. She was here for Naraku, and for nothing else. InuYasha felt Kikyou's presence approaching the field, and left off arguing with the ōkami prince to dart over to her, which, of course, left Kouga to flirt with Kagome, who fixed InuYasha's back with a look that would've melted granite.
"Kikyou! What the hell are you doing here?" he growled, although his voice was a lot gentler than it usually was.
Kikyou looked at him, her face impassive. "The same reason you yourself are here, InuYasha, and the same reason the ōkami is here, too. We are all here to kill Naraku."
InuYasha opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a loud screech from behind him. Apparently, Kouga had given Kagome a rather unwanted kiss on the cheek, and now the young miko was hiding behind Miroku while Kouga tried to land another kiss. "You fuckin' ōkami!" In a flash, the hanyou was there, swinging Tetsusaiga at Kouga's head as he protected the rather grateful Kagome and Miroku (who wanted to conserve his strength for the fight yet to come).
"Get out of it, dog-breath!" Kouga snarled. "She's mine! You already have your woman," he gestured to Kikyou, "So leave Kagome alone, you fuckin' pup!" InuYasha growled and swung Tetsusaiga again. Kouga jumped away, the blade missing his fur-clad legs by mere inches.
Miroku and Sango shook their heads. Kirara made a sound like a derisive snort. Kagome just sighed.
Kikyou, however, looked to the South and said with false calmness, "He comes."
Her words were quiet, and yet they tore through the field like a gunshot. The two fighting canine youkai stopped their quarrel and tensed towards the South, while Kagome raised her bow to a ready position. Sango and Kirara took to the sky, and Miroku readied his Kazaana, hoping that this would be the last fight he would have to use it in. Now that they were concentrating on the South, they could feel the ominous aura approaching them. Never before had Naraku's evil aura been so strong; it was like a physical barrier pushing against them, and they knew that all the flora and fauna that lay in Naraku's path would be nothing more than dust in his wake. Sango, the only person who could be affected by Naraku's shouki, put on her poison-filtering mask so she wouldn't be sundered by the dark hanyou's poisonous aura.
Far too soon the wind was rushing past them in a howling tempest as the trees all wilted into skeletal specters. Every animal in the ghostly woods died simultaneously, their skeletons dropping to the ground where they stood. A dark tornado of shouki could be seen heading towards the small group on the ground, Saimyoushou buzzing around it like flies around honey. The tornado crashed to the ground in an explosion of purple shouki; wiping out all the grass in an instant as the shouki rushed out in a great purple wave. InuYasha leaped in front of Kagome and shielded her from the worst of the shouki, while Miroku and Kouga clung to the ground with Shakujou and claws and hoped for the best. Sango was better off than the people on the ground since she and Kirara were in the air, and Kikyou could purify the shouki around herself, although her clay body was unaffected by the gaseous poison.
Standing in the center of the devastation was none other than Naraku in all of his evil glory, his skeletal armor glinting in the flashes from the lightning above, his long black hair whipping to and fro in the tempest as his evil red eyes looked at his nemeses with what could only be described as contempt in the scarlet depths. On his left side stood Kanna, the pale mirror child, while Kagura floated at his right. The wind-witch had a reluctant air about her, like she would have given anything in the world to be somewhere else.
"So here you all are," Naraku purred as his gaze traveled from person to person, "All of my enemies are here...every single one of you has a reason to hate me, and now you have a chance to get rid of me forever, or so you think." Naraku let out a laugh, a cold cackle that rang around the dead field and sent a shiver down the backs of the humans while making the youkai and the undead miko tense. Then Naraku held out one hand and showed his enemies what he held. It was the Shikon-no-Tama, so corrupted that it resembled onyx rather than quartz. The tiniest of tiny cracks marred its otherwise iridescent surface. "Three shards," Naraku told them, his eyes glinting with a malicious light as he reveled in the looks of shock on the faces of his foes. "Three shards are left in this world, and then the jewel will be completed."
'Three shards?' Kagome thought, slightly confused. 'If Kouga has two shards, and Gaka has one, then...oh, Kami...I'm so sorry, Sango...' Kagome looked up at her taijiya friend, tears glittering in her eyes as she saw Sango reach the same conclusion Kagome herself had just reached. The youkai-taijiya's face was semi-calm, but two trails of tears were falling steadily down her face. The loss of her brother, while untouched upon by Naraku, was nonetheless painful for the last of the youkai-taijiya.
"Naraku, you bastard!" InuYasha shouted, hefting Tetsusaiga and pointing it at the evil eye in the center of Naraku's chest. "Today is the day when we wipe you off the face of the planet!"
Kagome nodded. 'Too many innocent people have died for this moment. Hopefully, no more will be lost today as we purify Naraku's evil!' The young miko glared at Naraku, her voice condemning as she yelled, "We will destroy you, Naraku!"
Shouts of agreement rang from the houshi, ōkami prince, and the taijiya. Kikyou remained silent. Naraku turned towards her, a smirk on his face. "Nothing to contribute, Kikyou?"
"I have nothing to say to that which will soon be dead," Kikyou told him, her face still impassive. "I will make sure your soul goes to the deepest depths of Hell."
Naraku's smirk widened, and he lifted one hand, as if he was about to start a race. "We shall see," he hissed, "just who goes to Hell."
His hand descended in a vicious swipe. From the skeletons of the trees came youkai; thousands upon thousands of them, enough to make the swarm that had destroyed the castle of Amaterasu look like a small handful. This...this was a true army. Naraku and his incarnations were swallowed by the mass of youkai bodies, hidden from the eyes of those who would kill him.
"Fuck!" InuYasha shouted as he swung Tetsusaiga in a sharp arc. "You fuckin' coward!"
The only response InuYasha got was another cruel laugh.
The fight had begun.
The mass of youkai bodies did what Naraku himself couldn't do alone; they separated the group into its individual members, making them easier to pick off. Miroku's Shakujou was a golden blur as he slew youkai after youkai, throwing ofuda whenever he had the chance and rendering his enemies to dust. Sango threw Hiraikotsu with one hand while wielding her katana with the other as Kirara used tooth and claws to fight any youkai foolish enough to challenge her. InuYasha tried his utmost to stay near Kagome, but more and more youkai squeezed themselves in between the hanyou and miko, and InuYasha couldn't use any of his big moves for fear of hitting Kagome or one of his other friends.
Kagome could take care of herself by obliterating enemies with her sacred arrows, but her quiver was already dwindling down to a handful of arrows, which she needed to save for Naraku. She waded through the growing piles of youkai corpses, shielding her head with her arms as she sought Naraku's aura. 'If I can just get to Naraku,' she thought, 'I can show the others where he is, and hopefully make a path for them to get to him!' Suddenly, Kagome broke through the whirling, writhing mass of youkai and into an open pocket. She blinked, astonished at the sight she was now seeing.
Naraku was fighting Kikyou, who was aiming and releasing arrows faster than Kagome would have thought possible. Naraku was laughing as he managed to dodge arrow after arrow, watching as numerous youkai were slain by the sacred weapons. "Can you not shoot straight, Kikyou?" the dark hanyou taunted as he floated high above Kikyou, his mad red eyes glinting. "Are your hands trembling with anticipation for my death?"
Kikyou's face stayed impassive, though her eyes were alight with rage. "Naraku," she hissed. "You will die, you cowardly monster." Just as Kikyou was nocking another arrow, Kagome noticed something glinting at the edge of the clear space. It looked rather like a-
"Kikyou, look out!" Kagome cried, leaving the edge of the arena and charging towards her previous incarnation. Too late; Kanna's mirror shone brightly, trapping Kikyou's reflection in its iridescent surface. The dead souls that gave Kikyou the energy to move gushed out of her clay body in a massive wave, drawn towards the mirror and vanishing into it, one by one. Kikyou collapsed on the ground, rapidly weakening as the dead souls left her. The undead miko gritted her teeth as Kanna's mirror absorbed the last of the spirits, leaving her immobile.
Naraku seized his chance and charged, one spike on his wrist elongating into a fierce weapon, the same one with which he had wounded Kikyou before. His eyes were shining with bloodlust, his excitement at being able to kill the woman his human heart desired blazing in his crazed red irises.
The youkai at the edge of the arena were sundered as InuYasha's Koungosouha, Miroku's Kazaana and Sango's Hiraikotsu managed to clear out three-quarters of the youkai, while Kouga blasted through the enemies on his own. The fighters were drawn to Naraku's youki, eager to finish the battle, yet scared at what might face them.
InuYasha's heart leaped into his throat when he caught sight of Kikyou sitting on the ground, Naraku charging toward her with his hand raised to strike the fatal blow. Heart hammering wildly, he leaped over corpses and dodged falling body parts, his eyes on the woman he had once pledged to become human for and the dark hanyou who threatened to take her life time and time again. "KIKYOU!" he howled, swinging Tetsusaiga as he made a frantic dash towards the undead miko. 'Don't let me be too late,' he prayed fervently, 'don't let me be too late to save her!' As InuYasha entered the arena, he thought he saw something dart out in front of Kikyou; something green and white-
"NO!" the hanyou screamed as he realized too late just who it was.
There was a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed out over the crumbled ground.
Kagome gagged, choking on the blood that flooded her throat as Naraku's bony wrist-spike pierced through her stomach, shattering her spine as it exited her body. Naraku was smirking in triumph, even though he had been rather surprised when he had stabbed Kagome and not Kikyou, as he had intended. As the reality of what he had done sank in, Naraku started grinning with perverse relish, gazing down at Kagome with the same crazed look he had given Kikyou. He slowly floated into the air, taking Kagome with him as he soared toward the black sky.
"So you choose to follow in the path of your previous incarnation," he laughed, "dying by my hand when you could have been safe." A thoughtful frown crossed Naraku's face as his gaze went from Kagome to the hanyou on the ground, who was staring in shock at the bleeding miko dangling from one bony tendril, and then to the undead miko who was staring at Kagome as if she had never seen her before. "Why save Kikyou, Kagome? All you had to do was tell InuYasha that you couldn't save her from me and you would have him all to yourself. Why save her?"
Kagome retched, a small trickle of blood trickling from between her open lips as the dark red stain spread slowly and inevitably over her front, trailing down both ends of the bony tendril and falling down to patter on the earth below. "I...I'm...I'm not as...as selfish...as most people...take me for," Kagome managed to gasp, her pained brown eyes meeting Naraku's red ones. "I...I love...love InuYasha. I...would never...sacrifice anything...that he loves...for my personal...happiness."
Naraku laughed, then with a mighty jerk, he tore the tendril out of Kagome's stomach. Blood exploded out of her body in a scarlet burst as the miko fell, toppling from the sky like a bird that had just been shot. Kouga howled and charged towards the falling miko, but was stopped when Naraku turned and sailed toward him, his bloody hand hefted as he challenged the ōkami prince to fight. Miroku and Sango both went to help Kouga, since Naraku now blocked the pathway to Kagome.
InuYasha's mind was in a dark fog. It was like he was sealed once more to the Goshinboku, for his mind was not obeying him, was not allowing him to move towards the woman who was falling from the sky, blood streaming from her in a scarlet wave. All he could do was stare, Tetsusaiga's tip resting on the ground as the hands clenched on its hilt loosened. Was this really happening? Could this be happening? Maybe it was a trick. Maybe Naraku had created some illusion...an illusion complete with the stench of blood...It had to be an illusion. This could not, could not, could not could not COULD NOT be real.
Two familiar voices whispered in his mind as the hanyou's golden eyes watched her fall...fall...fall...
"I suspect that the artist over there has some sort of foresight; he is able to see things that we ordinary mortals cannot."
Kaede's voice faded as Gaka's rang in his ears, this time fraught with much more meaning that it had been when the artist had first delivered his warning. "If you do not do anything of real merit to that girl in the forest, you are going to regret every word you ever said to her and every action you ever made to her, mark my words."
A terrible, animal-like scream ripped itself out of InuYasha's throat as his muscles finally unlocked. Lifting Tetsusaiga from where it rested on the ground, he charged towards the place where Kikyou was sitting, where Kagome would land if he was not there to catch her. The few remaining youkai charged InuYasha, their slavering mouths gaping wide open as they tore at him. InuYasha swung his katana in a few short, vicious arcs, slaying the youkai as he continued to move forward. The crests that marked him as an inu-prince were clear on his cheeks, and the whites of his eyes were flashing red as his youkai blood lent its power to the desperate hanyou. Yet he still couldn't move fast enough-why couldn't he move fast enough? 'I won't make it in time!' he howled in his head, even as his claws lashed out and sent bright daggers of blood towards one group of youkai as his Tetsusaiga's Kaze-no-Kizu obliterated another group.
If you do not do anything of real merit to that girl in the forest...
Suddenly, the white bodies of Kikyou's shinidamachuu were weaving their way through the fights that surrounded them, summoned by their mistress's call. Stranger still, they did not carry souls with them, and they did not converge around Kikyou. Instead, the shinidamachuu wove themselves into a harness and caught Kikyou's reincarnation before she could hit the ground, giving her something much softer to land on than the cracked earth below. The obedient youkai lowered the girl to the ground and deposited her in the center of Kikyou and Naraku's battle-field. Then they abruptly dispersed, leaving her to converge around Kikyou, steadily helping her to rise.
...you are going to regret every word you ever said to her...
InuYasha finally broke through the constricting youkai and burst into the clearing, his youki flaring as he caught sight of the miko lying on the ground, a crimson pool forming around her as blood continued to gush out of the gruesome wound. Even though Naraku, Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Kouga were still fighting, the sounds of their battle seemed to be receding into the distance as InuYasha slowed his approach, his heart picking up speed as each second dragged onward. Shortly thereafter, Tetsusaiga was clattering away, toppling from his numbed hands as he fell to his knees at the side of the girl from the Heisei jidai. His trembling hands gently lifted her off the ground, turning her over so she was resting comfortably in his embrace, protected from the rest of the world by his wide sleeves.
...and every action you ever made to her...
"Kagome?" he whined, his ears flattening themselves against his head as he looked into the pale face of his young miko. "Kagome, say something! Don't die on me!"
...mark my words.
Kagome's eyelids fluttered, then opened with obvious effort, trembling like the just-fledged wings of a butterfly. Her gorgeous brown eyes were filled with tears as she beheld InuYasha's face, a smile caressing her quivering lips as she laboriously lifted one hand and placed it on InuYasha's striped cheek. "Inu...Yasha," she gasped, blood streaming out from between her lips. "You...you came for me. I'm...I'm glad." Her smile grew wider as her eyes shone brighter.
The look on her face was absolutely tearing the hanyou's heart apart. It thudded wildly in his chest, and he thought that any moment now, it would rip itself to pieces and be done with it. This couldn't be it! This couldn't be happening! There had to be something, some way for him to repent and save her! There was still time left, wasn't there? "Dammit, Kagome, don't die! I'll..I'll try to get you to the well; I'm sure the people in your era-"
Before InuYasha could finish his sentence, Kagome moved her hand from his cheek to his lips as her head lolled from left to right in a negative way. "Too late," she whispered, more blood trailing past her lips as her smile became rather sad. "Far...far too late for me." Kagome's head lolled to the side, gesturing towards Kikyou. "Saved...saved Kikyou...saved her for you."
InuYasha's eyes widened as he took in what Kagome was saying. He moved her hand from his lips and positively howled, "You...you saved her? F-For me? But...but...dammit, why the hell would you throw away your life for her? Everyone knows you hate her!"
Kagome shrugged weakly, the hand that had previously been on InuYasha's lips falling to his shoulder as her other hand moved to her stomach, trying and failing to staunch the rapid flow of blood from the gaping wound in her abdomen. "Naraku...asked too. I...I will give you...the same...same answer. I...I love you, InuYasha. I...I didn't...didn't want you to be sad...sad because Kikyou died again. I heard...heard how you...you screamed her name. You love her...so much...enough...enough to leave me behind...time and again. My death...death seems like...like nothing compared to...to what hers would have been."
A burning sensation started up in InuYasha's eyes as a great...something welled up in his chest, threatening to block his throat with its pulsating mass. Kagome's bloody face blurred, and he felt something hot and wet start to burn scalding trails down his face. A tiny part of InuYasha registered the fact that he was crying. "You...you complete and utter idiot!" InuYasha buried his face in Kagome's hair, not bothering to hide the tears that streamed freely down his face, so hot and unfamiliar to him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kikyou slaying Kanna and shattering the mirror, freeing the thousands of souls captured inside of it, most of them soaring towards the dark heavens above. The shinidamachuu caught and released as many dead spirits as they could catch into Kikyou's chest, revitalizing her and restoring her movement and power. This fact registered little with the hanyou as he held his dying woman in his arms and wept into her hair.
"InuYasha," Kagome murmured, her tone faintly surprised. Her hand moved back up to his cheek as she caught some of the shining teardrops on her fingertips. "You're crying. I've...I've never...never seen you cry before."
"Baka, baka, baka!" he howled, ignoring what Kagome said as he screamed to the dark skies above, "How the hell could you think that I didn't love you enough to miss you if you sacrificed your life like this? HOW COULD YOU THINK THAT I DIDN'T LOVE YOU?" InuYasha filled his lungs once more and yowled so loudly that Kagome wondered crazily if her family on the other side of the well heard him too: "I LOVE YOU, KAGOME!"
Kagome's head lolled as the smile on her face steadied, shining like the hidden sun as she placed her other hand on InuYasha's cheek, brushing away his tears with her trembling fingertips. "Don't...don't cry, InuYasha," she whispered, for now the hanyou was starting to sob, great choking gasps escaping from his throat at odd intervals as his red/gold/blue eyes swam with tears that continually rushed down his cheeks and dripped onto her shirt to vanish amidst the blood that continued to gush from her wound. "Don't cry anymore, InuYasha...you've made me happier than I can ever remember being." It was true. Her feebly beating heart was filled with a warmth that she couldn't recall having before. It was as if Kikyou had never been resurrected, and Kagome had never seen InuYasha embracing her underneath the Goshinboku. How strange that her happiest moment would come right before her death.
InuYasha gave a weak snort as he clutched Kagome to his chest; a drowning man clinging to the only piece of driftwood in a turbulent ocean, determined to hang on until the sea beat the wood out of his fingers. "Baka," he repeated, his voice hoarse with repressed sobs, "D-did you think I was gonna start laughing?" The words made him shudder. Hadn't she said the same thing to him before, nearly a year ago when he had pretended not to care? Was that when she had started believing that her feelings were unrequited? Dear Kami, how could he have been so fucking stupid? Why did he have to realize this when it was too late to change anything?
Kagome gave a half-giggle, half-gagging sound, the flow of blood increasing sporadically as she did so. Then she retched again, more blood rushing out of her mouth and staining the front of her shirt. "Don't...don't have much time," she managed, her breath coming in shallower and shallower gasps as she fought the blackness that threatened to overwhelm her.
InuYasha's grip became tighter as his multicolored eyes became desperate. "No...NO! Don't you dare say that! I will save you-I have to save you! I...I promised," he groaned as the sobs rose in his throat yet again, "I promised to protect you, Kagome. I promised..."
Kagome's hand feebly patted his cheek as she managed to touch the tip of her nose to his own. "Do...do I get...a last request?" she whispered. If InuYasha had been human at the moment, he wouldn't have heard what Kagome had said, her voice was so quiet. Unable to speak anymore, InuYasha nodded, squinting in a futile effort to dam the tears. "Can...can...can I get...a goodnight kiss?" she asked, her voice trembling with the effort it cost her to speak.
InuYasha looked at her, looked at the woman he had loved from afar for such a long time. He had been so frightened to love again, after what had happened to him and Kikyou, and so had managed to convince himself that the feelings he had toward Kagome were of friendship and not love. The hanyou had also convinced himself that it would be better, in the end, if he kept his distance from Kagome. If she didn't love him in return and chose to go home at the end of their journey, it would be better to have no memories of intimacy between them. Once again, Gaka's words rang in his mind. "If you do not do anything of real merit to that girl in the forest, you are going to regret every word you ever said to her and every action you ever made to her, mark my words."
InuYasha leaned forwards, his eyes closing over a new wave of tears as he placed one hand behind Kagome's head to lift her lips up to his. The hand on his cheek clenched gently as Kagome's brown eyes drifted shut, her own tears beginning to fall as their lips met in a gentle kiss; a kiss that was not only their last kiss, but their first.
The hanyou's lips nipped and pulled at his miko's, silently pleading and begging her to stay alive, to stay with him, to forgive him for not being there to save her. At first, she returned the kiss with all the strength she had left, her lips giving as much passion to the hanyou as he gave to her. Kagome put all of the love she felt for InuYasha into this one last kiss as she felt his fangs scrape against her bottom lip, demanding and pleading at the same time. Yet the kiss could not last forever, no matter how much they wanted it to. Kagome's strength was quickly leaving her, the black spots in her vision eclipsing the world as a fierce cold spread from her stuttering heart to her limbs, numbing her body and robbing her soul of what little life remained it.
"Gomennasai," she murmured when her lips and his parted for a breath.
"No. No sorry," was his reply. His tears burned her cheeks.
Kagome's hand fell from InuYasha's cheek and landed with a thud on the ground. Her body went limp in his arms as she managed to whisper one last sentence: "I...I will...I will always love you...InuYasha."
Kagome's last breath rushed out from between her lips in the sweetest smelling wave InuYasha had ever scented. Her head lolled to the side, and InuYasha heard her heart stutter and choke, giving one last ferocious bound before falling silent. Like Kanna's mirror before it, the hanyou's heart shattered into a thousand tiny shards, finally giving up the ghost and surrendering to the inevitable truth. The sobs he had been fighting to hold back burst from his chest in the agonized wail of a wounded animal as he clutched the body of the woman from five hundred years in the future to his chest and sobbed into her hair.
Nothing mattered anymore. As far as the hanyou was concerned, the fight was already lost. There was no reason to continue fighting, was there? If there was, he couldn't see it. Just let the world end and be done with it, he thought. Just let it end.
Meanwhile, the fight against Naraku continued, but it was not going very well for InuYasha's group. Miroku and Sango were both wounded, and with every pound of their hearts more blood leaked out of their bodies and weakened them, causing their swings to become weaker and the blows less accurate. Kouga seemed to be faring little better, managing to dodge more of Naraku's blows but was unable to land any hits of his own. Kikyou, who had rejoined the fight after slaying Kanna, aimed arrows at Naraku's various and sundry body parts, but like Miroku and Sango, she was only chipping pieces off what was proving to be a rather large stone. No-one paid any attention to Kagura, who was circling high over the battle, having fled to the skies as soon as Naraku had signaled his youkai to attack. She had no interest in losing her life and every interest in preserving it.
Kouga was just about to leap up and try to land a blow with the human katana he had drawn when he heard something. Kouga glanced to the left of him, where the sound had come from, and saw Hakkaku, Ginta and the wolves emerging from the trees, finally catching up with Kouga after four hours of running. "Kouga!" they called, their eyes widening as they took in Naraku, Kouga, InuYasha's group and Kikyou.
"You i-"
Kouga never got to finish his sentence. Naraku, who was and always would be a dirty cheating bastard, took advantage of Hakkaku and Ginta's arrival to strike out at Kouga, simultaneously lashing out to the side of him to keep Miroku and Sango at bay. The dark hanyou's hands elongated and became ten long tentacles, five of them reaching for Kouga while the other five whipped out to meet the taijiya and houshi. Three tentacles pierced the ōkami's chest and shredded his heart, killing Kouga in an instant. The other two seized the shikon-no-kakera in his legs and wrenched them out as Naraku threw the ōkami's body aside and took the shards into his body to be reabsorbed by the jewel. The other ōkami howled and wailed as they ran towards their downed leader.
Of the five tentacles that lashed out at Miroku and Sango, three of them connected directly with Kirara and sent her tumbling from the sky, landing on the ground with a tremendous smash and sending Sango flying from the neko's back. Miroku managed to sever one tentacle with his Shakujou, but the other connected with his leg and dealt him a serious wound to the upper thigh. Sango slowly got up, wincing as she felt the arm that she had landed on when she and Kirara had crashed. It had broken pretty badly, which was unsurprising. Sango got up and returned to the nekomata, ready to resume fighting.
The taijiya stopped as she looked at Kirara. Something was wrong.
The nekomata wasn't breathing.
"Kirara!" she cried, and flung herself on the giant cat's body. When Kirara had crashed to the ground, she had landed on her neck, and she had crashed hard enough to break the bones located there. The loyal nekomata had died in an instant as her mistress was catapulted off her back.
"Kirara," Sango whispered as she stroked the thick cream-colored fur of her youkai companion. Then she buried her face in the still-warm fur and began to cry. The youkai-taijiya's tough outer shell had finally cracked under the load of the deaths that weighed down on her. First her village, then her brother, and finally Kirara had been taken from her, and now she was alone.
Miroku got up from where he had fallen, grimacing as he felt the wound in his upper thigh protest the action. As he looked around, the houshi felt a deep sadness well up in his throat at the sight of the devastated field. His ears were serenaded with a sorrowful trio; the wolves' howls, Sango's sobs and InuYasha's anguished cries combining into the saddest sonata that the houshi had ever heard.
'No more,' he pleaded to the sky. 'No more deaths today. We cannot take any more.'
There was another boom of thunder as the sky opened up and rain began pelting the Earth below. It was as if the Kami themselves were weeping for those who had been lost.
Naraku's laughter ripped through the anguish as he threw back his head and screamed his mirth to the pouring heavens above. "Pathetic!" he yelled, his eyes glinting with even more triumph than before. "You humans and youkai, all of you who stand beneath me, each and every one of you is pathetic! You claim that love is stronger than anything in this world, and yet see where this love has gotten you!" Naraku gestured over the area. Over InuYasha, who still wept over Kagome's broken body, over the wolves, who clustered around their dead leader in a bedraggled huddle, over Sango, who was buried in Kirara's sodden fur.
Kikyou headed over to Miroku, several cracks on her body where wounds would have been on a regular human. "It is down to you and I, houshi-sama," she said sadly. "We must try our best to destroy this monster above us." Miroku nodded his assent, a flicker of determination flashing briefly in his mournful eyes.
Naraku, who had somehow heard what Kikyou had said, laughed again. "A wounded human houshi and an undead miko destroy me? I, who holds the almost complete Shikon-no-Tama in my hands, I, the one who has managed to kill everyone who dared to stand before me? You dare challenge he who might as well be a Kami?"
Before Miroku and Kikyou could even fathom an answer to give him, a blinding flash like a lightning bolt split the air, turning the raindrops that touched it to steam as the light sliced through Naraku's left shoulder and destroyed his arm. The triumphant look on his face turned to pain and rage as the dark hanyou turned around, his eyes mad with pain as he roared, "Fool! You dare strike me?"
"You are no Kami."
Sesshoumaru was floating high above the ground, Tokijin clasped in his one hand as his Mokomoko-sama twisted and undulated about his feet. The daiyoukai lord of the West had arrived at the field after three days of nonstop travel, and was now ready to do battle with his foe.
"Fashionably late as always, Sesshoumaru," Naraku gritted out as his remaining hand went to the stump of his arm and clutched it.
"Hn." Sesshoumaru ignored the dark hanyou and cast his eyes around the battle-field, taking in all of the youkai corpses without comment. The dai-youkai saw his half-brother's soaked and sobbing form sitting on the ground, cradling the human miko's body to his chest. He also saw the wolves gathered in a circle around Kouga, and Sango weeping into Kirara's fur. Then Sesshoumaru looked up into the raining sky and saw Kagura circling high above, her white feather a mere dot against the black sky. He knew when she saw him, because her circling abruptly stopped, as if she had hit an invisible wall.
"If these humans will not finish you, then I will," Sesshoumaru stated, lifting Tokijin high into the air as he readied himself for his next attack.
Naraku shot out his remaining hand and tried to deflect Tokijin's attack. Before he could reach the dai-youkai, a cry reached his ears.
"KAZE-NO-KIZU!"
InuYasha had smelled Sesshoumaru's scent on the damp breeze and glanced up to see that Naraku had been injured. Now he was standing, Kagome cradled against his chest with one hand as the other was wrapped about Tetsusaiga's hilt. His crests were still present, but his eyes were a clear gold, filled with anguished hatred. "The last time," he snarled, "Naraku, you've stolen the woman I love from me for the last damn time. Now I will avenge Kikyou and Kagome!"
Naraku shot out more tendrils, trying now to reach the hanyou who stood on the ground, defying him to the last.
The Hiraikotsu sliced through every single one of his tendrils, sending them tumbling to the ground. It returned to Sango, who stood over Kirara's crumpled form, tears mixing with the rain falling down her face. "I will not let Kirara's death go unpunished!" she shouted, whirling Hiraikotsu over her head. "Or my village's death, or Kohaku's death! I will kill you and send you to the deepest pits of Hell!"
Naraku, now frantically searching for an out, called up to Kagura. "Kagura! Stop circling up there and fight them!"
Kagura sailed down and positioned herself in front of Sesshoumaru, lifting her fan as if she was about to attack him. At the last second, she whipped around and sent her wind-blades sailing towards he who called himself her master. They ripped through his neck and severed his head from the remainder of his body.
"You-!" Naraku's snarl was laced with more fear than hatred. 'Why? Why does my body not regenerate itself? Why am I dying?'
The fighters converged on Naraku's disembodied head, their eyes grim and determined.
Miroku took the chance and started talking, playing on the growing fear in Naraku's eyes. "You make fun of us for loving and cherishing those around us? Say that we have no power because of that love? It was love for Kikyou and Kagome that kept InuYasha alive when he should have died, love for her family that kept Sango moving towards your destruction, and it was the love that Kouga had for his tribe that motivated him to fight until the very end." Miroku turned his amethyst eyes up toward Sesshoumaru and Kagura, and said, "I'm...not quite sure if Sesshoumaru was motivated by love or not, but I'm sure his intentions were...honorable. But it is true that love gives us strength. And now that strength is going to help us kill you."
Naraku's eyes flicked from face to face; grim determination and hatred shone from each and every one of them. (Save one: Sesshoumaru just looked bored.)
'Why?' the dark hanyou asked again as he tried to utilize the power of the Shikon-no-Tama to reform his body and become strong, or at least get away from those who desired his death.
It did not respond.
Then, far, far too late, the hanyou who had once been Onigumo realized why it no longer responded to him. The wish he had made on the jewel was for him to gain the strength to forget Kikyou and destroy everything that reminded him of her. The only way to destroy everything that reminded Naraku of Kikyou...was for Naraku himself to die.
"Hell," he hissed as his red eyes closed.
Two swords swung, one bow hissed and one boomerang was launched as the fighters launched the last attack against Naraku. Every single attack hit the dark hanyou dead on, tearing him to shreds, and the shreds to nothingness.
Naraku, murderer and purveyor of so much evil, was finally destroyed.