Thanks always to the ones to take the time to review. You're rare and special and very much appreciated, by me and by everyone who appreciates an ego boost – or a helpful criticism.
Inuyasha isn't mine, blah blah blah. You know the drill.
Kagome awakened to the sound of gunfire. Her shoulder throbbed mercilessly, playing a cruel counterpoint to her pounding head. Despite the pain, her eyes snapped open the instant she regained consciousness. She'd been placed behind some kind of steel construction in a corner of a room with a high ceiling; upon noticing the white sheets that had tumbled over her, she recognized the steel object as an overturned hospital bed. With a start of surprise, she realized that Goliath must have deliberately placed her there to shield her from the firefight.
A terrible roar assaulted her ears, followed by a strangled scream, the sick cracking of bone and the dull thud of a body hitting the ground. She'd killed enough and witnessed enough killing to recognize the sounds of violent death. A few more gunshots peppered the room, though she couldn't tell where they came from. Another roar, another violent death.
"Goliath! Clear the corridor – buy me some time!"
"How long?"
A disdainful harrumph. "Two minutes. Tops."
"You got it."
The clicking of a keyboard. The clicks sped by so quickly as to be almost indistinguishable from one another. Every now and then the person operating the keyboard would pause briefly, then resume again. Kagome assumed the screen needed time to load.
The gunfire had retreated to well beyond her immediate vicinity, so she propped herself up on her good arm and struggled to her feet.
"Sit down. I'm busy." The figure at the keyboard snapped impatiently, though he did not turn his head.
Kagome did as she was told, dropping to her knees in front of the upset hospital bed.
He wasn't very tall. In fact, had they stood back-to-back, he probably wouldn't have reached the base of her skull. Slender, almost fragile, he stood before a massive screen whose image changed so rapidly that Kagome's eyes refused to make sense of any picture or words that appeared upon it. His hair fell straight and severe just past his shoulders, a stiff vertical line of silver that complimented his lanky frame. He looked like a toned-down version of one of those angst-ridden American teens with the piercings and the tattoos and the funny hair styles. Form-fitting leather pants and a tight red sweater completed the look, though both had been ripped at some point, probably during the hostilities.
"There." He said after a moment, a smirk evident in his voice.
ATTENTION. THE BANDIAGARA SELF-DESTRUCT MECHANISM HAS BEEN INITIATED. PLEASE BEGIN EVACUATION PROCEDURES IMMEDIATELY. REPEAT: THE BANDIAGARA SELF-DESTRUCT MECHANISM HAS BEEN INITIATED. PLEASE BEGIN EVACUATION PROCUDURES IMMEDIATELY.
LOCK-DOWN TO COMMENCE IN TEN MINUTES. TERMINATION OF ALL RESIDENT TEST SUBJECTS TO BE COMPLETED IN THREE MINUTES. REPEAT: LOCK-DOWN TO COMMENCE IN TEN MINUTES. TERMINATION OF ALL RESIDENT TEST SUBJECTS TO BE COMPLETED IN THREE MINUTES.
A jarring, mechanized voice sounded loudly from somewhere overhead. When it had made its announcement, it began to count down from NINE MINUTES AND THIRTY SECONDS.
"Self-destruct! What have you done?" Kagome demanded of the back of the small figure's head, wincing as the sound of her voice echoed painfully in her aching head. "Inuyasha's still in here somewhere!"
He turned to face her. He looked as if he were perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old. To Kagome's surprise, did not share the golden eyes that marked the other clones; they were instead a deep, deep green. However, their bitter, scathing glare seemed very familiar. Inuyasha's eyes had looked like that when they'd first met, when he thought she was Kikyo.
"Quit worrying," the boy answered, his tone as contemptuous as his eyes. "The self-destruct hasn't actually been initialized. That would have taken too long to rig. I just manipulated the system into performing all of the warnings of an imminent self-destruct."
She must have given him a blank look, because he continued, his glare hardening. "The system is set up so that a command to self-destruct requires a series of complicated codes to be entered into a main terminal, like this one. Failure to do so sets off an alarm that indicates someone has been messing with the self-destruct program. I created a program that reverses the interface responses. Technically, the system is reading that someone has failed to enter the appropriate information – but the interface devices, the monitors, the intercom, they're indicating that the opposite has occurred. If I entered the security codes, the system would announce that someone had been tampering with it. And there would be absolutely no warning that this whole place was about to go straight to hell." He frowned. "I didn't have time to actually crack the codes."
She still didn't get it. He growled in exasperation. "It's not that complicated, woman."
She blinked. It wasn't exactly "wench," but it was close.
Goliath appeared at the door, grinning broadly, though he was covered in so much blood that it seemed as if he shouldn't be able to move. Not all of it had been caused by the construction in the dungeon-like holding room, either; he'd obviously taken more than a few of the machine-gun rounds that Kagome had heard earlier. How much of the blood was human, Kagome didn't want to know.
"Running like rats," he announced with a wicked satisfaction. "The ones I didn't catch." He flexed his bloody claws suggestively.
Hannibal – for that was who the irritating youth had to be, Kagome realized – cocked his head to the side. "You get all the fun, Goliath, you know that?"
"And you get to blow things up. Tell me that's fair," the giant retorted. They shared a bloodthirsty grin. Hannibal cast a scornful look at Kagome.
"I suppose we ought to release the progenitor," he offered grudgingly. "Before they realize this is all a ruse." He returned to his rapid-fire typing, and after a moment – just after the EIGHT MINUTES mark – he turned to Goliath.
"North wing. Fourth corridor, second laboratory on the east side." He grimaced. "It's in the high security area. It's not going to be easy. Even without a human presence, the automatic defenses will still be in place."
"So take the time to knock out the security system," Goliath shrugged.
"Yeah, right," Hannibal answered scornfully. "It's not going to be very long before they realize this place isn't gonna blow. And then they'll be back and on our asses."
"How long would it take you?" Goliath countered.
"Five minutes – if I'm damned lucky."
"You'll get it," the blood-covered clone promised.
"I better," the youth snapped, and his claws set to flying about the keyboard once again.
Kagome watched the exchange, bemused. Obviously, killing Hand members didn't bother either one of them. Just as obviously, they were determined to retrieve Inuyasha before leaving, despite the risk. Kagome didn't know what an automated defense system was capable of, but if it worried this kid – who had on his side a giant that could shrug off incredible injuries – it couldn't be good. So why go to all the trouble? Goliath had said that Hannibal would have displeased with him if he had abandoned her. Were these two people, who killed remorselessly, really going out of their way to save Inuyasha for her sake?
Forcing her wounded body up from its more or less comfortable position on the floor, she moved to stand between the pair.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked softly.
"Because you won't leave without him," the youth answered grimly, green eyes never leaving the screen before him. Goliath shot him an unreadable glance.
"And why should you care?" she persisted.
"I shouldn't. I don't," he corrected, a faint flush on his cheeks. He growled, and Kagome was surprised to hear a plaintive whine slip out. "You helped Goliath. He wouldn't let me go without helping you back. We don't like being indebted. To anybody." He scowled fiercely.
Goliath raised his brows, but didn't contradict the much smaller Hannibal, or offer a comment of his own. His interpretation of the situation certainly didn't match up with Hannibal's. Kagome wondered who was right, and who was just proud.
Maybe they both genuinely wanted to help her. Maybe neither one of them wanted to leave her behind, and were just too proud – like Inuyasha – to admit it. Six and Seven had said they had memories of her… maybe these two did as well? Was it possible that subconsciously, they remembered caring about her?
Kagome remembered what Six had said about his memories, his impression that she and Inuyasha had shared a physical relationship. Then she recalled of the first words Goliath had said to her in the holding room, before she'd turned the lights on, and the vicious kiss Seven had inflicted on her, and shuddered.
So Inuyasha had desired her. It warmed her to realize how great his desire for her had been; there had been so little time to say anything back then…
Chunks of flesh were falling from the sky, with an acidic rain of blood and saliva and tears and gods knew what else. Precious little was left of Naraku, now, his body was slowly falling apart, without Onigumo's soul to hold it together. It was over… Miroku's wind tunnel vanished… Kohaku had finally joined the ranks of the dead… and the jewel was whole. It returned to its place in her body, purified of Naraku's evil, its powers once again dormant. It should have been the end.
From the inner mass of Naraku's body, the core that had yet to disintegrate, some glimmer of life sparked still. A tentacle of flesh lashed out at the well.
"No!" Kagome screamed. If the well was destroyed, how would she get home? She would never see Grandpa again… Souta… Mama...
A strong arm caught her about the waist, and Inuyasha ran a close race against the tentacle toward the Bone-Eater's Well.
"Inuyasha! The well!" Kagome shrieked.
"I know, stupid, I'm trying!" he snarled.
The tentacle reached the well before them.
"Are you paying attention, stupid?" a thin little Inuyasha with green eyes demanded. "I said: 'we need to get going.' So get moving."
She shook her head to clear it, and immediately wished she hadn't; it began to throb even more painfully.
"Sorry," she murmured. She rose unsteadily to her feet, but she wasn't on them long before Goliath swept her up in his arms once again.
"Faster this way. Don't mind the blood," he smiled, a thin-lipped, wolfish kind of smile that held no apology whatsoever in it. She smiled faintly, uncertainly, in return. She had no other allies in this place, and thus far, they seemed to have at least some genuine concern for her welfare, despite their rough edges. Inuyasha had been that way, and she'd given him a chance. She couldn't do less for his clones.
The trip though the facility was uneventful, though Goliath's bounding leaps and strides aggravated Kagome's injuries. An announcement of 30 SECONDS was explanation enough as to why they encountered no human resistance, and Hannibal had managed to shut down the automated defense system. So it was that they arrived at the laboratory that Seven had brought her to some indeterminate time ago.
Inuyasha still lay quietly on the hospital bed, in his white hospital gown, left foot still dangling over the edge of the table, as it had each of the countless time Seven had brought her here to beat her. Nothing seemed to have changed since her last visit.
"So this is him," Hannibal said with wonder. "We never got to actually see him."
"He doesn't look so tough," Goliath scoffed, but he too regarded Inuyasha with a queer reverence.
For a moment, Kagome caught a glimpse of a curious kid behind Hannibal's bitter green eyes, but as he took in the terrible trap that had been laid for "the progenitor," his cynicism reasserted itself.
"I've been thinking about this," he said, gesturing roughly to the syringe and the collar. "I think – " A round of gunfire cut him off.
And Kagome's body exploded in pain.
"Dammit!" Inuyasha yelled. He flung a blood-soaked claw at the tentacle after its first blow demolished half the well.
"Go!" Swiping away enough of the wreckage to push her through, Inuyasha unceremoniously dropped her into the well and howled another challenge at the rapidly dissolving Naraku. Her last glimpse of him had been just before the tentacle struck the well a second time, sending broken bits of wood crashing down on top of her.
Even in that moment, in the heat of the battle, he had recognized the finality she hadn't yet grasped. A terrible sadness filled his eyes before a splintered plank hid him from view. She landed in her own time, and the well collapsed on top of her.
Oh, gods. The beatings had been terrible. The wrench of her dislocated shoulder being pulled back into place had sickened her. But nothing she had ever experienced felt like this, this horrible burning, the hot blood rushing down her body. Had Inuyasha felt this, when Sesshoumaru had plunged a poisoned hand through his chest, just prior to that first time the well had divided her from Inuyasha? Her thoughts were blanketed in an red fog of pure agony, and she drifted in and out of the present and the past.
She was vaguely conscious of having been set on the floor. A distant roar told her that Goliath was on a rampage again, seeking out the person who had fired the gun.
Shot. I've been shot, she thought wonderingly. Three years in the Warring States Period, and I'm going to die of gunshot wounds. Ironic… it's ironic.
"Not how I wanted it to end, Higurashi," Seven purred. "But it will have to do."
Seven!
A fight… Seven… and the big one… Goliath… where was Hannibal?
Where…
Kagome huddled against the wall of the shrine, surveying the ruins of the well. Had it been three days? It didn't feel like three days. It felt like an eternity.
Hannibal, Hannibal. Was he dead? She hoped not. He was too like Inuyasha, more than any of the other clones, he was bitter and cynical and shrouded with hurt and bad memories, but something inside was still good, still reachable, still worthwhile and worthy. She wanted to reach it and make it all of him and wipe away the hurts…
She hadn't left off her vigil for more than a few minutes at a time. She couldn't eat, the thought of eating made her sick, she slept in the shrine crouched by the well, determined to be there when he came for her.
Because he was coming for her. He would find a way. She believed in him; he would come for her.
She knew it.
"Bastard!" Hannibal shrieked. Good, he was still okay. She hoped Goliath would take care of him. She was sorry she couldn't.
The fighting came close to her. She was aware of Goliath's massive presence, of Seven's cruel desires.
Goliath was winning. Kagome tasted Seven's fear on the air, and it was a curious thing, because she'd never really been able to sense that kind of thing before. But it was tangible, now; she was as attuned to his gut-wrenching fear as she was of the feel and the metallic stink of the blood pumping out over her, the cold floor beneath her. Sandwiched between hot and cold, she thought insanely, but both smelled like metal. Cold. Cold and impersonal. Blood was impersonal. It was the same whether you brought it out of a demon or a human or a child or a warrior. She and Seven were nothing alike, but he would bleed just like she did. Probably he was right at this very minute, because Goliath was winning, and his fear tasted very sweet.
I don't want to be me anymore. He loved me. I lost him. Let me be somebody else, I want to be somebody else.
Somebody who didn't love him.
Somebody who didn't have to remember his sad eyes or regret never having been able to say anything about anything that mattered.
Somebody else, I want to be somebody else.
Gods, please.
Make-up.
Short hair.
Blue room.
Pierced ears.
But nothing worked. No matter how she changed her room or her face or her style, always Kagome's eyes looked back at her from the mirror.
And always they looked like Inuyasha's had at that last unspoken goodbye.
Sad.
"You son-of-a-bitch!" Goliath bellowed. She wouldn't have thought it was possible to be in more pain, but she felt herself cruelly lifted from the ground and was shown otherwise. Somehow, Hannibal also had ended up in Goliath's grasp, pressed closely against her and the giant's chest.
An explosion threw them all forward.
She landed with a squishy thump on her back, looking up at Goliath. His eyes… red?
Was it just the fog of her pain? Or were they…
Demon. Goliath was becoming a full demon.
I should be afraid. But she wasn't. Because as a full demon, he might just kill Seven. She wanted Seven to die.
Had she ever truly wished for someone to die? Kikyo? No… not like this, not out of pure hatred. Naraku? Yes, but for Inuyasha. For Kikyo and Sango and Miroku and Kohaku and even for Kagura and Kanna, for all the people he hurt.
Seven hurt her. Seven wanted to destroy Inuyasha. Seven should die. She wanted him to die.
And, dammit, she wanted to live long enough to see it.
But she wouldn't, because he had escaped. Goliath managed to run him off, but not to kill him.
The giant crumpled beside her, his massive head inches from her own. His eyes had cleared; death was imminent for him, and for her.
"I'm sorry, Kagome," he growled softly. "I'm sorry I couldn't kill him."
Had she said that out loud? She tried to answer, to tell him it was okay, but her mouth wouldn't work, so she forced her head into a brief nod instead.
"Stay away, Hannibal," Goliath ordered harshly, blood flecking his lips as he spoke. "That syringe blew all over me."
Syringe… syringe? Then the explosion had been… Inuyasha's collar? She had to wake him up… or he would die with her.
"Inu…" she whispered, forcing air through her vocal chords. "Inuyasha..." Blood rose in her throat; she could say no more.
Her eyes sought Hannibal, who had disregarded Goliath's order and had knelt between the two of them.
"No."
She pleaded with her eyes. Please, Hannibal. Take me to him.
"No."
Reproaching him with her eyes, hurt and angry, she tried to speak, but succeeded only in choking on blood.
"I won't let you wake him up just to watch you die."
"Hannibal…" Goliath breathed hoarsely.
"What?" His voice was tight.
"Caradoc."
"Caradoc?" Hannibal's eyes widened, and he shot a searching glance at Kagome, who didn't know what a Caradoc was, and considering her current state of affairs, probably never would.
Green eyes went hard. "I won't leave you."
"I'm dead anyway, kid, you saw what that explosion did to me," he growled harshly. "Besides," he coughed, "you shouldn't be this close to me anyway."
"Goliath…" That whimpering snarl that had amused her earlier now threatened to break her heart.
"Now, kid. You don't have much time." He coughed again and closed his eyes. His breathing sounded as painful as Kagome's felt. "Get Caradoc."
He opened his eyes into narrow little slits, and his mouth twisted into some semblance of a smile. "I won't forgive you if you don't get her out of here, remember?"
Hannibal started, and Goliath's eyes softened. "And I'll be after you in hell if you don't get out of here yourself."
Hannibal drew a deep breath and exhaled shakily. "It's been… an honor," he stated.
"I love you too, kid. Now get out of here." Hannibal reached down to him; Goliath slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me," he warned. "Go."
Hannibal swallowed hard. Then he rose and broke into a hard sprint across the room.
"I'm sorry," Kagome mouthed. Then, "Thank you for trying."
Inches away, it was impossible to miss her meaning.
"Don't you give up yet."
She blinked. Like Goliath, she was already dead.
Surely he could see that?
"I told you earlier I thought you were the bravest person I had ever met. Don't prove me wrong. You hang on til Hannibal gets back with Caradoc. And when he does, you remember what's important." He lost the fight to keep his eyes open.
"You hear me, Higurashi? You remember what's important."
She watched him, struggling to breathe past the blood in her windpipe. He barely seemed to be breathing at all.
"And you… you take care of Hannibal for me. I always… promised him he… wouldn't be alone…"
He coughed weakly, and said no more.
Strange… she was dying… he had to know that… why ask her something like that? But she nodded anyway, and struggled to stay awake until Hannibal returned.