Hey everyone. Remember what I said about 'with any luck, it'll be up tomorrow.'? Well, luck didn't like me. My stupid compy wouldn't let me save the chapter. So I had to retype it. Something about something being invalid, or such. I wasn't really paying attention after: Cannot Save. Stupid piece of machinery! Anywho, here is the version retyped after my compy finally let me save. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Story Plot's mine, O.C.'s are mine, but the actual plot of Inuyasha and the characters involved? Nope, not since the last time I checked.
Inferno
The more you fight it, the brighter it burns.
Chapter 12: Temptress in the Flames
From her position high above the battlefield, the kimono-clad wind witch smirked.
Kagura lazed on her giant feather, fan held loosely in her hand, as she watched the events unfold. If truth were to be told, there were a host of other things she would rather be doing than watching Moeru-shi and Kagome shove their tongues down each other's throats.
Bored and sullen, Kagura twisted her head away from the sight as the fireling slide his hand up Kagome's leg, and the girl responded, not bother to keep her voice down.
'Have you no restraint?" Kagura thought in displeasure. Her lips curled in disgust, the wind witch refused to turn back and subject herself to the scene below. Unlike so many (coughMirokucough), it was not her custom to go around watching couples make love to each other's lips. There was no trace of a pervert in her, and she was damn proud!
Tapping the tip of her prized fan against the slope between her lower lip and chin, she hummed a broken melody to herself. There was little she could do to pass the time, as her latest 'assignment' was to watch over Moeru-shi and his exploits until Naraku arrived, the bastard. So what could she do? She was bound to the deceptive hanyou, unable to escape so long as he held her heart…
Out of the blue, she felt her thoughts drift to her ane-ue. Kanna's soft-spoken whispers and impassive glances had…differed today, some how, livelier than usual. Of course, this was Kanna, who wouldn't know lively if it walked up and slapped her clean across the face. But something had changed, Kagura was sure of it.
As she floated beside the clouds, Kagura allowed herself to fall back against the feather with a sigh. It was so boring! She wanted to fight, to release some pent up energy, move, damnit! But no, she was confined here, above two hormonal teenagers who had little or no qualms about expressing said hormones down below her, and some of those sounds were getting hard to block o-
" GET AWAY FROM HER!"
…
Okay, what the HELL had she missed?
>
" No!" The figure screamed as she leaned over the enchanted water. Her fingers gripped the sides of the glowing bowl, her knuckles white from the pressure. The ethereal water was spun into the image of the black haired girl, her red haired kisser, the golden eyes protector, and a new face, with burning red eyes and wave after wave of black hair tumbling seductively around his face and body. The pelt of a baboon, snowy white, hung coyly off his shoulder, baring a peek of his well-formed chest. The girl leaned closer to the image, her eyes hidden beneath her black hood. But her voice was so shrill and so stunned; the concealed eyes must have been wide and the pupils small.
" This is bad!" She shouted as she ripped herself away from the picture. " Oh, this is very bad! This is the worst thing that could've happened!"
As she stormed across the room, hands waving erratically in the air, the picture faded as a single, growing ripple danced over the surface. The water was once again choppy, shifting in the bowl of its own accord, glowing ever so softly. It splashed at once as the girl pivoted at the opposite wall, and began to pace. But she froze, as though she were made of ice, at the sight of the water's splash.
" What's wrong? What's WRONG?" She shrieked, her voice shrill with disbelief. " Are you blind or something!" She threw her hands up into the air once more. " I mean, hullo, she just found out about him! My God, he's there, telling her everything, and you ask what's wrong?" Screaming in frustration, she turned and proceeded to throw herself on the green covered bed, still shrieking into a pillow she grabbed. The water splashed up once more.
" You 'onf seephm wots wong." She said incredulously. She raised her hand to stare with a deadpanned expression at the shining bowl, which sat innocently at her window. " You honestly don't see what's wrong." The water flicked up ever so slightly, an almost human gesture that resembled a shrug. The girl's head dropped once more, with a low, aggravated sigh.
" What, did I get the discount enchanted water?" She asked wearily even as the water began to spin and leap up in anger, nearly splashing onto the carpet.
" Watch it." She hissed. " I just had the carpet redone after last time, so don't you go messing it up again." The water ceased to splash up over the edges of the bowl, but the rapid spinning motions continued, as if it was waiting for something to happen.
" Look." The girl muttered tiredly as she pulled herself off her bed. " It's just bad, okay?" She began to shuffle around the room, searching for some obscure object in the mess. " She doesn't realize what she's doing. If she stays there, then she'll set it into motion, and you know what that means."
She turned to the water, what little of her face shown grim and frightened.
" Hell on Earth."
The water spun even faster, slowing creeping up from the center of the bowl in a twisting length, reminiscent of a cyclone. The girl paid it no mind as she searched. Abruptly, in the corner of the room opposite of the bowl, she found what she was looking for: an old pack of cards, worn and well used. Grinning at finally having some good luck, she darted over to the corner as proceeded to pluck the deck of cards from their resting place. She glanced over at the center of the room hopefully, only to frown when she found it in complete disarray, clothes and books strewn about in no particular fashion or order. Sighing heavily, she dragged her feet over to the mess, kicking objects from her path as she went, determined to make a spot where her carpeted floor was visible.
Fifteen minutes and many piles of old Metallica t-shirts with the arms cut off later, she sat in a surprisingly clean circle on the floor, cross-legged, the deck of cards placed before her. Taking a deep breath, she reached a trembling hand forward, and took them out.
Without bothering to glance at the contents, she took the cards and began to furiously shuffle, sliding the paper-thin objects in and out of her hands with practiced ease. She turned the cards over and around, sliding them to and fro, but never loosing one. Finally, as the last card slipped perfectly into place on the top of the deck, she placed them on the carpet before her.
She sat there for a moment, concentrating on a face, a question. Then she reached a trembling hand forward and picked up the first card.
The Page of Cups.
A gentle and loving person, emotionally vulnerable.
Reversed Meaning: Someone who lives in a dream world, a manipulator of others.
The perfect card for her.
Sighing in defeat, she lay the card down at the top of the circle, to represent the individual she was reading for.
' It never fails to amaze me, how they manage to find the perfect cards.' She sighed once again, and leaned forward to pick up another card.
The Fool Reversed.
Folly, madness. Not thinking before you rush into a situation.
The Moon.
Deception and trickery. Do not be too trusting, for the path is full of lies and trickery
The Seven of Swords.
Dishonesty. Lies and deception are all around. A love affair may go bad.
The Three of Pentacles.
The Three of Cups.
The Three of Wands.
Three threes of the Minor Arcana.
Deceit, changeable circumstances.
She was caught up in a web of lies that she didn't even realize was there. Her own deception paled in comparison to the things that were going on in the background, half hidden by shadows. In many ways, she was just as naïve and clueless as the mask she presented to the world, and it made the girl clutching the cards very afraid and sad.
Muttering several unpleasant invitations to the kami above her, she re-collected the cards and set to shuffling again, determined to put a ripple in Fate at all costs.
All this, while the water steadily rose from the bowl, glowing and pulsating, spinning into a funnel. But the girl never looked up.
" To me." She whispered, her head bent over she shuffling.
The water leapt away from the confines of the bowl, swirling and twisting like a wild beast as it shot towards her form. Before it touched even a hair on her head, the water sprung off, turning over and over again until it was like a circle around her bent head, a huge, mock halo, that glowed blue.
" C'mon." She muttered, as she shuffling grew more frenzied. With each flipped of a card, the water spun faster and faster around her, glowing and pulsating stronger and stronger, until the room, the girl, and the water itself, was lost to vision because of the burning, blinding white light.
>
The flames spun faster and faster around her body. She twisted and turned her form, seeking any familiar shape in the ever twisting heat cyclone that surrounded her, but her efforts were in vain, for the flames gave no hint to the outside world, save for the distant voices that called her name.
Faster now, nothing but a blur of reds and oranges and heat, blazing burning heat. It swallowed her up, her mind and body no match for the power of the ragged fires which held her captive. Her breath was short and her expression wild, unable to choose between terror and ecstasy at her fiery prison. Gulping in the feverish air, she parted her plush lips and threw back her head.
" Help me." she murmured to the spinning flames. " Help me beat them."
Curling around her outstretched arms, the fires ate at her white shirt, dissolving it to mere shreds that clung to her ample body. She laughed, wildly and insanely, as the flames dug deeper and deeper into her skin, until they were in her, twisting and dancing inside her blood. She ran her long fingers down her body, trembling in anticipation at the feel of the heat that radiated from her skin.
" Are you mine?" She asked the dancing fires. " Do you belong to me?"
Her only answer was the roar of the fire as it blazed up, higher and higher until she was sure it could devour the world in its heated wave. The inferno lurched and dove for her, and she stood still, waiting for it. The raw heat, raw power, raw feel of an untamed force of nature on her skin sent her into passionate throws, her breath shallow and the strangle cries of her delight hoarse. The inferno broke over her like a wave over the shores, and she felt it, felt it in ways she didn't know possible, dive into her skin and merge with her blood.
" Is this Paradise?" She asked, her face flushed and her eyes dilated and feverishly alive.
The only answer she was given was the flashing image of blazing, bright coal-red eyes.
>
" Well, Inuyasha, I take it Moeru-shi's origins came as a bit of a shock to dear Kagome." Naraku said pleasantly, his ruby eyes trained on Kagome's prone form as it lay cradled in the fireling's arms. Moeru-shi brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek, his burning coal eyes dark with worry and shame. Gently, he ran his calloused and burn covered hand over the soft flesh of her cheek, caressing it lovingly as he stared at her closed eyelids, willing them to open.
" Don't touch her!" Inuyasha's furious voice cut through his daze. Moeru-shi looked up to meet the livid golden eyes of the inu hanyou. Inuyasha stood in front of Naraku, his stance tense, his voice rough, and the gleam of scarlet in those gold orbs. Faint, barely visible jagged purple lines flickered on his skin, gone as soon as they appeared.
' Is he loosing control?' The fire youkai thought as his burning coal eyes widened slightly. He had heard of the dormant youkai blood that lay sleeping within Inuyasha. That each time he transformed, the hanyou lost more of his humanity, snuck deeper and deeper into dark desires, became more and more of a mindless, shameless killing beast. He knew what Inuyasha was capable of in that state of mind. Truth be told, Moeru-shi knew that he himself would not stand a chance against the enraged hanyou. But right now, none of that was his concern. He was worried about Kagome.
" I'll touch her as much as I want." He replied coolly, leaning down to stroke her face once more. She looked so pale, so fragile, and it was all he could do not to gather her up in his arms.
' What are you hiding, my little Kagome' He asked himself softly. 'What are you hiding from me?'
" Oh no you won't!" Inuyasha snarled, readying himself to launch full out at the fire demon. Cracking his knuckles as he flexed his claws, he brought one foot back to push off against the ground, but the voice of his archenemy stopped him.
" My, my, you have grown attached, haven't you, Moeru-shi?" Naraku asked in a sickeningly amused tone. He surveyed the two, his eyes wandering over Kagome in a way that had Moeru-shi pulling her closer to him, as if to protect the miko from the bastard's gaze. Creator or not, the fireling did not like the way that Naraku was looking at Kagome, as though she was the first meal he had seen in months. Despite his efforts, Naraku merely laughed.
" Yes, quite attached." The dark hanyou smirked. " Tell you what, when we destroy Inuyasha's little band, we can leave the wench alive." His gaze suddenly became predatory, hungry, his hooded eyes gleaming with something that looked frighteningly like lust to Moeru-shi. " She should prove…entertaining."
" Over my dead body will you touch Kagome!" Inuyasha snarl in fury as he leapt at Naraku, Tetsusaiga in hand. While Naraku had feasted his eyes on the young girl of the future, Moeru-shi had noticed, to his charigin and amazingly his relief, Inuyasha dart over to retrieve his sword.
Picking Kagome up bridle style and straightening himself, Moeru-shi moved away from the battlefield, fearing for the maiden in his arms.
>
Inuyasha, half blinded by anger, tore forward, swinging Tetsusaiga out like a club. He launched himself at Naraku's pelt clad form, seven kinds of murder in his gold eyes. He had seen the way Naraku had looked at Kagome. He had seen the hunger and want in the other halfling's eyes. At that sight of not only Moeru-shi's soft caresses, but Naraku's primal lust, his mind whirled into a spiral and hatred and blood lust, Tetsusaiga being all that kept the demon in him from rising up and fully taking control of the hanyou's mind and body.
He swung the sword at Naraku, who dodged the fang-forged blade with ease. With each missed swing, Inuyasha grew more and more frustrated, his vision going blurry as his anger took over, his attempts to hit Naraku becoming more and more erratic and sloppy. Snarling in barely repress fury, the inu hanyou shot the blade up the air, the swirling of the wind around the blade the only warning to Naraku of what was to come.
" KAZE NO KI-"
" I think not, Inuyasha." Naraku smirked, and turned his gaze upwards.
" Dance of the Dragon!" A feminine voice shouted from somewhere above him, and he barely had time to dodge before a twister came shooting down towards him. He stumbled back, barely registering the force of the wind on his body.
" Damn it all to Hell." The hanyou cursed quietly. " He brought Kagura with him."
" You aren't happy to see me?" Kagura's voice came from behind him, her tone a mock hurt voice. He had only just whipped around to face her when the wind witch released a second attack.
" Dance of Blades!" She snarled, bringing her fan down in an arc pattern. Inuyasha jumped high to avoid the spinning crescents that lashed out at him. He was suspended in the air for an instant, looking down at the black haired maiden, before Kagura looked up and he saw a cruel glint in her ruby eyes.
" Can't escape me that easily." She hissed as she cocked her fan almost lazily. AS she drew the winds to her for another attack, Inuyasha felt her power weaken, and saw the winds collide with the demonic aura she emitted. Knowing it may be his only chance, the inu hanyou acted with a swiftness many did not know him to possess.
" KAZE NO KIZU!" He shouted and swung Tetsusaiga down at the meeting of the wind and the youki. With a satisfying smirk, he saw Kagura look of horror right before the blast of the fabled Wind Scar blotted her out.
Inuyasha landed a few meters away, watching the light of his attack die down. He never noticed the figure sneaking up behind him.
All of a sudden, tentacles wrapped around his torso and neck, cutting off his air supply. He struggled and fought back, choking and gasping for breath. But to no avail, for Naraku's grip was too tight.
" Very well done, Inuyasha. You managed to catch Kagura off guard. I'm impressed." Inuyasha could almost see Naraku's smirk, as the tentacles around him constricted.
" You bast-" A sharp squeeze cut him off.
" Uh uh!" Naraku tutting mockingly. " Language, Inuyasha. There is a lady present. Although, at the moment she's unconscious, in the arms of my incarnation." Inuyasha's breathe caught in his throat. Naraku chuckled.
" You don't like that?" He whispered softly into Inuyasha's ear. " You don't like the thought of sweet little Kagome in Moeru-shi's arms?" Inuyasha's struggles grew greater, clawing uselessly at the appendage that held him hostage.
" Then what about my arms, Inuyasha?" Naraku's voice turned devastatingly silky, and Inuyasha's mixed blood froze at the words.
" Wh-What?" He gasped.
" You heard me, Inuyasha." Naraku said softly, his voice rich and deadly. " Imagine Kagome in my arms. Does that make you feel any better."
" St-stay away fr-from h-her." The hanyou choked out, trying to force the image from his mind.
" I can't do that." Naraku murmured. " She's just too tantalizing of a puzzle to pass up."
" What?" Inuyasha spat out in total confusion. Behind him, he heard Naraku chortle darkly.
" You're honestly falling for it." The wicked hanyou said, a smirk in his voice. " You really believe that's what she's like."
Inuyasha dug his claws in the tentacle and pulled hard, freeing himself. He collapsed to the ground, his back to Naraku, gasping and panting fro breath.
" Wh-what… are y-you…ta-talking a-about!" He snarled, whipping around to face the smirking monster.
" You think you know her, don't you Inuyasha?" Naraku's red eyes gleamed as he reared back, appendages streaming out from under his baboon cloak. " That's so sad."
Naraku sprang towards the downed hanyou, murder in his eyes and his stance ready to kill the unprepared Inuyasha.
" When in reality you know nothing about her."
Inuyasha's eyes widened and he reached down for Tetsusaiga.
" You know nothing about me."
He froze as her words came back to him.
What had she meant that day, when she was acting so different form herself? What was it about her that had changed so drastically, so fast? What did Naraku know about Kagome, his Kagome, that Inuyasha himself did not know?
So deep in his thoughts, Inuyasha didn't realize Naraku was there until a tentacle shot out and pierced his shoulder. Blood splurted from the wound, and Inuyasha let out a howl of pain, dropping his sword once more. Naraku hovered above him, clearly enjoying Inuyasha's pain.
" Poor Inuyasha. You've let your emotions get the better of you again." He pulled back an arm, morphed at the end into a point sharp enough to pierce flesh.
" Die."
And then there was a flash of scarlet and orange light, and heat racing towards them, before a fireball shot over, connecting with Naraku's side and dispersing over his skin, burning all it came into contact with. Naraku shot away from Inuyasha, tearing his tentacle form the hanyou's shoulder. Hissing in pain, Naraku touched the raw, burned flesh of his side, and looked up.
" You filthily conniving little bitch!"
Inuyasha, as well, looked up, and felt his jaw drop at the sight before him.
There, against the back drop of his forest, her dark hair dancing in the wind and her skirt whipping around her legs stood Kagome, her brown eyes blank and flashing; they were fixed on Naraku, her expression grim, and her left hand out stretched before her, glowing as a second fireball began to form in its palm.
" Leave Inuyasha alone."
>
Okay, I'm done, and I'm tired, goodnight, everybody!
MoS
P.S.- please, tell me what you think. Oh, and does anyone know what 'Dance of Blades' and 'Dance of the Dragon' are in Japanese? I can't remember. It would be great if someone could tell me, pretty please? Oh, and so far, only one person has gotten cookies for telling me what 'Sagi' means!