Kagome's Twist

Chapter 14

~The Final Battle?~

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

~~Kagome~~

We arrive at the mansion by the end of the day. The castle grounds are eerily silent. Our leader Dintu-Sinku orders the rest of the men to go one direction while he escorts me inside.

"Remember, Inuyasha," he whispers to me, his large hand firmly pressed in the small of my back. "Win this little fight and the war will be over. Beat this small-fry youki and you can go home."

Home… I think hopefully to myself. With Inuyasha…

I nod to my superior and allow him to push me down poorly-lit hallways. We take twists and turns down deeper into the earth. Soon, I can hear an odd chanting. The farther we descend, the louder the mass of voices become. My hand briefly touches the earthen wall and I jerk it back, the trembles catches me off guard.

How many people are here? They just want me to kill one small-fry, right? Unless… they're making a show of this!

I growl in frustration, the rumble ricocheting inside my chest. That hand on my back pushes a little harder.

Oh, the nerve of these people! Putting me up for show just to get some entertainment out of someone's grief – or death, in this case.

We come across a dead end. I eye the peculiar walls as water trickles down the soft rock on all sides. One peek behind my shoulder and I can tell General Dintu is nervous, his unseeing eyes jerking side to side for any light in our abyss.

Why is he acting so nervous? IS he afraid I'll turn and kill him here? No, he would have brought more men with him to accompany us then… why does he keep looking at the ground? And the walls for that matter?

I face the dead-end a foot away from me and before I can find the source of his uneasiness, my companion tugs feverishly at the back of my top. I lower my head to hear, "-emember, defeat him, Inuyasha. That's all I require of you. Good luck…"

I turn my head to look over my shoulder, 'fore his voice seemed to fade as he uttered his farewell.

I turn around completely and find my superior gone completely. I scratch my head with the tip of my claws.

Where'd he go?

At that instant, the wall in front of me comes crashing down, millimeters away from chopping off my nose.

"Gaaaahhhh…" I tensely breathe out, backing away from the wall. In moments, I'm left with the conclusion that I'm left in a small sealed room with no light, no air flow.

I'm this close from losing my composure, but an instinct deep inside me tells me not to fret, that there is no harm to me here. I'm intrigued by this eerie calmness that washes over me and find my priestess powers to be smothered by Inuyasha's youki. I gasp in the dark, regretting it as the dank air as it invades my mouth - it's like I'm licking the unnatural walls. I cringe.

Blah! That's nasty! …

I squeeze my eyes shut and gag, wishing then and there I did not have the half-demon's enhanced sense of taste. I rub my dog-like tongue roughly against the roof of my mouth to rid the horrid taste. As it fades, I focus at the task at hand.

My miko powers seem to be so much weaker with Inuyasha's blood in me – could it be because the two auras cannot coincide in one body? I've never heard of a demon priestess before, so….

I find myself bathing in bright, yellow light as the wall behind me, the once dead-end, rises; the scent of man flowing in from the opening. The impact of the voices swimming massively together in the thick air nearly sends me to my knees. I cringe, but force myself to turn around to face the source of the light. I raise a clawed hand to block out the light my eyes were not used to in the dim hallways. Cautiously, I edge my way out of the darkness.

The voices all together are insignificant, just a jumble of shouts and yells at this point. As my eyes adjust to the light, I notice I'm in something like an arena. I feel like I'm trapped in the bottom of a canyon, the smooth walls reaching too high for me to hop out of this man-made water-less ravine. Torches burn brightly every six feet high above my head, illuminating the arena. The ground is hard-packed with pockets of white sand here and there. I hear the sound of rattling chains and whip around in time to see a barred gate slam into the ground where I first came in. All around me, there are various gates of all sizes; some bars are plain and smooth, like mine, while others are spiked dangerously.

I crane my neck up to see men in armor leaning over the edge to peer down at me, whooping and hollering when they do. They fist-punch the air and pound their army's flag pole into the ground rhythmically. I roll my eyes.

Men…

I start when I hear the heavy gate on my extreme left rise. I raise my claws and get myself ready for the attack. I frown.

Well, Kagome, this is where all your sacrifices are noticed, they all add up to something. Let's get this over with!

When nothing comes out, I growl in frustration. My ears are busy on the top of my silver head trying to catch any sounds of something approaching me. I crack my knuckles in anticipation, eager to wreck bloodshed just to get this whole ordeal over with.

I hear a man at the end of the dark hallway walk towards the light. I hear him dragging something, something wild as it snarls and sounds like it's wrestling on the grainy floor.

Finally! It's about time-

The man screams and blood splatters out the gate and onto the hard ground. I take a step back, wanting as much prep time in the light that I have with this thing.

-~*KT*~-

~~Shippo~~

I look in horror as a clean Inuyasha stumbles out the gate and into the arena. He looks around confused while absorbing everything he sees, but it won't be enough.

Kagome…

The nice lady from earlier let me out of the cell, but still had me tied up, saying it was the only way I could be on the outside. I sit next to her in the stands as I tug hopelessly on my restraints, the rope squeezing and squeezing on my wrists until they become cold with lack of blood flow. I stop and sigh, disappointed in myself, a youki.

I hear Kagome's gate close and the ruthless men around me cheer, ready for the show. I silently glare at all their backs, hating the humans.

With one last glance at the sole female next to me, I bolt. I dash between legs and squirm under benches – whatever it takes to make it to the wall.

Whatever it takes to give Kagome the best chance of surviving this!

I feel the panic set in, sweat matting down the hairs on my neck that would otherwise rise in my predicament. I feel a cold fear inside my tiny body as the other gate opens. I hop up on the wall and see Kagome get in a fighting position. At that moment, I see the blood that squirts from the depths of the hallway and decide it's now or never.

"Kago-" I catch myself before giving away her true identity. I find her golden eyes fixed on me, confusion deeply marring her features. Even from the distance between us, I can see her lips for my name in a silent question.

"Inuyasha!" I yell to cover up my mistake. "You have to get out of there! Now! Before-"

"Hey!" A gruff voice comes from behind. I feel a random hand grab me by my tail. As I'm hoisted in the air, I give one final plea to one of them.

"INUYASHA!"

-~*KT*~-

~~Kagome~~

I growl possessively at the human who dared treat my pup like that. What was Shippo doing here anyway? Tied up too?

Wait until those humans see my wrath for what they've done, just wait-

At that second, I hear another growl boom from the dark hallway. It seems eerily familiar…

And then I see his eyes.

Red eyes burning with cold blue irises; all of it set on me, a target.

I nearly fall flat from the shock of it all.

"I-Inuyasha?" I ask, my voice coming out to be like a whimper. I let my guard down and let my hands fall to my sides, the desire in me to fight – dead and gone.

I hear scuffling in the dirt, the eyes bobbing up and down though they never leave me. As the eyes neared, a thick, metallic scent shoots up my nose. I rapidly blink back the tears the scent of blood caused me.

As my vision clears, I see him.

Inuyasha.

This is who I'm supposed to fight? I can't fight Inuyasha. Sure, I got him flat on the forest floor, but his demon side? This side won't stop until I'm dead!

I want to cry at the sight of his body: bloodied and bruised. White shirt probably long gone - only his crimson pants remain as his only source of clothing. The skin that is exposed is cut up with weird yellow dots in the wounds. But his stomach… the wound I wrapped myself just days ago is gaping and pumping out blood.

"Inuyasha…" Tears stream down my face, I can't help it.

Inuyasha, what happened? Why is Shippo here? How did you end up here? Why are you so injured?

Inuyasha, what happened!

His snarls snap me out of my revere. I jump back, unsure of his demon side. I watch as he cocks his head to the side; his bloody knuckles crack, splattering more blood on the ground. The look in his eyes…

From the safety of high above, I hear the men cheer. They cheer for bloodshed. They cheer for pain.

They cheer for death.

A/n: Yep, it's a cliffhanger! I can't give you the climax all in one go- can I?

No. I can't.

I would really like to hear your guys' questions/ if you guys are intrigued by something and would like to talk to me about it – I'll clear it up for you!

;3

Till Next Time!