Chapter Twenty-One: Wish Granted

Kikyo awoke with a woozy feeling and blurry eyes. As she rose up, she shook her head to shake off sleep. Getting out of bed was perhaps the hardest thing she had ever done, and even so, she managed it. She had just been having a beautiful dream. She and Inuyasha had been locked in an embrace. Their hands were running through each other's clothes. And then she woke up.

The light hurt her eyes as she stumbled out into the painful daylight. 'Midday already…' she said. 'How long did I oversleep?!'

She turned to her house and made her way in to get the things she needed for the day. As she did, she noticed the note. Kaede was standing over it, peering at it. Kikyo remembered that Kaede could not read. 'Where did that come from?'

'I found it this morning,' said Kaede. 'could you read me what it says, sister?'

Kikyo took it up:

'Why don't you just put me in a collar, Kikyo?'

'This is in Tsubaki's handwriting.' said Kikyo. 'But why would she write this? Unless…' A dark suspicion came to her mind, and she rushed over to the makeup she had been given. Looking at it, she saw what had eluded her before. 'How could I have been so stupid, Tsubaki enchanted this to knock me out. But she couldn't do it alone so… She used me! Inuyasha played me!'

She shuddered, before looking upward. 'TRAITOR!'

This would not go unpunished. Kikyo would find Inuyasha and-

Something was missing from her house. 'Where is my bow?' she asked. 'WHERE IS MY DAMN BOW!'

'Sucker,' thought Inuyasha as he made his way through the trees.

He landed in the clearing they had agreed to meet at and found Tsubaki waiting for him, in the shadow of a tree. The light filtered down through the leaves, giving an ominous appearance to the place. Inuyasha stopped.

'Did you get it?' asked Tsubaki.

Inuyasha wordlessly tossed Tsubaki the jewel. 'Yeah, I also got a souvenir out of it.'

'You stole her bow?' asked Tsubaki, smiling wildly. 'Do you have any idea how many hours she spent carving that?'

'Just make your damn wish so that I can have it back.' snapped Inuyasha.

Tsubaki raised the jewel and looked into it. Her gaze suddenly seemed to become clouded with terrible greed and malice. One tinted with vanity. She opened her mouth to speak and then paused. She seemed hesitant to continue, filled with some distant regret. Then she looked at Inuyasha, her eyes filled with condescension.

'I don't think I should give this back to you.' she said. 'You'll break it into pieces and use it to bring back a group of mass murderers. Any one of those shards could be disastrous if they fell into the wrong hands.'

'We had a deal Tsubaki,' said Inuyasha, 'and you are breaking it.'

'Beloved!' shouted Kikyo, voice filled with wrath.

Nothing happened Inuyasha glanced up to see Kikyo appearing before him. He blinked, not quite sure how to react. 'You have an odd way of saying it.'

She looked confused. 'What is-' Then she stopped, and anger returned to her bearing. 'You betrayed me, Inuyasha!'

'Like hell!' snapped Inuyasha. 'You gave me a set of subjugation beads as a gift! If that's not a breach of trust, I don't know what is!'

'You act as though that excuses you!' snapped Kikyo. 'You gave me the poisoned make up first.'

'Yeah, but I didn't actually have to act on it.' said Inuyasha. 'I was planning to break with Tsubaki after that until she pointed out just what you did to me.'

Kikyo remained silent. 'I… I will admit that my hands are not clean. I should not have betrayed your trust, but the same goes for you. Yet you must give up the sacred jewel! It will bring you only grief to possess it!'

'I don't have it.' said Inuyasha. 'I just gave it to Tsubaki and- where the hell did she go?!

Tsubaki had slipped away while they were talking, and was now nowhere to be seen. Inuyasha sniffed at the air and found her scent. 'Come on, get on my back, I have her scent.'

'Are you sure?' asked Kikyo, somewhat reluctant. 'I mean-'

'Just do it!' snapped Inuyasha. 'We don't have time!'

Kikyo obeyed, and together they took off, speeding through the forests in pursuit. Inuyasha felt her legs around his waist, her arm over his shoulder and resisted the urge to blush. He raced in pursuit of Tsubaki, and despite himself amazed at how quickly she had traveled in such a short time.

'How does she move so quickly?'

'Tsubaki has a way of getting places very quickly, without much explanation.' admitted Kikyo, as Inuyasha passed her the bow. 'We have to stop her before she makes a wish.'

'Still trying to protect the jewel?' asked Inuyasha.

'No,' said Kikyo grimly, 'we're trying to protect Tsubaki from it.'

They began to scale up a hill until they saw Tsubaki standing at the peak. The sacred jewel was raised high in her hand. Kikyo drew back an arrow and launched it. It soared through the air, and shot the jewel out of Tsubaki's hand, pinning it by its necklace to the tree behind her. At this moment, Inuyasha smiled, before jerking in midair, so Kikyo fell off his back to land in the leaves. He quickly snatched up her quiver and tossed it away.

Leaping up the hill, Inuyasha stood before Tsubaki, claws bared. 'You really should reconsider giving me the jewel.' said Inuyasha.

Tsubaki spun her spear and took a stance. 'Oh, believe me, I've more than planned for this. Submit!'

The beads around Inuyasha's neck became heavier than the earth, and he was sent crashing to the ground. His face hit the dirt, and he shuddered as the whole of the force went through his body painfully.

He tried to rise again.

'Submit!' snapped Tsubaki, and once again he was crushed against the ground. 'You didn't think I'd try for a confrontation with you if I could avoid it, did you? No, when I was working to undo the enchantment on those beads, I was actually subverting them to my will.'

At that moment Kikyo came over the rise and grabbed ahold of Tsubaki's spear. The two of them began to grapple, as Inuyasha rose up and rushed for the jewel.

'Submit!' snapped Tsubaki, and he hit the ground.

Kikyo punched her in the face before Tsubaki kneed her in the gut and slammed her over the back with the spear. Kikyo hit the ground hard, and Tsubaki kicked her in the gut where she lay savagely. Then she turned to walk towards the sacred jewel.

Inuyasha began to rise again.

'Submit.' she said in deadpan.

Inuyasha was once again slammed against the ground. He looked up to see Tsubaki removing the arrow from the sacred jewel, and taking it up in the palm of her hand. Raising it up, her eyes flared with a vain desire from her heart.

'Don't!' cried Kikyo.

'Now, Jewel of Four Souls!' proclaimed Tsubaki. 'Grant me eternal youth, that my beauty may never fade!'

An errant wind swept through her dark hair. It sent it and her robes flowing around her, as she appeared a mighty queen both dark and terrible. Then the jewel glowed with an unholy light, and Tsubaki screamed. The light consumed everything in sight, and when the light settled Tsubaki was gone.

In her place was a statue of shimmering blue crystal, of unyielding and eternal beauty.

Inuyasha and Kikyo rose to their feet, approaching it. Unsure as to whether it was real, Inuyasha set one hand to the crystal. It was as hard and cold as the grave. 'Do you… think she is still alive in there?'

'I hope not.' said Kikyo. 'Tsubaki made an impure wish upon the sacred jewel. It was twisted to destroy her. That's why it's so important that no one get their hands on it.' Reaching out she took the jewel from Tsubaki's hand. 'Our master tried to warn her, but she didn't listen. She never listened.'

'I don't think you need to worry about me going after the sacred jewel anymore, Kikyo.' said Inuyasha, trying to shake off the horror of it.

'We should go.' said Kikyo. 'There is nothing I can do to dispel this.'

There was a long pause between them. Then Kikyo reached out and quickly drew the necklace off of Inuyasha's neck. 'It was a mistake to give these to you. I'm sorry.'

'I guess I am as well.' reflected Inuyasha. 'Let's get the hell out of here.'

So it was that they left her there, trapped in her final moment of triumph and vanity, alone in the woods. Thus was the fate of Tsubaki.

Months passed Inuyasha proved true to his word. He would rarely venture into the village itself, nor converse with the people. Yet Kikyo found that the number of demons she had to defeat had decreased a great deal. Thus she found herself with more leisure. She spent much of it either training or playing with the children of the village. Summer turned into fall. Inuyasha would often be seen out of the corner of her eye, watching, but not involving himself. He slept in the forest among the trees.

As he was doing right now. At the moment Kikyo was amusing a group of children with various petty games, which amused her. 'So what would you like to play next, children?'

As they debated, Kikyo glanced up to where Inuyasha stood on a tree. 'Inuyasha, why don't you come down and join us?'

'You gotta be kidding,' said Inuyasha, before turning away.

'Let's play ball.' said a girl.

'No, let's pick flowers.'

Thus Kikyo was led away.

For his part, Inuyasha was afraid to do more than watch. For as he had been watching, he'd felt his own battle lust returning in a new form. It told him to slay, to destroy, to maim and kill. The horror of Tsubaki's fate had not passed him by. He realized that had she not stopped him from reaching the jewel he might be in her place or worse. Yet a shadow and a threat was growing in his mind, and he did not know why. At night he didn't sleep well. He saw things he wanted to forget. And in the waking world, he was every so often seized by the desire, the impulse to destroy and kill.

It was an impulse, one he resisted. Yet it would not go away, and it was growing stronger. He didn't want to talk about it, yet he was afraid he might do something.

He woke up in the tree above Kikyo's house at night. He did not know when he had gotten there, or even if he had been asleep. All he knew was that one moment he was somewhere else, and in the next, he was here.

The impulses came back, telling him that he should set fire to the house. Kikyo would be so confused by the fire. When she was getting her sister Kaede out that it would be a simple matter to ambush and slay her. Clean and straightforward, Inuyasha liked it. A terrible smile came to his face, as his eyes began to glow red.

Then he shook his head. What was he thinking?! He didn't want to kill Kikyo, he cared about her a great deal. More than he'd ever cared about anyway, even Jakotsu.

Perhaps she sensed his restlessness, for she departed the house and looked up to him. 'So you can't sleep either then, Inuyasha?' she asked.

'No,' said Inuyasha, 'sleeping is more tiring than staying awake. I see faces in my sleep, Kikyo. People. People I've killed. People I've killed for. They wait for me on the other side of a river of blood, and they're waiting for me.'

'My hands are stained with blood as well.' reflected Kikyo. 'I sometimes wonder if demons are as different from humans as both races like to think. We both have our share of monsters.' Inuyasha flinched. Did she think of him as a monster?

'I don't mean you!' she said. 'A monster wouldn't have protected Kaede the way you did. A monster would have killed me in my sleep to get the jewel. I… Inuyasha I can't change what happened to you in the past, the things you did. You can't pretend as though they never happened.

But that doesn't mean that you can't move forward, and become a better person than you ever were before. Tsubaki was my friend once. I don't expect you to forget yours any more than I will forget her.

I… I'm rambling aren't I?'

'Yeah,' admitted Inuyasha, 'it's a good thing for you that I like the sound of your voice,'

They both burst out laughing, though Kikyo's laughter was more composed. After a time they stopped. Kikyo looked up to Inuyasha, gaze filled with something he did not quite understand. 'Good night Inuyasha.'

'Good night.'

That night Inuyasha slept soundly for the first time in weeks.

Authors Note:

Well, this concludes the Tsubaki arc, overall. I'm actually quite proud of how this chapter turned out. I feel it captured the differences in the setting quite well. The decision to kill off Tsubaki was one I made reluctantly. I wanted to have a conclusion to her character beyond 'I'll get you next time, Kikyo.' I also liked the idea of her weaponizing the beads of subjugation. As well as using them to manipulate Inuyasha.

Not much more to say, other than enjoy, and please review.