Chapter Twenty-Nine
Swiping a furious hand across her lips, Kagome scrambled back from Naraku in revulsion. The hanyou laughed, assuming the form of Hitomi Kagewaki once more.
"Does Sesshoumaru's kiss so revile you now, Kagome?"
The miko glared. "It's you who disgusts me, Naraku. You can put on whatever face you want, but I see what you are underneath."
The corner of his mouth lifted in scorn. "And what is that?" he asked.
"A dark, ugly twisted recluse," Kagome answered back. "A spider too repulsed by itself to come out and show its real face."
Naraku's crimson eyes narrowed as he stepped toward her. "You are one to speak of disguises, miko. You, who betrayed your sacred duty—who selfishly called upon the power of the Jewel when your demon lover turned against you."
"You're wrong."
Naraku paused as Kagome rose slowly, yet determinedly, to her feet, meeting his gaze in calm conviction.
"I was ready to die—I even wanted to," she said, her eyes glimmering as she remembered the immensity of her pain and the fragment that had staunched it, emerging rosy and radiant from her chest. "It was the Jewel that saved me. The pure spirit of the Jewel—Midoriko's spirit."
"Midoriko's spirit," Naraku scoffed, raising the shadowed Shikon no Tama between them. "Don't delude yourself. Can you not see how thoroughly the Jewel has been defiled?" A cold smile formed on his lips. "My servant Magatsuhi has done his work well."
"Your 'servant,' huh?" Kagome shook her head. "Naraku, the one who's deluded here is you. You're wrong about Magatsuhi, and you're wrong about the Jewel." Steadily, her eyes met his. "You've been wrong about a lot of things."
A shadow passed across the hanyou's features as he stared hard at her in return. Sure, she was challenging him, provoking him even—but Kagome wasn't bluffing. Even now she could see it—a point of light buried deep within the dark depths of the Shikon no Tama, a kernel of brilliant purity that refused to be extinguished.
So long as the Jewel remained in existence, the battle between good and evil would continue within it. Neither the dark nor the light would ever triumph completely. For Naraku not to see this himself was curiously blind.
"We shall see how wrong I am when I possess the Jewel in full," he said to her, his voice soft with promise as he held the near-completed gem aloft before him. A rapt, almost manic expression entered his eyes. "How beautiful it is…I wonder how much more beautiful it will appear, from the inside."
Kagome's brow creased in confusion. "…What?"
Sharply, Naraku glanced at her, as if in surprise. He'd been speaking like a man possessed, icy dread seeping through her as she took a hesitant step toward him.
"Naraku," she ventured cautiously, "what is it you truly wished for?"
His cool expression faltered at the question, a look of wariness stealing over him. His pale fingers closed around the Jewel in his hand.
"What I wished for…" he murmured, frowning down at the orb in concentration—and deepening unease.
Stepping closer, Kagome frowned as well. Reaching out, she placed her hand lightly to the center of his chest, his red eyes snapping to hers.
Her gaze softened in pity. "You don't remember, do you?"
Naraku's eyes widened in shock. Beneath her palm, she could feel the stuttered beating of the human heart within him.
And within her, a familiar warmth bloomed and spread—spilling out of her from the font of her soul, filling her like the first breath of air after breaking the water's surface.
Sesshoumaru… she realized with a pang.
Love blossomed through her, shimmering brilliantly in the gleaming surface of her eyes. As her tears fell and her hand began to glow, Naraku's gaze remained riveted upon hers, the lightened Jewel slipping heedless through his fingers. Beneath her purifying touch, the crimson bled from his eyes, a dreamlike wonder transcending him as he looked upon her still.
"This," he breathed out in awe, the tips of his fingers brushing across her dampened cheek. "This is what I wished for…"
As his eyes closed in an expression of peace, Kagome's closed as well, her features crumpling as she brought her other hand to his chest, setting the spirit of Onigumo free in a blaze of rose-colored light.
As the last of Naraku drifted off glittering into the ether, Kagome sank to her knees.
It's over, she thought, closing her eyes with a sigh that welled up from the very bottom of her soul.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw the Shikon no Tama lying before her. Dark amethyst in color, it brightened to the faintest rose as she curled her fingers around it, studying the tiny chink marring its otherwise flawless surface.
A bittersweet smile pulled at her lips, her heart twinging as she thought of Sesshoumaru. Only one piece left to find.
Pushing to her feet with a wince, she walked over to the disintegrating edge of the roof beneath her. With Naraku's death, the phantom castle was slowly coming apart at the seams. Kagome's eyes widened in alarm as the beasts of the Void drifted in unchecked through the now-fallen barrier.
In the courtyard below, her friends were still locked in ferocious battle with two of these monsters. Stranded and weaponless atop the tower, Kagome looked on in helpless panic as the purified Jewel in her hand began to pulse and glow.
"Midoriko-sama…?" she whispered, holding the blazing Jewel up to her heart.
Pink-tinged light poured from the gem in waves. Rapidly, the radiance spread out, enclosing the whole castle in an orb of rosy brilliance. The demons of the Void vaporized as they crashed against its shimmering exterior, the ones within dissolving in a purifying mist as a bright, vaguely feminine figure streaked past, cutting each demon down with a blinding flash.
"Kagome-chan!"
Tucking the Jewel into her haori, the young miko glanced down, smiling in relief at the sight of her friends sailing up toward her. Toppling from Kirara onto the fading roof, Sango tackled Kagome in a tired, tearful hug.
"Oh, Kagome-chan!" the taijiya cried. "You're safe…"
"...Sango-chan," Kagome greeted tremulously back, her own tears glimmering in the dark fabric of Sango's armor.
"And Naraku?" the taijiya asked after a moment, her voice lifting with hope as she drew slightly away. "Is he truly…?"
"Gone," Miroku answered with a serene smile, letting the rosary fall free from his sealed right palm as he swept Sango and Kagome both up in a surprisingly chaste embrace. "At last."
Laughing in weepy joy, Kagome embraced him and the rest of her comrades in turn—even Jakken, who only made a cursory attempt to prise her off, his ugly blush making her smile that much broader. Wiping at the corners of her eyes, Kagome lifted her gaze to the glimmering barrier above them—and to the swirls of spectral ash darkening the purple sky, as Naraku's stronghold continued to slowly dismantle beneath them.
"We need to get out of here," she said, turning back to the others. "This place is crumbling into the Void as we speak."
"Can you open the portal, Kagome-san?" Miroku asked.
Kagome shook her head. "No—only Kanna could, but Naraku killed her when she let you guys in."
Padding a short distance across the roof, Kagome frowned in thought as she knelt down before the shattered remains of Kanna's mirror. While the rest of the demoness's body had fallen to dust, these pieces had remained. Fitting the jagged edges back together again, Kagome could sense something—not youki, exactly, but a presence just the same.
As she continued to study the broken mirror, a thin thread of white light gleamed in the crack, fusing the shards back together. Stepping back in surprise, Kagome watched as the mirror rose shakily into the air, an image taking shape in its reflective surface.
"It's the village!" Sango exclaimed, pointing up toward the sky.
High above the center of the castle courtyard, a portal appeared, the familiar outline of Edo village visible through it. As Sango and Miroku leapt atop Kirara, Kagome scrambled up into Ah-Un's saddle. As she settled behind Jakken and Kohaku, she looked back once more, whispering a soft "Thank you" to the mirror behind them.
Soaring swiftly into the purple sky, Kagome and her friends slipped out of the Void through the center of the portal and returned home at last to the world of men.
With the tinny sound of breaking crystal, the portal closed behind them, Kagome and the others descending toward the village square. At once a cheering crowd swarmed around the returning heroes as cries of "Kagome-sama —Kagome-sama is back!" rang out through the fields and streets. Swept off Ah-Un's saddle, the weary miko found herself half-escorted, half-carried toward Kaede's hut—even her normally gruff and unflappable mentor dashing tears from her visible eye as she gathered her protégée up in a warm, motherly embrace.
"…Kagome child," the elderly priestess said thickly, running a soothing hand over the younger miko's unruly tresses.
Tightening her hold around Kaede's shoulders, Kagome couldn't help but let a few more tears fall herself. "Baa-chan…"
By now the rest of her friends had managed to wade through the crowd. With an ecstatic cry, Shippou leapt from Kirara's neck into Kagome's waiting arms, Rin relinquishing her hold on a blushing Kohaku and an utterly resigned Jakken to throw her arms around Kagome as well. Hugging her young friends back with a watery laugh, the miko smiled toward Miroku and Sango.
"It's good to be home," she said.
"Indeed it is," Miroku agreed with a sigh. Slipping his arm around the taijiya gazing up at him, his smooth voice pitched down another octave. "Now that Naraku is vanquished, I believe a proper honeymoon is in order."
"Honeymoon?" Kagome blinked between the beaming pair. "Wait —when did you two get married?"
Red dusted Sango's cheeks as she opened her mouth to answer—when a familiar shadow slanted over Kagome from above. Landing just before her with her bow, bag and quiver clenched faithfully in his flat teeth, the horse youkai neighed at her in muffled greeting.
"Entei-san!" the young miko cried, wrapping her arms around her long-lost companion's fiery-maned neck.
Of one mind, they turned together toward the setting sun. Quickly divesting Entei of her belongings, she slung her bow and arrows gingerly over her shoulder and mounted him at once.
"Kagome-chan!" Sango said to her in sudden concern. "Where are you going?—you're still wounded."
"Sesshoumaru," the miko replied with an anxious frown. "I have to find him."
"But, Kagome-chan—"
Already turning away in single-minded resolve, Kagome glanced down when she felt Kaede's gnarled fingers rest atop her own.
"Look, child."
Following the direction of the elder miko's stare, Kagome looked out past the edge of the village, where a pale, solemn figure stood alone atop a gently sloping hill. Flying over to him in a heartbeat, she slipped numbly down from Entei's back, her bare feet touching lightly to the new spring grass.
His features were drawn, his armor busted. His beautiful hair, beautiful face, beautiful form all stained and streaked with dark, ashy soot. Only his golden eyes were untarnished as he gazed at her in perfect stillness—as though not quite yet daring to believe that she was actually there.
In the same mesmerized way, Kagome gazed back.
"Sesshoumaru…" she murmured at last.
When he remained standing before her, her fingers twitched at her side.
"…Kagome," he rumbled out, "I—"
Sesshoumaru cut off with a grunt, his face slanting sharply to one side as Kagome's palm met his cheek in a righteous, echoing slap. Flushed and slightly panting, she lowered her red stinging hand.
Now that that's out of my system…
As Sesshoumaru sank to a crouch, Kagome's face abruptly fell. At the pained expression that lined his features, she followed him down in a flutter of concern.
"Sesshoumaru," she said urgently, digging her fingers into his sleeve. "What's wrong?"
His jaw clenched, his claws clutching near the base of his throat. Kagome's brow furrowed as she looked beyond his hand, to the fragment of the Shikon no Tama glowing brightly beneath it.
"Sesshoumaru…why do have that Jewel shard in your chest?"
"Magatsuhi," the daiyoukai answered tersely, tightening his grip. "I had to ensure…that he would not take possession of me."
The young miko's mind reeled. Magatsuhi had wanted to take over Sesshoumaru's body? But, why would placing the Jewel shard there have prevented that?
"What…" Kagome demanded shakily, struggling to keep the rising panic out of her voice as she steered him toward her by both of his sleeves. "…What are you saying?"
Heavily, Sesshoumaru met her gaze.
"When the shard is removed from my heart," he said, his lashes lowering in grim acceptance, "I will die."
Kagome stared at him, frozen.
"…No."
All the happiness, all the relief—all the sheer joy and elation Kagome had felt upon defeating Naraku and reclaiming the Jewel, upon returning home with her friends, upon reuniting with Sesshoumaru—all of it was being stripped away, torn out from underneath her until nothing remained but that dark place of pain she'd prayed she'd never return to ever again.
"No," she repeated fiercely, her eyes burning as she lurched to her feet with a glare. "You can't die—you won't! I won't let that happen."
Golden eyes followed her in resignation as she wrung her hands and began to pace. "Kagome…"
"Tenseiga," she said suddenly, fervently, whirling around as she scanned his side for a second blade. "Where's Tenseiga? We can find another dog demon—or—or someone. There's got to be someonewho can wield it and—"
"Tenseiga was destroyed," Sesshoumaru interrupted her flatly. "I destroyed it."
All the air went out of Kagome's lungs as she collapsed to a pitiful heap before him. "W-what? Why would you do that?"
"It was the only way to defeat Magatsuhi," he answered, his hard gaze softening as he studied her face. "…It was the only way to save you."
Tears shivered in Kagome's eyes, spilling over at last as she squeezed her lids shut in denial. How could the gods be so cruel? She had been willing to sacrifice her life for his, and now the only way to complete her sacred quest was to kill him? It wasn't right— it wasn't fair.
"There has to be some other way," she breathed out stubbornly. "There has to be a way to keep you alive."
"There is not."
Kagome's lashes glittered as they parted, her voice trembling in anger at his defeated expression. "Stop it, Sesshoumaru—you're acting like you want to die."
The daiyoukai said nothing to this. A deep frown weighed at the corners of Kagome's lips, her fists clenching at her sides.
"What I want," he responded at last, "is for you to be free of your burden."
"Well, if you think I'm going to let you martyr yourself on my account, you've got another thing coming," she bit out hoarsely. "That Jewel shard can just stay right where it is."
But Sesshoumaru's furled claws were already detaching from his chest. Youki gathered with a spark at his fingertips as he positioned them over his heart—the same way he'd held them before Inuyasha's eye on the day they'd first met, to draw out the black pearl sealed in his half-brother's pupil.
Sealed…
A wild, frantic hope seized hold of Kagome as she knocked Sesshoumaru's hand aside and shoved him to the ground. Her fingers twisted in the dense silk of his haori as she hovered above him, breathing rapidly through the adrenaline spiking in her veins.
"Do you trust me, Sesshoumaru?" she demanded, her eyes locking desperately with his as he gazed up at her in vague alarm.
After a tense moment, he nodded, Kagome practically ripping open the tattered front of his haori as she placed her sweaty hands to the center of his chest. Closing her eyes, she evened out her breathing, letting her mind clear as she focused her reiki to her fingertips.
This was crazy—absolutely, one-hundred-percent certifiable. But trying to remember the last time she hadn't done something completely insane had Kagome coming up surprisingly short.
"Relax your defenses, Sesshoumaru," she whispered, her features creasing in concentration, "and let me in."
Slowly, she felt him rein in the massive tide of his youki, the dark electric clouds surrounding the buried Shikon fragment dissipating in her mind's eye. Sesshoumaru groaned as the first tendril of her reiki slipped beneath his skin. Brushed by her raw power, the shard glowed brighter still, pulsing in time with the muscle around it—the muscle whose smooth walls would cave in upon themselves the instant the shard was removed.
An instant—that was the all the time she had. All the time she would need—if she had the strength and the will to make it so.
She thought of her younger self—of Kikyou, of Midoriko. She thought of the great power they all had once invoked, and what had driven them to do so.
Fear was a powerful emotion. So was hate. Even more so was hope, however desperate.
But love was stronger still—and it was love Kagome called upon, love she used, to seal up the hole in Sesshoumaru's heart—
Forever.
Displaced in that same moment, the ejected Jewel shard pierced up through his chest in a splinter of rosy light. Watching his still form with bated breath, Kagome plucked it out, her whole body shivering with anticipation.
After a small, terrified eternity of waiting, his golden eyes cracked open at last.
"Hn."
Utterly spent, Kagome toppled over onto her side, staring at him in flat, frustrated disbelief. "At such a dramatic moment, is that really all you have to say?"
Turning over to face her, Sesshoumaru winced as he touched the pads of his fingers to his chest. Kagome frowned, sensing the clash of his unfettered demonic aura against the reiki she'd embedded within him.
"Sorry," she said, her lashes dipping in sympathy. "It'll always be painful."
Resting his head against his arm, Sesshoumaru gazed back at her in turn. "It is nothing." After a moment, his eyes slid to the Shikon shard in her hand. "Will you complete the Jewel now?"
"Oh," Kagome said, reaching into the neck of her haori. "Right…"
Letting the near-intact Jewel roll into the grass between them, Kagome pressed the final, missing piece to the chip in its surface. With a ripple and a shimmer, the Shikon no Tama sealed itself shut—whole and purified at last.
As her eyelids drooped, Kagome released a soft, contented sigh.
"It's a lovely sight, isn't it?" she murmured with a smile.
Looking at her, Sesshoumaru's lips rose faintly in turn.
"Beyond words."
Two Months Later
"Jakken-sama, please—tell us another!"
"Please, please!"
"Oh, all right, all right!" the imp huffed in feigned irritation. "I suppose."
A small cheer went up among the gathered children as they circled closer to him in the grass. Perched upon the stump of a felled tree, Jakken straightened theatrically.
"It is said," he began with a dramatic pause, "that none could melt the icy heart of the demon Lord of the Western Lands."
As the young girls clapped in delight, a shared groan rose up among the boys.
"Why does it have to be a love story…" one grumbled, bracing the side of his face in his hand.
"Silence, ningens!" the imp snapped, jumping angrily up and down. "This is no mere 'love story'!"
As the chastised boys settled down glumly, Jakken resumed with a mutter.
"As I was saying …the Lord of the Western Lands possessed a heart so cold and cruel that not even the devotion of his most loyal subjects could reach him! A demon without equal, he ruled over his lands with an iron fist—ever seeking to increase his own vast power. It came to pass that he inherited a magical blade from his departed father, yet it was not the sword of legend which he had sought. Learning his half-human brother was to inherit the sword instead, he set out to claim it for himself."
"This guy sounds like a spoiled brat," a girl with pigtails quipped, crossing her arms over her chest.
Jakken shot her a glare. "No more interruptions!" With a broad sweep of his staff, the imp continued, "And so, the demon lord traveled to the land of the dead, where the legendary sword resided—yet neither he nor his half-brother were able to retrieve it, for the blade had been ensorceled! Now, a mortal priestess, who had fallen in love with the lord's half-brother, had accompanied them to the netherworld, and it was this priestess who broke the enchantment at last and gave the fabled sword to her lover instead."
"…Could that be Kagome-chan?" Rin whispered aside to Shippou, who rubbed his chin in thought.
Sitting cross-legged now upon his stage, Jakken leaned toward his attentive crowd. "Time and again, the Lord of the Western Lands attempted to wrest the sword from his half-demon brother and the priestess who aided him—yet each time he was thwarted most shamefully! Suspecting that the woman was the true secret to his brother's strength, the demon lord came to covet her more fiercely than the sword itself, until the ferocity of his lust drove her away into hiding, and his brother was slain by their common foe."
By now the children were leaning forward as well, their expressions rapt and grim.
"When the priestess learned of her lover's death, she returned to the Western Lands with the legendary blade, offering it to the demon lord if he agreed to help her exact her revenge. But the furious lord was not content with this arrangement, and he demanded she give her body to him as well."
"Er, Jakken-sama…" Kohaku mumbled, shifting uncomfortably.
"At any rate," the imp blustered on with a flush, "the priestess agreed to become his lover (for secretly, she had come to desire the strong, dashing lord herself!). Through countless battles they triumphed together, and heedless of the sage advice of his vassal, the Lord of the Western Lands found his affections for her perilously deepening."
"Wonder who this 'sage vassal' could be…" the fox kit remarked dryly.
But Jakken was too immersed in the telling of the story to take offense. "Just when victory seemed at last within reach, the lord's violent demonic nature overwhelmed him at the threat the priestess now presented to his heart. In a fit of savage rage, he struck down the very woman whom he had come to care for so deeply. Devastated, he wandered the earth alone, haunted by his crimes against her—until at last he tracked down their loathsome enemy and sacrificed both his swords and his very life to grant peace to the spirit of the woman he had loved."
A light breeze rustled through the trees as the children paused for a moment to absorb this tale and its ending.
"What a terrible story!" one of the young girls tearfully exclaimed. "Everyone dies!"
"It's called a 'tragedy,' you ignorant human!" the imp shot back, sniffling as he brandished his nintoujou. "It's an art form!"
Unable to endure this foolishness any longer, Sesshoumaru rose and stepped out from the trees. "Jakken."
The imp froze in shock, turning slowly to face his master. "Mi-milord…"
"Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin said with a wry grin, "Jakken-sama is making up stories again."
"So I see," the daiyoukai replied, advancing.
At the mere fall of his shadow, the petrified imp toppled over, landing on the ground in a stiff ugly sprawl. Treading purposefully over him, Sesshoumaru continued on his way.
Across the village, Kagome stood in the shade of a tree, leaning her side against Entei as she watched him approach. At the slight smile that touched her lips, he felt the constant ache in his heart re-double.
"He's been at it again, huh?" she said as he drew to a stop before her, her bright blue eyes slanting toward the trampled imp and the children who prodded at him uncertainly. "Just how tall was his tale this time?"
"Jakken has an unfortunate flair for embellishment," the daiyoukai agreed as he met her gaze. "But the spirit of this story rang true."
"Well," she said, a faint blush rising to her fair cheeks, "imagine that."
As she tucked a lock of dark hair behind her ear, Sesshoumaru's eyes slid to the bow and quiver slanted across her back. But it was the sight of the fit-to-bursting yellow pack at her feet that gave him pause.
"You are leaving the village?" he asked.
Kagome nodded, smiling again. "Shippou-kun claims there's a secret kitsune academy hidden somewhere in the Northern Lands, and since Baa-chan's finally given me a clean bill of health, I thought I'd go with him to find it." A soft, happy sigh escaped her as she lifted her eyes to the clear sky above. "It's about time, I think, for a new adventure."
As if on cue, the young fox demon came bounding toward them, scrambling to pick up the spinning tops and screaming mushrooms that overflowed his small red satchel.
"Ready to go, Kagome-chan?" he asked excitedly.
"Yep!" she said, beaming back. "There's just one last thing before we leave…"
Reaching up toward her throat, she curled her fingers around the gleaming pendant she wore, snapping it from its silver chain like fruit from the stem. In the palm of her hand, the Jewel of Four Souls swirled with rosy light.
The corner of Kagome's lips lifted wryly. "So much trouble for such a little thing…"
As she gazed upon it, her expression briefly fell, the Jewel darkening slightly before it blazed with purity once more—and then, inexplicably, vanished.
"Well," Kagome said, brightening as she dusted off her hands. "That's that!"
Sesshoumaru frowned. "What happened?"
"I wished it away, of course."
"No," he said, "why did you hesitate?"
"Oh, w-well…no real reason," she stammered evasively.
Turning slightly away, she shouldered her pack. When she turned back to face him, her attitude was strangely formal.
"I wanted to thank you," she said softly, "for keeping your word."
Sesshoumaru stared at her at a loss. He wanted to tell her that there was no word to her he would not keep—nothing she could ask of him that he would not give her. He wanted to tell her that he would go with her, that he would follow her to the ends of the earth if only she asked him to. But she was not asking, and to say any of this stemmed only from his own selfish wish to remain with her.
So, silently, he nodded.
"Then I guess this is goodbye," she said, her smile slipping as she turned back toward her waiting companions.
The sight of her walking away—the reality of what it meant—arrested him. Before he could stop himself, he reached out, touching his claws to her back.
"Kagome."
Tensely, she paused.
"Please," he said, bowing his head as his wretched claws fell to his side once more. "Forgive me."
He raised his eyes to hers as she looked back. He could see the depth of pain reflected in her expression, could see what her answer would be even before her lips formed the words to speak it.
"I forgive you, Sesshoumaru."
Hopelessly, he watched as she resumed her course, climbing up behind Shippou atop Entei. Long after she had vanished from his sight, his yearning gaze followed her still.
Despite how deeply he had wronged her, she had forgiven him. Despite how undeserving he was, he could see that she loved him still.
But nothing could make her forget what he had done to her. Though she had lived, the scars she bore would forever divide them in this world.
Nothing, Sesshoumaru knew, could change that.
