Disclaimer - I don't own them. But I can wish.
Author's notes - Back with another chapter of the final battle scene. Hope you all enjoy it. Not many author's notes this time around . . . other than THIS IS NOT THE END! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I have a bit more in store for the group : )
Chapter 26 - Blinding Light
Kagome felt InuYasha's mounting rage and his conviction, and tried not to let it disrupt her concentration. Naraku was so tuned in to the battle, he had no idea as to exactly what it was she was doing. Everything was going according to plan . . . except for the fact that Naraku didn't seem to be willing to tap into the jewel.
"Come on . . ." she murmured softly, her eyes closed to the battle before her. She could feel Naraku's focus narrowing in on her mate . . . and prayed that his life would not end before she could make her move. She knew Sango and Miroku had gone down . . . she had felt the surge of triumph as Naraku had felt it. It took all she had not to lose her concentration when Sesshoumaru went down as well, leaving only InuYasha to push Naraku into making his final mistake. 'Please . . .' she prayed silently, 'Please . . . help me! Midoriko, guardian spirit of the jewel, Kikyo . . . help me do this!' Surprisingly, she felt a brief flash of warmth from the jewel. Had it heard her prayer? Was the soul of Midoriko still within it after all? Shaking her head, she banished these stray thoughts from her consciousness. They would not help her do this . . . they could only allow her failure . . . and she could not fail. She would not allow it.
Blinding flashes of light came from each connection of blade on blade as the two hanyou's battled back and forth across the now open throne room floor. Seeing an opening, InuYasha pressed his attack, swinging the Tetsusiaga up and over Naraku's guard, bringing it down on his shoulder with every ounce of strength he possessed. The arm separated in a spray of black blood, and InuYasha smiled ferally as a grimace of pain and annoyance crossed his opponents features.
"You will pay for spilling my blood, dog . . ." Naraku hissed. InuYasha's smile of pleasure turned to a grimace as the arm he had just severed arose on a wave of darkness and reattached itself to the tainted hanyou.
"Damn you to hell . . ." the silver haired hanyou growled, "don't you know when to quit?!" He pressed into the battle again, trying to find some leverage against the fiend who had cost him so much in his life.
"You cannot kill me, InuYasha . . . the one thing that gave you an advantage over me is on my side now . . . your precious mate will never know that I played her as I played Kikyo so long ago." He smiled nastily over his blade as he blocked attack after attack, but made no move to reclaim the offensive. "No one could ever love you as you are . . . Kagome fell into my trap as easily as Kikyo did. I promised her that I would become human for her . . . what have you ever promised her, dog? What kind of love could she have with you as you are . . . you are immortal, and she is not. But I will change that . . . once you are dead, she will belong to me . . . mind, body, and soul!" InuYasha merely growled and increased the tempo of the battle, swinging faster and harder then he had ever battled in his existence.
"I . . . will not . . . listen . . . to you!" he snarled, baring his fangs angrily at his inability to get past Naraku's guard again.
"No . . . you are too stupid to realize the truth when you hear it . . ." Naraku growled in reply. At last, he went on the offensive, forcing InuYasha back on his heels in an effort to keep the dark sword from getting anywhere near him. Step for step they battled, neither getting the upper hand in a fight that would inevitably end in one of them lying dead on the floor.
Suddenly, InuYasha tripped, realizing too late that Naraku had been maneuvering him around the floor the whole time, keeping him distracted with his taunts. The hanyou found himself suddenly sprawled on his back, Sango lying under his legs, Tetsusiaga having flown from his hand, staring up into death. He froze as the point of Naraku's sword hovered unerringly over his heart, staring up with utter hatred into the tainted fiend's crimson eyes.
"And now it ends, you annoyance . . ." Naraku hissed, raising his sword to strike. A blur of motion swept behind him, spinning the dark hanyou around as Kouga entered the fray.
"GET TETSUSIAGA!" he snarled to InuYasha as he dodged an infuriated Naraku, barely keeping out of range of the sword as he played a deadly game of tag. InuYasha sprang to his feet, looking around wildly for his father's fang as Kouga kept Naraku busy. Finally, he spied it a short distance away, and dove for it, just as an ear splitting howl echoed through the room. Sword in hand, InuYasha spun around . . . and stared in horror.
Naraku was summoning the remaining jewel shards out of Kouga . . . slowly and painfully, from the looks of it. InuYasha charged, but it was too late. His shards removed, Kouga could not get out of the way of the descending blade . . .and died impaled upon it's deadly point. He sent one last look at InuYasha . . . before the light died in his eyes and he fell back, limp.
Naraku laughed, a harsh cackling that caused the hairs on the back of InuYasha's neck to stand up, and his ears to flatten to his skull. He turned to InuYasha slowly, the now corrupted jewel shards cupped in his hand before he pressed them to his heart.
"I have the entire jewel now, hanyou," he whispered hauntingly, as the shards absorbed into his body. "You will never defeat me!"
"I'm going to give it a damn good try though," InuYasha replied. He went on guard, searching for the wound in the wind . . . if he could just get it off once, it might give him time to retrieve the jewel. InuYasha had long forgotten about whatever it was his mate was doing . . . rage had made him careless, as Naraku had wanted all along. He watched as Naraku drew himself up . . . and then the fiend simply disappeared.
InuYasha looked around wildly . . . and then howled as pain flared through his back, Naraku's sword twisting as he pulled it back out of the body before him. He turned, dodging the second attack, and continued to dodge and block defensively. His timing was off though . . . Naraku was landing more hits every moment that this battle lasted. It had to end, and soon . . . and it looked like he would fail after all. 'I'm sorry Kagome . . .' he thought, a pang of regret shooting through him. At least he hadn't left her without telling her how he felt.
Suddenly, the air changed. Naraku drew back, a hand reaching out to the hanyou that stood wearily before him, a sick grin twisting his handsome features.
"Why not . . ." he whispered darkly, "Why not use your precious jewel to finish you off?" InuYasha squirmed as an invisible hand reached out and wrapped around him. It felt as if he was being squeezed together and torn apart at the same time. The agony was blinding, pain wracking his limbs and mind as Naraku at last tapped into the dark energy of the Shikon no Tama to finish off his final and most annoying opponent.
Kagome's eyes shot open as she felt Naraku tap into the jewel. It was followed by a wave of anguish from InuYasha, one that nearly made her fall backwards, her stomach dry heaving at the sheer agony that radiated through their link. She stubbornly pushed through it, praying it would not distract her in this final moment, the last chance they had. Tears glimmered in her eyes from the fall of her friends and ally's . . . they would remain dead if she didn't succeed in this. Using that thought as a shield, she managed to block out the undiluted pain that was coming from her mate. Rising to her feet, she centered herself . . . and pushed all her purifying energy through the link she had with the jewel.
It began as a burning, a light appearing in Naraku's chest as the jewel began to burn him from the inside out.
"WHAT!?" he snarled, staggering back, dropping his hold on the limp form of InuYasha as his chest erupted in pain. "What is happening to me?!" he howled. Then it dawned on him. He spun to face Kagome, staring wild eyed at the intense look of hatred on her face. "But . . . you said that . . ." he whispered hoarsely, clutching at his chest as he fought to regain control of the jewel within him.
"You are not the only one who can lie and manipulate people, Naraku . . ." Kagome said . . . but it was not Kagome's voice. Not entirely. It was hers . . . and Kikyo's - but there was another voice in there that Naraku could not identify.
"Who . . . who are you?" he whispered hoarsely, struggling to stay on his feet as he felt the jewel heat up further. He staggered into the throne, using it to maintain his feet as he stared at this woman he both knew and did not know. The burning was spreading now, flowing through his body like light stabbing through darkness.
"We are Kagome . . . we are Kikyo . . . we are Midoriko, who gave her life that the world be safe from the evil you are attempting to become . . ." Kagome said, her hands lifting further, shining with an eery white light that flickered and shone as she moved towards him. Naraku shook his head in disbelief.
"No . . . it's impossible . . ." he snarled. Looking down, he saw the same white light beginning to bleed through his hand. "What are you DOING to me!?"
"Purifying you . . . as I have purified the jewel," the Kagome / not Kagome replied. "You tried to taint the jewel with your darkness . . . as you tried to taint it's guardian. But this time you failed . . . for this girl holds both the power of truth and love, and the strength to hold on to it, even in the face of pain and despair." The young miko stopped in front of him, staring down at him pityingly as he collapsed back into the throne. "You will die now, Onigumo . . . you and the thing you have become. Hope only that the god's will forgive you your sins . . . for they are many."
InuYasha had managed to pull himself painfully to his knees, every muscle and joint in his body screaming in protest as he watched the scene unfolding before him. White light was beginning to appear everywhere on the tainted hanyou . . . spreading out from his chest like a disease of purity that would swallow him whole soon. His arms and legs shone with it, small patches of light appearing through the darkness of his body like some sort of abnormal rash that was spreading too quickly to be counteracted. Even as he watched, Naraku was trying to pull his miasma into him, the darkness trying to surround him in a healing cocoon . . . and as surely as it was trying to surround him, it was steadily being burned away by the light that was radiating from him.
His eyes traveled to his mate, standing over the tainted hanyou, an expression of pity, concentration, and pure hatred marring her features. The light emitting from her was becoming blinding to look at.
"No . . . please . . ." Naraku whimpered, feeling the burning spread through out his body as Kagome stood silently watching him. "Kagome . . . I did not lie . . . I have desired you for so very long . . ." He looked up in shock when it was simply Kagome's voice that answered him.
"You may have desired me . . . as you desired Kikyo. And I forgive you for that. But I cannot forgive you for the pain you have caused so many who are dear to me. Miroku, Sango . . . InuYasha. He offers me something you could never give, Naraku. He offers me his heart . . . something you ceased to have a long time ago, before you ever became what you are now. Go now into whatever awaits you." Her voice abruptly changed back into the three in one that it had been before. "For your sins, you will face judgement. For your darkness, you will face the harsh light of truth."
InuYasha covered his eyes as the blinding white light suddenly erupted from Naraku's form. He flattened his ears, protecting them from the shriek of agony that rushed from the tainted hanyou's throat as he was purified from within by the object of his own greed and obsession. He remained like that until gentle hands pulled his hands from his sensitive eyes.
"Kagome . . ." he whispered, staring into the clouded blue eyes of his beloved . . . his mate . . . in both wonder and fear that it was not completely Kagome still.
"InuYasha . . ." Kagome whispered, her voice her own once more . . . before she collapsed into his waiting arms. He breathed a sigh of relief, pulling her against him tightly as he buried his face in her hair. It was over.
TO BE CONTINUED *giggles insanely*