Chapter Thirty-Six:

Recap:

"Lesser people you say? Even the mightiest will fall from overconfidence, corrupted hanyou." Kagome stated, as her eyes glittered with mirth. Oh, how ironic this will be. Kagome thought, inwardly laughing maniacally. She dropped into a position good for both offence and defence and smirked.

"Let's begin."

End Recap

Kagome ran forwards, gracefully dodging all of the tentacles and miasma he sent her way, focused on a single goal. Eliminating the threat known as Naraku.

"Come on my little miko, I thought you were going to 'condemn me' for my so-called sins. What happened to all that fire you had before? I would enjoy breaking you more if you would refuse to give up until the end." Gaara snarled and all the people near him shuddered and quickly moved a safe distance away, choosing to not stay near an aggravated jinchuuriki.

Kagome threw him a light smile, causing his face to unintentionally flush as he watched her battle the evil demon. Temari snickered and was the unfortunate receiver of Gaara's anger. Once Gaara had calmed down, he furrowed his brows when he felt the paint presence of Kagome's chakra, only instead of in front of him, he sensed it behind him. Whirling around, he saw Kagome crouched on the floor, out of Naraku's line of sight. She pulled Gaara down too muttered into his ear her plan.

"Now listen carefully, the Kagome that is fighting Naraku right now is only a shadow clone, I needed a distraction so that Naraku wouldn't notice me, and so that I would have enough time to come up with the plan."

"And the plan is?" Gaara's eyes widened when he heard what she planned to do, but he understood why she had to do it. It may have been dangerous, but all of this had to end. Naraku had to disappear, and Kagome had to be the one to make him disappear. His face was grim, but determined. He nodded his head in confirmation and proceeded to straighten and attack the laughing Naraku from behind, where he was now vulnerable due to dropping his guard as he attacked Kagome.

Naraku hissed at him, obviously ruffled and annoyed that he had dropped his guard so readily. Gaara saw tentacles heading his way, but his sand immediately came up to protect him. Kagome, meanwhile, started to purify any limbs that were within her striking distance, making sure that they turned to ashes and were blown away in the wind so he could not regenerate them.

The other ninjas could only watch dumbfounded as Gaara and Kagome worked in obvious synchronization. They twirled, spun, jumped and attacked in a pattern that confused Naraku, managing to injure him again and again. Finally, he growled and let his demonic energy surge outwards towards them, rendering them immobile for a few scant seconds before they recovered, but that was all the time he needed.

Laughing maniacally (once again), he carefully threw a small highly poisonous bug-youkai at Kagome and she was bitten. Kagome ripped the bug off her and purified it while crushing it into dust in her hands. Her vision grew a bit fuzzy and she shook her head to clear it, but that was evidently the wrong thing to do as Naraku took this chance to pierce her with his razor-sharp spikes.

The world slowed down for Gaara and he watched wide-eyes as Kagome coughed up warm, wet blood. Naraku laughed.

"You should never have let your guard down, my dear miko." He said in a patronizing tone, as if he was speaking to a five-year old. Kagome growled at him, but in reality she was doing all she could in order to stay upright. The poison was circulating her bloodstream fast, and the very deep wounds that practically pierced through her body weren't helping matter either. But it was then that she smirked.

"Tell me Naraku, what would you do if I told you that you were about to die?" she asked him, her eyes gleaming. Naraku laughed again, but it lacked his usual bravado.

"I'd say that you were dreaming. You will never be able to beat me. You aren't even as strong as your predecessor, and even Kikyo bowed down to me in the end. Accept your fate and just die, miko." Kagome's temper snapped the moment he said the word 'fate'. It reminded her too much of Neji, whom he had just killed.

"SHUT UP YOU ASSHOLE!" She screamed at him, startling him and letting her land a blow with her katanas onto his unprotected chest. He hissed at her in pain, letting his arm convulse into a gooey bubbling substance that splashed across her clothes, but luckily none of it managed to get onto her skin before she jumped away.

"What the hell is that stuff?!" Kiba snarled, holding his sleeve over his nose so that it would not be invaded with the horrid decay and burning smell of the substance. Kagome let the corner of her mouth lift up in distaste, her own nose wrinkling.

"It is a highly corrosive acid that, once in contact with skin, will corrode everything, including the bone." Kagome answered, looking quite calm for a person who just said that her arm or legs could potentially be melted off. She looked calmly up at Naraku, who was floating about a feet off the ground with a murderous smile plastered onto his smug face.

"Aw, did I hurt da widdle baby?" Naraku said in a babyish voice. Kagome looked at him with blank eyes.

"Onigumo…" Naraku froze at the name, but Kagome pressed on. "Onigumo is still in there isn't he? His conscience I mean."

Naraku struggled to keep the malicious smile on his face.

"He regrets, does he not? He only ever loved Kikyo, not all of this power." Naraku's smile slipped off his face and was replaced by a stony expression. "He lives on in your mind, trying to stop you from killing all those innocent people. He is still human."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Naraku's voice was harsh, and no matter how much he said that sentence, Kagome knew he was lying.

"Stop with all the lies. Onigumo is human, and he did not ever want to kill. He only wanted Kikyo's love. He loved her with all his heart, and he was willing to go to any lengths to capture her. I mean, he even absorbed all those demons into himself in order to be able to move again, just so that he could embrace her." Kagome laughed. "I cannot believe that his love was so strong that he was blind to her love for Inuyasha."

Naraku's crimson eyes turned bloodthirsty. "Shut up." He hissed at her, trying to stop her from speaking anymore by attacking her with all of his tentacles. Kagome's barrier stopped them from even getting within a meter of her body.

"You are scared." Naraku stopped his attack simply out of shock at her words. Then he threw his head back and laughed uproariously, his eyes gleaming.

"I am scared? Of what, may I ask?" His face was smug.

"You are scared of death. Of Onigumo regaining control. Of ceasing to exist." Naraku was no longer laughing, but stared at her with wide eyes. Then his face turned blank.

"Now what? Now that you think you know my fears, what are you going to do? Huh!?!??!?! What do you know about me?! Nothing!" Naraku screamed at her, turning hysterical as he attacked her with waves of dark energy and razor-sharp tentacles. Kagome shook her head sadly at him.

"You know what Naraku? I don't hate you, I pity you. You have let your insecurities and hatred take over and taint your soul. You have let your fears become a reality."

"What would you know??!?!?!?" Naraku yelled at her. "You're just a copy! You hold no worth in this world or any other. You will always be known as the worthless reincarnation. Who are you to tell me what I should or have done?!" Kagome levelled him with a clear gaze.

"I am not a copy."

"Really?! Tell that to your more powerful incarnation, Kikyo. The only worthwhile miko ever, not you." Naraku said, laughing. Kagome did not let any hurt show on her face, shocking him inwardly.

"I am not Kikyo's copy, and I'm going to do the thing she wouldn't ever do to destroy you." Kagome said quietly.

Naraku laughed, obviously in disbelief. "Really? And what would that be, my dear little copy?"

Kagome stepped towards him and he stepped back with every step she took. He wouldn't ever admit it, but he was frightened by the look of complete peace she had. She shouldn't have worn that look, especially since she was facing him, of all people. She should not have had that look of pity; it should have been one of hatred.

"W-what a-are you d-doing?" he asked, cursing himself for stuttering. She ignored his weak protests and stepped closer and closer until she was directly in front of him.

Then she did something that would shock him and everyone for the rest of their lives.

She hugged him.