A/N: Just a quick note. I failed to mention how large this house is. It's a pretty big lake house. Almost mansion-like. Just a clarification so you guys don't think this house is some puny thing that somehow miraculously gained several floors. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
Darkshadow At Midnight
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha!
What Holidays Bring
Chapter 53: Fish and Lure
Kita couldn't hear anything. When she woke up, she found Bankotsu beside her, shaking her lightly. Upon seeing her eyes open, he pulled her upright by the arm that wasn't dislocated,
"Jeez, it's about time you woke up."
"What..." Kita looked around.
Her hair, and clothes were soaked. They'd been put in some part of the house that was flooded with at least two feet of water. She tried to get up, but winced, and then grabbed at her shoulder.
"You dislocated your arm." he said.
Kita held her arm gently. She clenched at her sleeve, and then looked at him,
"You have to set it back into place."
"That's going to hurt like hell, and if you scream, they're going to know we've woken up." he retorted. "It doesn't look like there's any other way out of here, and we need to get out without them knowing."
"If we leave and my arm is still like this, I'll only drag us behind." Kita sneered.
He looked at her for a moment before sighing, "Fine."
Bankotsu moved close to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her up close to him,
"Try and muffle your scream as much as you can."
Kita nodded. She squeezed her eyes shut, and buried her face into his chest. Bankotsu gave her no count as she was expecting, but she supposed it was better she didn't see it coming. When he snapped her shoulder back into place, pain shot through her body, and she growled out in pain. Kita clenched at his shirt, and panted. He placed his hand on her head,
"Shake it off, Kita."
Kita breathed deeply, and after awhile, the pain began to fade. She let out a heavy breath, and then leaned away,
"I'm fine."
"You sure?" he asked, examining her arm.
She nodded, "Yeah. Thanks."
"No problem. Now, we need to find a way out." he said, getting to his feet, and then helped her up.
Kita pushed her wet hair from her face, and looked around, "Now, to find a way out without being detected."
With Aina
When Aina went off down the hall, her goal was to find Kikyo, and get some answers. She couldn't find her any of the rooms. Had she fled? Just when Aina was beginning to think that was the case, she came to a room that was up on the third floor of the house. All the other rooms had been empty.
She heard the sound of running feet, and frowned. Aina walked toward it, and went to open it but something stopped her. Something dark appeared behind her, and she didn't so much as touch the doorknob. Aina turned around. She wasn't surprised to find the person that'd appeared behind her was none other than Naraku. Aina swallowed, and backed up against the door. She didn't say anything, because she honestly did not know what to say.
Naraku grinned at her. Aina intertwined her fingers in nervousness,
"I...I'm sorry I brought them here. I didn't know what else to do."
"It is fine."
Aina hadn't expected that. She blinked, and looked up at him,
"It is?"
"Why, of course. Although, things in turn will turn out a lot more bloody than I intended." he replied. "These unexpected things happen, though, don't they?"
"I-I guess." she stammered.
Naraku began to walk closer to her, and Aina pressed her back hard against the door. She didn't want him to be closer to her. Aina knew he only wished to use her to his liking, and she didn't want that. She no longer wanted to even be apart of them, but what could she do? Even if he doesn't love her, she still loved him. Naraku pushed her hair aside, and leaned down. Aina tensed when she felt him bite her, but as usual, as soon as the pain had come, it was gone and replaced with pleasure. Aina closed her eyes, savoring the adrenaline-like rush she felt going throughout her body. Naraku spoke into her ear,
"Listen to my instructions closely."
She nodded, her breathing uneven, "Y-yes."
With Kagome and Kikyo
"How much longer do you think you'll be able to keep this up!?" Kikyo spat, panting heavily.
Kagome panted as well, "As long as it takes."
She wanted that to be true, but a little while ago, something similar to an electric shock had gone through her. It didn't hurt, but it was more of that feeling you got when you're shocked because something happened suddenly. Kagome didn't know what that meant, but all she could think about was InuYasha. If he was here. If he was okay. It scared her, and she couldn't focus as much as she wanted on Kikyo. Too many times Kikyo almost hit her. She didn't know what level of strength Kikyo was planning to hit her with, but she had to assume it was going to leave her in a fatal situation. If her little zap had knocked InuYasha out, she didn't want to imagine what it'd do to her baby.
To Kagome's dismay, however, her pregnancy was winding her down a lot quicker than she thought it would for Kikyo. She'd begun to notice the room would start spinning at the most random moments. Kagome could honestly say she'd never felt true fear until now. Kikyo started to laugh,
"Heh. I bet you thought you could run until I got tired. Yes, I'm out of breath, but my miko powers provides as an extra set of energy for me. I won't be dropping to my knees anytime soon. However, you..."
"Kikyo," Kagome started with a pant, leaning against the nearest wall, "you have to stop this. You're not going to solve anything by killing me. Do you honestly think you'll be able to live a happy life with InuYasha? You're going to jail, or better for you, a mental institution."
Kikyo gritted her teeth in anger, "I will not let you have InuYasha!"
Kagome took in a breath, and ran long the wall away from her. However, as soon as she took a step, dizziness wasn't the only thing to suddenly hit her hard. Kagome felt sick to her stomach despite the fact she hadn't eaten in hours. She pleaded, her eyes burning lightly,
"No..please don't do this..."
Kikyo laughed, "I have you now!"
Kagome fell forward, her panting now haggard. She heard Kikyo's footsteps approaching her fast, and Kagome turned quickly,
"NO!"
Kagome extended both her arms out in front of her as to somehow protect herself from however Kikyo planned to attack her. The most unexpected thing happened, though. When Kagome threw her arms outward, a pink light lit the room suddenly, and the next thing she knew, Kikyo had been thrown backwards against the wall. Kikyo gasped in pain. She wrapped an arm around her stomach, and panted heavily. Kagome looked at her with wide eyes, and then at her hands. What was that? What had she done?
"You...bitch..." Kikyo hissed in pain, leaning forward and digging her nails into the wooden floor. "What did you do? How did you..."
"I...I didn't mean to!" Kagome exclaimed.
She sneered, "Liar! You knew you were a miko all along, didn't you!? You were playing with me this whole time, and waited for the perfect moment to hit me! My baby..."
Kagome looked at her with wide eyes. She felt her entire body begin to shake when she saw a pool of what looked like water escape Kikyo. Kagome felt her heart beginning to pound hard in her chest. What'd she do? Kikyo stayed on the ground, unable to move. It was obvious she was in pain. What was she supposed to do!?
"Kagome!"
Kikyo and Kagome looked toward the door. It was InuYasha. Kagome got to her feet, and ran to the door,
"InuYasha! In here! Hurry! You have to hurry!"
She heard footsteps running toward the door. The doorknob rattled as he unlocked it. When he pushed the door open, Kagome ran into his arms,
"InuYasha, you came."
He caught her in his arms, but the hold was loose. Kagome looked up to see that he was looking across the room to Kikyo. She leaned back,
"I...she's in labor."
"What happened?" he asked, looking down at her.
Kagome felt her heart jump in fear when he looked down at her. There was something off. His amber eyes looked irritated, and cold. InuYasha repeated, a lot louder and rougher than before,
"What happened, Kagome!?"
"I'm not sure!" she retorted, clenching her hand into a fist lightly. "She was trying to hurt me, and I was trying to protect the baby! Something strange happened, and she went into the wall. I didn't know that I could do anything like that!"
"What are you saying?" he asked with quizzical eyes. "Something strange happened? What did you do?"
Kagome didn't say anything right away. She looked down at her hand,
"I...have miko powers."
When she heard a growl, Kagome looked up to see that he was glaring at her, and she took a step back. He yelled,
"She's only five months, Kagome! You could have killed the baby!"
"W-what? InuYasha, I didn't know!" she yelled. "I swear to you, I didn't know I had these powers!"
"That doesn't change you could have killed my pup." he growled.
Kagome looked up at him with surprised, "What about our pup?"
"It's barely existent." he said without missing a beat. "It's not like we couldn't of tried again."
Kagome was shocked into silence. Surprisingly to her, tears didn't flood her eyes. Instead, she felt anger. She clenched her hands into a tighter fist,
"What about me!? There's a possibility that I would not have survived the attack, InuYasha!"
He glared, "Why is it always about you!?"
The irritation in InuYasha's eyes suddenly became outrage. Kagome took a step back when he began to raise his hand. He grinned at her,
"Maybe you should die."
Kagome was so shocked she didn't see his hand come out, and slash across her stomach. She gasped in pain. He chuckled,
"And the baby, too, naturally."
Kagome dropped to her knees. Meanwhile, Kikyo looked at all of this with wondering eyes, but with no expression on her face. InuYasha leaned down, grabbing Kagome by the hair and making her look up at him,
"Just give up now. Give into my real mates desire, and die. You'd have nothing to go back to, anyhow. Kita, Bankotsu, Miroku and Sango...they were all with me. They're dead now, and it's your fault."
She looked up into his mad eyes with surprise.
"No..."
But why else would InuYasha begin to act this way? Why else? Kagome felt something bothering her. Like a sound only she could hear at its highest frequency. It nagged her, and nudged her, urging her to run. Something was off, and she didn't know what it was. Kagome felt paralyzed, though. Hearing all of this from her mate, feel the pain of the cuts he'd just given her...her baby...
Kagome clenched her hands into fist. This didn't matter. She had to tell herself that none of this matter. There was still her chance her baby was fine. From what she could feel, the wounds were shallow. There was still a chance her baby was fine, and she was not going to give the chance up to the possibility that everything that was happening right now was true. She took in a breath, and focused on that feeling she had when she'd hit Kikyo. That feeling of fear, and unwavering need to protect her baby. Just as InuYasha went to slash at her again, Kagome brought her hand up, and pushed her palm into his chest. InuYasha let out an exclamation of pain, and released her. She pushed him away from her, making him fall roughly back into the wall. InuYasha was quick to react. He growled, slashing at her, but Kagome ducked beneath his arm, and ran out of the room.
InuYasha did not chase after her, though. He touched where she'd touched him to feel she'd torn that part of his shirt, and left his skin badly charred. InuYasha laughed,
"This girl you hate so much isn't so stupid after all. Hearing all of that, she could of easily of given up, but she didn't."
"It'd been better had you put your hand through her." Kikyo said bitterly. "Naraku."
The silver hair on InuYasha's head suddenly began to turn pitch black. What was once InuYasha, was now Naraku. He turned, and looked at her with a grin on his face. Kikyo glared,
"How cruel of you. At first, I believed it truly was him."
"You should thank me, because I gave you the vision that you so badly wished would come true." Naraku replied. "We both know the possibility that half breed deciding to settle for you isn't a possibility at all. Be satisfied you at least got a physical fantasy of him coming for you, and let me finish what I engaged in all of this for."
"Then will you tell me now?" Kikyo asked, looking down and breathing heavily. "Why you decided to help me?"
"I thought it would be clear to you by now that I hold a grudge against this bunch." he replied. "Where the Takahashi Company now resides, used to mine. They bought me out, and didn't spare even a glance backwards. It was not that my company was inferior to there's, because it was not. If it was, they would not have adopted my policies. They wanted their company to expand more throughout Japan, and I just so happened to be their target. It only infuriated me more that they made my very building their headquarters. When Takahashi's offspring aren't around to fill the places that truly make that place what it is, the company will take a blow, and he'll be begging for help just to keep it up."
"Heh." Kikyo laughed. "You look down on my wish to somehow get InuYasha back, call it nothing but a fantasy, but what do you call what you're doing now? While InuTaisho may be distraught his children are gone, which I doubt will happen, he will not let it shake him. He's lived many years, far more than you, and I'm sure he's seen worse days."
Naraku's composure didn't break, "Do not underestimate me, Kikyo. There are many ways to destroy these boys, and the best place to start..."
He looked at the blood on his hand from where he'd clawed Kagome, and grinned.
"...is with their women."
Kikyo said nothing, and he observed her with somewhat agitated crimson eyes.
"While I know the child will live, you're four months too early." he said. "It does not help you tainted the child with that half breeds genes."
Kikyo smiled. He'd known all along. She looked up when he walked over. Naraku looked into her eyes,
"You have a while before you actually have to give birth. Leave."
"I'm not leaving without InuYasha." she hissed. "I won't let you kill him."
"InuYasha will die. He should mean nothing to you now." he said simply. "The child, however-"
"Is the one that means nothing to me." she interrupted. "I never asked for it. Leave it to me to give birth to this thing, and I'll leave it to die."
Naraku grinned, "You're still so rebellious. Fine."
He turned his back, and made his way to the door.
"Then I will break you until you decide you can rebel no more."
With that, Naraku disappeared out of the room. Kikyo glared after him. When she no longer heard his footsteps, she clenched her hands into fist, and began to work on getting to her feet.
With InuYasha
InuYasha panted heavily as he lied on his back in some unknown room. He hadn't even known he'd blacked out. Sure, he got hit in the side by one of Naraku's damn fragments, but it wasn't why he'd blacked out. InuYasha pushed up onto his elbows, and looked down at the bone fragment that was still stabbed into his side. Without any hesitation, he reached down, and yanked it out. InuYasha growled when he felt the expected ache of pain. He threw the fragment away from him angrily, and put his hand over his side. InuYasha removed his hand a moment later, and looked at it. The blood had an unnatural blackness to it. He didn't know if it was poison, or what, but knew whatever it was, was the reason he'd lost consciousness.
With a sigh, InuYasha replaced his hand over his side, and then got to his feet. He grunted, but pushed the feel of the pain to the back of his head. InuYasha's ears twitched atop his head, and he sniffed around. All he could smell was his blood, and water. No Kagome, Kita, or Bankotsu. Not even Kikyo, or Naraku.
"Fine. I'll just start looking for them." he thought, walking toward the door that led out of the room.
InuYasha turned the knob, and found that it was unlocked. He scoffed,
"Idiot."
InuYasha opened the door, and went to walk out only to be met by Aina. He glared down at her,
"Why aren't I surprised to see you clean of blood?
"You want to know where Kagome is, right?" she asked softly.
InuYasha glared. Aina wasn't even looking at him. She looked as if she was seeing right through him. Aina was barely blinking; when InuYasha had last seen her, she looked scared out of her mind, but now she was calm and looked amused. It pissed him off. He grabbed her by her collar, and glared,
"Don't mess with me, I'm not in the mood!"
"Kill me if you want," Aina said, looking up at him with a smile, "because that just means Kagome dies without you ever seeing her alive again, or even getting the chance to protect her."
InuYasha looked at her for a minute, before shoving her back, "Just take me to her."
"Sure. I'll even take you to your other two friends."
She turned, and led the way up some stairs. InuYasha snorted under his breath, and then began to follow her. His senses were haywire as he slowly followed her up the stairs. There's no way she'd just lead him to Kagome. Naraku had to of put her up to something. He wouldn't let them catch him off guard again. InuYasha would get Kagome, find the others, kick Naraku's ass, and get out of here. Deep down, he knew it would not be so simple, but since when was anything simple?
With Kita and Bankotsu
"How fucking big is this house?" Bankotsu grumbled. "We've looked in everything room up until this point."
The door that they'd been thrown in from had been bolted shut, so their last option had been to find the source of the flood in the basement. They found the crack, and managed to break that small section of the house out. It'd begun to flood more, but that'd been what they wanted. They swam into the freezing water, under the house, and up to the surface. Seeing as it'd be stupid to re-enter from the front, they climbed up the side of the house, and onto what had looked like the second floor. It made sense that Naraku would not put Kagome, or InuYasha on the first floor, so they went up. The second floor had been large, and filled with several bedrooms, closets, and bathrooms in which they found nothing. After spending a lot of time there, they went up to the third floor, and had only clear a few of the rooms.
"Get it now?" Kita asked. "It's not just that Naraku wanted to be inconspicuous, but he wanted to make this as difficult as possible for us."
"Yeah." Bankotsu said. "If he has them on the top floor, who knows what he'll try."
"Lets just hurry up." Kita said. "I hope Kagome's okay."
"She's pretty tough, I'm sure she's..."
When Bankotsu trailed off, Kita looked at him.
"What is it?" she asked.
Bankotsu was looking down at the ground, "Look."
He knelt down, and pointed out the drips of blood that was going the direction that they were walking. Bankotsu looked down the hallway to see a door ajar. It was obvious whoever was bleeding had left the room, but still. Kita looked at the blood,
"It's Kagome's blood. Oh, hell."
"It came from that room." he said.
Kita went ahead of him, and jogged down to the room. She pushed the door open to find Kikyo leaning against a wall, her back to her. Bankotsu walked up behind Kita, and frowned when he saw who was in the room,
"Kikyo."
She glanced back at them, and gave an irritated sigh, "If you're looking for Kagome, she's obviously not here. You'd be lucky if she's alive anymore."
"You bitch." Kita hissed, going toward her. "What happened to her!?"
Bankotsu grabbed Kita's arm, "Stop."
"What for!?" she demanded, glaring up at him.
He hadn't moved his eyes from Kikyo, "She's in labor."
The irritation in Kita's face fell, and she looked back at Kikyo. She glared at the both of them,
"Don't give me your pity. Leave me."
"Don't worry, I have no pity to spare for you." Kita sneered. "Bankotsu, lets go. We need to keep searching for Kagome. I don't understand why she continued going upstairs, instead of down."
"Right." Bankotsu said, glancing at Kikyo once more before turning, and leaving with Kita. "About that, while Naraku showed us some of his abilities, I don't think it was all. Either Kagome was somehow tricked to keep going upstairs, or she was only focused on running away. She could also of gotten lost. There's so many upstairs, and downstairs in this house, you need a map. Any stairs going down could just lead to some subsection of the house that actually leads you up. I don't know. Let's just hope we find her before Naraku does, because right now, the fact he isn't anywhere around is making me nervous."
Kita nodded, and started to run, but didn't even make it five steps when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She frowned, and ran to them, looking down to see Aina and InuYasha.
"There you guys are." he said, walking past Aina up the rest of the way. "Have you found Kagome already?"
"No." Kita replied.
He asked, "What about Naraku...or Kikyo?"
"No." Kita answered before Bankotsu could open his mouth. "Would we be standing here if we had?"
InuYasha looked at Kita, and then at Bankotsu. He narrowed his eyes. InuYasha didn't know why he continually found himself relying on people's words. He took a sniff of the air, and after a while, glared at Kita. She knew, and glared right back,
"Well I wasn't going to tell you, but Kagome's hurt right now, InuYasha! The last thing you should be worried about is the person that's most likely the cause of it."
"But she's in labor, Kita." Bankotsu added.
Kita turned on him, "Really, Bankotsu!?"
"Regardless of your hatred for Kikyo, that kid inside her did nothing wrong! If anything, it's the victim as well as the rest of us!"
InuYasha didn't say anything else. He ran past all of them, and down the hall. InuYasha walked into the room, and looked at Kikyo. She looked at him. A look of surprise came to her face,
"InuYasha?"
"I could easily ignore this, and tell myself it's not my kid but I'm not that type of guy. This doesn't make you any more important than Kagome, but I've only come to make you get out of this house." he said, walking toward her.
Kikyo glared, stepping back, "Why? I'm fine right here."
"There's no telling what Naraku is going to do, and I doubt this house is going to be standing afterward. You need to leave." he said.
Kikyo's glare didn't fall, "I don't want this baby!"
"If you didn't want it, Kikyo, then you wouldn't have carried it!" he shot back. "You're out of luck now."
Kikyo clenched her hands into fist, but sighed. She walked up to him,
"You will come to me after you find Kagome, won't you?"
He was silent for a moment, but gave a nod, "I'll help you."
Kikyo knew that InuYasha was one to keep his word, so she nodded. He took a step back,
"I take it you know your way out."
With that, he turned, and returned to the others.
"Let's go."
Aina continued to lead the way up, but they weren't going at the pace any of them wanted. InuYasha was getting impatient.
"Aina," Kita started, "we've figured by now that Kagome's trying to get away from Naraku. My question to you is are we going to the very last floor of the house, or is there a specific room?"
Aina stopped and looked at Kita; she smiled, "Kita, you told me earlier you wouldn't allow your mice to even find a corner to cower in."
She needed to say no more. InuYasha growled, and dropped his hand from his side. As much as he wanted to kill her at this moment, she was the least of his worries. InuYasha ran past Aina, and started up the next staircase. He yelled,
"Kagome!"
"InuYasha, wait! You're hurt, you're not going to be able to kill Naraku on your own." Bankotsu yelled after him. "Kita, let's go."
Kita just stood there, and glared at Aina.
"Kita, let's go. She's not worth it right now." Bankotsu urged.
She glanced at him, and then back at Aina's stupid smiling face.
"You're going to die, Aina, and I hope you realize that it'll be from your own ignorance. I hoped you would desire to fix your life more than have a man, but I was wrong. Enjoy the last possible hour of your life." Kita said nonchalantly before starting toward the stairs.
Aina's smile fell into a frown, "No, you all are the ones that will die! Naraku...he may use me, but at least I'm of use to him!"
"Just wait, Aina." Kita said. "I bid you farewell."
With that, she ran up the stairs with Bankotsu. Aina clenched her hands into fist.
With Kagome
When she'd left the room, Kagome had run down the flight of stairs. After that, there'd been another staircase that went down, but it looked like it went down into some sort of basement, so she continued down the hall, and started up the next set of stairs. Now that she found herself only continuing to go up, she knew that those stairs were the way down. Perhaps the room had only been dark? Kagome didn't know. She didn't know what way was up, or down at this point. The pain coming from her stomach was almost unbearable. Not to mention her nausea and dizziness was not helping. She stumbled, or fell every now and again.
Once in awhile, she'd hear a creak behind her, or see a shadow ahead of her. It frightened her, because she did know if it was just her head playing tricks on her, or InuYasha coming after her. It had not happened for a while now, though. So, she stopped, but only for a moment. Kagome leaned against the wall, and panted heavily. She wiped the sweat from her brow, and tried to calm her breathing and pounding heart.
Everything burned, but Kagome knew she could only rest for so long.
"Kagome!"
Kagome eyes widened. She looked back toward the stairs. She swore she'd just heard InuYasha.
"Kagome!"
He sounded concerned, but he'd sounded that way also when he entered the room before. When Kagome heard footsteps, she started to run again. She didn't want to take the risk. Just as she started up the last set of stairs of the house, InuYasha and the others were entering the hall. InuYasha caught a flash of Kagome's long jet black hair, and chased after her,
"Kagome, I'm here!"
"I'm sure she heard him." Bankotsu panted as they chased after InuYasha. "Why is she still running."
"I don't know." Kita panted back. "It looks like she's running away, doesn't it?"
Bankotsu glanced at Kita, but focused on keeping up with InuYasha as they started up the next set of stairs. He almost tripped when a scream suddenly broke the air.
"Kagome!" InuYasha yelled, jumping the rest of the stairs.
He landed at the top of the stairs, and ran into the hallway. Kita and Bankotsu eventually came up behind him. Kagome was only a couple feet ahead of them down the hall. She'd fallen back onto her butt. Before her stood...InuYasha. Kita frowned,
"What the..."
"InuYasha?" Bankotsu asked.
Bankotsu and Kita looked between the InuYasha that was in front of them, and the one that stood in front of Kagome. InuYasha growled,
"What kind of sick joke is this!?"
Kagome looked back, her eyes widening when she saw InuYasha, Kita, and Bankotsu. The InuYasha standing in front of Kagome smirked, and then chuckled with a voice that was clearly not InuYasha's,
"Forgive me for my childishness. I just wished to scare her once again in this form, before I kill her."
"The hell you will! Kagome! Move!" InuYasha yelled.
Kagome still sat there, seeming to be in some sort of daze.
"Kagome! Move your ass!" Kita yelled.
InuYasha cursed, "Damn it!"
He drenched his hand in the blood from his wound as he charged forward. InuYasha swung his hand, and the blood from his hand shot toward the imposter like blades. As the imposter jumped away from Kagome, what everyone thought was some sort of puppet transformed into Naraku. Kagome looked at him with surprise,
"Who..."
"I'm Naraku. I'm pleased to meet you, truly, for the first time." he said with a chuckle.
His crimson eyes were frightening as they stared down at her like she was some slab of meat. Kagome jumped when she felt someone land behind her. She looked up to see InuYasha. He offered his hand,
"Get up."
Kagome took his hand, and let him pull her to her feet. He looked down to where her hand rested on the front of her shirt to find it coated with blood. InuYasha felt his heart skip a beat in fear. Before he could think of the worse, Kagome looked at him fearfully and asked,
"Are you really InuYasha?"
He blinked down at her. InuYasha's eyes softened slightly,
"Of course I am."
She relaxed some, but he could tell she was on edge. If he was worried about their pup, InuYasha could only imagine how frightened Kagome was as she was the one carrying. Naraku laughed, getting their attention,
"Everything's falling into place just as I hoped it would. Even more so now that he is close."
Everyone looked at Naraku. InuYasha glared,
"Now that who's close?"
"Our most special guest." Naraku answered, grinning. "You all came here for you own reasons. All it, probably due to the drama going on between InuYasha, and Kikyo. However, that has been the last thing to cross my mind. All of you are nothing more to me than a lure for the big prize catch. But first..."
Just like before, the bones and tentacles came bursting from Naraku's back. They destroyed the ceiling, walls, and floors around them.
"There is nowhere for you to go. While I like a chase, die with some dignity." Naraku said as he sent both his bone fragments, and tentacles flying toward them.
"As if I'd run away from you!" InuYasha spat.
He quickly picked Kagome up bridal style, and then jumped away, dodging all of his fragments, and tentacles. Kita and Bankotsu doing the same.
"This floor is too narrow for a battle." Bankotsu grunted, sending blade after blade at the many tentacles continuing to shower down on them. "We're going to get struck eventually. We need a more open space."
"Stop complaining! We have to work with what we have. There is no way out. He destroyed the stairs. The only way out is out one of these windows, and what's the likelihood we'll come out unscathed from that with his attacks coming down at us?" Kita shot back.
Naraku was relentless, and without mercy. His goal was definitely to kill them, but Kita still did not know what for. She did know at this point it had to do with the company after all.
Naraku continued to send a slew of attacks their way, and in turn, they continued to send their own. Somehow, they were managing to keep up with him, and it irritated him as he had hoped to finish this quickly. He moved closer to them, sending more and more their way, pinning them closer to the back of the hallway. Even still, they managed to keep up with him, and continue to attack, most hitting him. Kita, now in her full transformation, could see that he was getting frustrated and laughed,
"You've overestimated yourself, you bastard. As if we'd let you just kill us."
"Shut your mouth, you filthy feline." Naraku sneered, but then smirked as a thought came to him. "His mate..."
The attacks suddenly began to lessen, but only for a moment. He looked at Kita with a grin,
"Perhaps I should change my tactic. One domino falls, they all fall, right?"
The bone fragments all shifted toward Kita, and then began to fly toward her. Naraku grinned seeing the surprise on her face.
"No!" Bankotsu shouted.
Bankotsu grabbed Kita just as the attacks began to hit, cursing when he watched one of the fragments go right into Kita's shoulder, causing her to scream in pain. He clenched his jaw when he felt several of the sharp fragments going into him. They slammed into his back, the side of his legs and arms. Naraku growled,
"Stay out of my way!"
"Bankotsu! Take Kita, and move out of the way!" InuYasha shouted.
Nothing he did was stopping Naraku; several of his tentacles bunched together into one large one, and crashed into one of the walls. InuYasha cursed, and held Kagome close to him. He looked down at her,
"Hold on tight. Don't you dare let go."
She nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck a lot tighter than she had been before. The tentacle came back, slicing through the air from its great speed. It came into the hallway, and slammed into all of them, taking the opposite wall out.
With Kikyo and Aina
Kikyo had left the house with Aina only a minute before the house totally began to cave, and sink into the water. The sky seemed somewhat darker, but Kikyo knew that it wasn't the case. Something about the water was off. It'd blackened, and emitted a thick smoke. Kikyo held her breath, frowning,
"Miasma..."
Her eyes widened when she heard a large crash from the top of the house, and looked up to glass and wood beginning to come flying down to the earth. Aina gasped. Kikyo did not wait for her. She continued, and walked further into the woods just before what used to be the dock leading to the lake house. Noticing Kikyo leaving, Aina chased after her, and barely managed to avoid the flying fragments. Aina jumped when she felt the earth jump. She looked toward the source, and saw InuYasha on his back with Kagome right beside him. They looked...dead, or unconscious. She wasn't sure. Shortly after, Aina noticed another person lying on the ground. It was that other guy whose name she couldn't remember. Aina looked around, wondering where Kita was. As she searched for her, Aina felt a burning sensation beginning to start in her lungs. She covered her mouth, beginning to cough. Aina looked around, but found that Kikyo was no longer in sight. She frowned, and then decided to search for Naraku. Surely he'd need her assistance.
Aina grinned when she saw him drop from the top of the crumbling house, to the ground with ease. She followed his gaze, and finally found Kita. Aina watched as she clenched at the shard of bone that was deeply embedded in her shoulder. She couldn't help but to wince as she slowly pulled it from her arm, screaming as she did so. Kita panted, and then rolled onto her stomach, trying to push herself up.
Aina smirked, and then walked toward Naraku. She tried to control her coughing as she approached him, but for some reason she couldn't. Why was she coughing anyhow? As she got closer, and closer to Naraku, her vision began to blur. Aina frowned. She stopped, and coughed into her hand. Aina's eyes widened. Blood coated her hand. Fear began to consume her as she remembered the words Kita had said to her,
"You're going to die, Aina, and I hope you realize that it'll be from your own ignorance."
Aina walked as quickly as she could, "N-Naraku, help me. There's...something happening...I don't understand..."
Naraku looked away from Kita to her. The way he looked at her could be in comparison to that of a person watching a plastic bag drift in the wind.
"You are no longer needed." he said simply, looking her up and down before returning his gaze to Kita.
Aina's eyes widened, and she stopped just beside him. She stammered,
"W-What? I-I mean, I can understand you no longer need me I suppose, but at least help me! Tell me what's happening, Naraku!"
"No, I will not help you. You're going to die within a minute, or so. You've breathed in the toxin of my miasma too deeply, and now you will die." he said without so much as looking at her. "Your assistance was appreciated. Now. Don't bother me."
With that, Naraku walked away, and started toward Kita. Aina began to struggle to breath. She reached out to grab him, but tripped and fell to her knees. She coughed, spitting up more blood. Aina felt panic and fear begin to mix as she realized what was happening. She was going to die. What life did she live? It was hardly a life at all! Tears clouded her eyes as she slowly began to lose the strength to sit upright, or breathe.
Kita
On the way down, Bankotsu had lost consciousness from the many attacks he'd taken for her, and the hit he received from Naraku's tentacle. As hard as she tried to hold onto him, she couldn't due to the pain that shot through her shoulder.
She didn't know where he landed.
She didn't know if he was even alive.
Kita choked on the sobs that began to forcibly bubble up her throat. Being a demon, she could have endured it a lot better had it been like dislocating her shoulder, but it hadn't been just her shoulder that had gotten hit. The fragment had stabbed her right where Sesshomaru had marked her. The pain was unlike anything she'd ever felt. Kita could hardly breathe through the trauma the injury was taking on her body.
She clenched at the ground, screaming in agony and grief. Kita was angry, she was sad, and in so much pain. She didn't want to die like this. Kita hadn't seen Yukio in a month, and not only that, she'd just lost her connection with Sesshomaru against her will. So many years of being with him, of being mated with him, and connected with him in ways no one else ever could be. It was gone...just like that, in a blink of an eye.
Kita had been told stories of how it felt to destroy the bond between mates, the pain, the sorrow, but hearing it was so much more different than feeling it. It was a part of the reason she didn't want to do it when Sesshomaru suggested it. While she probably could have dealt with the pain in other conditions, she would not of been able to deal with seeing his face. How was he feeling now? Was he driving when it hit him? Was he home alone? Kita sobbed, her nails digging into the dirt. There was Yukio too. Could he feel his mother in pain right now?
"No, no, no..." Kita sobbed.
No matter what she tried, Kita could not get to her feet. She couldn't fight. This was how she would die. When she heard a laugh, Kita went to look up, but before she could, she felt a foot connect with her shoulder, and she screamed. Kita rolled onto her back, and looked up through the haze of pain to see Naraku standing above her. He looked down at her with a grin on his face,
"Hit the mark, didn't I?"
"Y-you bastard!" Kita spat.
Naraku chuckled, "Insults the best you can throw?"
Kita turned her head away from him, continuing to sob. She couldn't stop herself. No matter what, she would at least not let him see her cry. She would not allow herself to see the satisfaction of knowing he won cross his face. Kita clenched at her shoulder as she felt the earth below her begin to shake. She thought Naraku was releasing the bones and tentacles again to kill her. However, then she heard a loud, angry, pain-filled howl. Kita's eyes widened, and she stopped breathing.
"Don't get silent on me just yet. I want to see his rage." Naraku said with a grin, bringing his foot up, and pressing it into her wound once again.
Kita screamed out in pain. Mentally, she kept telling herself to shut up, but she couldn't. He knew. He could hear her. Kita felt her body beginning to shake lightly. She panted heavily. Kita began to black in and out. She could hear ringing in her ears. The thumping of the earth stopped, but Kita could hear a loud drone vibrate in the air. She recognized it. Sesshomaru...he was growling...he was here...
Naraku began to speak. It varied from anger, to calm, to anger again, but Kita could not make out his words. She sensed his presences leave her, and Kita guessed he'd backed away from her to transform.
"I...can't stay...awake..." Kita thought. "So...tired..."
She jumped when she felt something soft like silk run across her legs, and arms. Kita felt a warm breath on her face. She struggled to open her eyes, and when she managed to just a bit, Kita caught sight of a large leg, coated in silver. She wanted to look higher, but she couldn't even move her head at this point. Perhaps that was a good thing, because Kita didn't think she could handle seeing his eyes even in this form. Kita felt herself slipping, and soon everything went black.
A/N: What!? Another update already!? Man. I must really love you guys. I hope that you enjoyed this, because I actually put some blood and tears into it. No sweat, just blood and tears. Are you happy!? I'm sad now! So review to make me happy, okay!? Two more chapters.
Also, technically, the next chapter is the last chapter. Chapter 55 will be an epilogue introducing the sequel, Identity. Are you guys ready?
