A/N: And finally, after like a bajillion chapters, it's time for the bad guy to enter stage right.
Iiiiiiit's showdown time!
(Trigger warnings again for Itsetsuhiko making some quite nasty threats: threats of rape.)
Morning brought the perfect opportunity for Kagome to execute her plan.
She wasn't foolish enough to believe she could take on Itsetsuhiko by herself—nor would she desire to, knowing what she knew now of his handling of women—but she knew how to lure Itsetsuhiko to them.
Better to deal with him without his army on our own terms, she thought to herself, than to try and fight him in a place that he would have the advantage.
She thought of everyone Itsetsuhiko had harmed and her resolve only grew. So many lives have been impacted or destroyed because of Itsetsuhiko. Azumi and Shin and their unborn child, along with her entire village. Ayame, Koga, their son, and their entire pack. Toran and the other panther yokai. Even Shiyuri and her child, forced upon her by Itsetsuhiko. All of them have had their lives torn apart by Itsetsuhiko and his murderous army.
He needs to be stopped before he destroys this era and sets into motion the destruction of all yokai and people with genuine holy power that will result in my own future.
As everyone else began their preparations to rise, Kagome closed her eyes, drifting into a trance while maintaining a pretense of still being mostly asleep. She remained motionless next to Sesshomaru and hoped that he wouldn't be attune enough to recognize the changes in her breathing—at least not quickly enough to stop her before she put her plan in action.
Sesshomaru was overprotective enough that he would deliberately disrupt her concentration just to ensure she could not in any way engage with Itsetsuhiko.
She drifted, allowing her consciousness to follow the path she had several days before, when she'd first used her developing powers to locate Itsetsuhiko. His aura, unlike Sesshomaru's own bright green one that occasionally reflected the various colors of his mood, was dark and heavy, oppressive with his years as well as his desires.
She looked for traces of his taint, knowing that Itsetsuhiko would have moved since she'd last spied upon him—moved closer to her. But taint like his could not be hidden from the land and her own senses. The sickly sour apple green of his lust mixed with the dark purple mist of his rage and the combination was made all the worse by the twisted gray of his delight at the suffering of all those he destroyed or tarnished with his own desires.
He's a plague, she decided, noting how even the land seemed to suffer from his presence. Wherever Itsetsuhiko lingered, the animal life vacated the area and the vegetation twisted or became stunted in growth, recovering slowly long after he'd left. It's no wonder yokai and those with holy powers all died out in my time. He drains the very life from them.
Just what kind of power did the bisento he carried possess?
For the first time, she suspected she might know. If his bisento could drain the power from yokai and those with holy power and pass that strength onto its bearer, then it all made sense.
She struck Itsetsuhiko's trail, finding the sickening fog of murky powers that his aura left behind. It was faint, but she could just make out its general direction and so, she followed it. She was careful to keep her own power and aura under guard, not allowing her to express her own feelings even when she picked up on the amberish red color of his satisfaction when he took one of his prisoners and sexually abused her.
More than one prisoner, she realized as she studied the clearing, feeling her stomach lurch at the realization. Itsetsuhiko had forced himself upon several women, one of whom was yokai and at least one other with holy power, and he'd fed off of their rage and horror at their own assault.
She forced herself to move past the clearing where he'd made camp. Given the strength of the auras—both Itsetsuhiko's own and that of his prisoners—she guessed he'd been here the night before or, at the latest, the night before that.
He couldn't have gotten far when he's burdened with prisoners and an army that needs supplies, she mused. Even if he doesn't care much about whether any of them live or die, he would still have to bring enough supplies with him to more or less maintain the army at a decent condition. Otherwise, why bother keeping an army in the first place?
And armies as big as the one the auras in the clearing hinted at—one over a thousand strong—would require at twice or thrice as many carts and horses for supplies as were needed to carry the army on horseback, though she privately doubted that Itsetsuhiko bothered himself over whether or not his army was on horseback. She had the feeling that he didn't care about whether or not his army was supplied well to begin with.
They're just fodder for his own interests.
She followed the trail Itsetsuhiko's army left, guessing that they had only managed to travel about a quarter of the distance she and her friends would have traveled in a normal day, back before the defeat of Naraku.
Sure enough, she spied Itsetsuhiko's army in the distance just past where she'd expected them to rest. It was easy enough to spot them, given the amount of land they'd cleared and repurposed for their temporary camp, and she couldn't help but feel enraged at their wanton devastation. It was clear that they didn't care what they'd damaged in their own short-term quest for comfort at night and cared even less about how long it would take the land and vegetation to recover.
And then she felt it.
Itsetsuhiko.
Her eyes narrowed as his aura rose above the camp, his yoki rising along with it to taint the land with an effect that eerily resembled Naraku's miasma. Just what sort of yokai is he?
Itsetsuhiko must have sensed Kagome's presence, despite her best attempts to hide it, because he moved, taking the essence of his soul and coming to her in a manner akin to the way she'd sought him out herself.
"Priestess." His voice rumbled around him and she heard it as clearly as if he'd spoken the words physically aloud, though his lips never moved.
"Yokai." She matched his title, feeling some overwhelming desire not to reward him by speaking his name aloud in his presence. "You are not welcome here."
He licked his lips as he eyed her body, making no attempts to hide his lascivious thoughts from his expression. He desired her and he wanted her to know that he did. "Such a weak vessel for the strength you carry within you," he murmured. "Yet the tang of your power on this one's tongue is delicious."
She forced back a shudder of revulsion, not wishing to give him the satisfaction of seeing his words get to her. "You were banished long ago," she informed him, proud of how steady her voice was. "This time, I will not stop at banishing you."
The threat seemed to have little impact on Itsetsuhiko. "This one looks forward to enjoying your mouth as it services him, priestess. He promises you now that there will not be a part of your body left untouched by his seed. And though your body is quite petite, he also looks forward to watching it increase and swell with his child. Perhaps you will give him a daughter he may use as well. You will belong to this one until your death and even then, this one will not relinquish his hold. With your power under this one's control, he shall become greater than even the gods themselves."
She would not give him the satisfaction of riling her, let alone allow him to distract her from her purpose. "As a priestess, it is my sacred duty to maintain the balance of the earth and all who inhabit it. You have disturbed that balance, yokai. You will not be allowed to continue doing so. Yet it is clear that your soul has become too twisted to save and so, when it is time, I shall purify and destroy you in remembrance of all who have suffered at your hand."
He reached out and this time, she couldn't fully force back her shudder of revulsion as he traced her lower lip with his thumb. "There will be no greater joy than watching you break at my hand," he purred. "This one will be sure to savor every moment until you have broken down and begged him for what only he can give you."
She pulled back as he reached to grope her breast and his eyes flashed with lust and delight at her defiance.
"You shall be nothing more than a doll that will be available for this one's every pleasure." He reached out with his power, the intent clear: he meant to force her soul into his possession so that he could control her body through it.
Oh, no you don't.
She straightened her spine as she drew on her courage, feeling—to her surprise—Sesshomaru's presence through the fledgling bond between them. His strength bolstered her own, aiding her reservoir of power to sustain the strength needed to force the chains of power Itsetsuhiko was building around her.
You will not trap me here.
"If you want me," she taunted, drawing on the plan she'd formed on her own, "then come and find me, yokai. No matter how you find me, you will never be able to take control of all that I am and make it your own."
His nostrils flared and she saw the first glimpse of his anger as she broke free of his hold with an effortless grace—thanks largely to her own power that he'd clearly underestimated, supported by the warmth of the bond she shared with Sesshomaru.
The bond was still in its infancy, but she realized then that it might well be the key to defeating Itsetsuhiko, for it was clear that he didn't understand how she'd escaped his trap that he'd so clearly believed to be inescapable.
"I look forward to destroying you," she added as Itsetsuhiko opened his mouth to reply.
Before he could, she felt a strong yank on her soul, forcing her back to her body in the blink of an eye. Astonished, for she didn't believe that any of her companions had the spiritual power required to overcome her own and force her back, she gaped as she opened her eyes and found an enraged Sesshomaru glaring down at her.
"You will never do anything so foolhardy again," he ground out and then, before she could reply, he took her lips in a possessive, bruising kiss, kissing her with all of his pent-up fury she felt vibrating within him.