Disclaimer - I do not own InuYasha. Probably a very good thing.
Author's Notes - well, here's a longer chapter, for all those nice people who didn't throw rotten fruit and vegetables at me for that vile cliff hanger. Of course, you're probably not going to like this one much better . . . but you'll have to be the judges of that. Lots of angst and drama in this one . . . so I hope you all enjoy it : )
Chapter 22 - Falling Light
"So, you brought her here," Kikyo murmured as she watched Naraku reappear, Kagome clutched firmly against him. The travel had apparently overwhelmed her, as she sagged against her captor, her eyes closed in unconsciousness.
"It will make InuYasha reckless . . . which is more of an advantage then you care to admit, Kikyo. Or is it that you just have no wish to admit that this girl means more to him than you ever did?" He smiled grimly as Kikyo snarled at him, her eyes hate-filled as they rested on the young girl who was her reincarnation.
Kikyo spun away from the knowing look, refusing to give him more to gloat over. Naraku smiled at her stiff back, before his gaze softened as he glanced down at the young miko in his arms. She was truly beautiful . . . and with both her and Kikyo in the room, he could see why InuYasha had chosen as he had. This young girl was so full of warmth and light . . . so unlike the miko her spirit had once been, even when Kikyo had been alive. He ran a gentle hand through her ebony locks, marveling at the softness before shaking himself out of his stupor. He had work to do, and he needed to do it quickly if he was to have the advantage in this fight.
*------*------*------*------*
Sesshoumaru and Kouga found themselves with their hands full as they tried to restrain InuYasha from charging into the miasma to find his kidnaped mate. He snarled at them futilely, his eyes slowing bleeding into red as they kept him from his purpose . . . from his mate, who needed him.
"InuYasha, snap out of it! If you charge in there now, you'll be doing exactly what he wants! He took her to make you careless, and he's succeeding!" Kouga growled, his grip on the enraged hanyou tightening in an attempt to use pain to make him listen. Finally, it was Sango who broke through to him.
"InuYasha . . . if you charge in there thoughtlessly, you risk not only Kagome, but yourself as well. How would Kagome feel if she had to go on without you?" The red slowly began to recede as he stared at the exterminator, who was nearly in tears herself. "She returned my brother to me, against all odds, InuYasha. I won't leave her in there with him . . . but I won't leave her without her mate either, so damn it, THINK!" He sagged suddenly, causing his brother and the wolf lord to lose their grip on him at the movement. Falling to his knees, he raised sorrow filled golden eyes to Sango.
"I can't feel her anymore . . ." he whispered. "My bond with her . . . it's like it doesn't exist." Surprisingly, Sesshoumaru knelt down in front of him, meeting InuYasha's golden eyes with his own worried ones.
"Naraku is blocking it . . . he's trying to work the two of you against each other, as he has done before. Kagome has faith in you . . . you must have faith in your mate as well. Now come, the sooner we make plans, the sooner we can get young Kagome from him and finish this." Rising to his feet in a single, graceful movement, he held out one delicate hand to his brother. InuYasha took it, allowing the youkai lord to pull him back to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he turned now-angry eyes to the miasma covered town before them.
"Let's do this. We stick to the original plan . . . we just modify it to find Kagome first."
"Wait." InuYasha turned molten golden eyes on the captive in their midst. "Please . . . you can not take the boy in there, and I have no wish to go back. He will kill me . . . or try to use me again. I'm begging you . . . leave me here - bound if you feel it necessary - and leave the boy with me. I swear I will guard him." Kagura looked small and helpless bound as she was, on her knees with Kouga standing behind her.
"Why should we trust you?" Kouga growled, his claws flexing in agitation. Kagura sighed before speaking again.
"Because I know why he wants your Kagome," she murmured, looking solemnly into InuYasha's gaze.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
Naraku stared silently down at the still form of the unconscious young miko, his expression one of both longing and confusion. What was it about this girl that made him feel so . . . dirty? No, not dirty . . . but tainted. Absently, he put his fist through the wall, his frustration at being unable to understand showing itself in the physical display of anger. The thud caused the figure below him to wince, drawing his attention back to her like a magnet.
Crimson eyes watched as she moaned, her body shifting as she came back to consciousness. Blue eyes opened slowly, only to freeze as she met his gaze, her body stilling as well. The silence swirled around them, tangible in the air as the pure young miko and the tainted hanyou met each other's gaze.
Kagome was caught in her own thoughts as she stared up into Naraku's eyes. 'The eyes truly are the mirror to the soul . . .' she thought absently. His swam with confusion, sorrow, and . . . was that longing? What could the heartless demon they knew long for? And why was he looking at HER like that? She blinked, still trying to comprehend what she was seeing . . . and he was gone.
She sat up, startled and glanced wildly around the room. She was alone . . . had she imagined him? Her eyes fell on the hole in the wall and she shuddered. No, she hadn't imagined him . . . so then why had he left so suddenly? And what did he want with her? Glancing down, she found herself no longer in her school uniform . . . rather, she was dressed in a black kimono with silver cranes adorning the silk. A silver wrap completed the outfit on the outside. While she wasn't normally fond of black, she liked the outfit . . . but she couldn't help wondering how she had gotten into it in the first place.
The question was answered soon enough by the appearance of Kanna, one of Naraku's children whom they had run into once before. Silently, Kanna held her mirror out in front of her for Kagome to look into. Warily, Kagome edged forward on the bed until she could gaze into the mirror. She gave a hoarse cry as she found herself looking down at her mate and their friends.
Sound came to her suddenly from the mirror, and she shrank back as the words rang in her ears.
"Naraku has Kagome, InuYasha . . . what are we going to do about that?" Sango was asking. InuYasha snorted.
"What do I care what he does with that sniveling, useless shadow? She was a good lay, and I got to live what I never got the chance to have with Kikyo, but that's it. He can have her, for all I care . . . once we're done here, I can become a full demon and be done with all of this stupid nonsense." The tone of voice, the stance . . . even the look on his face was all too familiar to Kagome . . . she'd seen it in her dreams so many times before.
"No . . ." she whispered hoarsely, shaking her head. "No, it's not true. He LOVES me . . . I'm his mate, we're bound for life . . . this is just some trick of Naraku's . . ." She jumped up in shock as another, familiar voice replied to her statement.
"Truly you are pathetic if you ever believed him when he said that to you . . ." Kikyo murmured, stepping silently into the room. "He used you . . . just as he used me . . . all for the Shikon No Tama. Now do you see why I must take him to hell with me? He deserves it . . . for his lies, for his life! At least I never fell for his tricks . . . unlike others who are tainted by him now." Kagome backed into a wall, shaking her head in denial of what the undead miko was telling her.
"You're lying . . . he loves me, he chose me as his mate . . ." Kikyo snorted softly.
"If that is true, then reach out to him . . . use the 'bond' that being his mate gives you," she said softly, her cold eyes watching her reincarnation. Kagome reached for the bond, reached desperately for the comfort it would give her . . . and found it gone.
"No!" she cried desperately, her hands reaching up to clasp her head. "You're lying . . . this is some trick of Naraku's . . ."
"Even Naraku cannot block a mate bond . . . face it, you worthless shadow of me, he lied to you . . . he used you to find the shards and now he will discard you for the useless tool you are." The undead miko turned, motioning to Kanna as she did so. "Face it . . . you should have gone back to your time and stayed there when you had the chance. Now, you are tainted by a demon's seed, and broken by a demon's lies. Now you truly are worthless." In silence, she and the mirror bearing child left . . . leaving behind the weeping figure of Kagome huddled upon the stone floor of her room.
"Inu . . ." she whimpered into the silence.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
InuYasha's head shot up as he caught a glimmer of despair through the link he shared with Kagome. He stared into the miasma, his golden eyes narrowing before he spun around to face Kagura.
"Leave her here with Kohaku. Kouga, you remain with her." He snarled as Kouga went to protest. "I can feel Kagome . . . something is wrong. Don't argue with me, just do it! We have to get to her, now!" Turning, he stalked off, away from the group, throwing everything he could into the link with Kagome. All his love, all his worry for her, all his concern he pushed into it . . . and felt nothing in return. It was like there was a wall there . . . and Naraku was only allowing certain emotions to go through. Emotion that would send him into a frenzy if he let them. But Sango was right . . . he needed to be thinking clearly. With a last pulse of love and warmth towards his missing mate, he blocked the link. He would not allow Naraku to use their bond against them.
He felt the others join him, and without turning to look at them, he walked into the darkness.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
Kagome felt cool hands lift her up and place her back on the bed, but she refused to open her eyes. It took too much effort . . . and her heart felt like it was breaking into pieces. Why couldn't she feel InuYasha . . . why couldn't she reach him through their mental bond? She was sure that Kikyo had lied about Naraku's ability to block the mate bond . . . but still, that tiny corner of her mind that had survived nagged at her. Her love with InuYasha was still so new, so tenuous . . . and their history together had been so filled with her believing he loved Kikyo and saw her as nothing but a shard detector . . .
Gentle hands brushed the hair back from her face in soothing motions, a balm to her already overwrought nerves. She opened her eyes slowly, somehow unsurprised to find Naraku leaning over her, his hands brushing her hair back as he gazed down at her solemnly.
"It hurts, does it not . . . to suddenly discover that he's been using you this entire time as a replacement for his beloved Kikyo? And even her . . . he only used her for the jewel, as well. At least I loved her . . . I wanted them both, but in my folly I believed she could never love a twisted person like I was, and that she would never turn the jewel over to me. I allowed my anger and insecurity to cloud my judgement . . . and it lost me both her and the jewel." He sighed, shifting back to lean against the wall nearby as he gazed at her. "But fate has shown me how cold Kikyo was . . . she could never have given me the warmth that I craved . . . unlike you." Leaning down, he brushed his lips lightly against her forehead.
Kagome lay frozen through the feather-light touch, unable to think through the misery that engulfed her, and the surprise of this strange new Naraku she was seeing. As he leaned back, she found her voice, and asked him what she so desperately wanted an answer to.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she moaned, closing her eyes as the pain of her isolation from her mate washed over her again. She sensed Naraku shifting against the wall, and opened her eyes again to meet his concerned, warm gaze.
"Because I do not want to make the same mistake I did before . . ." he murmured. "I want . . . to become human again. To love again . . ." His gaze softened as he looked into her eyes. "You are so warm . . . so full of life and beauty . . . I can not help but want to be with you . . . and so I will use the Shikon Jewel to become human again, and to undue the mistake I made so long ago." He brushed a hand softly over her cheek, lightly caressing the soft skin with his thumb. "I crave your light and your warmth, beautiful Kagome . . . I only hope you can find it in your heart to help redeem a misguided monster like myself." He stood slowly. "Only think on it, beautiful one. Let me help you forget the betrayal of that hanyou . . . with my love." He turned and left the room slowly, leaving Kagome to stare after him in confusion.
"What is going on?" she murmured. "I'm so confused . . . InuYasha, where are you?"
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
InuYasha sniffed carefully, following the faint scent of Kagome that his nose was picking up. The others trailed behind him slowly . . . all but Kouga, who remained outside to guard Kohaku and Kagura. Sesshoumaru was playing rear-guard, his nose being not nearly so keen as his half-brothers was. Thus, it was the youkai lord who first spied the uniform that Kagome had, until recently, been wearing.
"InuYasha!" he called out, stopping the group as he approached the garment. He grimaced as he picked them up and caught a trace of their scent. They smelled of Kagome, Naraku . . . and new death. Silently he held them out to his brother, who's eyes turned a very dangerous shade of red at the sight of them. The red was joined by his unique youkai markings as he caught the scents that engulfed the scraps of cloth.
"If she is truly dead . . . Naraku is going to be in a terrible amount of pain before I ever allow him to see the peace of death . . ." InuYasha growled. He whirled suddenly as the scent of clay and bones caught his attention, his voice dropping into a low octave growl as the figure that scent implied appeared out of the mists.
"Trust me, InuYasha, she is dead to you. Your ill-chosen mate has gone on before you . . . not that she fought it. Or did you know that she desired Naraku?" InuYasha's eyes narrowed as the meaning of her words became clearer to him.
"Kagome would never join him . . ." he growled, his knuckles cracking ominously. In silent response, Kikyo waved a slight figure forward, out of the fog. Kanna approached him cautiously, her mirror held out to him hesitantly. Uncertain, he took a step froward, glancing into the mirror with no small amount of trepidation. A growl escaped his throat as he spied his mate . . . clasped firmly in Naraku's arms.
"So you will free me of him now that I've brought him to you, correct my love?" Kagome whispered as she clung to the figure of Naraku in the mirror.
"As I promised, beloved. As I promised." The figures in the mirror shared a passionate kiss . . . a kiss that rapidly spiraled into something more. With a quick swipe of his claws, the mirror flew into the mists, as far from him as he could send it.
"You lie . . ." he snarled, advancing upon the small mirror bearing youkai menacingly. Kanna simply smiled knowingly, bowed to him, and disappeared into the mists.
"Kanna's mirror is incapable of showing that which is not," Kikyo murmured, stepping forward. "She merely showed you the truth, InuYasha. She has betrayed you . . . all of you. Accept it . . . and accept me again. I still care for you, InuYasha. Come to hell with me . . . let us be together forever, and leave behind all the hurt and suffering this world has caused us." She reached for him, running a gentle hand down his cheek tenderly.
The others could only look on in horror as InuYasha enfolded Kikyo into his embrace.
TO BE CONTINUED
Authors Notes - oh wow . . . I'm pretty sure I'm going to see some nasty ones for this cliffy . . . I promise, next chapter will be coming along soon . . . perhaps earlier than two weeks if my muse keeps pounding my head like he has been . . . *ducks another smack from Sephiroth*. Oy, okay Seph, I'm going, I'm going. Geesh . . . the man really is a work a holic. At any rate, see you soon, but no later than 2 weeks from now. Let me know what you think, as usual, by leaving a review. I love to hear from you.