Disclaimer - I do not own InuYasha, or the right's to any of the character. This is a work of fan fiction, made for pure enjoyment and non profit.
Author's Notes - Well all, as you can see, I'm not gone . . . and never will be. Mito, you may have managed to get the lemon's erased from here, but they are still in existence . . . over on my website, where freedom of speech is still a right, not a privilege. So, eat your heart out. I'm still here . . . and so are all my readers : P
Now, then, for my serious reviewers . . . here's the next installment of Starlight and Shadows. A few days late, but you all know why that is . . . and if you don't, take a look in the reviews section and I'll bet you figure it out right away. I will be leaving any flames I receive from now on up . . . that way you all can respond to them on your own, if you choose. I'm pretty sure a good majority of you will enjoy this chapter immensely . . . after all, so many of you have wanted me to do this part : ) so, enjoy the story, and leave a review : ) And, just to make up for the lateness of this last chapter . . . I will put a second chapter up on Friday, a whole week early.
Chapter 23 - Brightening Darkness
Gathering her scattered and confused thoughts about her, Kagome rose slowly to her feet, approaching the door with a great amount of trepidation. She reached a hesitant hand out to the door, and recoiled in shock as it opened before her fingers could do more than brush it's surface.
Naraku entered the room slowly, moving with an elegant grace that Kagome couldn't help likening to that of a coiled viper. He glanced at her wordlessly before laying down an array of cloth on the bed. Curious, Kagome approached the bed cautiously, her eyes widening as she beheld an array of kimono's and matching obi's that any princess would have envied.
"Do you like them?" Naraku asked quietly, standing back to watch her as she reached out with a hesitant finger to caress the fine silken items.
"They're beautiful . . ." she murmured, before catching herself. This was Naraku, the enemy . . . wasn't he? Why was he being so nice? She shook her head, backing away from the garments hastily. Where was InuYasha? Why had her mate not come for her yet? Surely he could sense her, smell where she was . . . his keen nose had never failed him before. She turned eyes glistening with unshed tears towards her captor.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she whispered in agony, her arms wrapping around her upper body in an attempt to comfort her already over frayed nerves. "Why are you playing these games?"
She found herself drawn against her will into the arms of the tainted hanyou, pressed against his chest in a pose much too intimate for one's enemy to hold one in. He sighed, his breath puffing warmly against her ear before he answered her desperate question.
"I am not playing games with you, young miko. I desire you, as I have desired no other woman in either of my lives. I crave your warmth, your light and beauty to brighten my darkened existence. The inu hanyou cares naught for you . . . it wounds me to see you so devoted to him when you are nothing more than a tool to him. He uses you while feeding on your love, and in his heart he wants only power. He was never human, as I was, Kagome. He can never show you the love . . . that I can," he whispered into her ear. Pulling back, he gazed into her eyes, his own dark with emotions Kagome couldn't begin to name in them.
Caught in his gaze, puzzled by what she saw there, she did nothing as he leaned in to press his lips hesitantly against hers. The touch was light, barely perceptible, but it caused her to recoil from him faster than if she had been burned. Struggling her way out of his embrace, she backed up to the wall, staring at him in anger, a single hand pressed to her lips. Upon reaching the wall, she drew herself up against it, using it's support to keep her standing. Calling upon strength she wasn't sure she really had, she closed her eyes, and silently pointed to the door.
"Get out," she whispered hoarsely. The whisper of silk and light footsteps signaled Naraku's compliance. As the door clicked shut, Kagome opened her eyes, tears trailing silently down her face as she stared at the ceiling above. Confusion whirled in her mind . . . but with his unbidden kiss had come a glimpse of clarity and sanity. Straightening from the wall, Kagome dropped into a kneeling position, and composed her mind.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
"Your plan does not appear to be working, Father," Kanna murmured. It was one of the few sentences Kanna had ever spoken . . . and she only ever spoke to him. He found it intriguing usually . . . when Kanna spoke, it was usually with importance. But after Kagome had recoiled from his kiss so harshly, he was in no mood to listen today.
"Be silent, Kanna. She is confused and vulnerable right now . . . soon she will come under my shadow . . . as long as Kikyo holds to her end of the bargain and takes the hanyou to hell with her."
"But she does not trust you, Father. May I suggest something that could help to win her trust?" At this, Naraku turned, his interest caught. Inclining his head, he listened to what his usually silent daughter had to suggest.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
InuYasha sighed as he brought Kikyo against him, his nose wrinkling in distaste at the smell of bones, clay, and old death. 'This is not Kikyo . . .' he reminded himself. 'It is a walking doll that only contains part of her soul . . . a soul that now rightly belongs to my mate.' He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around the figure in an intimate gesture.
"How long have you known of Kagome's betrayal of me, Kikyo?" he murmured, trying not to growl at the statement he knew was not true. He knew his mate . . . the two of them had been through more together than most could imagine, and it had created a bond of understanding and friendship between them long before their love had been acknowledged and consummated. Kagome would never betray him . . . and especially not with Naraku, who she despised almost as much as InuYasha himself did. As far as he knew, Naraku was the only person out of BOTH worlds that Kagome actually hated. For her sake, he would try to put Kikyo off guard and get as much information as he could.
"She has been unfaithful for a long time now . . . but I have only just discovered it. Naraku merely informed me that she was not to be harmed in any way . . . when I asked him why, he would not answer. It was not until he brought her back here, in his arms that I discovered the truth. Listen to me beloved, and believe . . . she was laughing and dancing at the trickery, watching as you went berserk with concern for her and finding it highly amusing. She only needed to bring you here, and open you up to his attack by making you careless . . . I had to warn you, my love. Come with me, before she destroy's you. Come with me to hell." InuYasha shivered in disgust as he felt her cool fingers tangle in the hair against his neck, his ears flattening with the sheer anger that surged through him at the audacity Kikyo was showing.
"Kagome would never do that!" Sango said angrily, stepping forward. Miroku stood silent, his eyes saying without words that he did not believe Kikyo either. Kikyo glanced up at them, her eyes darkening in anger that they would dare to interrupt her moment of triumph with their petty faith in their friend.
"You are unimportant. Be silent, and leave here with your life . . . what is left of it," Kikyo hissed. Turning, she raised her hands to cup InuYasha's face between them, pressing her cold lips softly to his. She drew back when she felt no response from him. "My beloved, do not worry about them . . . Naraku has Kagome now, and that is all he wanted . . . that, and the jewel shards. It is not your concern any longer . . . come." Power began to gather in iridescent strands as she summoned it to open the gateway to hell.
"Where are Naraku and Kagome now, my love?" InuYasha whispered, his eyes closing drowsily as the ground beneath them began to sink, a glow growing steadily around the embracing pair as Kikyo drew on more power.
"Naraku is in the throne room of course . . . my copy is in her room in the west wing, where she will not be disturbed . . . now, enough of her betrayal InuYasha . . . COME!" Her breath sped out in a shriek of rage as InuYasha drew back from her, his eyes open, alert . . . and glowing with an angry light. He drew back, and in a single, smooth motion, plunged his hand into the figure of the former miko, ignoring her shriek of anger and betrayal.
Slowly he withdrew his hand from her chest, his lips drawn back in a feral snarl as he removed the urn that contained the remains of the living Kikyo . . . the center and heart of the clay doll before him. Eyes the color of fresh spilled blood watched as the body began to disintegrate. The undead miko's eyes focused on him one last time, her lips forming the soundless question of "Why?"
"I am mated, Kikyo, and I trust in my mate," he whispered. "Let your soul now rest in peace." The undead miko's eyes widened one last time . . . and then the entire body disintegrated, the remaining dust whirling in a powerful vortex as blue balls of light shot out of what had once been the reanimated miko. One single ball remained, hovering near InuYasha hesitantly before settling over his heart . . . where it slowly faded into him. He gasped, feeling an unexpected warmth spread through him . . . and then he recognized what it was. It was the feeling he had when Kagome was with him, by his side.
"The piece of Kagome's soul . . ." he murmured, pressing a hand to his heart absently as he stared at the dust that was scattering even now. His head shot up as a new feeling came to him. He knew where Kagome was . . . he could sense her as clearly as if he had her in his sight.
"Come on . . ." he growled, shaking his stunned companions out of their daze. "Kagome is this way."
As the others walked off, Sesshoumaru turned to gaze one final time at the hole in the ground where some of Kikyo's ashes still drifted in the slight breeze.
"Finally, he has ended that part of his life and put it behind him . . ." he murmured, before turning to follow the fading outlines of the party into the drifting miasma.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
Kagome rose unhurriedly to her feet as the door opened silently, revealing Naraku standing still and quiet on the other side.
"May I come in?" he asked gently. Kagome nodded gracefully, gesturing for him to come into the room as she moved to be seated on the bed. Naraku came to her and knelt at her feet, his eyes solemn and intense as he met hers steadily. Reaching out, he took one of her hands, pressing something cold and hard into it before closing her fingers over it and releasing her. Kagome drew her hand back, opening the fist to find the glittering, incomplete ball of the Shikon Jewel resting there. Also in her hand was the necklace with her small vial of shards . . . a vial that appeared to be a few shards fuller than it had been the last time she had looked into it. She looked questioningly at Naraku, who smiled slightly before rising to his feet.
"The Shikon No Tama belongs in the hands of it's guardian miko . . ." he murmured, gazing thoughtfully down at her. "As you are it's guardian, I thought it best that you continue to hold onto it until we have all of it together. Then I can become human again . . . and perhaps we can both start anew." He turned to go, but was stopped by a gentle hand on his arm. He turned to find Kagome disturbingly closer to him than he had expected, her eyes wide and trusting as she gazed up at him.
"Thank you . . ." she murmured, her hand gently squeezing his arm. "Perhaps . . . perhaps you are right. I should have known InuYasha only wanted the jewel . . . but I was too blind with my childish love for him to see it. You . . . I think I can trust you, now." Reaching up, rising to her tiptoes, she lightly brushed her lips against his, her cheeks stained a delicate pink as she backed away. Maintaining his composure by a thin thread, Naraku merely nodded in reply before leaving the room. Once in the hall, he allowed a feral smile to emerge, his eyes turning crimson in the dim light.
"I have her now . . ." he hissed, and made his way to his throne room.
Behind him, in the room, Kagome gagged and tried not to vomit at her own acting and the necessity of kissing the fiend that had just left.
"I hope your plan works, Kikyo," she whispered, staring down at the jewel fragments in her hand. "This had better be worth THAT."
Shaking the jewel shards out of the bottle, she placed them in her hand with the incomplete ball of the jewel. Squeezing her hand tightly into a fist until she could feel the sharp edges of the shards biting into her flesh, she concentrated, summoning as much of her power as she could into that one area. Steadily, a glowing white ball grew to encompass her hand and the jewel within. Only when she felt the pain in her hand disappear did she let up and open the fist . . . to discover the fragments had merged into one. She studied the still incomplete jewel carefully, noting how much of it was still missing. Calling to mind the size of Kouga's three shards, she mentally compared what they would amount to with what was still missing . . . and came up somewhat lacking.
"So . . . he wishes me to think that he trusts me and that I should trust him . . . and yet he still keeps at least 6 shards on his person . . ." she murmured thoughtfully, her eyes solemn as she gazed at the Jewel. She raised her eyes to the door in silent contemplation of what was to come, then nodded decisively and walked steadily out of the room. It was time, and if Kikyo was right, everything would be over soon.
To Be Continued . . .
Author's End Note - well, what did you guys think? Did it live up to your expectations? I hope so : ) Next chapter coming early . . . I'm sure you're all just antsy with anticipation, eh?