Disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters from InuYasha. They are all the property of Rumiko Takahashi and various other companies . . . but I thank them for the loan.



Author's Notes - Here you go guys and gals : ) As promised, another chapter of Starlight and Shadows, a week early : ) I know a few of you are reading this and dreading the end, as well as being anxious to see what I'm going to pull out of my sleeve . . . don't worry. We're not all that close to the end yet . . . I'm willing to say five or so more chapters, depending on how things come out. So be appeased . . . there is much more in store, and there may be a sequel.

At any rate, here is the next chapter, and sometime in this next week I will go through my reviews (there are so MANY! Thank you all for that) and get some reply's out, since I haven't done it in a very long time. So, if you have any questions or concerns, put them in your review and I'll get around to answering them. Later, for now : )



Chapter 24 - Playing for Keeps



InuYasha paused in mid step as the direction the 'sense' was leading him in suddenly changed. He stood a moment, considering the sudden change, and decided to go with it. At the next turn, he moved into the left corridor, towards the center of the castle, rather than going straight and continuing towards the western wing.

"InuYasha, Kikyo said . . ."

"I know what Kikyo said," he replied, cutting Miroku off in mid sentence. "I'm not following Kikyo's information . . . I'm following my instincts, and they're telling me to go this way. You got a problem with that monk, you can find your own damn way." Miroku's teeth clicked shut at the abrupt remark, and he glared silently at InuYasha's back until Sango lay a gentle hand on his arm.

"Be calm, Miroku. He's worried about Kagome . . . if he thinks we should go this way, then this is the way we should go. Beside, Kikyo was probably lying about where Kagome was as well as everything else." With an agitated sigh and a last irritated glance at the inu-hanyou's back, he nodded and smiled slightly at his love. She returned it gratefully, leaving her hand to rest on his arm as they continued to stalk through the corridors of the illusionary, yet all too real, castle that Naraku had created.

Behind them, Sesshoumaru merely shook his head at the besotted expressions on their faces. It was a good thing InuYasha and himself were on actual guard . . . those two would have been near useless as guards at this point. Finding himself once again drifting down the familiar pathways of his hatred of humans, he forcefully redirected his train of thought. Kagome was a good human, after all . . . and so was her mother, and little Rin. These two weren't so bad . . . if they would stop allowing their obvious adoration of each other to cloud their senses, they would be quite tolerable.

Raising a graceful hand to brush a stray lock of hair out of his eyes, he wondered again at InuYasha's sudden change of direction. Sesshoumaru could find no trace of Kagome down this hallway . . . the strength of the scent in the old hallway suggested that they had been going the right way. So why had InuYasha chosen to turn from retrieving his mate to this new path? They couldn't finish off Naraku without Kagome . . . Sesshoumaru was sure of that fact, at least. The young miko was powerful . . . and without her powers, the fight could well turn nasty, especially with Naraku's ability to absorb demons. Was he right to trust in his brother's judgement at the moment?

As if sensing his older half-brother's thoughts, InuYasha glanced back over his shoulder, meeting the youkai lord's golden gaze with his own amber one. Silently, Sesshoumaru conveyed his concern . . . and just as silently, InuYasha assured him he knew what he was doing. Shrugging elegantly, the elder inu youkai put aside his questions and followed the rest of the group. He'd come this far . . . what was the sense of turning around now?



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Kagome walked through the darkened corridors steadily, her feet guiding her as her mind went over what Kikyo had told her . . . and what the two of them had planned together. Naraku was far too strong for any external attack to destroy him . . .but an internal attack could just possibly do it once he was weakened and distracted. The biggest thing was . . . how was she going to get him to take the jewel into himself again?

Lost in thought, she did not realize she had reached the throne room until she was already inside the room . . . behind the throne itself. She halted her footsteps, pausing to get her bearings and figure out where everyone was. There was no sign of the clay doll Kikyo . . . which gave her pause for a moment. Was the walking doll with InuYasha?

She shook the thought from her head almost immediately. InuYasha would never deny her love and go to hell with Kikyo. She knew that and drew it about her like armor. She was his mate . . . he had chosen her, not the undead Kikyo, and no matter what Naraku had done to their link to make her think it no longer existed, she still had the knowledge of his love within her heart. Naraku could not change that. In her panic at being separated both physically and mentally from her mate, he had almost managed to sow the seeds of doubt . . . but they had been banished once she had talked with the spirit of Kikyo that came to her when she dreamed and meditated.

Her calm was broken when she heard a familiar voice shout across the room from in front of the throne, out of her direct line of sight.

"NARAKU! Where's Kagome?! Return my mate to me now!" InuYasha roared, his sword held at ready as he advanced into the room towards the fiend seated upon the throne.

"Lady Kagome has no wish to be returned to you, inu-hanyou. She has given herself to me, having realized on her own that you never cared for anything but the jewel." Kagome shuddered as she heard the absolute conviction in Naraku's voice. She only hoped InuYasha would forgive her for what she had to do.

Drawing in a deep breath to steady her nerves and her wits, Kagome stepped out from behind the throne. Immediately, silence blanketed the room as all of it's occupants stared at her sudden arrival.

"Beloved," she murmured to Naraku, seating herself at his feet, one hand resting possessively upon his knee, "I couldn't bear to be apart from you a moment longer. I needed your comforting presence . . . with HIM in the castle." She could almost feel the satisfied smile that crossed Naraku's lips, and she bit back the urge to retch at having to touch him. She had to convince him she was on his side now in order for this to work. She allowed herself one moment to shoot a pleading glance at her mate, begging him with her eyes to understand what she was up to and play along, hoping that he would interpret it correctly.



*-------*-------*-------*-------*



Sango, Miroku, InuYasha, and Sesshoumaru stared in silence as Kagome seated herself near Naraku, her side pressing into his leg, one hand draped over his knee in an intimate gesture of possessiveness.

"Kagome, you can't possibly have believed anything he said about InuYasha!" Sango cried, moving forward to pull Kagome away from the fiend upon the throne. The young miko shrank backwards, pressing into Naraku's legs, as Miroku grabbed Sango's arm and restrained her.

"Look at her, Sango . . . really look," Miroku whispered into her ear, his voice so low that none of the youkai in the room could catch more than a word or two. "She doesn't want to be there anymore than we want her there." Taking her beloved's advice, Sango turned her eyes back to Kagome. Examining her friend carefully, she could see no sign of what Miroku was talking about . . . until she looked into Kagome's eyes. They were filled with revulsion and sorrow . . . and determination. Unless she was interpreting what she was seeing wrong, Miroku was right . . . but what . . .? Miroku's voice broke into her thoughts. " She's up to something . . . I only hope InuYasha sees that as well." He broke off as Kagome replied to Sango's accusation.

"He made me see the truth, Sango. InuYasha has never cared about me . . . heavens, he's never cared about any of us outside of our usefulness in retrieving the jewel shards for him. Didn't you ever wonder about it too, Sango? Why a solitary hanyou who snapped at anyone who got to close to him could suddenly stand to travel with and exist side by side with a group of humans? And then there is my own personal feelings . . . I can't begin to recall the nights I fell asleep crying because I KNEW he would never love me . . . he only wanted me around because I could detect the shards, and because I looked like his beloved, long lost Kikyo! Don't you see . . . it was never about me, he was just binding me closer to him so I could never leave him! Especially not after I discovered the truth!"

Inwardly, she cringed at her own words, shooting a helpless and apologetic glance towards the object of her rant worriedly. She could feel Naraku becoming more smug and self assured by the minute . . . a few minutes more, and she would be able to get him to accept the jewel again without a second thought. She only hoped that those few minutes wouldn't irreparably damage the remainder of her life with InuYasha . . . if they survived this.

InuYasha stood still as stone, letting Kagome's words wash over him. He felt his rage rising in angry waves of hot emotion . . . but beneath it was a pool of calm that surprised him. He reached for it, even as his eyes began to bleed to red and his cheeks were stained with the lilac stripes of his youkai blood coming out in full force . . . and found it to be that part of Kagome's spirit that resided within him. It reached out to him, enfolding him in that calm, keeping the raging beast that was his youkai half in check and keeping his mind his own. He breathed in deeply, exhaling slowly as it came to him . . . Kagome wasn't saying these things because she believed them . . . she had a plan, and for it to work, she needed Naraku's trust. The red faded, as did his stripes, as he regained mastery over himself with that discovery.

He focused more firmly on his mate, examining her as Sango had done. Her body language radiated the truth of her words . . . but her scent did not. He came to her eyes and caught the glance that confirmed that she was acting for Naraku's benefit. His anger cooled, replaced with calm clarity of purpose. Whatever it was she had planned, he would play along.

"Kagome . . . I love you, I always have," he said, stepping towards her with a hand outstretched. "I was a fool to call you a shard detector only . . . I know that now. Please, Kagome . . . you have to believe me! We TRUST each other!" He saw her eyes widen slightly at the verbal clue that he knew what she was up to and trusted her, and sighed mentally in relief. Then he winced at her next words . . . even though he knew she didn't believe them, they still stung, for once they had been a truth, of sorts.

"You were always comparing me to Kikyo . . . 'Kikyo was smarter than you' 'Kikyo was braver than you' 'Kikyo was a better miko than you'! You didn't love me, you loved HER! I was a fool to believe you!" Kagome had stood in anger now, her body shaking with the force of her 'conviction'. In reality, Kagome was shaking with the strain of having to remain so close to such a source of evil. Her miko powers were rebelling physically now, and she was straining to control them. Turning from InuYasha, she held her hand out, open palmed, to Naraku. Within that palm lay the glittering, nearly complete Shikon No Tama.

"Please, my love . . . I can take no more of this. Take the jewel . . . and finish him, I beg you. Put this farce to an end." She did not struggle as Naraku took the jewel from her, pressing it to his heart before he stood and embraced her in a loving kiss.

"I will end your suffering by destroying him, my beautiful one," Naraku murmured, before releasing her to face off against InuYasha.

InuYasha had watched the exchange in silence, fighting to control that part of him that told him to rip Naraku's arms off for daring to touch his mate. He exchanged a glance with his brother, gesturing with his eyes that Sesshoumaru should retrieve Kagome. A subtle nod from the youkai lord was his answer, and together as always, the band spread out to do battle for the last time.



To Be Continued



Author's Notes Again - Well, we're into the final battle . . . not sure how well I'm going to do with the battle scene . . . it's not just one on one, so I'll give it my best shot. I'll see you guys in two weeks . . . and at least it's not a really big cliffy, right?