Wolf
Part Thirteen: "Revelation"
by Vega
"Get offa me!" I screamed.
Kouga shifted slightly, but only to transfer the weight that was on his hands back so he could free them up to grab my wrists and haul them above my head. The wrenching hurt and I screamed, a sound rewarded by a sharp bite on my lower lip.
"Shut up, hanyou wench," he snapped. "I left no one is alive in this place to hear you."
I turned my head to the side and wriggled, trying to get free. "Kouga, please stop it. My Mom is hurt...!"
Above me Kouga sighed, and he sounded like he was a person trying to make a child understand something they could not - frustrated and amused and annoyed all at once. "That was the point, wench."
"Kouga, what's WRONG with you?"
The corner of his lips twitched upwards, revealing a sharply pointed fang, and I flinched backwards. For the briefest of seconds, his lovely blue eyes flashed crimson.
And then I KNEW.
"NARAKU!" I shrieked.
He smiled and nodded, laughing. "Didn't think you'd escape me so easily, girl? I told you - you are mine."
"Get off me!" I screamed again, ignoring the nauseating wave of deja vu.
Kouga's warm, familiar body was pressed down on me, not with kindness but with force. He was trying to scare me. I could see the red flickering behind his eyes - the wide and Cheshire grin that displayed his fangs was Naraku's.
I had seen it before, when he had been violating me, when he had been hurting me, when he had been at his worst, and enjoying every second of it. I lashed out with my leg, intending to nail him in the ribs, but Naraku's hand shot down and stopped me, pushing hard on my knee. I screamed in pain.
"Let him go," I whined, "Let Kouga go, and I'll do anything you want."
Naraku shook Kouga's head, and more of the blood on his face spattered onto mine. "There is nothing you could offer me that would make me give up such an advantageous body." He leaned in a kissed me again, and I gagged, tasting the blood on my lips, on my tongue.
I felt the tell-tale burning lump of tears in my throat and I forced them back. No, now was NOT the time to burst into tears. My mother needed me - Kouga needed me. And if Naraku got his hands on the last shard - which I know he must be after, or why else would he be here? - the whole WORLD would need my help. I couldn't just breakdown in a sobbing MESS.
Not this time.
I had to fight.
I screamed again, loud and long, shrill, knowing that it would hurt Kouga's sensitive ears. Naraku jerked backwards, clapping his hands to the sides of his head, like I hoped he would. I drew back and slugged the side of his face, and heard the popping of my fingers.
It hurt like a bitch, but it was just powerful enough to shock and knock him off balance. Mentally, I apologized to Kouga - but I couldn't afford to do anything half-way with Naraku in control. I wrenched one leg free, pressing the other downwards in an attempt for leverage, and aimed my heel at his nose.
I kicked but Naraku brought his hand up in time to catch the blow and twist my foot painfully to the side. I shrieked again as I felt my ankle heat up and make a sickening snapping sound. His hand then slid up my leg and pressed against my shorts.
"I can't sense the Shard in you anymore, hanyou," he hissed, leaning back down at me. I tried to sit up, but he pressed his free hand against one of my breasts and pushed me backwards until I was pinned against the mattress. I writhed but it was no use - it only made my ankle hurt worse. "But that doesn't mean it's not worth a try..."
I felt rather than saw his hand slide up over my pelvis to the waistband of my shorts, and heard the tearing of the cloth as he pulled it away. A pang of heat throbbed in my abdomen and I clenched my eyes shut.
Oh, God. Not again. Please...
I felt the hand on my breast squeeze once, then slip upwards to my throat, where it gripped momentarily, as if to remind me that there was enough strength there to crush my windpipe in an instant, them up to cover my mouth. He pressed on my jaw, forcing my head back, exposing the tender and sensitive flesh of my neck.
"This time," he said softly, and I could hear the musky rasp that Kouga always got in his voice when we had been kissing too much, the rasp that warned me that he was aroused. "This time, I think I'll make you enjoy it. What do you think about that?"
I tried to shake my head, the tears finally winning out and slipping down my temples and into my hair.
"You like this body," Naraku continued, and slid said body upwards, against me. I could feet the rough scratch of Kouga's sweater through my flimsy hospital gown, and beneath that, the hard warmth of his chest and hips. I moaned pitifully.
I liked Kouga's body all right. There was definitely nothing wrong with it, and I had had fantasies enough about the moment he hovered over me, tasting, nipping his way up my stomach and chest until his beautiful blue eyes met mine and he swept down to steal a kiss. But I did not think it wold be like this, a mad man in control of his strong and well toned limbs, the eyes boring into mine red and not blue.
I sobbed briefly. I could feel his hand below, teasing, trying to make my body yearn for him, for his intruding hand. It made me want to kill him. Slowly, more painfully than I ever would have before.
But could I kill him when he wore Kouga's face? When he kissed me with Kouga's lips? When it was Kouga's silky tail resting on my leg?
He was smiling, and I didn't know what to do.
And then suddenly I felt it - the flare of warmth in my tummy that I had mistaken for arousal... the power of the Shikon no Tama! Of COURSE!
I had used it to wish my mother and I into the past, despite it's not being in my body... why couldn't I use it to fight back this monster? Why couldn't I do what I had heard the Miko Kagome had done, and blast him to oblivion with the purifying power of the mystical gem?
But to do that, I would need time to concentrate - and for that, I would need to be distanced from Naraku's hands. I couldn't kick him off me, he was too strong and had my legs pinned. My fists would be useless against the youkai-hard skin of my Kouga.
I was down to my last option.
Once more apologizing to Kouga in my mind, I opened my mouth and kissed one of Naraku's fingers. He jumped slightly, then chuckled. "Little slut," he whispered, and I could hear the smile in his voice. As I was hoping he would, he pressed his fingers down, into my mouth. I sucked on them, laving them briefly with my tongue.
And then I bit down. Hard.
Naraku screamed and wrenched his hand out of my mouth, blood spraying in all directions. I had not severed the digits, my jaw wasn't that strong, but I had sharp hanyou teeth, and that had done damage enough. Naraku yanked himself away, cradling his hand, and I squirmed out from under him and ran for the door, the adrenaline giving me the strength to stand.
He caught me by the hair before I was halfway across the room and pulled me backwards, flinging me around and slamming me into the chair that Kouga always sat in. He crawled up onto the chair as well, pushing on my shoulder until I was horizontal on the seat, my legs dangling awkwardly over the side. He pressed himself and his burrowing hand between my legs once more, the other hand rising to his own mouth.
I watched with mild revulsion as he sucked the puncture wounds until I knew his mouth was full of blood. Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine and although I tried to turn away desperately, he managed to slip is tongue out between his lips and into my mouth. I gagged at the coppery taste and he let the blood trickle down his tongue and fill my mouth. I tried desperately to not swallow, but he pressed his injured hand against my adam's apple and I had no choice.
He removed his mouth and I could see the fresh gore trailing down his chin, the self-satisfied smile on his lips. I wanted to vomit, bu I couldn't. I was too scared. There was no way to escape him!
I screwed my eyes shut again and delved deep into my psyche - yes, there it as, the small pulsing magenta warmth. I grabbed onto it with all that I had, pulling my emotional and mental self away from my abused body.
Deep inside me I could see it, the small warm ball of pink glass that throbbed and pulsed with power. I cradled it to me, whispering to it, crying. "Help me," I said over and over again, "Please I know there's not a lot of you, but help me... help me save my mother... help me save the man I love..."
"The man you love is a youkai," I heard a strange and resonant female voice say beside me, and inside the darkness of my soul, I spun around in my mind to find a lovely young woman in archaic warrior's regalia and long black hair staring at me. She was surrounded with a shimmering magenta glow, and there was a deep hold in her chest, right above her heart. The hole was not bleeding, nor did it look like it pained her.
"Who are you?" I asked softly, ignoring the pain of the rape that I knew my body was feeling. I had to shut it out. I had to CONCENTRATE.
"My name is Midoriko," the woman said, and her voice was like a soft summer breeze. "And I am the mother of the Shikon no Tama."
"Mother," I echoed, confused.
"The Shikon no Tama was born from my body," she said, gesturing to her chest. I realized now that the hole must be where it had exploded outwards. I winced in sympathetic pain. "It's father was a demon I absorbed into myself to defeat. When it was evident that my physical form was too weak to contain us, I used my Miko powers to create the glass ball within my heart and trapped us both within to battle eternally. That is why the power of the Shikon no Tama can be used for both good and evil - using it for pure things, one draws upon my powers. Using it for impure things, one draws upon his."
"And the power to grant wishes?" I asked hesitantly, still clutching the circle of warmth to me.
"The is our power combined," Midoriko said softly.
I shook my head, still confused. "But why are you here, then? Inside of me? I thought Inu Yasha absorbed the Shikon no Tama – isn't it gone?"
"The Shikon no Tama cannot cease to exist," Midorkio replied, and it struck me how eerily still she was. Most people, when they stand still, at least sway a little - she did not. "It can only be reborn elsewhere."
With this she took a step forward and placed her hand flat against my abdomen, where I had always felt the warmth before.
"But...!" I insisted. "The Shards! They're gone!"
"The Shards you were born with, yes," Midoriko agreed, "But when you passed through time, the Shikon no Tama, which was also lingering in the realm of the unborn, latched onto you and returned to this realm of reality with you."
"Why me?!" I insisted.
"Because you are the descendant of Kagome," she said softly. "Who was the one to purify the Shikon no Tama at last and allow me to kill the gem's father and gain my freedom from it's crystal prison. It was also reborn in her."
"But then, why Kagome?"
"Because she is MY descendant."
I gapped openly at Midoriko, who only smiled back. "I understand that this is a lot to synthesize, Aisilin Volpe, but you do not have the time to dally. You mother needs your aid, and the longer you linger here, the more that the demon Naraku sinks his claws into your youkai lover. Which incidentally, I find amusing."
"Amusing?!" I snapped. "What's amusing about Naraku trying to take over Kouga's body!?"
Midoriko allowed herself a small chuckle, and I saw that her body was beginning to fade away. "It's amusing that the child of so many youkai taijiya is in love with her natural born prey."
"Kouga is different!" I insisted, even as I could begin to see through her.
She chuckled again, this time sounding rather breathy and hollow. "I did not say he was not. But you do not have much time - purify him. Harness the power of the Shikon no Tama within you and purify your Wolf Prince. It is the only way to drive out Naraku and destroy him for certain."
"Destroy him? Purify–! Wait! Tell me how to do that!"
"I cannot, Aisilin Volpe. Your soul will tell you how."
"Midoriko, wait!"
But she was already gone.
My soul would tell me how? I reached inside myself again, closing my hand over the pulsing magenta tama and whispered, "Okay. Purify him. I can do that."
Then I opened my eyes to reality.
Naraku was still on top of me. Without me knowing how, we had slid down onto the floor, and his eyes were on the crumpled body of my mother, even as he was thrusting into mine.
Instead of screaming in pain and panic, as I wished to, I placed my hands firmly over his biceps, which caused him to pause and look down at me. Sweat ran down his face is rivulets, mingling with the blood, dripping down onto my face.
"Get the HELL out of Kouga," I snarled, and the beginnings of a smile ghosted over his lips. He froze however, his eyebrows drawing downwards. He must have been able to feel the start of the power I was drawing into my hands. My soul would know, Midoriko had said, and this is what I knew: I wanted to shoot the bastard, and what better way that to mimic his own energy-throwing power. "Get out NOW, or else."
"Or else what?" he asked, but I could see the apprehension growing on his face.
I let loose a grin of my own, the one that I had learned from Uncle Sesshoumaru. It had the proper effect, and he scrambled backwards quickly, pulling out of me painfully, but I didn't care. He was off me and that's what was important.
And then I let it loose.
Naraku screamed, but I did not fear for Kouga as he was picked up bodily by the white and pink arcs of lighting fire and thrown into the wall opposite. I stood, still pouring on the power, then released it. I leaned against the bed heavily, panting. This was energy consuming! Already I felt more exhausted than I ever had been in the last half a year.
Naraku slid down the wall, and managed to land on his feet, but he too was panting and straining at something, his arms crossed over his belly as if tryign to keep hi innards from spilling out, even though there was no physical injury.
"Listen, fucktard," I said slowly and succinctly and behind Kouga's eyes I could see Naraku's flames licking upwards, "You're on my turf now and if you THINK that I'm going to let you hurt anyone around me every again, you've certainly got another thing coming."
I raised my hand, palms upwards, and a small glowing speck of magenta appeared, cradled between my fingers. Kouga's eyes widened.
"Oh, don't fucking tell me you're SURPRISED, Mr. I-Torture-People-Cause-It's-Fun. I'm descended from at LEAST three different Mikos, two taiyoukai princes, and let's not forget to mention, Midoriko herself. AND, in case you've gone and forgotten our little moment of intimacy, you jack, I once cradled and nurtured a part of the Shikon no Tama itself inside my own BODY." I grinned and I could see him swallow. Enough was enough. All this bullshit ended NOW. "You didn't REALLY think I couldn't manipulate it's power? You're a goddamned idiot."
Of course I wasn't telling him that it had chosen to be reborn inside of me. That would be pointless.
I pushed my hand towards him, palm first, cutting off any reply he would have made. Magenta light blasted out of me, channelled and directed by my arm in his direction. I could feel the warmth of the Shikon's power and protection being sucked out of the veins, but took solace in the knowledge that what felt like warmth leaving my body was like fire burning through his.
I wasn't breathing, however. I was holding my breath, concentrating on shoving every divine bit of me at his form, and eventually I had to cut off the feed again to regain my breath. Naraku, still in Kouga's body, lay spread-eagled, flat on his back, on the floor. His clothes were mostly burnt away, his hair and eyebrows singed.
I felt a pang of sweeping guilt for hurting Kouga, but his had to be done.
I bent over, panting, collecting my strength. When I was ready again I took a deep breath and raised my hand once more. I'd have to get it done this time, or I would fail. I didn't think I could rail the needed strength to go through this a fourth time - even for Kouga.
"...you... you'll kill him..." I heard Naraku's raspy voice whisper, and I paused. Kouga's head lifted minutely and I met his eyes - they were no longer Naraku's flames behind Kouga's electricity. His eyes were now a burning and vengeful red.
"No, I won't," I hissed. "I'm purifying his body, numbnuts, not killing the youkai. The only thing that's gonna die is you."
With that I took another deep breath and blasted the shit out of him.
~~~
I sat up suddenly and looked around, shocked.
Had I passed out?
On the floor across the room, nude and slightly crispy (but still intact) was Kouga. I crawled over to him, ignoring my swimming head - I must have held my breath so long I'd passed out - and lifted his head into my lap.
"Kouga?" I whispered, brushing his bangs off his soot-covered forehead.
His eyelids fluttered once, twice, and then opened. His gaze, when he looked up at me, was filled with warmth and gratitude, and was a lovely shimmering blue.
"Hey, cutie," he whispered, and his voice was harsh and broken sounding from his screams. Tears of pain collected in his lashes.
"Hey yourself."
"Nice shooting."
"Why, thank you."
Behind me I could hear my mother's groan as she began to stir, and was so relieved that everyone was all right, and that it was finally, FINALLY over, that I let myself cry.
~~~
Author's Notes:
Well, there you go! Naraku got his ass kicked, and painfully, too, so I hope that makes a lot of people happy.
I posted too fast to get a lot of review piled up, but I can answer these three.
AND, "Spider" is at review 99! Just ONE more...!
Reviews:
Skitzoflame: Madness? ENd? When I'm the author? NEVER! Kukukukuuu!
Lav: And ANOTHER chapter, no less! Welcome to my insanity.
sashlea: I would lvoe to have my name known threethousand years from now. Glad you're reading Across TIme. FINALLY! A review for it!
Part Thirteen: "Revelation"
by Vega
"Get offa me!" I screamed.
Kouga shifted slightly, but only to transfer the weight that was on his hands back so he could free them up to grab my wrists and haul them above my head. The wrenching hurt and I screamed, a sound rewarded by a sharp bite on my lower lip.
"Shut up, hanyou wench," he snapped. "I left no one is alive in this place to hear you."
I turned my head to the side and wriggled, trying to get free. "Kouga, please stop it. My Mom is hurt...!"
Above me Kouga sighed, and he sounded like he was a person trying to make a child understand something they could not - frustrated and amused and annoyed all at once. "That was the point, wench."
"Kouga, what's WRONG with you?"
The corner of his lips twitched upwards, revealing a sharply pointed fang, and I flinched backwards. For the briefest of seconds, his lovely blue eyes flashed crimson.
And then I KNEW.
"NARAKU!" I shrieked.
He smiled and nodded, laughing. "Didn't think you'd escape me so easily, girl? I told you - you are mine."
"Get off me!" I screamed again, ignoring the nauseating wave of deja vu.
Kouga's warm, familiar body was pressed down on me, not with kindness but with force. He was trying to scare me. I could see the red flickering behind his eyes - the wide and Cheshire grin that displayed his fangs was Naraku's.
I had seen it before, when he had been violating me, when he had been hurting me, when he had been at his worst, and enjoying every second of it. I lashed out with my leg, intending to nail him in the ribs, but Naraku's hand shot down and stopped me, pushing hard on my knee. I screamed in pain.
"Let him go," I whined, "Let Kouga go, and I'll do anything you want."
Naraku shook Kouga's head, and more of the blood on his face spattered onto mine. "There is nothing you could offer me that would make me give up such an advantageous body." He leaned in a kissed me again, and I gagged, tasting the blood on my lips, on my tongue.
I felt the tell-tale burning lump of tears in my throat and I forced them back. No, now was NOT the time to burst into tears. My mother needed me - Kouga needed me. And if Naraku got his hands on the last shard - which I know he must be after, or why else would he be here? - the whole WORLD would need my help. I couldn't just breakdown in a sobbing MESS.
Not this time.
I had to fight.
I screamed again, loud and long, shrill, knowing that it would hurt Kouga's sensitive ears. Naraku jerked backwards, clapping his hands to the sides of his head, like I hoped he would. I drew back and slugged the side of his face, and heard the popping of my fingers.
It hurt like a bitch, but it was just powerful enough to shock and knock him off balance. Mentally, I apologized to Kouga - but I couldn't afford to do anything half-way with Naraku in control. I wrenched one leg free, pressing the other downwards in an attempt for leverage, and aimed my heel at his nose.
I kicked but Naraku brought his hand up in time to catch the blow and twist my foot painfully to the side. I shrieked again as I felt my ankle heat up and make a sickening snapping sound. His hand then slid up my leg and pressed against my shorts.
"I can't sense the Shard in you anymore, hanyou," he hissed, leaning back down at me. I tried to sit up, but he pressed his free hand against one of my breasts and pushed me backwards until I was pinned against the mattress. I writhed but it was no use - it only made my ankle hurt worse. "But that doesn't mean it's not worth a try..."
I felt rather than saw his hand slide up over my pelvis to the waistband of my shorts, and heard the tearing of the cloth as he pulled it away. A pang of heat throbbed in my abdomen and I clenched my eyes shut.
Oh, God. Not again. Please...
I felt the hand on my breast squeeze once, then slip upwards to my throat, where it gripped momentarily, as if to remind me that there was enough strength there to crush my windpipe in an instant, them up to cover my mouth. He pressed on my jaw, forcing my head back, exposing the tender and sensitive flesh of my neck.
"This time," he said softly, and I could hear the musky rasp that Kouga always got in his voice when we had been kissing too much, the rasp that warned me that he was aroused. "This time, I think I'll make you enjoy it. What do you think about that?"
I tried to shake my head, the tears finally winning out and slipping down my temples and into my hair.
"You like this body," Naraku continued, and slid said body upwards, against me. I could feet the rough scratch of Kouga's sweater through my flimsy hospital gown, and beneath that, the hard warmth of his chest and hips. I moaned pitifully.
I liked Kouga's body all right. There was definitely nothing wrong with it, and I had had fantasies enough about the moment he hovered over me, tasting, nipping his way up my stomach and chest until his beautiful blue eyes met mine and he swept down to steal a kiss. But I did not think it wold be like this, a mad man in control of his strong and well toned limbs, the eyes boring into mine red and not blue.
I sobbed briefly. I could feel his hand below, teasing, trying to make my body yearn for him, for his intruding hand. It made me want to kill him. Slowly, more painfully than I ever would have before.
But could I kill him when he wore Kouga's face? When he kissed me with Kouga's lips? When it was Kouga's silky tail resting on my leg?
He was smiling, and I didn't know what to do.
And then suddenly I felt it - the flare of warmth in my tummy that I had mistaken for arousal... the power of the Shikon no Tama! Of COURSE!
I had used it to wish my mother and I into the past, despite it's not being in my body... why couldn't I use it to fight back this monster? Why couldn't I do what I had heard the Miko Kagome had done, and blast him to oblivion with the purifying power of the mystical gem?
But to do that, I would need time to concentrate - and for that, I would need to be distanced from Naraku's hands. I couldn't kick him off me, he was too strong and had my legs pinned. My fists would be useless against the youkai-hard skin of my Kouga.
I was down to my last option.
Once more apologizing to Kouga in my mind, I opened my mouth and kissed one of Naraku's fingers. He jumped slightly, then chuckled. "Little slut," he whispered, and I could hear the smile in his voice. As I was hoping he would, he pressed his fingers down, into my mouth. I sucked on them, laving them briefly with my tongue.
And then I bit down. Hard.
Naraku screamed and wrenched his hand out of my mouth, blood spraying in all directions. I had not severed the digits, my jaw wasn't that strong, but I had sharp hanyou teeth, and that had done damage enough. Naraku yanked himself away, cradling his hand, and I squirmed out from under him and ran for the door, the adrenaline giving me the strength to stand.
He caught me by the hair before I was halfway across the room and pulled me backwards, flinging me around and slamming me into the chair that Kouga always sat in. He crawled up onto the chair as well, pushing on my shoulder until I was horizontal on the seat, my legs dangling awkwardly over the side. He pressed himself and his burrowing hand between my legs once more, the other hand rising to his own mouth.
I watched with mild revulsion as he sucked the puncture wounds until I knew his mouth was full of blood. Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine and although I tried to turn away desperately, he managed to slip is tongue out between his lips and into my mouth. I gagged at the coppery taste and he let the blood trickle down his tongue and fill my mouth. I tried desperately to not swallow, but he pressed his injured hand against my adam's apple and I had no choice.
He removed his mouth and I could see the fresh gore trailing down his chin, the self-satisfied smile on his lips. I wanted to vomit, bu I couldn't. I was too scared. There was no way to escape him!
I screwed my eyes shut again and delved deep into my psyche - yes, there it as, the small pulsing magenta warmth. I grabbed onto it with all that I had, pulling my emotional and mental self away from my abused body.
Deep inside me I could see it, the small warm ball of pink glass that throbbed and pulsed with power. I cradled it to me, whispering to it, crying. "Help me," I said over and over again, "Please I know there's not a lot of you, but help me... help me save my mother... help me save the man I love..."
"The man you love is a youkai," I heard a strange and resonant female voice say beside me, and inside the darkness of my soul, I spun around in my mind to find a lovely young woman in archaic warrior's regalia and long black hair staring at me. She was surrounded with a shimmering magenta glow, and there was a deep hold in her chest, right above her heart. The hole was not bleeding, nor did it look like it pained her.
"Who are you?" I asked softly, ignoring the pain of the rape that I knew my body was feeling. I had to shut it out. I had to CONCENTRATE.
"My name is Midoriko," the woman said, and her voice was like a soft summer breeze. "And I am the mother of the Shikon no Tama."
"Mother," I echoed, confused.
"The Shikon no Tama was born from my body," she said, gesturing to her chest. I realized now that the hole must be where it had exploded outwards. I winced in sympathetic pain. "It's father was a demon I absorbed into myself to defeat. When it was evident that my physical form was too weak to contain us, I used my Miko powers to create the glass ball within my heart and trapped us both within to battle eternally. That is why the power of the Shikon no Tama can be used for both good and evil - using it for pure things, one draws upon my powers. Using it for impure things, one draws upon his."
"And the power to grant wishes?" I asked hesitantly, still clutching the circle of warmth to me.
"The is our power combined," Midoriko said softly.
I shook my head, still confused. "But why are you here, then? Inside of me? I thought Inu Yasha absorbed the Shikon no Tama – isn't it gone?"
"The Shikon no Tama cannot cease to exist," Midorkio replied, and it struck me how eerily still she was. Most people, when they stand still, at least sway a little - she did not. "It can only be reborn elsewhere."
With this she took a step forward and placed her hand flat against my abdomen, where I had always felt the warmth before.
"But...!" I insisted. "The Shards! They're gone!"
"The Shards you were born with, yes," Midoriko agreed, "But when you passed through time, the Shikon no Tama, which was also lingering in the realm of the unborn, latched onto you and returned to this realm of reality with you."
"Why me?!" I insisted.
"Because you are the descendant of Kagome," she said softly. "Who was the one to purify the Shikon no Tama at last and allow me to kill the gem's father and gain my freedom from it's crystal prison. It was also reborn in her."
"But then, why Kagome?"
"Because she is MY descendant."
I gapped openly at Midoriko, who only smiled back. "I understand that this is a lot to synthesize, Aisilin Volpe, but you do not have the time to dally. You mother needs your aid, and the longer you linger here, the more that the demon Naraku sinks his claws into your youkai lover. Which incidentally, I find amusing."
"Amusing?!" I snapped. "What's amusing about Naraku trying to take over Kouga's body!?"
Midoriko allowed herself a small chuckle, and I saw that her body was beginning to fade away. "It's amusing that the child of so many youkai taijiya is in love with her natural born prey."
"Kouga is different!" I insisted, even as I could begin to see through her.
She chuckled again, this time sounding rather breathy and hollow. "I did not say he was not. But you do not have much time - purify him. Harness the power of the Shikon no Tama within you and purify your Wolf Prince. It is the only way to drive out Naraku and destroy him for certain."
"Destroy him? Purify–! Wait! Tell me how to do that!"
"I cannot, Aisilin Volpe. Your soul will tell you how."
"Midoriko, wait!"
But she was already gone.
My soul would tell me how? I reached inside myself again, closing my hand over the pulsing magenta tama and whispered, "Okay. Purify him. I can do that."
Then I opened my eyes to reality.
Naraku was still on top of me. Without me knowing how, we had slid down onto the floor, and his eyes were on the crumpled body of my mother, even as he was thrusting into mine.
Instead of screaming in pain and panic, as I wished to, I placed my hands firmly over his biceps, which caused him to pause and look down at me. Sweat ran down his face is rivulets, mingling with the blood, dripping down onto my face.
"Get the HELL out of Kouga," I snarled, and the beginnings of a smile ghosted over his lips. He froze however, his eyebrows drawing downwards. He must have been able to feel the start of the power I was drawing into my hands. My soul would know, Midoriko had said, and this is what I knew: I wanted to shoot the bastard, and what better way that to mimic his own energy-throwing power. "Get out NOW, or else."
"Or else what?" he asked, but I could see the apprehension growing on his face.
I let loose a grin of my own, the one that I had learned from Uncle Sesshoumaru. It had the proper effect, and he scrambled backwards quickly, pulling out of me painfully, but I didn't care. He was off me and that's what was important.
And then I let it loose.
Naraku screamed, but I did not fear for Kouga as he was picked up bodily by the white and pink arcs of lighting fire and thrown into the wall opposite. I stood, still pouring on the power, then released it. I leaned against the bed heavily, panting. This was energy consuming! Already I felt more exhausted than I ever had been in the last half a year.
Naraku slid down the wall, and managed to land on his feet, but he too was panting and straining at something, his arms crossed over his belly as if tryign to keep hi innards from spilling out, even though there was no physical injury.
"Listen, fucktard," I said slowly and succinctly and behind Kouga's eyes I could see Naraku's flames licking upwards, "You're on my turf now and if you THINK that I'm going to let you hurt anyone around me every again, you've certainly got another thing coming."
I raised my hand, palms upwards, and a small glowing speck of magenta appeared, cradled between my fingers. Kouga's eyes widened.
"Oh, don't fucking tell me you're SURPRISED, Mr. I-Torture-People-Cause-It's-Fun. I'm descended from at LEAST three different Mikos, two taiyoukai princes, and let's not forget to mention, Midoriko herself. AND, in case you've gone and forgotten our little moment of intimacy, you jack, I once cradled and nurtured a part of the Shikon no Tama itself inside my own BODY." I grinned and I could see him swallow. Enough was enough. All this bullshit ended NOW. "You didn't REALLY think I couldn't manipulate it's power? You're a goddamned idiot."
Of course I wasn't telling him that it had chosen to be reborn inside of me. That would be pointless.
I pushed my hand towards him, palm first, cutting off any reply he would have made. Magenta light blasted out of me, channelled and directed by my arm in his direction. I could feel the warmth of the Shikon's power and protection being sucked out of the veins, but took solace in the knowledge that what felt like warmth leaving my body was like fire burning through his.
I wasn't breathing, however. I was holding my breath, concentrating on shoving every divine bit of me at his form, and eventually I had to cut off the feed again to regain my breath. Naraku, still in Kouga's body, lay spread-eagled, flat on his back, on the floor. His clothes were mostly burnt away, his hair and eyebrows singed.
I felt a pang of sweeping guilt for hurting Kouga, but his had to be done.
I bent over, panting, collecting my strength. When I was ready again I took a deep breath and raised my hand once more. I'd have to get it done this time, or I would fail. I didn't think I could rail the needed strength to go through this a fourth time - even for Kouga.
"...you... you'll kill him..." I heard Naraku's raspy voice whisper, and I paused. Kouga's head lifted minutely and I met his eyes - they were no longer Naraku's flames behind Kouga's electricity. His eyes were now a burning and vengeful red.
"No, I won't," I hissed. "I'm purifying his body, numbnuts, not killing the youkai. The only thing that's gonna die is you."
With that I took another deep breath and blasted the shit out of him.
~~~
I sat up suddenly and looked around, shocked.
Had I passed out?
On the floor across the room, nude and slightly crispy (but still intact) was Kouga. I crawled over to him, ignoring my swimming head - I must have held my breath so long I'd passed out - and lifted his head into my lap.
"Kouga?" I whispered, brushing his bangs off his soot-covered forehead.
His eyelids fluttered once, twice, and then opened. His gaze, when he looked up at me, was filled with warmth and gratitude, and was a lovely shimmering blue.
"Hey, cutie," he whispered, and his voice was harsh and broken sounding from his screams. Tears of pain collected in his lashes.
"Hey yourself."
"Nice shooting."
"Why, thank you."
Behind me I could hear my mother's groan as she began to stir, and was so relieved that everyone was all right, and that it was finally, FINALLY over, that I let myself cry.
~~~
Author's Notes:
Well, there you go! Naraku got his ass kicked, and painfully, too, so I hope that makes a lot of people happy.
I posted too fast to get a lot of review piled up, but I can answer these three.
AND, "Spider" is at review 99! Just ONE more...!
Reviews:
Skitzoflame: Madness? ENd? When I'm the author? NEVER! Kukukukuuu!
Lav: And ANOTHER chapter, no less! Welcome to my insanity.
sashlea: I would lvoe to have my name known threethousand years from now. Glad you're reading Across TIme. FINALLY! A review for it!