Final Distance
By: DemonSaya
Disclaimer: Okay, I dun own any of these characters, I'm borrowing them, and I promised that I'd return them. Well...I promised because Inuyasha's rather mad that I kidnapped them for awhile and I'm afraid he may pull out his sword and demolish me...Please don't sue me, I already have a pmsing adolescent half-demon to deal with!
Policy on Flamers: Give me Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease, and I shall give you the same. If you don't, I know lots of assassins, thieves, demons, and goddesses, that would love to hurt you if I told them you flamed ^_^
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Chapter 4-Old Enemy, New Friend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They stayed home until the next morning, when Kagome told her mother it was absolutely necessary that she and Inuyasha get called in sick. A quick discussion later, they were out the door, Kagome equipped with a cross bow she'd recieved from Inuyasha for Christmas a year ago. Not the most romantic gift, perhaps, but considering their lives, a practical one.
That particular year, she'd broken her old bow.
Inuyasha had his sword strapped to his back, the hilt having been repaired on their last visit to Sengoku Jidai. The once very damaged hilt was now suitable for a real katana. Kagome never really got him anything for his sword, not that she could, since it WAS a demonic sword, and it wasn't like other's.
They walked along the street, Kagome's weapon concealed in a shopping bag. It had a dart already loaded in it. Silently, she hoped this year, Inuyasha got her something more romantic. She knew it wasn't his strong suit, but she could hope.
Despite her light-hearted banter with him as they walked along the street, trying not to be thought strangely of, trying to make it look like there was nothing wrong, their hearts were serious, and somewhat grim.
Their last fight against Naraku had not been pleasant.
Now add Kagome's little brother into the mix, and you officially have hell.
As they walked along side by side, Inuyasha sensed Kagome's ever growing concern. Gently, he reached out, wrapping his hand around hers. "Don't worry, Kagome. We'll get him back." He said softly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
"I know, Inuyasha, but I can't help but be afraid. He's still a child, Inuyasha..."
"He's as old as you were when it all began." The hanyou grinned towards her, till he saw the now grim expression on her face. "Don't you trust me?"
"I trust you the most. But I remember the last time. I remember like it was yesterday, even though it's been over three years now. I'm afraid for him." She sighed, hugging herself.
He stopped, pulling her into his arms. "Don't worry, Kagome. I wont let anything happen to Souta." He murmured into her hair, stroking her back. "We'll get him back, I promise."
She buried her face into his shoulder, fisting her hands into his shirt. "I can't help it, Inuyasha. He's my baby brother...if anything happens to him..."
"Nothing will. Naraku may have a form, now, but it's human, and humans have morals..." Gently, he coaxed her face up, smiling at her tenderly. "It's different now, Kagome, and Souta's a tough kid...like his sister..." He added, giving her nose a thump. "Ne?"
She nodded, inhaling deeply. He was right. Her brother wasn't the wimp he'd once been. He'd matured into a young man in three years and was ready to start developing the powers that were now emerging. This was the first hurdle only. Something told her that it was going to be all uphill for awhile.
* * *
Souta looked at his captor, his expression exasperated rather than fearful. He wasn't frightened. He was pissed. It wasn't that he was loosing the normalcy that he'd had-that left three years ago when his sister was pulled through the enchanted well. It wasn't even that he was being used to get his sister and Inuyasha here.
He'd been there for almost six hours, but that wasn't it, either.
He was getting hungry.
He'd learned long ago that when he got hungry, he got cranky, which was a trait he shared with his sister.
To add to his irritation, he'd been watching his captor argue with himself since he'd been kidnapped.
"I don't want to hurt her! She's a good person, and she doesn't treat me like crap. If you want me to kill mom, sure, but Higurashi? What for?!" Then, his voice would change, going all deep and scary. "I told you, she is my enemy. She is the one who killed me. Now, let me take over, and kill her and the brat."
"Ano..." Souta finally interrupted, his eyes closed, his temple throbbing. "I'm hungry." He said evenly when he had the boys attention.
Maikeru got up, moving as it to go get him some food, while his mouth was talking in that deep voice again. "What are you doing?! You don't feed a prisoner, you idiot!!"
Souta looked at the boy strangely. "Inner conflict?" He asked, cracking a wide grin.
Maikeru looked towards him in surprise. "Huh?"
"You've been arguing with yourself for six hours. Either you've got multiple personalities, or you've got one hell of an inner conflict going on. I've seen my sister argue with herself for three hours straight...but that was before Inuyasha came to live with us."
Maikeru sat down, looking at the boy intently. He grabbed a pack of cookies and handed it to him. "Tell me about them."
Souta blinked in surprise, catching the cookies. "Not much to tell. I guess Kagome's the best older sister anyone could have. She's not weak, but she's not exceptionally strong. She thinks alot, and she's pretty clever. She's also got a helluva lot of power. It's kinda wierd. She glows when she's happy."
"Glows...?"
"Yeah, three years ago, her spiritual powers peaked, causing some rather interesting side effects. She's a priestess, and from what Inuyasha says, a really powerful one."
"And this...Inuyasha?"
"He's a hanyou. Kagome met him three and a half years ago, I guess, and they've been together since then. About five months after they met, they started getting mushy." Souta paused long enough to roll his eyes. "Love stuff, ya know. Anyways, he's been my hero for as long as I can remember, and as cool a guy as they come. My sis says he's got a foul temper though."
Maikeru ignored Naraku's voice while thinking of this new information. The pair seemed like generally good people, so why would Naraku hate them so much. Or was it possible that Naraku was the bad guy?
Naraku was getting annoyed, so while Maikeru was thinking, he gathered strength from the boy's aura and forced the boy's spirit down, while taking it's place. This was going to be too easy...
* * *
Inuyasha busted down the door to the room to find Souta laying in the corner, in pretty bad shape, with their classmate, Maikeru standing over him. "NARAKU!!!" He snarled, lunging towards the boy, his hands fisted. If anything happened to that kid, Inuyasha was going to tear him limb from limb...
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called. "Remember, he's a human, and Maikeru's spirit may still be in there!!!"
"Okay, then I'll just beat him up a bit...Check on Souta..." He muttered, then lunged for Maikeru, intent to severely maim in his eyes.
Kagome rushed towards her brother, kneeling beside him. "Souta, daijoubu?!" She whispered, lifting his face and crying out in shock. He was unconscious, and there were bruises from his hairline down to his collar. "Oh, Souta..." She whispered, her eyes tearing up.
Inuyasha, who'd paused in his fighting, glanced back towards Kagome. When he saw what had happened to Souta, rage filled him. A snarl tore from his throat. "TEME!"
Naraku smiled wickedly. Lifting one hand, he knocked Inuyasha aside, then lunged for Kagome, hands going around her neck.
Kagome gasped for air, struggling against her possessed classmate, her eyes never leaving his. Just as her world was about to go dark, the pressure was gone.
"NO!!!" Maikeru cried. "I CAN'T DO IT!" He staggered away from them both. "I can't kill her...I wont, Naraku, you can't make me do this..."
Inside his head, he heard Naraku telling him to give in, but shook his head vehemently. "No..." He whispered. "Naraku...Get out..."
In the next moments, Naraku went from his comfortable human body, to the outside world in less than a second, and even more of his strength was gone. With an outraged cry, he vanished.
Maikeru collapsed.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha had run towards Kagome, prepared to fend off Naraku if he came in for seconds. When he determined the demon was gone, by useage of his powerful nose, he turned to Kagome, checking on her throat.
Kagome held her hand over it, taking in gulps of air. She kept one hand resting on Souta's head, stroking his hair.
"Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered, coaxing her hand away so he could see the bruises. His jaw clenched upon seeing the marks and he glared at Maikeru. "Teme..." He growled.
Souta groaned, opening his eyes, and peering out of the one that wasn't swollen shut. "Kagome-oneechan?" He asked quietly, wincing as he sat up. He glanced around, seeing his captor on the ground, and Inuyasha looking fit to kill.
Kagome embraced her brother carefully. "Souta!" She whispered, overjoyed.
"Ite! Kagome, go easy on the ribs!" He grumbled, pulling away and rubbing his sides. "I think I'm one big bruise." He glanced towards Maikeru, his eyes frowning. "Is he alright?"
"He wont be once I'm done with him..." Inuyasha snarled, cracking his claws. His mind was a sea of red. All he could think was that this mortal bastard had hurt his girl. He pushed himself to his feet, stalking towards the boy.
"Inuyasha-" Kagome interjected.
Inuyasha silenced her with a deep growl. "He hurt you. He kidnapped your brother and almost killed him." He glanced back at her. "He would have killed you too."
"It wasn't him." Souta said softly, looking towards the unconscious boy. "He was being manipulated."
"A DEMON CAN ONLY POSSESS A HUMAN WITH PERMISSION!" Inuyasha was almost beyond reason. He wanted to tear the brat limb from limb. Kagome got hurt. He hurt Kagome. He had to die or he'd come back and kill her!
"Inuyasha..." Kagome rested a hand on his arm. "I'm fine. Stop it or I'll use the word, I promise." She saw the fury in his eyes and tightened her grasp.
"But he-"
She went between her boyfriend and the boy laying on the ground. "He could have, but he didn't. He forced Naraku out of his body so he wouldn't be forced to hurt me." She lifted a hand, touching his face. "It may not be his fault, let's hear what happened."
Inuyasha tried to find an excuse to stay angry, but he knew she was right. "Fine..." He growled, glaring away. "But we tie him up FIRST."
Kagome nodded shortly, and they used the rope that had been tying Souta to tie up Maikeru. Inuyasha was glaring at the boy from where he'd chosen to sit, while Kagome checked on Souta. The demon heard several shocked gasps and more than a few angry ones. "Is he okay?"
Souta gave his sister and smiled. "I'm okay, sis...honest..."
"But...but..." She looked at the bruises covering his abdomon, tears filling her eyes. She wrapped her brother in a tender embrace, pressing her face against his shoulder. "Oh, Souta..." She whispered.
Inuyasha chose to look back at their captive, giving them a little privacy, since the boy's eyes were tearing up, too. His eyes widened when he realized he was being looked at by the human boy. "Teme..." He growled.
"Is Kagome-san okay?" He asked, his eyes somewhat concerned. "Is Souta- san okay?"
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "They're fine, no thanks to you." He growled. "What the fuck happened here?!"
Kagome scooted to Inuyasha's side, bringing Souta with her. "What happened, Maikeru-kun?" Kagome asked quietly, her voice slightly raspy.
The boy closed his eyes. "I...I didn't know this would happen. I didn't know he would go as far as to use me to kill. I thought it was a silly grudge. It seemed like a dream come true to me..." He laughed bitterly.
Kagome felt Inuyasha put a protective arm around her and gave his hand a squeeze, tellng him she was really okay.
Maikeru forced himself into a sitting position, his face miserable. "I was terminally ill, I was dying of cancer..." He said softly. "Naraku offered me a chance of a full recovery, a chance to make my family miserable. I actually convinced myself they wanted me to die." He closed his eyes tightly, his face angry. "I was willing to go along with giving him a body, if he'd let me live on...but then I started noticing his thoughts, and found that when he was distracted, I could slip in and take control of my own body again, but because it was seeped in his powers, my cancer died away..." He lifted his face. "But he's stronger than me, he was managing to push me away bit by bit..."
Souta frowned a bit. "Where is he now?"
Inuyasha answered before Maikeru could. "Gone. His scent is gone completely, but..." He pointed at the trussed up boy. "You're still emitting Youki, meaning that some of his powers touched your soul, and you're partially demon now." He glanced towards Kagome. "Do you think it's a good idea to trust him?"
She looked towards Inuyasha and nodded a bit. "Perhaps I trust too easily, but I'm usually a god judge of character. I don't sense Naraku here anymore. Perhaps he's finally moved on, but I don't think so. I suspect he's going to wait for another body." She sighed. "I guess we'll have to be careful from now on, especially you, Souta." She chastized softly. "You're going to have to begin to fingerprint demons."
"Fingerprint?"
"I'll explain later." She said wearily.
"Is...there anything I can do..." Maikeru asked timidly. "To get you all to forgive me for being an idiot?"
Inuyasha made a rude sound, getting to his feet. "Keh. Naraku plays mind games on everyone. What makes you so special that you get forgiven?" He glared at the boy for a long moment. "Everyone screws up sometimes. If I had to ask for forgiveness for every stupid thing I've ever done, I'd be at it for hours, each day. All you can do is get over it and not let it happen again."
Kagome looked at her boyfriend in surprise. She hadn't heard him say anything quite as profound recently. It had been a long time since he'd said anything quite like that. She smiled, cutting the ropes binding Maikeru. "You don't need to repent to us. Just be our friend, and everything will be fine. You may be a great help with those lingering powers remaining from Naraku."
His eyes lit up, shimmering. "R-right! I'll help you guys from now on! Maybe you can teach me how to use these and not waste them!" He suggested, his entire demenor like an excited kid.
Kagome sighed. "I think while I'm teaching Souta, we should call over Shippou and the others, and have them help..." She said blandly, then they began to file out of the room.
But as they exited, Souta felt something grip him, whispering in his ears in words he couldn't quite grasp, speaking in a language he couldn't quite understand. He paused, glancing back into the room, and a vision swept into his vision, but left him as quickly. As he tried to grasp it, it slipped through his hands like water, leaving him shaken and disoriented.
"Souta?" Kagome asked, glancing back at him.
"Um..." Souta glanced back towards her. "Sorry..." He hurried to catch up, wondering what had just happened.
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End Chapter 4
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Author's Notes: Hmmm...No, this isn't the official end of Naraku. I still have plans for his evil little spirit. Maikeru is cool from here on out, and enjoy next chapter. Coming Soon: Young Love and a New Moon-Meet Hikari, Kagome's first disciple, and enjoy the events on Kagome and Inuyasha's first date...
Disclaimer: Okay, I dun own any of these characters, I'm borrowing them, and I promised that I'd return them. Well...I promised because Inuyasha's rather mad that I kidnapped them for awhile and I'm afraid he may pull out his sword and demolish me...Please don't sue me, I already have a pmsing adolescent half-demon to deal with!
Policy on Flamers: Give me Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease, and I shall give you the same. If you don't, I know lots of assassins, thieves, demons, and goddesses, that would love to hurt you if I told them you flamed ^_^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 4-Old Enemy, New Friend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They stayed home until the next morning, when Kagome told her mother it was absolutely necessary that she and Inuyasha get called in sick. A quick discussion later, they were out the door, Kagome equipped with a cross bow she'd recieved from Inuyasha for Christmas a year ago. Not the most romantic gift, perhaps, but considering their lives, a practical one.
That particular year, she'd broken her old bow.
Inuyasha had his sword strapped to his back, the hilt having been repaired on their last visit to Sengoku Jidai. The once very damaged hilt was now suitable for a real katana. Kagome never really got him anything for his sword, not that she could, since it WAS a demonic sword, and it wasn't like other's.
They walked along the street, Kagome's weapon concealed in a shopping bag. It had a dart already loaded in it. Silently, she hoped this year, Inuyasha got her something more romantic. She knew it wasn't his strong suit, but she could hope.
Despite her light-hearted banter with him as they walked along the street, trying not to be thought strangely of, trying to make it look like there was nothing wrong, their hearts were serious, and somewhat grim.
Their last fight against Naraku had not been pleasant.
Now add Kagome's little brother into the mix, and you officially have hell.
As they walked along side by side, Inuyasha sensed Kagome's ever growing concern. Gently, he reached out, wrapping his hand around hers. "Don't worry, Kagome. We'll get him back." He said softly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
"I know, Inuyasha, but I can't help but be afraid. He's still a child, Inuyasha..."
"He's as old as you were when it all began." The hanyou grinned towards her, till he saw the now grim expression on her face. "Don't you trust me?"
"I trust you the most. But I remember the last time. I remember like it was yesterday, even though it's been over three years now. I'm afraid for him." She sighed, hugging herself.
He stopped, pulling her into his arms. "Don't worry, Kagome. I wont let anything happen to Souta." He murmured into her hair, stroking her back. "We'll get him back, I promise."
She buried her face into his shoulder, fisting her hands into his shirt. "I can't help it, Inuyasha. He's my baby brother...if anything happens to him..."
"Nothing will. Naraku may have a form, now, but it's human, and humans have morals..." Gently, he coaxed her face up, smiling at her tenderly. "It's different now, Kagome, and Souta's a tough kid...like his sister..." He added, giving her nose a thump. "Ne?"
She nodded, inhaling deeply. He was right. Her brother wasn't the wimp he'd once been. He'd matured into a young man in three years and was ready to start developing the powers that were now emerging. This was the first hurdle only. Something told her that it was going to be all uphill for awhile.
* * *
Souta looked at his captor, his expression exasperated rather than fearful. He wasn't frightened. He was pissed. It wasn't that he was loosing the normalcy that he'd had-that left three years ago when his sister was pulled through the enchanted well. It wasn't even that he was being used to get his sister and Inuyasha here.
He'd been there for almost six hours, but that wasn't it, either.
He was getting hungry.
He'd learned long ago that when he got hungry, he got cranky, which was a trait he shared with his sister.
To add to his irritation, he'd been watching his captor argue with himself since he'd been kidnapped.
"I don't want to hurt her! She's a good person, and she doesn't treat me like crap. If you want me to kill mom, sure, but Higurashi? What for?!" Then, his voice would change, going all deep and scary. "I told you, she is my enemy. She is the one who killed me. Now, let me take over, and kill her and the brat."
"Ano..." Souta finally interrupted, his eyes closed, his temple throbbing. "I'm hungry." He said evenly when he had the boys attention.
Maikeru got up, moving as it to go get him some food, while his mouth was talking in that deep voice again. "What are you doing?! You don't feed a prisoner, you idiot!!"
Souta looked at the boy strangely. "Inner conflict?" He asked, cracking a wide grin.
Maikeru looked towards him in surprise. "Huh?"
"You've been arguing with yourself for six hours. Either you've got multiple personalities, or you've got one hell of an inner conflict going on. I've seen my sister argue with herself for three hours straight...but that was before Inuyasha came to live with us."
Maikeru sat down, looking at the boy intently. He grabbed a pack of cookies and handed it to him. "Tell me about them."
Souta blinked in surprise, catching the cookies. "Not much to tell. I guess Kagome's the best older sister anyone could have. She's not weak, but she's not exceptionally strong. She thinks alot, and she's pretty clever. She's also got a helluva lot of power. It's kinda wierd. She glows when she's happy."
"Glows...?"
"Yeah, three years ago, her spiritual powers peaked, causing some rather interesting side effects. She's a priestess, and from what Inuyasha says, a really powerful one."
"And this...Inuyasha?"
"He's a hanyou. Kagome met him three and a half years ago, I guess, and they've been together since then. About five months after they met, they started getting mushy." Souta paused long enough to roll his eyes. "Love stuff, ya know. Anyways, he's been my hero for as long as I can remember, and as cool a guy as they come. My sis says he's got a foul temper though."
Maikeru ignored Naraku's voice while thinking of this new information. The pair seemed like generally good people, so why would Naraku hate them so much. Or was it possible that Naraku was the bad guy?
Naraku was getting annoyed, so while Maikeru was thinking, he gathered strength from the boy's aura and forced the boy's spirit down, while taking it's place. This was going to be too easy...
* * *
Inuyasha busted down the door to the room to find Souta laying in the corner, in pretty bad shape, with their classmate, Maikeru standing over him. "NARAKU!!!" He snarled, lunging towards the boy, his hands fisted. If anything happened to that kid, Inuyasha was going to tear him limb from limb...
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called. "Remember, he's a human, and Maikeru's spirit may still be in there!!!"
"Okay, then I'll just beat him up a bit...Check on Souta..." He muttered, then lunged for Maikeru, intent to severely maim in his eyes.
Kagome rushed towards her brother, kneeling beside him. "Souta, daijoubu?!" She whispered, lifting his face and crying out in shock. He was unconscious, and there were bruises from his hairline down to his collar. "Oh, Souta..." She whispered, her eyes tearing up.
Inuyasha, who'd paused in his fighting, glanced back towards Kagome. When he saw what had happened to Souta, rage filled him. A snarl tore from his throat. "TEME!"
Naraku smiled wickedly. Lifting one hand, he knocked Inuyasha aside, then lunged for Kagome, hands going around her neck.
Kagome gasped for air, struggling against her possessed classmate, her eyes never leaving his. Just as her world was about to go dark, the pressure was gone.
"NO!!!" Maikeru cried. "I CAN'T DO IT!" He staggered away from them both. "I can't kill her...I wont, Naraku, you can't make me do this..."
Inside his head, he heard Naraku telling him to give in, but shook his head vehemently. "No..." He whispered. "Naraku...Get out..."
In the next moments, Naraku went from his comfortable human body, to the outside world in less than a second, and even more of his strength was gone. With an outraged cry, he vanished.
Maikeru collapsed.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha had run towards Kagome, prepared to fend off Naraku if he came in for seconds. When he determined the demon was gone, by useage of his powerful nose, he turned to Kagome, checking on her throat.
Kagome held her hand over it, taking in gulps of air. She kept one hand resting on Souta's head, stroking his hair.
"Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered, coaxing her hand away so he could see the bruises. His jaw clenched upon seeing the marks and he glared at Maikeru. "Teme..." He growled.
Souta groaned, opening his eyes, and peering out of the one that wasn't swollen shut. "Kagome-oneechan?" He asked quietly, wincing as he sat up. He glanced around, seeing his captor on the ground, and Inuyasha looking fit to kill.
Kagome embraced her brother carefully. "Souta!" She whispered, overjoyed.
"Ite! Kagome, go easy on the ribs!" He grumbled, pulling away and rubbing his sides. "I think I'm one big bruise." He glanced towards Maikeru, his eyes frowning. "Is he alright?"
"He wont be once I'm done with him..." Inuyasha snarled, cracking his claws. His mind was a sea of red. All he could think was that this mortal bastard had hurt his girl. He pushed himself to his feet, stalking towards the boy.
"Inuyasha-" Kagome interjected.
Inuyasha silenced her with a deep growl. "He hurt you. He kidnapped your brother and almost killed him." He glanced back at her. "He would have killed you too."
"It wasn't him." Souta said softly, looking towards the unconscious boy. "He was being manipulated."
"A DEMON CAN ONLY POSSESS A HUMAN WITH PERMISSION!" Inuyasha was almost beyond reason. He wanted to tear the brat limb from limb. Kagome got hurt. He hurt Kagome. He had to die or he'd come back and kill her!
"Inuyasha..." Kagome rested a hand on his arm. "I'm fine. Stop it or I'll use the word, I promise." She saw the fury in his eyes and tightened her grasp.
"But he-"
She went between her boyfriend and the boy laying on the ground. "He could have, but he didn't. He forced Naraku out of his body so he wouldn't be forced to hurt me." She lifted a hand, touching his face. "It may not be his fault, let's hear what happened."
Inuyasha tried to find an excuse to stay angry, but he knew she was right. "Fine..." He growled, glaring away. "But we tie him up FIRST."
Kagome nodded shortly, and they used the rope that had been tying Souta to tie up Maikeru. Inuyasha was glaring at the boy from where he'd chosen to sit, while Kagome checked on Souta. The demon heard several shocked gasps and more than a few angry ones. "Is he okay?"
Souta gave his sister and smiled. "I'm okay, sis...honest..."
"But...but..." She looked at the bruises covering his abdomon, tears filling her eyes. She wrapped her brother in a tender embrace, pressing her face against his shoulder. "Oh, Souta..." She whispered.
Inuyasha chose to look back at their captive, giving them a little privacy, since the boy's eyes were tearing up, too. His eyes widened when he realized he was being looked at by the human boy. "Teme..." He growled.
"Is Kagome-san okay?" He asked, his eyes somewhat concerned. "Is Souta- san okay?"
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "They're fine, no thanks to you." He growled. "What the fuck happened here?!"
Kagome scooted to Inuyasha's side, bringing Souta with her. "What happened, Maikeru-kun?" Kagome asked quietly, her voice slightly raspy.
The boy closed his eyes. "I...I didn't know this would happen. I didn't know he would go as far as to use me to kill. I thought it was a silly grudge. It seemed like a dream come true to me..." He laughed bitterly.
Kagome felt Inuyasha put a protective arm around her and gave his hand a squeeze, tellng him she was really okay.
Maikeru forced himself into a sitting position, his face miserable. "I was terminally ill, I was dying of cancer..." He said softly. "Naraku offered me a chance of a full recovery, a chance to make my family miserable. I actually convinced myself they wanted me to die." He closed his eyes tightly, his face angry. "I was willing to go along with giving him a body, if he'd let me live on...but then I started noticing his thoughts, and found that when he was distracted, I could slip in and take control of my own body again, but because it was seeped in his powers, my cancer died away..." He lifted his face. "But he's stronger than me, he was managing to push me away bit by bit..."
Souta frowned a bit. "Where is he now?"
Inuyasha answered before Maikeru could. "Gone. His scent is gone completely, but..." He pointed at the trussed up boy. "You're still emitting Youki, meaning that some of his powers touched your soul, and you're partially demon now." He glanced towards Kagome. "Do you think it's a good idea to trust him?"
She looked towards Inuyasha and nodded a bit. "Perhaps I trust too easily, but I'm usually a god judge of character. I don't sense Naraku here anymore. Perhaps he's finally moved on, but I don't think so. I suspect he's going to wait for another body." She sighed. "I guess we'll have to be careful from now on, especially you, Souta." She chastized softly. "You're going to have to begin to fingerprint demons."
"Fingerprint?"
"I'll explain later." She said wearily.
"Is...there anything I can do..." Maikeru asked timidly. "To get you all to forgive me for being an idiot?"
Inuyasha made a rude sound, getting to his feet. "Keh. Naraku plays mind games on everyone. What makes you so special that you get forgiven?" He glared at the boy for a long moment. "Everyone screws up sometimes. If I had to ask for forgiveness for every stupid thing I've ever done, I'd be at it for hours, each day. All you can do is get over it and not let it happen again."
Kagome looked at her boyfriend in surprise. She hadn't heard him say anything quite as profound recently. It had been a long time since he'd said anything quite like that. She smiled, cutting the ropes binding Maikeru. "You don't need to repent to us. Just be our friend, and everything will be fine. You may be a great help with those lingering powers remaining from Naraku."
His eyes lit up, shimmering. "R-right! I'll help you guys from now on! Maybe you can teach me how to use these and not waste them!" He suggested, his entire demenor like an excited kid.
Kagome sighed. "I think while I'm teaching Souta, we should call over Shippou and the others, and have them help..." She said blandly, then they began to file out of the room.
But as they exited, Souta felt something grip him, whispering in his ears in words he couldn't quite grasp, speaking in a language he couldn't quite understand. He paused, glancing back into the room, and a vision swept into his vision, but left him as quickly. As he tried to grasp it, it slipped through his hands like water, leaving him shaken and disoriented.
"Souta?" Kagome asked, glancing back at him.
"Um..." Souta glanced back towards her. "Sorry..." He hurried to catch up, wondering what had just happened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End Chapter 4
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Author's Notes: Hmmm...No, this isn't the official end of Naraku. I still have plans for his evil little spirit. Maikeru is cool from here on out, and enjoy next chapter. Coming Soon: Young Love and a New Moon-Meet Hikari, Kagome's first disciple, and enjoy the events on Kagome and Inuyasha's first date...