DISCLAIMER: All Inuyasha characters are the creation of, and © to Rumiko Takahashi, and subsequent parties. Full Circle is the creation of my demented mind, and © to Shun'u Hanashiro 2000-2001.
Author's Notes: Italicized text (or //) can indicate private/unvoiced thoughts – or – flashback sequences. Colons [::] indicate insinuated thoughts by another character into one's subconscious. Be forewarned that all of the events prior to tankouban 14 of the manga are up for grabs in this story.
July 2001
F U L L
An Inuyasha Fanfiction
Part 4: Nightscape
Inuyasha's morose attitude was getting old very fast. To put it quite frankly, Miroku wasn't in the mood to listen to another sigh or see another frown. He wanted to *do* something, not just sit there and let things happen around them. He was almost certain that Kagome was alive out there; that Naraku hadn't been able to kill the promising girl with his trap. The only problem was, Inuyasha was not cooperating. Ever since Naraku had tricked Kagome and Sesshoumaru into the Air Rip, the hanyou had been in deep melancholy and stubborn about breaking out of it. Inuyasha sighed again, making Miroku want to shake some sense into him. Enough was enough.
"Inuyasha!" Miroku called out to his friend, who sat on a tree branch with one leg draw up to his chest and the other dangling in mid-air. "How are we going to look for Kagome-sama?"
"You don't have to pretend anymore, houshi," Inuyasha answered tiredly. "She isn't here anymore so you don't have to watch your language."
Miroku's language promptly deteriorated. "What the fuck, Inuyasha! You're giving up too easily. Do you think Naraku has the power to kill Kagome?"
Something he said caught the half-youkai's attention, for Inuyasha glared down at him with burning eyes. He said, "You saw it happen, Miroku. There's no denying that they're gone."
"There must be a way to bring her back," Miroku argued.
Inuyasha suddenly leaped down from his perch and grabbed the houshi by his collar to shake him. His voice, when he spoke, was harsh. "Have you ever seen anyone return from the Air Rip?" Inuyasha gave him a hard shake. "Have you?!" When no answer was forthcoming, Inuyasha released him. Miroku staggered back, catching his balance with his staff. "They're dead, Miroku. We couldn't, no – *I* couldn't save them."
Inuyasha stalked off into the night.
Miroku tiredly rubbed his throbbing temples before settling down by the campfire, next to Shippou's sleeping form. The kitsune's face was tearstained from his crying, which had occurred that afternoon when he had woken from his induced sleep, care of Miroku and Inuyasha's fists, to find Kagome well and truly gone. A nightmare: that was what had become of their quiet summer day.
**********
That was too close of a call.
Naraku slammed his fist down, cracking the gleaming wooden flooring of his most recently acquired castle. Although he was cautious by nature and always took care to know his opponents' strengths and weaknesses, today he had almost lost to that hanyou and his brother. It was unforgivable. He hissed in fury over the humiliation.
Insufferable creatures. You've ruined my plans one last time, Inuyasha. Let's see what you'll be able to do next time. Alone.
That being said, Naraku plotted his next move. He so *loved* to torture that half-breed. It was his single joy in life. Naraku briefly considered the possibility of letting Inuyasha live, if only for his entertainment. He was certain that Inuyasha was now harmless without his allies.
**********
Awareness was slow in coming. It felt as though she had been sleeping for days, when in fact, according to Sesshoumaru, they had spent less than three minutes in the void. During that time both had bided their time in Sesshoumaru's mind, odd as that might have sounded. They had been talking… sort of… when Sesshoumaru had shushed her and told her to be prepared. His exact words weren't nearly so comforting as the way Kagome interpreted them to be, but she needed all of the consolation she could get, and she wasn't picky about where it came from.
Trying to move elicited a moan when her body told her, in no uncertain terms, that it was not ready to do so. Feeling the strong drag of gravity, Kagome let her body slump back down, eyes tightly closed, and curled into a tight ball of misery. Which lasted less than half a minute before someone rudely pulled her upright by her right arm. She was pretty sure she knew who that someone was.
"That hurt, you know," Kagome muttered drowsily before rubbing her heavy eyelids with closed fists.
She cautiously cracked her eyes open to see a very odd land of grays and browns interspersed with mottled green. She leaned heavily into Sesshoumaru's side; her body was aching and she wasn't really worried about whether or not he was able to handle her weight, or even if he was in pain as well. If he wanted to wake her up, then he could deal with the consequences. Kagome took in her unusual surroundings with wide eyes.
"Are we still on Earth?" she asked in a whisper.
"… Perhaps not." He answered quietly.
Contrary to Kagome's opinion, Sesshoumaru was fully aware of her physical aches and pains, though he did not suffer from the same. For a moment he worried about the possible side affects of having her in his mind, but he brushed those vague concerns aside in favor of solving their immediate problems. He didn't think that it would be wise to stay out in the open and be bait for whatever predators preyed upon the unwary in this surreal land of shimmering air and cracked earth. A quick scan of the immediate area told him that there was no running water readily available, which would be the first thing that they needed to find. Next in line were shelter and food, for the latter preferably edible fruits so that they would have a source of fluids if they never found potable water. Deciding that they were wasting time by staying still, Sesshoumaru tightened his hold on Kagome's arm and started in the direction of their most likely source of shelter and food: the trees he could see in the distance.
"What is it?" he asked impatiently. He was certain that they weren't in their world anymore; the sun was moving in the wrong direction.
"My shoe," she pointed out.
He looked past her shoulder to see a blue silk slipper lying desolately between two cracks in the dry earth. It was the shoe that she had been about to hit him with. He debated making her leave it to teach her a lesson, but discarded the idea, as it would be petty, and unworthy of him. He released Kagome so that she could retrieve it. We're still dressed in these kimonos… what does that mean? Naraku, what have you done? He figuratively shook the thoughts away when Kagome returned with both shoes on. Not really thinking of anything other than expediency, Sesshoumaru grabbed Kagome's hand and started walking again. Too busy scanning the land for possible clues and keeping alert in case they were ambushed, he failed to notice Kagome's startled reaction to his hold on her hand.
They walked for miles before the landscape changed at all, and that change was in the form of a pitifully scrawny orange and green shrub that poked out of the dry dirt in the middle of nowhere. Kagome was reminded of Salvador Dali, a western artist her art teacher had once made her research to make up for her frequent absences in school. Like his art, this land was surreal. Objects that should have been sharply defined were soft and pliant; things that should have been obvious were altered ever so slightly so that it was no longer what it should have been, although still recognizable. That shrub was a prime example.
**********
They finally reached the forest of tall, imposing trees by dusk. Kagome was tired and thirsty, and not in the best of moods, so she didn't say a word when Sesshoumaru left her sitting on a dry log to scout the immediate area. Curled up on the log with knees drawn to her chest and arms wrapped tight about her legs, Kagome dozed. That was how Sesshoumaru found her when he returned with a bundle of dry wood and a dozen exotic fruits. He paused at the edge of the wooded clearing and thought, yet again, that he had somehow lost his mind.
**********
The Shikon no Tama was nearby. Kikyou could feel its dark power pressing down on her, calling to her.
It must be Naraku… the jewel would not have this taint if that girl had possession of it.
Kikyou frowned. Again, thinking of Kagome only brought chaotic confusion into her otherwise focused and tranquil psyche. With an effort, she shook off all thought of Kagome, and instead searched for the jewel with her powers.
She found Naraku's castle by a small river. It was set atop a hill and looked haunted in the evening light, surrounded as it was by looming trees and outcroppings of wild foliage. Demonic power radiated off of the castle, casting shadows darker than night, and making Kikyou's already acute sensitivity to the jewel sharper. She quickened her pace.
Once she was inside, Kikyou found that the estate had very few attendants, which made it all the easier for her to roam about and find Naraku. If she was lucky, then Naraku would be alone, and she would be able to find some answers to that morning's events.
**********
Damn them. Damn them all. Inuyasha dashed furiously through the forest in a futile effort to escape his demons. He had been avoiding all thought of Kagome and Sesshoumaru for a reason, damn it. Couldn't Miroku at least show some semblance of sensitivity? Was that too much to ask? Hell no, Inuyasha swiped at an innocuous tree branch viciously. He didn't see it disintegrate and crumble to the earth in splinters from his blow.
Distantly he was aware that his vision had been blurring for quite some time, and that his cheeks were damp; he could taste salt on his lips. Swallowing through a painfully tight throat, Inuyasha came to a stop at the Go-Shinboku. He sagged against the solid tree trunk and sank to his knees. Crouching in the midst of thick roots and tangled ivy, Inuyasha let his puffy eyes close and rubbed telltale rivulets away. He didn't know how his madness induced run had somehow brought him full circle back to the old god tree, but there he was: back to where he had died at the hands of his first love, and come back to life again by Kagome's will to live.
Kagome…
It was his fault. He had selfishly kept her here, in a past where she didn't belong, only so that he could collect the Shikon no kakera to become a full demon. Endangering her in his hot-tempered recklessness had only been one of his many sins against her, he knew. Despite all of the times that he ignored her complaints about missing her family and falling behind in her education, he knew that each hour, each minute she spent with him, was another moment away from her loved ones back in her time. He couldn't even bring himself to call that future her "home". To do so would be admitting that she did not belong with him.
::But she doesn't.::
"Ugh," Inuyasha slapped his hands over his ears in denial. The physical barrier did nothing to stop the insidious voice.
::What? Does the truth hurt? Poor, poor boy.::
"No," he whispered. "It's not true."
::You made her unhappy. You always made her cry. Why would she have wanted to stay with you?::
"Shut. Up." He told the persistent voice in his head.
::You know what I say is true. Don't deny it. She only came back here out of a sense of duty. She felt responsible for the Shikon no Tama. She felt nothing for you.::
Inuyasha remembered how often they would argue whenever Kagome wanted to return to her time. Each occasion always ended up with Kagome jumping back into the Bone-Eater's Well, but not before he found himself eating dirt. Sometimes she ignored him, much to his consternation, other times she would be furious and accuse him of being insensitive. Occasionally he would hear her muffled sniffles. During those times guilt gnawed at him for making her cry. But even so, he wouldn't hear of her going back. Who knew what kind of trouble she could get into without him there to protect her?
That voice scorned him. ::YOU were always the cause of her hurts. Each time she was endangered, it was because she was with you. She was never in danger in her own time.::
"What about the Noh Mask demon?" Inuyasha countered.
::An anomaly.:: The voice answered smoothly.
"And how about the spirits who attacked her in that hospital?"
::…Nothing serious…::
But Inuyasha could taste the voice's annoyance. He smirked in triumph.
A couple of things became clear to him in that moment. One, he was speaking to an enemy and not to his subconscious as he had originally thought. Two, this enemy knew too much about him, yet not nearly enough about Kagome. Which meant one thing to Inuyasha.
"You can stop playing your games, Naraku," he whispered victoriously. "I'm onto your tricks."
Nobody answered him.
And I'll make you pay for what you've done… First Kikyou, and now you've killed my brother and Kagome. There will be no mercy for you… because you've taken away my only living family, and the one person who taught me the meaning of compassion.
Under the Go-Shinboku's cool shade, Inuyasha's eyes flared a brilliant gold before a deep blood red seeped into them, covering the whites of his eyes. Inuyasha unsheathed Tetsusaiga, holding the naked, rusty and nicked blade in his hands. Raising his head to look at the tree that had sheltered him during his fifty-year death, he came to a decision.
**********
Later, a villager making his way through the woods to return home after a long day of hunting would stop to stare at the immense tree in wonder. For it was impaled at the very heart, where the legendary Inuyasha was once cursed, by an old katana in such a way that only the worn hilt of the sword was visible. The villager hurried to Kaede's hut, to tell her about the mysterious sword, and find out what creature would be powerful enough to wound the old god tree in that way, when not even the gigantic centipede demon had been able to cause it harm in her fury.
**********
"Humph," Naraku dropped the Shikon no Tama into his lap. "Seems that I've underestimated his intelligence."
"That is not the only error that you have committed, Naraku," Kikyou said from the room's entrance.
"Kikyou…"
The undead priestess did not feel like being polite. She cut to the core of the matter. "What are you up to?"
"None of your business, Kikyou," Naraku tucked the jewel into his sleeve and turned so that he was face-to-face with her. He didn't trust her not to stab him in the back.
"You are wrong there, Naraku." Kikyou narrowed her eyes, making her face look less beautiful and more evil. Naraku stiffened and shifted onto his feet in one fluid motion, wary of an attack yet unwilling to show his trepidation. He had his pride, after all, and it had already been badly damaged by that morning's encounter with Sesshoumaru. Kikyou continued to speak, "Anything involving Inuyasha is my business. After all, *I* will be the one to end his life, no one else." She whispered the last three words like in a sibilant hiss.
Intellectually, Naraku knew that Kikyou only felt hatred for the half-breed. But in some corner of his being, the weak half that was Onigumo, who had been human and needy, he was jealous of Inuyasha for being the focus of Kikyou's existence. Sick as it may seem, he would rather be the one she hated, if all she could feel was hatred.
Knowing that he was too close to losing control of his emotions, Naraku decided that retreat would be wiser than confronting Kikyou at that time. Calling on the powers of the jewel, Naraku fled the castle faster than Kikyou could catch onto his intentions and trap him with one of her spells.
The priestess was left with only a faint trace of Naraku's youki lingering in the air. She stooped to pick up a piece of paper that Naraku had dropped in his haste to escape. Reading its contents, she smiled. It was time to find Inuyasha.
**********
After roaming the forest for most of the night in search of Naraku, Inuyasha returned to the village to find that with the exception of Sango, who was still away and exorcising demons, everyone was there and waiting for him. He considered avoiding them altogether. It definitely would have been easier to let Miroku and Kaede deal with Shippou while he hunted Naraku, but he somehow felt responsible for the kit. After all, Shippou had known him and Kagome the longest. In a way, they were family. It would have been like abandoning his little brother. Inuyasha scowled. No time for those thoughts.
"Inuyasha," Kaede greeted him in her old, shaky voice. She hid her surprise at his youkai form rather well.
He stepped fully into the small hut, let the plain blue curtain drop behind him, and scanned his friends' faces. None of them registered any great shock over his appearance. He exchanged curt nods with Miroku, and sat down with legs crossed and arms folded. He closed his eyes.
Nobody spoke for a long while.
"Inuyasha," Shippou said.
"What?"
"Is Kagome really dead?"
How was he supposed to answer that? Truthfully, he supposed. "Yes."
"No."
Inuyasha's eyes shot open.
Kaede whispered, "Kikyou-oneesama…"
[End Part 4]
Definitions:
Hanyou: half-demon
Youkai: demon
Shikon no Tama: "Jewel of Four Souls" Breaking down the Japanese words, this is literally [FOUR SOUL(s) (particle indicating possession) JEWEL/SPHERE/BEAD], however one must use a lot of context clues when translating Japanese. =P
Kakera: shard/piece