Complete the Circle
Chapter Forty-Three: Shikon no Tama
Kagome smiled to herself as she saw the two brothers finally make up after years of conflict, but wondered if Inuyasha had truly found the peace and balance within himself. He seemed fine now, but her recent experiences had taught her better than to take things at face value.
"Kagome, do you want your shard back now?" asked Shippou, looking at the shard that was still embedded in his hand. Kagome looked at the small child before her and shook her head. The shard would be more useful in his hands than hers, but she wondered if she should really let him keep the shard. Was he chased yesterday because of it? But weren't youkai unable to sense the Shikon shards anymore?
"Ne, Shippou-chan, why did a youkai chase you yesterday?" she asked, the coming night starting to make her shiver. She wondered if she was shivering because of the cold, or because of fear.
"He wanted this shard," Shippou said as if it were obvious.
"But I thought that youkai can't sense it anymore," said Kagome, confused.
"I can sense two separate pieces of the Shikon no Tama right now," Inuyasha said, "The one that Shippou has and another huge one somewhere before us." Kagome knew that he must have meant Naraku's portion of the Shikon no Tama.
"The Shikon no Tama must have been cloaked from youkai's senses by that sealing spell that Inuyasha put on himself," Miroku said thoughtfully. "The spell was used to hide his memories, so maybe it hid the Shikon no Tama, too."
"And since the Shikon shards are connected to each other, it must've hid all the other shards also," Sango said. "But there is no longer a spell that hides Inuyasha's memories, so the spell that hid the Shikon no Tama must have disappeared."
That makes sense, Kagome thought. But will I be putting Shippou-chan in danger by allowing him to keep the shard? She looked at the rest of the group, and was reminded of a time when they had also gone for their last battle. They had been defeated that time, so what made them think that they would win this time?
I have to think positive, she tried to tell herself. I can't keep thinking that everyone's going to die. But there was this strange feeling in her mind as if she had forgotten something, or was missing something. She was still so unsure about everything. In essence, she had not changed at all since their last battle. She had not improved even one bit, and she wondered if any of the others had gained any special powers since their last encounter.
She turned to look at Inuyasha. His silver hair seemed to shine in the darkness of the night, and she remembered how his hair had also shone that afternoon when he had met his end. She wanted to go and hug him, never letting him go, but she knew now was not the time. She could do that whenever she wanted after the battle was over. If the battle would ever be over. If they survived…
She held the bow and arrows tighter in her hand. This time, she wouldn't miss. She would fire in the center of Naraku's heart and destroy him forever. She felt someone's eyes on her, and turned to Inuyasha, only to see him look the other way. In his hand, he held a common sword. Would they really be able to defeat Naraku without Tetsusaiga?
"Kagome, keep your senses on alert and stop spacing out," Inuyasha's gruff voice said.
"Ooh, Inuyasha, only telling Kagome to be careful," Shippou said in an annoying voice. "You really care for her, don't you?"
"Shut up, brat!" Inuyasha said, bonking Shippou on his head. Shippou held the growing bump on his head carefully while grumbling and moving towards Miroku and Sango.
It's just like last time, Kagome thought, as she remembered how Inuyasha had also hit Shippou in the same manner in what seemed like years ago. Miroku and Sango are walking together again. Inuyasha is leading… The only one missing is Kirara, but we don't have time to get her now. Besides, she is protecting Sango's family.
Kagome tried to suppress the feeling of unease that was growing within her. It was too late to turn back now. Their only option was to go forward. She should have no doubts. She should be confident of her mission. Then why, why was she feeling this atmosphere of disquiet that seemed to surround her?
I don't feel complete… I don't feel ready, Kagome thought to herself. But she wouldn't let the others down. No matter what she felt, she would do her duty. But still, she felt that something was going to go wrong in this battle, and she was loath to discover what.
She saw a clearing up ahead, lit up with strange lights, and shivered as she felt a wave of dark youki.
"Welcome… To your end," the embodiment of evil laughed.
And the battle began.
Shippou quickly scampered away as Aki shot her poisonous liquid at him. He could hear a clanging of swords as Inuyasha fought with Naraku, who was also using a sword as a way of mocking him. He ran beside Kagome as she shot an arrow with purifying light at Aki, causing the female youkai to quickly dodge away. Miroku and Sango were taking care of the other youkai that Naraku had brought with him, which had amounted to quite a sum.
"Shippou, watch out!" Inuyasha shouted as Shippou was about to be skewered by a youkai. Shippou turned around just in time to see a long needle shoot out from a porcupine youkai, and found himself unable to dodge the attack. He shut his eyes out of fear and heard a clang, then a terrible ringing sound. He opened his eyes a bit and found that Inuyasha had broken his sword in blocking the needle from reaching Shippou.
"You pitiful fool," laughed Naraku. "How are you to fight now that you don't even have a weapon?" Shippou heard Inuyasha growl and again felt himself to be nothing more than a burden upon his friends.
"I'll fight with this!" Inuyasha shouted as he dashed at Naraku. Shippou saw a flash in the night, and a moment later, he saw that Naraku's arm had been chopped off. He looked at Inuyasha and saw that he was holding a large sword that looked exactly like Tetsusaiga, the only difference being that part of it was still emerging from Inuyasha's arm.
"Isn't that what his grandfather did?" asked Sango to Kagome. Shippou saw Kagome nod, and remembered that Inuyasha was part sword youkai in this life.
"So, you have recreated Tetsusaiga," Naraku said scornfully. "But you will still be unable to defeat me." Suddenly, the arm that had been chopped off grew quickly and soon another Naraku was present in the battlefield. "You see I have absorbed the power from a sea star youkai long ago, and now, nothing can kill me."
"So that's how you survived from our last battle," Miroku said gravely.
"You poor simpleton," laughed Naraku. "The one you defeated was not I. It was the one whose arm I came from. The fool cut his own arm off as a safety precaution so that if you should have defeated him, at least there would still be another him in this world. He threw his arm into a cave and sealed it, knowing that if he won the battle against you, then he would be able to go back to the cave and destroy me.
"But he lost, and was killed. So for a century, I laid trapped in that cave until my power finally reached a point that exceeded his pitiful power. But he had failed in one aspect. He had not cut his arm clean enough so that when he threw his arm in, there became not one, but two of us. His failure to pay attention to such detail has caused me much trouble these past four hundred years."
"So the one we defeated, the one who tried to control Inuyasha…" said Kagome.
"That was the other one," Naraku said haughtily. "He believed that he could actually gain power by controlling others and using only brute force." He laughed. "I thank you for having rid me of that insolent scum. You see, I am the true ruler. I am the only one worthy of ruling this world."
"Shut up, you bastard, and prepare to taste steel!" shouted Inuyasha as he slashed at Naraku. Naraku only laughed as he evaded the attack and leapt away.
"You fools will never be able to defeat me. Even that prince of the wolf clan was killed by me," he said, showing the group two shards from the Shikon no Tama. He took the bigger piece that he had stolen from Kagome and put the three pieces together. The shards fused together, leaving only a tiny crack left.
"The only one left is the one in your friend," he said, looking at Shippou. Shippou gritted his teeth and refused to look afraid. "But I shall get that soon enough."
Suddenly, Shippou felt someone grab him from the back, and before he could do anything, the other Naraku ripped the shard out from his hand, leaving a gaping hole in his bloody hand.
"Shippou-chan!" Kagome screamed, running to him. Aki suddenly appeared before her and shot her poisonous acid at Kagome.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled.
"Watch your opponent," Naraku said, as he brought a long root-like tentacle to whip Inuyasha.
"Get away from me!" Kagome shouted as a wave of her hidden power suddenly burst forth and blew Aki back. Shippou ducked as he felt the searing heat pass over him. He looked up at Kagome and saw that she was glowing with a strange power that was quickly beginning to fade away.
"That girl…" Naraku said, narrowing his eyes. He moved to attack her, but Inuyasha stopped him.
"Oh no, you don't," Inuyasha said, as he swung Tetsusaiga down. "Kaze no Kizu!" Naraku was ripped to shreds, but there was still one left.
"Shippou-chan, are you all right?" asked Kagome in concern. Shippou flexed his hand and grinned.
"It's all healed," he said. "I guess my powers are getting stronger." Suddenly they heard Sango shout something, and they both turned to see Miroku surrounded by five youkai on different sides, all ready to slice him into pieces.
"Miroku!" Kagome gasped, but Shippou immediately ran to Miroku. He was surprised at how fast he was even without the Shikon shard. He got there just as the five youkai were about to move in for the kill.
"Kitsune-bi!" he shouted, as he let the fox fire flow around him, remembering to protect Miroku from it. He transformed himself and Miroku into foxes, and quickly ran back to Kagome. He hoped his fox fire had caused the youkai temporary confusion. Once back at Kagome, he transformed Miroku and himself back to their original forms.
"Shippou, you've gotten stronger…" Miroku said, looking at the pile of ashes that were the youkai.
And Shippou realized that he really wasn't that useless, and that he really did have the power to help his friends. He didn't need the Shikon no Tama anymore. Now, he finally had the power to protect himself and his friends.
"Good work, Shippou," Inuyasha said, as he leapt back to them, inspecting them all quickly before attacking Naraku again. Shippou only smiled. He could finally make his father proud. And, Inuyasha had finally praised him for something.
Sango could only sigh in relief when Shippou saved Miroku. She hadn't realized that Shippou was that strong, but she supposed that in these past few weeks of seeing everyone die before his eyes, Shippou had decided to train himself to be stronger. He had always had someone to protect him before, but now, it was the young youkai's turn to protect them.
"Hiraikotsu!" she shouted as she swung the massive boomerang at a nearby youkai. Miroku was safe, and for that, she was glad. She remembered how that fortuneteller had told her that Miroku's life was in someone else's hands, but she had never expected that it would be in Shippou's.
"Kaze no Kizu!" she heard someone shout and saw that Naraku's arm had been completely destroyed. She was a little disappointed when she saw that the arm grew back again. At least there isn't another Naraku running around, she thought.
"All right, Aki, prepare to die for working for scum like Naraku," Sango said, catching her boomerang gracefully. The girl only narrowed her eyes at Sango as she quickly glanced at Naraku. It looked like Naraku was losing.
"I'm not risking my life for assholes like him," Aki said, moving out of her battle stance. "You can kill him if you want. I'm not going to stop you." Sango looked at her suspiciously. She knew that Naraku wasn't exactly the most pleasant person to be with, but was she betraying Naraku or was this just another one of their numerous schemes?
"Listen, kid," the youkai said impatiently. "I've hidden my heart somewhere. You leave me alone, and don't give chase, and I'll just run to Naraku's little hide out, get my heart, and you'll never hear of me again. As a bonus, I'll even withdraw all the youkai that are under my control," she said, pointing to some of the youkai that were presently attacking Kagome and the others. Sango looked at her, not quite sure if she could trust this one.
"Guys, we're out of here," Aki shouted suddenly. The youkai that were attacking Kagome and Shippou suddenly stopped and moved towards Aki. "I'll see ya later, kid," she said. "Keep up your end of the deal." Then she quickly disappeared into the night, leaving Sango slightly confused, but not surprised. Naraku had had something like this coming to him for a long time.
Kagome was relieved when the youkai attacking her were called back by Aki. She noted that Naraku looked flustered with Aki's betrayal, but felt no pity for him. Now, all they had to do was fight Naraku and a few of the youkai that were still hanging around. A lot of them had already run off.
"Say your prayers, Naraku," Inuyasha said, his sword glittering in the moonlight. Kagome's heart started to speed up as she felt that feeling of anxiety again.
"I don't think so," Naraku said darkly. Then he formed a familiar orb of light, but instead of shooting it at Kagome this time, he shot it at Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed as she saw that he couldn't dodge the orb of light fast enough. You're going to pay, Naraku, she thought as she angrily notched an arrow into her bow. The arrowhead shone with intense light as she fired it. "Die, Naraku!"
The arrow seemed to leave a path of light as it aimed true for Naraku's heart. Everything seemed to slow down to her. Her arrow would destroy Naraku, she was sure of that. She could see the small sparks of light in the arrow's wake. Naraku turned to look at the arrow, but he turned oh so slowly.
"Wait!" he shouted. Everything flung back to its normal pace as she saw the arrow reach Naraku. Wait? What do I have to wait for? Do you want me to wait so that you can use another one of your cruel plans? she thought.
The arrow hit him and he was destroyed in a burst of light that lit up the night sky. The remaining youkai quickly ran for their lives, and Kagome saw the shiny jewel fall from where Naraku was to the ground. She turned to Inuyasha, who looked dazed, but other than that was all right.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, just to make sure. He managed a weak smile, and she smiled back at him. She walked slowly to where the Shikon no Tama laid. The jewel gave off a soft, pink light as she picked it up. It was unsoiled by Naraku's evil.
"We've completed the circle," she said, turning to the rest of the group. "We've defeated Naraku." She held the jewel in her hand, finally completed. But she noticed that there was a tiny crack in the surface of the jewel. Was it damaged when I hit Naraku with that arrow? she thought. As she inspected the jewel more closely, she saw that the crack seemed to smooth out and disappear. She sighed, thankful that the jewel wasn't damaged.
She walked to her friends, the jewel glowing with its pure light in her hands. They all looked at the jewel, unsure of what to do with it. Kagome looked at Miroku, and saw that he had taken the prayer beads off his hands. The void in his hand was gone.
She looked at the Shikon no Tama and wondered what to do with it. Finally, she gave it to Inuyasha.
"Huh? What are you giving me this for?" he asked, holding the jewel in his hands.
"You were the one who was looking for it all those years ago," said Kagome. "And I think it's only fair if it is finally given to you."
"Are you sure?" he asked, playing around with the jewel. She nodded. "I... Thank you."
Then he swallowed the jewel.
Evil swarmed the land, and soon the earth was covered in darkness.
"Checkmate."
Author's Note: Heh heh… I've been wanting to write this chapter ever since I started this story. If I'm in a good mood, I might update soon. MWA HA HA!