Complete the Circle
Chapter Forty-Six: Awaken the Souls
Sango threw Hiraikotsu, fear and despair starting to get to her. She had been separated from the others, and she was starting to become afraid. What if they never defeated Naraku? What if they all died again?
A youkai attacked her while Hiraikotsu was still sailing through the air, so she quickly took her small sword out and slashed at the youkai, leaping away as another took its place. She sheathed the sword and caught the giant boomerang, wondering how the others were doing.
She saw a group of youkai attacking something small, and quickly rushed to the scene. What if it's Shippou? Or Kagome? Oh, please be all right, she prayed, throwing her boomerang at the youkai. Several had their heads severed by the weapon, but others charged at her, hoping to kill her. She grabbed Hiraikotsu and started to swing it as a massive sword. She cleared the youkai away and looked at the person that the youkai were attacking, only to find a small youkai child there with tears in her eyes. The youkai seemed harmless.
"Are you all right?" Sango asked, not quite sure if she should trust this seemingly innocent youkai. The child nodded, starting to smile a little. "Why were they attacking you?" she asked, knowing that the answer the child gave would most likely determine if the child would live or die.
But the child didn't answer at all, and only smiled at Sango as if she didn't understand.
"Are you lost?" asked Sango, knowing that the youkai must have been trapped in this realm for several years, and was probably not lost at all. She held Hiraikotsu at her side, ready to swing it at the child if she had to. She walked a little closer to the child.
The child backed up, as if she were afraid of contact. Sango softened a little. Were the youkai always beating this child up?
"Where are your parents?" Sango asked, using a tone she usually reserved for small kids she saw wandering around at the supermarket.
The child pointed up, still not speaking. Sango wondered if this youkai had been caught in the crossfire between Midoriko and the other youkai, getting pulled into this world for no reason other than an accident.
She walked up to the child and held her hand, smiling. The least I can do for this poor thing is to be nice, she thought. The child looked up at her, surprised, then smiled again. Then the youkai child disappeared.
"Huh?" asked Sango, looking around her, wondering if it had all been a trick. "Where did she go?"
"You've defeated her," Midoriko said in astonishment.
"Who?" asked Sango, still looking for the child.
"I have never been able to defeat that particular youkai," the lady said as she walked closer to Sango. "Arrows or swords have no effect on her, yet you were able to defeat her."
"How?" asked Sango, frowning. She hadn't wanted to defeat the youkai.
"You…were being a friend to that child," Midoriko said, starting to understand. "She's always been alone. Every time I saw her, she was by herself. Yet you walked close to her and became her friend."
"Being a friend defeats youkai?" asked Sango skeptically. Suddenly, several youkai surrounding her vanished. She looked around the battlefield and saw youkai disappearing everywhere. When it finally stopped, it looked like one-fifth of the dark army had vanished.
"What happened?" asked Sango, looking around her in confusion.
"It seems that the awakening of Friendship has caused some of the youkai to be purified," Midoriko said.
"What does that mean?" asked Sango, the explanation not helping at all.
"If all five parts of the Complete Soul is expressed, then this world will be purified as it was supposed to so many years ago," Midoriko said, hope appearing in her eyes for the first time. "Your friends must express the part of the soul that they represent," she said, looking at Sango. "And when they do, it'll all be over. I'll finally be free of here…"
Sango looked at Midoriko, catching the note of wistfulness in her voice and realized how terrible it must have been to be trapped so long in a world with nothing but battle.
She wasn't going to let the Lady suffer any more. And she wasn't going to let her friends fight here forever.
She set off to a random direction, hoping to run into one of her friends and help them awaken their part. She hoped that the battle would soon be over.
He was walking in a forest that felt vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where it was. He couldn't remember what he had been doing before or where he was. Something just kept telling him to go forward, something that felt foreign, but he listened to it anyway because there was nothing else to do.
He finally arrived at a small clearing and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw someone dressed in familiar dark blue monk robes.
"Miroku!" he called out, walking towards him. He needed to find out where he was and what had he been doing before. He knew that whatever he had been doing was important, but he just didn't know what it was. Finally there was someone who might know what he had been doing. After all, Miroku usually had a lot of answers.
"What are you doing here?" asked Miroku, sounding annoyed with him.
"I was going to ask you the same question," said Inuyasha, walking closer to him.
"What do you want?" asked Miroku, not bothering to look at Inuyasha.
"Is this how you treat a friend?" asked Inuyasha, getting irritated with Miroku's cold attitude.
"A friend?" Miroku scoffed, finally turning around to look at him. "What makes you think that you are a friend to me?"
"What?" asked Inuyasha, not understanding why Miroku was saying that.
"You have no friends, Inuyasha," Miroku said, his eyes void of emotion, his manner cold. "Only enemies. And I am not an exception."
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Inuyasha, sounding angry, but in truth, he was afraid. He was afraid of being alone again.
Alone? Something before… Someone had said something about being alone. Was he doing something that made him become separated from everyone else? No, it's not that. It's something else… But what?
"The next time I see you, don't be surprised if you get hurt," Miroku said, walking away.
"Wait!" Inuyasha shouted, panic starting to fill his mind. Why was Miroku leaving? Had he done something wrong? Was Miroku the only one who was acting this way? Where were the others?
Inuyasha quickly sniffed the air, but found no one's scent except Miroku's. Where's everyone else? He started to run another direction, something guiding him there. He didn't understand why Miroku had just done that. Why would Miroku cease to become his friend?
Then he noticed Sango sitting by a stream. She was watching the light dance on the waters and she was smiling slightly.
"Sango!" he called out, hoping that she wasn't afflicted with the same disease that seemed to have befallen Miroku.
"Inuyasha?" she asked, looking surprised. At least she didn't look like she wasn't his friend anymore.
"Yeah, it's me," he said. "Listen, Miroku's acting weird. Do you know anything about it?" he asked. She sighed and looked at the stream again.
"Did you even do what I asked you to do?" she asked, sounding tired of him.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked, a feeling of foreboding overwhelming him.
"I knew it. You didn't even remember," she sighed. "I guess I shouldn't have trusted you."
"What are you talking about?" he repeated. Since when had Sango asked him to do something?
"It doesn't matter, Inuyasha. I should have known that you can't do anything right," she said. "After all, you aren't a pure blood of anything. You're always a mix. I guess that's why you can't do anything right."
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Inuyasha, getting angry.
"Listen, Inuyasha," Sango said, getting irritated with him. "It's obvious that you've never done anything right in your life. I don't even know why we still stick around you. We all should just reject you and do things by ourselves. It would probably be better that way. If you think about it, your life is a failure."
He wanted to yell and scream at her, but he started to think. Was his life really a failure? Well, he had failed in his relationship with Kikyo, and he had failed several times to save Kagome. And Naraku… How many times have I failed to realize his traps? How many times have I failed to defeat him?
Too many times… Too many times…
But that doesn't justify anything. That doesn't justify why Miroku would become my enemy, and why Sango would reject me for what I am.
"It doesn't justify anything at all!" he shouted. But Sango was no longer there. Instead, Kagome was looking at him from under the God tree. "K-Kagome?!" he asked, surprised.
"Yes?" she asked, sounding wary of him.
"What?" he asked at her unusual tone of voice. "Is something wrong?"
"No, but…" she looked at him, frowning. "Who are you exactly?" He just stared at her. She didn't remember who he was? That was impossible!
"It's me, Inuyasha!" he said, starting to panic. Why did everything seem to go wrong today? Or had it always been this way for him?
"I don't remember any Inuyasha," she said. No. No! She can't have forgotten me! he thought, fear starting to claw at him. Why would she forget about me?
"Are you sure?" he asked, trying to calm himself, but with each blank look Kagome was giving him, he was starting to become more afraid. At least Miroku had remembered him, and Sango, too. But Kagome… Of all people, why did Kagome have to forget who he was?
"Don't you remember?" he asked. "The Shikon no Tama?"
"I remember the Shikon no Tama," Kagome said. "But I don't remember you. I don't remember ever meeting you."
"What about our journeys together? 'Osuwari?' Miroku. Sango. Shippou!" he said, starting to become desperate. What about my love for you? Have you forgotten that too? Have you forgotten the times that I risked my life for you, to keep you safe, to keep you happy?
Do you remember telling me that you would stay by my side? No matter what? And now you forget me? Do you remember what you told me?
"Do you remember anything at all?" he asked in a soft voice. But he already knew the answer. And this knowledge filled him with a type of quiet despair.
He was afraid. But it was no longer an urgent type of fear that he had felt with Miroku and Sango, but rather a calm fear that crept into every recess of his soul and gnawed it slowly away.
"I-I'll see you later," said Kagome, walking away while looking at him suspiciously. He stood there, afraid to find out whatever else had changed. Suddenly Shippou appeared.
"I guess it's time for you to die," Shippou said. "You're of no use to anyone else anyway."
But he didn't want to die. He had to live. He had to explain to Kagome, to make her remember. He had to tell Sango that there were things that he could do right. He had to find out why Miroku wanted to be his enemy.
And he knew, that because he wanted to live, because he didn't want his life to end yet, he feared death. Because he still had a will to live, he felt the numbing effects of being afraid to die.
"I'll end your nightmares here," Shippou said, blue flames billowing on his hand. Nightmares?
"I'll tie you to your nightmares."
A girl's voice had said that.
"What do you fear?"
That's right… There was a youkai. I was fighting youkai. I was fighting inside the Shikon no Tama. I was fighting so that all of us can escape this prison forever. So then, these are all…illusions?
But even though they were illusions, his own fear was not an illusion.
Shippou… I have a feeling that if he kills me here, I'll really be dead, he thought. Suddenly, Shippou shot the blue flames at him.
"Kitsune-bi!" the childish voice said. Inuyasha felt the flames reach him and burn his body. If this is all an illusion, then why does it hurt as if it were reality?
He never would have believed that Shippou was the one who would kill him in the end. He never would have believed that any of this would happen.
And he wouldn't. He wouldn't become enemies with Miroku, his best friend. He wouldn't fail the people he cared about in any way as Sango had said he did. He would never let Kagome forget about how much he loved her, even if she would no longer love him. And he definitely would not let Shippou, or this Shippou look-alike, kill him.
Suddenly he woke up, feeling the roots still binding him.
"My spell," the youkai said, looking at Inuyasha in shock. "How did you manage to break it?"
"Sankon Tetsusou!" he shouted, breaking his bonds and not bothering to answer her. She backed up, afraid now that her power had been broken. Inuyasha saw Tetsusaiga lying a few feet away, and with the power that was passed through sword youkai, he called for it. Tetsusaiga flew to him immediately, and with one cut, the tree youkai was killed.
And he saw several youkai around him disappear suddenly, making him wonder what had just happened.
"Inuyasha!" he heard Sango call out for him. "You did it! You awakened Courage!"
He didn't know what she was talking about, but he smiled nonetheless. He had finally done something right. He really needn't have feared those illusions. They weren't real anyway. But he was glad to hear the compliment from Sango.
"The wind are the legs on which I dance,
Wherever I go there is destruction,
Untamed I will harm you,
Tamed I will aid you."
Miroku looked at the youkai, trying to figure the riddle out. He was wasting too much time here, but he still couldn't find the way out of this place of darkness. Flaw? Is there a flaw in this world? Other than the weird weather, the wind not blowing even though the clouds are moving, and the four walls that seem to serve no purpose other than trapping nothing, I think this place is quite all right, he thought sarcastically.
"Do you wish for me to repeat it?" the youkai asked, infinitely patient.
"No need," he answered. The wind are the legs on which I dance. Okay, what the hell does that mean? What has wind as legs?
Wherever I go there is destruction. A bomb? No, a bomb doesn't dance with wind as its legs. Then again, what does?
Untamed I will harm you. Is this some king of animal? Tamed I will aid you. What is this? Is it a dog? Does a dog cause destruction wherever it goes? What causes destruction wherever it goes? Tornadoes?
He paused. Tornadoes… But how do you tame a tornado? He started to think again. Tornadoes, no. Animals, highly unlikely. What about fire? Fire moves by wind. Wherever fire goes, there is destruction. An untamed fire will definitely harm, if not kill. And a tamed one can be used for various helpful things.
"Fire," he said. Now, she's going to say another riddle. This isn't going anywhere. I have to find the flaw in this world already.
"Darkness is my cover,
Stars are my weapons.
I am sent to destroy,
Or just to listen."
Darkness is my cover, he thought. Must be some sort of assassin or spy. Stars are my weapons? Ninja! It has to be a ninja!
But wait… Before I say the answer, I should use some of this time to find out what is wrong with this world. He looked up at the sky. There's a sun, a sky, clouds, and really nothing else. The only thing missing is some natural life in here besides that youkai and me. Is that what's wrong? There's no life?
Fire is destruction, which means anything in its wake will be empty. A ninja is a human, so I suppose it is supposed to symbolize life. What was the answer to the riddles I had answered before? Oh yeah. Water, mother, and… What was that last one? Dreams? Well, without life, you really can't dream. I think I've got the answer then.
"Ninja," Miroku said. "And the flaw to this world is life."
"Wise that you are, Houshi-sama," the youkai said in a soft voice, "be wary. The answer to the flaw of this world shall more than aid you." She looked at him, her gaze as intense as ever. "You are released from this world, but the true battle has only begun. Remember this place."
She slowly faded away from view, the dark walls crumbling away as the barren landscape returned into that of the land in the Shikon no Tama.
"So I have to keep the answer of life in mind," Miroku said to himself.
"Miroku!" Sango shouted, waving to him from the top of a hill. Inuyasha was standing next to her, along with Midoriko. They were both looking for something, or someone.
Miroku walked to Sango. So, the true battle was beginning.
Kagome swung the sword Inuyasha had given her again and again. Her arms were getting tired, but she knew that if she quit, it would mean her life.
Inuyasha was fighting next to her, but she didn't know where the others were. Suddenly, she felt a tiny prick on her head as if someone had just pulled a strand of her hair out. She swung her sword at a random direction, feeling annoyed that someone had pulled her hair. Sparks flew from the blade as she swung it, never ceasing to surprise her. A day ago, she could find no way to release her miko powers except through an arrow, and now, she could channel her powers through any object. She wondered if her new power was due to the strange balance of the world.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, running towards her suddenly. She looked at him, confused as to why he had such an anxious expression on. She turned to look in back of her and saw a huge youkai, getting ready to slash her with his massive claws.
"I can handle this!" she shouted to Inuyasha, not wanting to be a burden upon him. She knew that he trusted her, and would most likely let her handle the problem on her own, even if he didn't like it.
But, to her surprise, he jumped in front of her, cutting the youkai's hands off with his sword. She was slightly irritated that he didn't trust her, but she was sort of glad that her cared about her enough to try and protect her.
"Inuyasha, you don't always have to—" Kagome started to say, but was cut off when a hoard of youkai surrounded them.
"Shit," Inuyasha said, and Kagome couldn't agree with him more. She held the sword in front of her, her arms feeling like bars of lead, but she knew that if she should falter, she would not be given a second chance.
The youkai attacked suddenly, and Kagome was soon lost in a whirl of claws, swords, poison, and any other type of weaponry that was flying through the battlefield. Kagome lost count of how many she had slashed with her sword, and wondered why Inuyasha wasn't using the Kaze no Kizu.
Suddenly, the sea of youkai parted to let one among them to enter closer to Inuyasha and Kagome. Kagome held the sword by her side, ready to swing it at this youkai that had caused them so much suffering.
"I see you still haven't done your job yet," Naraku said, an expression of deadly calm on his face.
"My main concern is getting rid of you now," Inuyasha said, leaving Kagome to wonder what he was talking about. If his main concern now is to defeat Naraku, then what was his main concern before? She looked at the two, and realized that there was some sort of secret agenda between them.
"So you wish to betray me?" Naraku asked, the air around his becoming darker. "You won't live to regret it."
"We'll see about that," Inuyasha said, Tetsusaiga ready for battle. Kagome looked at Inuyasha, confused. What did Naraku mean when he said that Inuyasha was betraying him? What was going on?
"I suppose that even as you are, you will always have weaknesses for ningen," Naraku laughed, seemingly amused.
"Shut up!" Inuyasha shouted, getting angry. "I may not be truly living, but I will NEVER have weaknesses for ningen!" And he attacked Naraku suddenly, forcing Naraku to dodge. Kagome looked around her and found that all the other youkai had moved off to another place, possibly to fight her friends. She looked back at Inuyasha and Naraku fighting, and wished that she had her bow and arrows from before to try and shoot Naraku. But even as she thought this, she felt that something was amiss. The conversation that Inuyasha and Naraku had just had was just too strange. She was missing a piece of the puzzle…
Naraku shot his tentacle at Inuyasha, penetrating his red fire rat coat, deep into his chest. Kagome watched in shock as Inuyasha fell down, but before she could do anything, Inuyasha disappeared before her, leaving only an all too familiar wooden center with a single silver hair tied around it.
"Inuyasha…" was fake? she thought. But how could… When did he turn into a puppet? And where's the real Inuyasha? She looked at Naraku angrily. So, he was playing his game of deceiving images again.
"How disappointing," he said, crushing the wooden block beneath his feet. "I had hoped that he would kill you."
"Why? So that you can enjoy your stupid show?" Kagome asked, tears of anger starting to form in her eyes.
"It would have been amusing to see the look on your face when the one you loved finally destroyed you," Naraku smiled, not reassuring Kagome at all. "It would have been just as tragic as when that fool of a priestess shot her only love." Kagome shook with anger. "But the true show would be after you had died. I wonder how Inuyasha would have felt after he found out that you had been destroyed by his image?"
"Damn you…" she said through clenched teeth, trying to tell her mind to calm down. You…bastard! I'll never forgive you for this! I'll never forgive you for hurting Inuyasha so many times, for hurting all of us! I'll tear you apart with my own two hands if I can!
"Are you angry?" he asked, still calm, still in control. I can't do anything. The sword that Inuyasha gave me… I'll never get close enough to him to attack him without being killed first.
"Then the next act should get you to change your emotions," he said, smiling darkly. "But I wonder, do you prefer being angry, or being heartbroken?"
"What are you talking about?" Kagome asked, but Naraku shot miasma around then, obscuring him from view. Kagome quickly ran from the toxic cloud, and by the time the poisonous fog had disappeared, Naraku was gone. But he was replaced by another scene. One that Kagome could only watch in horror.
He had separated from the others again, but this time, it was planned. Miroku had come up with a plan to counter Naraku's illusions, and Inuyasha only hoped it worked. Everything depended on whether or not the illusion was real enough, and Inuyasha hoped that he had gained enough experience to make his act convincing.
He ran across the fields, finally spotting Kagome. He wondered if she had awoken the trait that she represented yet. He knew that he and Sango had already awoken theirs, but he wasn't so sure about Miroku. When he had come out of that dark plane, none of the youkai had disappeared as they had done when Inuyasha and Sango had discovered their traits. So he wondered if Miroku had truly found wisdom yet.
Although even if he doesn't find wisdom, he sure is smart to have come up with a plan like this, he thought. Not that I'll ever tell him that to his face. He finally caught up to Kagome, helping her fight off a section of youkai.
"Kagome, has anything strange happened yet?" he asked her. He had to be careful. Was this Kagome the real one, or was she just a fake?
"What do you mean?" she asked, breathing hard as she swung the blade at another youkai.
"Have the youkai all of a sudden disappeared?" he asked while fighting another youkai. They were relatively low-level youkai, but there were just so many of them. Even he was getting tired by all this fighting, so he could only imagine what the others felt.
"No. Nobody has disappeared," she said, sounding like Kagome. He still wasn't sure though. The only problem with Miroku's plan was that they had no way to discover whether or not the other person was real or fake.
Suddenly, a youkai purposely tripped Kagome, causing her to fall. The very same youkai then tried to impale her with his weapon. Inuyasha quickly ran to her. Even if I don't know if she's real, I can't risk getting Kagome hurt… He scooped her up, and a moment later, knew that he had fallen for the same trick again.
The hand that "Kagome" had pierced through his body was now bloody. But he wasn't worried. He knew he wouldn't die.
But as he fell to the ground, his eyes met another Kagome's. She had such a horrified and despairing expression on her face that he wished she didn't have to see. He wished that she didn't have to see this happening, just like last time.
And then his eyes closed for the last time.
"Inuyasha…" she said, unable to take her eyes off the scene before her. It had happened again. The same end that had happened five hundred years ago had happened again. Why hadn't she tried to stop it? But how could she? How could she have prevented Naraku from carrying out his plans?
She hugged herself tightly, unable to cry. Her face was dry, and she knew that she would shed no more tears over Naraku's treacherous games. She closed her eyes, her mind empty except for one thought. Inuyasha…
"What kind of cold woman are you?" a familiar voice said suddenly. "Not even crying… I thought you cared about me."
Her eyes snapped open, and she could only look at Inuyasha, dumbfounded. She looked over to where his body still lay, and looked at the Inuyasha before her again. Wait a minute, she thought. There are two of them… What's going on? This one isn't a fake, is he?
She stood up suddenly, and narrowed her eyes at him. He only raised an eyebrow.
"You really are cold, Kagome," he sighed. "I just risked my life to save you, and all you can do is look at me suspiciously."
"What do you expect me to do?" she asked, afraid to find out whether or not the one before her was a fake. She hoped so desperately that he was real. "I don't even know if you're real. And you expect me to cry over you about your stupidity?" she said, forcing herself to sound angry. "You died exactly the same way… Am I supposed to cry about an idiotic action like that?"
"Well sorry for being such a romantic person that would risk his life for the one he loves," he said sarcastically, but not sounding angry. Kagome was starting to feel a little bit guilty for not believing that the person before her was real, but she didn't want to let her guard down. She didn't want to make the same mistake as before.
"All right, Kagome, what should I do to convince you that I'm real?" he asked, looking like he was thinking very hard.
"Dance," Kagome said automatically, remembering how Musashino couldn't dance to save his life.
"All right," he said, taking her hand, and immediately dancing very well. He has to be a fake! Musashino couldn't dance at all... She pulled herself away from him, knowing for sure that he was a fake now.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you," he said, grinning, unfazed by her action. "Musashino can't dance, but Inuyasha knows how to very well." Kagome looked at him, not quite sure what to think. Was he telling the truth?
"You know that a person has lost it if they start talking about themselves in third person," Sango said, appearing behind Kagome and shaking her head. "Right, Miroku?"
"Yes, yes," he said, nodding in agreement. Kagome looked at the two, who were followed by Midoriko and Kirara. "He's definitely lost it. But I must congratulate you, Inuyasha, for your excellence performance on the field."
"It was nothing," Inuyasha grinned. Kagome looked from one face to another. What is going on?!
"It was a good thing that your mother taught you about those spells before," Miroku said.
"And a good thing that I'm smart enough to remember how to do it right," Inuyasha said. Kagome tried to piece what they said together.
"But who came up with the plan? As I recall, it wasn't you," Miroku said, grinning cheekily.
"Why you…!"
"Can someone please explain to me what is going on?" Kagome asked, knowing that the two boys' conversation weren't going to go anywhere.
"Oh, we knew that Naraku was going to try something like last time, so we came up with a plan to go against it," Sango explained.
"You mean I came up with a plan to go against it," Miroku said, utterly unashamed.
"The coming of ego is quickly followed by failure," Midoriko said, smiling slightly. Kirara mewed in agreement.
"Basically, I created an illusion spell to make Naraku think that the puppet Kagome killed me, which was actually an illusion, but the real me would just do something else," Inuyasha explained. Kagome was still slightly confused.
"The one you saw die was a fake Inuyasha," Sango tried to clarify. "The real one is the one here."
"Yes, but he's under an illusion spell also," Miroku said.
"Huh?" Kagome asked. Inuyasha didn't look any different to her.
"It's not an illusion spell, stupid," Inuyasha said to Miroku, sighing in exasperation. "It's an invisible spell."
"Well, how was I to remember since you don't look invisible enough to remind me?" Miroku asked.
"What?" asked Kagome.
"The invisible spell Inuyasha has on is targeted only at enemies, which is why we, his friends, can see him," Sango explained.
"Naraku will think that Inuyasha is dead, and so will let down his defenses," Miroku said, breaking out of his fight with Kagome. "That's when we'll attack him."
"We're going to use his own game against him," Sango said, the prospect of an end to the war making her giddy with excitement.
"Oi. Where's Shippou?" Inuyasha asked, looking at the group around him. Kagome saw Miroku and Sango looking around for Shippou, while Midoriko was petting Kirara, and looking very tired. She saw a small barb on Kirara's fur, and moved to pluck it out when it suddenly spoke.
"No! You've found me!" said Shippou, as he transformed back to his original form.
"Stupid Shippou," Inuyasha said, "always playing around."
"I wasn't playing around," Shippou objected. "I was spying!"
"Did you find anything?" asked Miroku.
"Yup!" Shippou said, swelling with importance. "Naraku's not trying to win the battle. He's just trying to pollute the world enough with his youki so that he can get out and rule the real world. Which means that he isn't going to try and defeat us."
"If he should leave this world before you do," Midoriko said suddenly, "then you will not be able to return to you own."
"What?" asked Miroku, Kagome, and Sango in unison. Shippou looked at her in confusion.
"Naraku's connection to this world is through a body," Inuyasha said. "His soul is here, but not his body. If he leaves, any connection from our world to this one is lost. And since you're all here not only in body but also in soul…"
"There will not be a connection for us to return to our world," Miroku finished grimly. Inuyasha nodded.
"Then we'll just have to defeat him!" Sango said vehemently. Midoriko suddenly faded completely away, leaving everyone except Inuyasha in shock.
"F-forgive me," Midoriko said when she appeared again, breathless.
"Midoriko-sama…" Miroku said, worried.
"You should all leave," Inuyasha said quietly.
"What?" asked Kagome, angry that he would suggest such a thing. He lowered his head, hiding his eyes from her view.
"He is correct," Midoriko said, looking pale. "I will call you all back when you have lived your lives."
"Why?" demanded Sango. "Without us, the world will fall into darkness, and that won't be much of a world to live in."
"At least in the real world, you can still have the chance of defeating him," Inuyasha said, still calm and quiet as if he had already lost. "But if he leaves you in this world, no matter how many youkai you destroy here, you will never be able to defeat Naraku. There won't be a Naraku here for you to defeat."
"All chances of destroying this place will be lost if he manages to leave," Midoriko said. "Of two evils, the lesser one is if you leave."
"But what about Inuyasha?!" Kagome demanded angrily. "If we don't defeat Naraku, he won't have a body to return to, which means he'll be stuck here, and even if he gets out, he'll be dead!" she shouted. "I won't leave him behind while I go to live my life," she said, lowering her voice. "I won't have much of one without him, anyway," she whispered.
"Midoriko-sama, can't you send Inuyasha out into his own body?" Sango asked, knowing that her friend would feel great pain if she should leave Inuyasha behind.
"I cannot," she said, her voice barely louder than the whispers of the wind. "To his body, Naraku is the owner. It will not accept Inuyasha unless the vessel is empty. As long as Naraku lives, the body will believe that Naraku is the master."
"I can't leave anyway," Inuyasha said.
"This is no time to play hero!" Miroku shouted angrily. He wasn't going to let his friend go without a fight.
"Forgive me, Midoriko-sama, but you can't keep Inuyasha here just so that he can help you," Sango said.
"It's not that," Inuyasha said, sounding tired. "I'm connected to this world like Midoriko-sama. This world occupies the shell of her heart, which is why she can't leave this place, and can't truly die."
"What does that have to do with you?" Shippou asked, not wanting to leave Inuyasha behind.
"I'm connected to the Shikon no Tama," he said. "When the Shikon shard was in my soul, Kagome tried to pull the shard out. Then Naraku stole it from her. But she never pulled every last piece in my soul out."
Kagome gasped. That crack that she had seen in the Shikon no Tama after they "defeated" Naraku… She remembered how that crack had disappeared as she was looking at it. Did that mean…?
"When Midoriko-sama called me to this world, I carried the last shard with me," Inuyasha continued, looking at everyone as he spoke except for Kagome. He was afraid to look at her. He was afraid to find out what she felt. "So in joining this world, the last shard connected itself to the rest of the Shikon no Tama."
"And your soul is still connected to the Shikon no Tama," Miroku said in a quiet voice.
"That means that if we don't destroy both Naraku and the Shikon no Tama, then…" Sango didn't finish her sentence.
"I'm staying," Kagome said firmly, her voice allowing no dissent. "The rest of you should leave."
"What?!" asked Sango, outraged. "What kind of person do you take me for? I'm not going to leave my friend behind for anything!"
"You should know by now that we wouldn't desert our friends," Miroku said. "Besides, we'll be stronger if we're together."
"Everything just won't be the same if you and Inuyasha aren't there," Shippou said.
"But you guys…" You can't stay here just because of my selfish decision, she thought. I won't let anyone suffer for the rest of their life just because of me.
"Nobody's staying!" Inuyasha said loudly. "Are you all blind? Can't you see that Midoriko-sama is weakened by the evil of this world? When the evil becomes too overwhelming for her, she'll become on the side of the dark, also. And when she does… I will soon follow her."
"If you wish to leave, now is the time to do it," Midoriko said. "I do not know if I will have enough power later."
"I won't leave!" Kagome shouted. Why is Inuyasha being so stubborn? I'm telling him we can get through this together! "I won't leave you behind!"
"Idiot!" he shouted at her. "The only thing you'll ultimately end up doing is killing the both of us. Just leave this place and purify the Shikon no Tama from the outside."
"How can I do that if Naraku has swallowed it in your body?" Kagome said. "By this time, the Shikon no Tama must have fused with him already."
"I don't care! Just leave!" he shouted at her stubbornly.
"I'm not going to leave the one I love behind. Do you understand?" she screamed at him, anger getting the best of her. Inuyasha looked a little surprised at her, but she didn't stop what she was saying. "If you think I'm just going to abandon you here, then you've got another thing coming!" I… I just told him, she privately thought, feeling both relieved and afraid. Out of all the times that I had the chance to tell him that I loved him, I had to choose the most unromantic one… But I'm glad… I'm glad that I finally got to tell him. Before it was too late for either of us.
"Inuyasha, as your friends, we have the duty of sticking with you till the end," Miroku said, showing his own stubbornness. Sango and Shippou nodded in agreement. Midoriko smiled weakly at their fortitude.
"Perhaps we really can win this battle," she said, drawing strength from the force of their will. She noticed someone fast advancing upon them.
"Or perhaps you will die as all who have opposed me have done," Naraku said, the sky darkening with his approach. "There shall be no more games. I will no longer waste my time here."
"We're ready for you," Miroku said, noticing that the dark army was only two fifths of what it had started out with. Kagome must have awoken love. Now all that was left was for him to obtain wisdom, and Shippou to understand life.
But things always seemed to be easier said than done.