Under the Pale
Autumn Moon
---
Inuyasha clutched Kagome tightly,
her small frame pressed against his, "Kagome..."
Kagome
patted Inuyasha's back, "I'm here."
"Kagome I'm
so sorry for not believing you, can you ever forgive me?"
Inuyasha whispered, he hated being wrong, but he only wanted Kagome
to know that he cared, that he loved her.
To Inuyasha's
dismay, Kagome pulled away with a smirk on her face, her eyes dark
and stormy, not their usual cheerful blue self. She began to snicker
evilly and she turned away from him, so that her back was to him.
"I
don't know what you're doing here Inuyasha, but if it were to ask for
forgiveness, then you should turn right back around," she
snickered, her voice stone cold.
"What?" Inuyasha
asked shocked as he stared at the girl before him.
Kagome
turned back to him, blue eyes meeting his golden ones, moist with
emotions. "Inuyasha, did you really believe that I cared for
you?"
Inuyasha paled and something danced along his
insides, "Of course."
Kagome laughed again, "Then
you are as ignorant as I believed."
Inuyasha's eyes
widened and he backed up a step, Kagome shook a finger at him, "Oh
no, I'm not letting you leave now, Inu-Chan."
Inuyasha
stared in shock as the girl before him began to glow, a dark
flame-like aura surrounded her as she walked towards him, her shoes
echoing along the silent courtyard, "I'm sorry to say, Inu, but
my heart belongs to Naraku, always has always will, you were a nice
break for me to gain your trust, but now, it's time to say
goodbye."
Inuyasha gulped as he grew into a defensive
position, "Oh, are you going to fight me, Inuyasha, the woman
you love?" Kagome laughed and shook her head.
Inuyasha's
eyes widened with realization, he couldn't hurt her, not
Kagome.
Meanwhile, in the shack, a figure twitched
from her position as she sat up, rubbing her neck absently she peered
around the hut, her black hair cascading down her back, "Where'd
Naraku go?"
Yawning she got up and went to the wall,
where a crude window was established, peering out she glanced at some
movement about one hundred yards away. Her eyes widened, "Inuyasha,"
she whispered.
And sure enough, Inuyasha was hugging someone.
Hugging them close, her heart splashed down into her stomach as she
felt a wrenching feeling deep within her as tears came to her eyes,
she reached for the door handle, but was pushed back by a coursing
pan shooting from her finger tips to the rest of her body: a
seal.
She grasped her hand in pain and let out a whimper at
the tenderness of the skin, red from the burn the seal had given her.
She blew on the hand softly, the calm air relaxing the skin
some-what, it would have been better if there was some cold water to
cool the burn down. She glanced back at the door, it was rare to find
a seal that could hold in a Miko, usually they were used to hold in
youkai or anything without a pure heart, and Kagome was pretty sure
she had a semi-pure heart.
She glanced back out the window and
watched Inuyasha talk to the figure...her eyes widened, "M-me?"
Sure
enough, Inuyasha had been hugging a Kagome-look-alike, but she was
certain that she was the real Kagome, but who could that
be?
Kikyo?
No, she could tell by the hair and the body
shape-it wasn't Kikyo; it was her, or at least someone who was damn
good at looking like someone else.
She paused-she didn't know
any shape shifters, they were as rare as the Miko seals. But the way
the figure looked exactly like her, it had to be a shape shifter, but
who? Who could be a shape shifter?
She watched as the Kagome
turned towards her, grinning widely, looking straight at her. Kagome
gulped, she knew that smile. It was Naraku.
Naraku was a shape
shifter. She clutched her eyes shut and felt her anger boil
over.
"That bastard," she rasped out, her voice
hoarse and dry.
"Yes he really can be can't he?"
Kagome whirled around to discover that she wasn't alone in the shack,
and her eyes widened when she saw who it was.
"What
now, hanyou?" Kagome spit out in disgust as she clenched her fists,
causing the dark aura to rise around her. Inuyasha stood up straight,
his hands at his sides and his head bowed, "Oh, can't come to
fight with me, eh? That just shows how weak you really
are."
"Kagome." Kagome paused in her footing.
Inuyasha looked up, pain and sorrow dancing across his golden orbs,
"I don't know what I did to drive you to do such a thing, but I
love you! Why can't you forgive me?"
Kagome stood shocked
as Inuyasha dove forwards and hugged her furiously, "Let me go,
Inuyasha, let me go!"
Inuyasha didn't let go and didn't
notice when Kagome pulled out a knife from her sleeve, "Let go
of me, hanyou."
Inuyasha felt a shock of pain run through
him as a blade protruded out of his chest, gasping as his blood
rushed down his stomach he looked up at Kagome one last time,
"Kagome...why?"
"What...what?"
Kagome stood shocked, "How can you still be alive?"
The
figure smirked, "Little Kagome, you still underestimate
me?"
Kagome paled, "How? I saw you die! How can
you still be alive? Kikyo stabbed you!"
Kouga smirked
from his sitting position, "Always underestimating, my
love."
Kagome glared, "I don't love you anymore, you
betrayed me! You kissed my best friend!"
Kouga shrugged,
"It was so long ago, can't we just forgive and forget?"
"No,
Kouga," Kagome said flatly, no longer adding the -Kun,
"It's too late for that now, you betrayed me, my best friend
betrayed me, and so I have no reason to love you, I can't love
you."
Kouga laughed, "You're an odd one,
baby."
"You can't be alive," Kagome said
flatly, "I don't want to love a corpse."
Kouga shook
his head, "You forget that us wolf demons are
immortal."
"What?"
"Baby, that
simple little stab in the back isn't going to kill me, you, a highly
defined Miko should know that, especially when a youkai was your
lover."
Kagome huffed, "I hate you."
"Nah,
you really love me, don't you?"
"I hate you!"
Kagome reached for the door handle and it shocked her again with a
jolt of electricity, "Open this god damn door Kouga."
"Nah,
I like being alone with you, in a shack, away from screaming
distance."
Kagome glared, "I can kill you with one
jolt, bastard."
"Tsk, Tsk, my love, you shouldn't
treat me as such, wouldn't want to know how you treat an enemy,"
Kouga jumped off his perch and leaned over, kissing her deeply on the
lips, "Oh how I've missed this."
Kagome's anger
boiled over and in an instant of white light, Kouga was on the other
side of the shack, having blown the wall out with his body. Kagome
blinked in surprise, "Wow, I'm stronger than I thought!"
She
ran out towards her love and the man who was seriously pissing him
off.
Naraku turned softly to watch the real Kagome running
towards him, he smirked in his Kagome form. Yes, betrayal was his
favorite thing to do, especially to a girl like Kagome, whose loved
one's were so easy to manipulate.
"Kagome what a pleasant
surprise, I see you got out of my Miko blockade and Kouga."
Kagome
glared at Naraku and but her hands on her hips, "Naraku, you
never told me you were a shape shifter."
"Was there
a reason?" Naraku smirked and morphed slowly into the figure of
the little boy who worked at the manor, Shippou it was, he looked up
at Kagome with cold dead eyes, "I can morph into anyone I see
fit," he said in Shippou's cute little voice.
Morphing
again he turned into Sango, "Anyone I please."
He
then turned into Miroku, "I only have to say the name in my head
and I will change into that person." Then he turned into some of
the maids in the manor.
Kagome glared, "You tricked
me."
"Really, you are a genius sometimes, Kagome
dear." Naraku said sarcastically as he smirked dangerously at
her, "Now my dear, I think you should stop worrying about me,
and start worrying about yourself."
"I have to save
Inuyasha!"
"Oh?" Naraku chuckled and Kagome
suddenly became uneasy, "Do you think he'll accept it? After
all, it was you who stabbed him in the back."
Kagome's
eyes widened as she looked around Naraku for the first time to see
Inuyasha soaking in his own pool of blood, his eyes blank and
unblinking. Kagome gasped loudly as she ran over to him, tears
running down her cheeks.
Naraku smirked, "I said worry
about yourself." He lifted his clawed fingers and snapped
loudly. Kagome stopped in her tracks.
Naraku smirked, "Good
it's working."
Kagome stood, her eyes dark and blank,
like Inuyasha's. Sweat rolled down her face as her neck started to
throb painfully. Her hands clenched and unclenched as her breathing
became labored.
Naraku raised an eyebrow, "Kouga."
Kouga
stepped forward, his eyes much like Kagome's, their blue depths
glazed over and unblinking, "Yes my lord?"
Naraku
smirked, "Bring my Kagome here to the castle gates, it is time
to open it to receive the Shikon no tama."
Kouga nodded
emotionlessly as he walked briskly over to Kagome, who in turn held
her hand out to him, sweat rolled down her back and her eyes glazed
over.
The two started to walk away towards the gates, "Soon
the Shikon will be mine," Naraku smirked to himself.
He
was about to follow his two minions under his control when Inuyasha
pulsed. Naraku paused and looked at him, "What the
fuck?"
Inuyasha pulsed again, and again, and again.
Naraku backed away a step as he felt a sudden surge run through him,
"How can he still be alive?" he rasped out, "He should
be dead! I stabbed him in the heart! His power...it's raising,
fuck..."
Naraku backed up against a wall and he started
to sweat dramatically, "He can't be...changing?"
Inuyasha
pulsed again and he sat up, his head bowed and his claws digging into
the stone, causing the cobblestone pathway to crack and split apart
as if it were clay. Naraku cringed as he heard a snarl come from the
hanyou.
Razor sharp claws rose up and touched the wound to his
heart gingerly; blood hurled itself onto his hand. Inuyasha smirked
and licked his hand clean of the blood. Naraku stared in
disgust.
The hanyou smirked again at his now clean hand. He
stood up completely and stared shamelessly at Naraku, his hideous
smirk able to outwit Naraku's any day. A purple stripe ran up both
his cheeks and his eyes were a blood red.
The blood red eyes
narrowed with glee as he stared directly at Naraku, smelling the
youkai blood surging through his blood, though Naraku was known for
mind control, he wasn't the strongest person in the world, he gulped
as Inuyasha started to walk towards him, no mercy shinning through
his face.
Inuyasha raised a razor claw and smirked again,
"This ought to be fun, promise that you won't disappoint me?"
he whispered, his voice dripping in venom and dangerously
calm.
Inuyasha raised a claw and suddenly lunged forward in
the blink of an eye, his claw out stretched towards Naraku's stupid
little head, unfortunately for Inuyasha, he missed and proceeded to
collapse the wall into little fragments of pebbles.
Naraku
paled as he dodged the attack and rolled over to the side of
Inuyasha, catching his breath and trying to calm his pounding heart,
"How did you become a full demon?"
Inuyasha
snickered, "Does it matter, bastard, I am what I am and that's
all that I am? Enough talk, time to die."
Naraku dodged
another attack and fluently lifted his foot to kick the hanyou in the
face, but Inuyasha was ready and dodged it easily, but not missing
his chance to nearly cut the leg off with his bladed claws.
Naraku
hated to admit it, but he needed some serious help, snapping his
fingers, three figures suddenly appeared. One was a small child
looking person, who was completely white except for her dark eyes,
another wore feathers in her hair and held a fan, and the other was
Kouga.
Naraku smirked, "Hanyou, prepare to die, Kagura,
use your wind powers to kill this poor excuse for a youkai."
The
woman with the fan, Kagura, nodded slowly as she raised her fan,
moving it in a circular motion, preparing for an attack, but, she
didn't notice when Inuyasha launched forward with incredible speed
and punched the poor woman in the face, and another in her stomach,
causing her to spit up blood as she was hurled back into the remains
of the wall.
Kanna raised her mirror and stared at the hanyou,
waiting for him to use some attack on her so her mirror could launch
it back at him. Inuyasha ran forward and kicked the tiny albino child
in the ribs, causing her to fly into her anesthetized sister.
Naraku
cringed as he watched his detachments both defeated in less then five
minutes, usually they put up a better fight, he noted to himself to
remember that he should feed the detachments more, give them some
calcium. He nodded to Kouga who stepped forward, his hands lifted and
in a defensive position.
Inuyasha let out a loud scream as he
launched himself onto the wolf youkai, the two began to punch the
other as they fought it out, Naraku smirked, there was no way that
the hanyou could beat a full-blooded wolf youkai.
Naraku
turned just in time to see an arrow come flying by his face. He
turned sharply to see that Kagome, released from her hypnotic spell
was staring back at him, bow raised, Naraku cursed himself for not
locking his weapon holder near the gates of the castle, he wondered
vaguely why he even put the weapon holder there.
"Ah,
Kagome dear, what on Earth are you doing?" Naraku tried to sound
like he had every thing under control, when in reality he felt like
he should go and punch the remains of the wall the hanyou had screwed
up, that stupid hanyou was ruining his plans.
Kagome looked
past Naraku and stared at the fighting Inuyasha and Kouga, she
returned her stone hard gaze to Naraku, "What did you do to
him?"
Naraku raised an eyebrow, "Kouga is only under
a mind control, like you," Naraku snapped his fingers, but
nothing happened. Kagome kept her gaze narrowed at Naraku and her bow
steady, "What the hell?"
Kagome narrowed her eyes
until they were slits, "I don't mean Kouga, I meant
Inuyasha!"
Naraku chuckled and shrugged, "Sorry
baby, but I don't know what happened to your precious hanyou-"
he was cut off when another arrow came whizzing by him.
"Wrong
answer," Naraku tried to snap again but Kagome placed another
arrow on the bow string and pulled it back until the string became
taut, her eyes focused only on Naraku, though she would glance at
Inuyasha now and then, "Prepare to die, scum bag."
Naraku
smirked, "I wouldn't do that."
Kagome lowered her
bow slightly, "Why?"
Naraku's mind raced, he had to
find a good reason why he can't be killed, he smirked as an idea came
to mind, "Kill me and Inuyasha's killed too."
Kagome's
mouth flopped open, "You're lying."
"Am I?"
Naraku relaxed considerably since he wasn't standing next to the
mindless drone and the mindless killing machine.
Kagome gulped
loudly as she tried to decide if she should take the chance of
killing her beloved.
Naraku saw her discomfort, "Dear
Kagome, drop your weapons now."
Kagome lowered her head
shamefully as she dropped the bow and it clattered to the ground.
Inuyasha paused at the sound as he looked up at Kagome, who paled at
the blood lustful look in his eyes.
Inuyasha smirked and took
a step towards Kagome. "Mate," he whispered.
Kouga
took this chance with Inuyasha off guard and dug his claws into his
already bleeding wound, blood poured every where and Inuyasha
collapsed, he rasped out for breath and tried to scream, but only a
soft cough escaped his bloodied lips.
"Inuyasha!"
Kagome screamed as her hanyou lover fell to his knees and closed his
eyes slowly with one longing glance at Kagome before he fell into
darkness.
Kagome screamed out his name again and ran towards
him, but Naraku blocked her way, "Now, now Kagome dearest, it is
time."
"Leave me alone!" Kagome screamed
and punched Naraku in his already broken nose, causing him to keel
over in pain, Kagome made a run for Inuyasha, but Naraku's icy cold
hair gripped her ankle, causing her to lose her balance,
"Inuyasha..."
"Fool, Inuyasha is dead,"
Naraku laughed at Kagome's misfortune and his good luck, "Now
it's time to get the Shikon no tama."
Kagome's
half-lidded eyes floated to Inuyasha, his lifeless body lying in even
more of his blood, he was either dead or dying, and she could do
nothing to save him, nothing to save the one she loved.
Naraku
chuckled again, "Now you have nothing left to live for, Kouga is
mine, and Inuyasha is dead, so why not work for me, it's the least
you can do, since I had to go to all the trouble of finding Kikyo so
many years ago."
Kagome's eyes widened, "What?"
Naraku
didn't answer her and continued walking leaving Kagome to wonder why
or what he was talking about. 'What is he talking about?'
Kagome
closed her eyes miserably as she was dragged for the second time that
day towards the castle, which now had a strange aura, no doubt the
Shikon no Tama.
