Under the Pale
Autumn Moon
---
"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.
It almost seemed like time stood still at that
time, the time when she watched Kouga fall and "die." It
was then she had promised herself never to love again, and now her
whole being belonged to Inuyasha, and he was dead.
'Are all
the people I love destined to die?' she thought bitterly as she
recalled the times that Kouga, Kaede, her family and...Inuyasha had
died. Were dead, except Kouga, but he belonged to Naraku, unaware of
the mind control devise in his neck. In a way, he was dead, never
able to run free until the mind control was gone...or Naraku died.
Both unlikely, she wasn't about to release the wolf bastard. She'd
been able to pull hers away from her neck before Naraku tried to
control her again.
A sharp slap on the cheek made her jump
from her thoughts. Naraku stood over her, with a dangerously angry
look on his face. "You will listen when I speak to you," he
growled at the young woman.
Kagome glared at him, "Why
should I?"
Naraku raised an eyebrow, "Because I own
you."
Kagome angrily at him and turned her back on him,
looking in the direction she'd left Inuyasha. She felt tears running
down her face, "...You've killed the only person I hold
dear."
Naraku grinned, proud of himself.
Kagome
sniffed, "I've always lost the one's I love: Kouga...
Inuyasha."
To Kagome's horror, Naraku laughed, not his
usual cackle or a chuckle, but a full-blown crack up
on-the-floor-laughing kind of laugh that hurt your sides and made you
cry.
Naraku's grin never faltered as he stood and looked at
Kagome, his eyes twinkling with amusement, sinister amusement. "Poor
little Kagome still doesn't understand."
Kagome's look
only caused him to continue, "Poor little Kagome doesn't
understand does she, such a shame, such a shame."
Kagome
glared, "What are you talking about?"
"How do
you think I knew about your curse? How do you think I knew that Kikyo
was the one who put the spell on you? How did I know that it
was Kouga who was killed? How, dearest Kagome, did I know where to
find you?"
Kagome's mind was going haywire with all the
questions Naraku was stringing past her, and for the life of her she
was drawing up a blank, completely.
Naraku sighed and shook
his head; "I suppose I should show you, then." Naraku
raised his hand and snapped, immediately Kouga ran towards them and
he stood motionless as he awaited some instructions. But, Naraku had
a different idea; instead he raised his own clawed hands and stabbed
it through Kouga's stomach. Kagome gasped as she watched Kouga turn
into dust and ashes that collapsed into a heap. A strip of paper with
Kouga's kanji name written on it landed softly on the pile of earth
and cinders. Kagome blinked in fascination and looked up to where
Naraku once stood, but instead was face to face with
Kouga.
"What?"
Kouga shook his head
impatiently and spook to her in Naraku's voice, "You really are
as dense as you look."
Kagome shot a glare towards him,
"And what's the point of this? So what if you can morph into
Kouga."
Naraku once again shook his head, "There
never was a Kouga."
Kagome's eyes widened.
"Ah,
yes, now maybe your brain is understanding, Kouga was someone I
created," he smirked and morphed into Kikyo, "Need I
explain more?"
"You...you were...Kikyo, too?"
Kagome gawks.
Naraku nodded proudly, "Yes, I was both of
them, by creating detachments that looked like your "best
friend" and "lover" was quite simple, so easy, almost
too easy, you see."
"What did you do to Kikyo and
Kouga?" Kagome whispered.
Naraku snorted, "there was
never a Kikyo or Kouga-they were both me. ME. I knew of a Miko with
extraordinary powers, and I needed those powers in order to get the
Shikon no Tama from my castle. Years ago another powerful Miko sealed
my castle from me. I hatched a plan to make it so you could get it
open. It was supposed to happen earlier, back then, you see, but my
little Kikyo detachment actually developed feelings for my Kouga
detachment causing her to disobey me and curse you, causing me to
lose track of you."
Kagome glared at Naraku as tears
streamed down her face, "You tricked
me."
"Yes...wait...actually, yes, yes I
did."
Kagome suddenly got a look of disgust, "What?"
Naraku stared at her with an evil glare, wondering why she had such
an ugly look on her face.
She paled, "I...kissed
you!"
Naraku had to fight the urge to fall over and
scream at her, all this time she was disgusted by the fact she'd
kissed him while he was in Kouga's form...
"And that
means I was also kissing Kikyo's form indirectly," she looked
genuinely disgusted.
...Naraku made a mental note to seriously
hurt Kagome in the near future.
Suddenly, it sunk into
Kagome...Naraku had tricked her, had USED HER to take a goddamn
jewel. She growled dangerously at Naraku, who in turn, smirked.
She
felt tears brimming the sides of her eyes, "Too long."
"What
was that, dear?" Naraku smiled one of his cruel smiles that made
you want to crawl under a rock and die.
"For too long
you've played with my heart-cursed me made me life a living hell!
You killed Inuyasha...you destroyed my life. I. Will. Never. Forgive.
YOU!" She screamed as her emotions took over and she raced
forward and blasted Naraku with a blast of white light, scorching his
shoulders and making him take a step back from the girl.
He
grasped his shoulder tenderly, not expecting the girl's attack so
quickly and powerfully. He smirked as he removed his hand-no matter,
he just wouldn't allow it to happen again. He would not lose to a
little girl.
She was braced for an attack and was also
building up her Miko powers for another blast, probably just as
effective as the last one. Naraku would not allow it.
Just
before Kagome was about to launch forward with the grace of a well
defined Miko, Naraku shot around her in a whirlwind of black energy
and she was whipped off the ground. He smiled to himself, and this
was one of his weak attacks. Just as Kagome was going to be thrown
from the whirlwind due to whiplash, he made his black whirlwind stop
and Kagome came crashing to the ground. The satisfying crunch
promised that she'd broken something she would need in the near
future.
"Oh, I'm sorry did I hurt you?" he asked
mockingly, enjoying every second of this. "What's that you
say...you want to go again? Why sure!"
Naraku whipped
around and Kagome was yet again thrown into the whirlwind, her right
arm was useless, flopping around in the wind, she cringed as she felt
the whirlwind stop and she began to fall to the ground. Expecting to
feel cold ground, Kagome closed her eyes, and awaited another broken
arm or leg. But instead she felt herself caught of the ground by
someone who could jump really high.
Sango and
Miroku ran back from the manor, having discovered there was a
barrier, the two had run back in hopes of finding a spell book of
some sort that could break it. It was a weak barrier, hardly took any
energy to keep up.
Miroku knelt down and began lighting
incense and began a one-handed prayer. Sango watched the ground
closely, concentrating all her energy on the barrier being gone.
The
barrier wavered slightly, it wouldn't be long now...
Sango
just hoped they weren't too late. She gripped the one thing she
grabbed from her mantle, knowing perfectly well that Inuyasha would
not only need it, he's the only one who could use it.
Kagome
felt comforted in the arms, that is until it hit the ground and went
launching into the air, higher than the whirlwind had taken her. She
gulped and dared to open her eyes. She instantly wished she
hadn't.
Naraku was holding her, with an evil grin. He cackled
evilly and dropped Kagome from the climax of his jump, just before he
began to descend.
Kagome gasped and was already imagining the
pain she would be going through. Naraku fell with her, but he seemed
unworried. Lucky bastard.
She closed her eyes tighter and
starting praying. The one thing she hadn't done in hundreds of years,
'Please, I don't want to die, I want to be with Inuyasha.' She
then mentally slapped herself. Inuyasha was dead.
She hated
reality.
Then she felt arms around her again. She sighed, did
Naraku decide he wanted to go higher. Deciding she didn't want to
find out, she punched her captor.
"Fuck," the figure
groaned, "That hurt Kagome."
Kagome blinked her eyes
open, the figure was blocked slightly by the setting sun, making it
appear to be just a black shadow, but she knew who it
was.
"Inuyasha!" Inuyasha smiled and landed with
perfect grace and ease on the ground setting Kagome down. The smile
seemed forced, and he was still bleeding, his wound not completely
healed.
Naraku landed behind him, his eyes on the setting sun.
He grinned, wouldn't be much longer now. He turned with much
satisfaction towards the two who were still staring at one
another.
Kagome then turned to Naraku, her eyes radiating with
a new fire, the fact that Inuyasha wasn't dead was unearthing some
new hope for the cursed Miko.
She braced her knees and bent
over her hands, chanting softly as Inuyasha tensed up, ready to
defend her if Naraku moved at all towards her crouched
form.
Suddenly Kagome let out a loud chant and a burst of
pinkish white light slammed into Naraku, causing him to fly back into
the castle walls, the light surrounded him and went past him, his
body too small to have the whole thing hit him. He crashed into the
wall of his castle and it cracked.
The castle was opened.
