Under the Pale
Autumn Moon
She braced her knees and bent over
her hands, chanting softly as Inu- yasha 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.
Naraku grinned
as the smoke cleared and the door was clearly open, "Why thank
you Kagome dearest!"
He began walking slowly towards the
door, keeping a close eye on the shocked Miko and the bleeding
hanyou. He glanced towards the sun, not long now...
Kagome
stood in shock; her hands still out stretched towards the castle,
little swirls of smoke from her blast escaping the warmth of her
hands. She wasn't blinking or moving. She was just staring and she
felt coldness rush over her as she fell to her knees.
Finally
she blinked. And she blinked again. She shook her head and closed her
eyes and opened them to look at the crushed castle.
She'd
opened the castle.
Naraku was halfway towards the
castle.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
She looked at
Inuyasha who was struggling with the pain from his wound. She
wondered why he hadn't died of blood loss yet.
Naraku's shadow
danced across the debris. It was hard to see him in the fading
sunlight, but she stood up and charged the bastard.
"Don't
go near that jewel, bastard!!"
Naraku cringed when Kagome
head-butted him from behind. Inuyasha had a look of approval as he
tried, in vain, to help the Miko.
And then the sun was gone.
And there wasn't a moon...
Miroku continued to pray
as the barrier continued to flicker and slowly but surely
disappear.
"Hurry Miroku!"
"I'm going as
fast as I can, dearest Sango," Miroku said calmly in order to
not break his concentration.
The sun was setting in the
background and their shadows grew longer as the barrier finally
snapped and flickered, before the translucent blue barrier was gone
and the instead of seeing trees behind the barrier, they saw a
castle.
Miroku blinked, "That explains a lot. It's an
illusion barrier, no wonder it was hard to break."
Sango
nodded and clenched the object in her hands as she broke out into a
run, Miroku following behind her.
Inuyasha paled as he
realized what day it was. And how much blood he'd lost. He gulped
and leaned himself against a sapling that hadn't been crushed by
falling debris. He chocked out inaudible words to Kagome, who didn't
hear him, and clenched his chest.
Then the world started to
spin as he felt himself becoming weaker and weaker. His silver hair
turning into a dark ebony color. Though he couldn't see it, he knew
his eyes were turning the dark violet that Kagome loved so much. His
dog-ears disappeared and his claws dulled. He was human.
"Kagome!"
he managed to gasp out before he lost feeling in his legs and
buckled.
Kagome whirled around and stared at the kneeling
Inuyasha, she ran over to him without a second thought. "Inuyasha,
what are you doing? Now is no time to be human!"
Inuyasha
shook his head and grabbed her shoulders, supporting himself as he
stood on wobbly legs, "I have no choice. It's the new moon,
Kagome."
"New moon?"
"I turn human,
a true human, once a month. I'll turn back once the sun rises,"
Inuyasha stared at Naraku, speaking low enough so that Naraku
hopefully wouldn't hear Inuyasha's explanation of why he was the weak
human boy.
Kagome stared blankly at him, "B-But!"
"I'll
be fine," Inuyasha whispered as he pushed her slightly forward,
his hands lingering on the small of her back before he stared at
Naraku, who was beginning to build up some weird whirlwind
again.
Inuyasha shoved Kagome aside and raced towards Naraku,
aiming to punch him in the stomach. Naraku merely threw the human
aside, and watched with liking as he crashed into the sapling he'd
been leaning up against moments before.
Inuyasha gasped out in
pain and closed his eyes tightly. It was getting hard to move, lack
of blood and just pure exhaustion were taking their toll on the
former hanyou.
But he couldn't give up; he had to protect
Kagome. He tried to stand, but he felt nothing.
That is until
Naraku had Kagome by the neck.
"Stupid little bitch, you
are no use to me now," Naraku smirked and cast his eyes towards
his castle, "you've gotten my castle unlocked for me." He
then glanced at Inuyasha, "and you killed an
annoyance."
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed to little slits as
Kagome gasped for air and clawed at Naraku's arms like a cat, though
he didn't seem to notice.
"Inu-Inuyasha!" she
wheezed before Naraku tightened his grip around her petite neck. She
cringed and fought for breath, but was obviously losing the
battle.
Inuyasha felt a whole new wave of emotion wash over
him. Naraku was hurting Kagome, he would not allow that, ever.
He
stood with newfound strength that he needed to protect Kagome. His
hands moved without his knowledge and before he knew it, he had
Naraku on the ground and was punching the living shit out of
him.
But then the weak feeling in his legs came back and
Naraku tossed him aside carelessly.
"Inuyasha...!"
through woozy and wobbly vision that fuzzed in and out of blackness,
Inuyasha was able to make out two figures running towards
him.
"Sango...Miroku?" he asked stupidly, already
knowing who it was.
The two stopped in front of him, "Save
Kagome." He looked at them pleadingly and then Sango placed
something in his hands.
"Inuyasha, we can't see Kagome,"
Sango said as she closed the space between the object and Inuyasha's
hands, "But you can protect her with this!"
Inuyasha's
bleary vision focused on a sword, "What?"
"Tessaiga."
Miroku said matter-of-factly, "It's an ancient sword that only a
youkai wanting to protect humans can use."
Inuyasha
stared at it dumbly, "It won't work."
"Why
not?" Sango never got an answer because she was knocked aside by
Naraku, having recovered from Inuyasha's half-powerful
punches.
Miroku threw a punch at him but was thrown
aside.
Inuyasha stood and glared at Naraku, "Don't hurt
them anymore, bastard!"
He unsheathed the sword. And
nothing happened.
It was just a rusty piece of
crap.
Terrific.
Naraku seemed to find it terrific as
well because he chuckled softly, "This is your big weapon? A
sword that couldn't cut paper?"
Inuyasha shot him a glare
and urged the sword silently to work. With that thought in mind he
lunged at Naraku and dug the sword into his arm and ripping it off.
That was the theory at least. Instead, it panged off his arm like a
rubber ball does when you throw it at the ground.
Naraku and
Inuyasha both stared dumbly at the sword as it jangled and twanged in
Inuyasha's hand. And then Naraku burst into laughter.
"Sango,"
Inuyasha whispered angrily as his cousin and Miroku stood stupidly.
Why weren't they helping him?
Inuyasha's eyes widened, maybe
they couldn't see Naraku?
And where was Kagome?
He had
to protect her, he glared at the sword, "Why can't I protect
her?" of course the sword didn't answer, "Why won't
you work you stupid piece of junk?"
The sword
pulsed.
Inuyasha stared as the sword continued to pulse in his
hand, almost as if it had a heart embedded deep within its blade.
Inuyasha thought the pulse was a very optimistic sign and without a
second thought launched towards the chuckling Naraku.
He
sliced off his arm with ease.
Unlike last time, the sound of
flesh hitting metal was easy to hear and the scream of agony from
Naraku was at large.
Grinning with a new confidence, Inuyasha
proceeded to cut the youkai in half...
Naraku was dead.
Inuyasha blinked and stared at where Naraku had fallen, that
was...easy. He stared at his sword; it was now a large fang-looking
blade that looked able to cut through solid rock.
Inuyasha
breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at his comrades, he grinned
sheepishly at Kagome as he collapsed to the ground.
Kagome
instantly rushed forward and flung herself onto the human form of
Inuyasha, he looked at her softly.
Sango and Miroku were both
staring at Kagome.
Not Kikyo, Kagome.
Sango examined
the girl-she did look slightly like Kikyo, only warmer.
Miroku
silently agreed when Sango whispered this to him.
Kagome
smiled softly at Inuyasha, "We won, Inu."
Inuyasha
nodded slowly, it hurt to move and he felt his life slipping away for
real this time. He was really going to die. Unless the sun rose
soon.
Kagome felt tears slipping down her cheeks, "I'm so
sorry for all of this, Inuyasha, it's all my fault!"
Inuyasha
wiped the tears from her eyes, "How is it your fault,
Kagome?"
Kagome sniffled and looked away from his violet
eyes, "If I'd never met Naraku..."
"Fate is
fate, Kagome, we can't deny that," Inuyasha said softly as he
continued to wipe the waterfalls of tears from Kagome's cheeks,
"don't cry."
Kagome didn't meet his eyes.
"I
don't think it was fate that I met you though," Inuyasha spoke
just above a whisper, he had no strength to speak louder, "and
I'm not sorry I met you."
Kagome looked at his eyes then,
they were shinning softly, glazed over in pain and his eyes wouldn't
focus on her, he whispered something else, but it was lost in the
dying breeze.
He reached up a hand and cupped her cheek,
"Kindred spirits?" He asked softly.
Kagome nodded,
tears returning, "Yeah, Kindred spirits."
Inuyasha
smiled in relief, "Love...you." And the hand fell from her
cheek and lay lifelessly on the cobblestone pathway.
Kagome
stared at his closed eyes for what seemed like hours...maybe it was,
because at that moment, the sun rose.
Sango placed a hand on
Kagome's shoulder, "It's ok, Kagome." Though she knew it
would never be ok for her.
Kagome looked at her in confusion,
"Ok? OK! How can it be ok, he's dead...and how can you see
me?"
Sango blinked, "We saw you, me and Miroku,
right after Naraku died."
Kagome nodded dumbly and laid
her head on Inuyasha's shoulder, "Hear that Inuyasha? The curse
is broken, you saved me." She fingered his black
hair.
Wait.
Black hair? Didn't Inuyasha say that he
would turn to a hanyou after the sun rose? She stared at the sun to
make sure that the sun really was up. And it was, Kagome stared in
confusion.
Miroku and Sango stood helplessly, Miroku having
previously returned from the castle, he held the Shikon no Tama in
his hands, and looked at it stupidly as his friend died right before
his eyes and a girl appeared right before his eyes.
It had
been an interesting night.
Kagome rose silently off of
Inuyasha and whispered something Sango and Miroku couldn't
understand.
She turned to them, her smoky blue-gray eyes moist
with unshed tears, "Let's go dig a hole for the body
then?"
Sango looked sympathetic as she patted the girl's
shoulder tenderly.
"At least he died curse free,"
Kagome said. She'd decided the reason why he hadn't changed back into
a hanyou was because Naraku was dead, and without the caster of the
curses, they both broke.
Too bad Inuyasha wasn't alive to
celebrate.
