vengeance, revenge, retaliation.
"Kikyo?!"
Her arrow flew silently and surely, pinning Inu Yasha's sleeve just above and to the side of his shoulder to the trunk of the god-tree.
She stepped halfway from the shadows, letting them see the second arrow ready to fly. "Do not move, either one of you."
"But..."
"Don't do this..."
"Silence! I may be the first, but I will not be the last who senses the Jewel's completion. I felt its call, that it was once again united in one place, close to reclaiming its own full power. I know that my revenge must finally be at hand, or my destruction... possibly both. No mortal can destroy the Jewel, and no demon can resist using it. It's time this was ended."
"Kikyo..."
Kagome looked from one to the other, but didn't speak.
"Inu Yasha, you told me once that you would use the Jewel to become human, to be with me. Yet you have also said repeatedly that you would use it to become a full demon. I chose to take the Jewel with me in death, as the only way I could keep it from being used for evil. This girl seems to be willing to give her life to protecting it, but does not have the training or the skill to do so as I did. Therefore I will take it. Give me the Jewel."
"Kikyo... what would you do with it? You're not exactly mortal any more."
"I will have my revenge, and finally rest, free of this consuming hatred. Give me the Jewel! My second arrow will strike true, Inu Yasha!"
Kagome interrupted, "Hey, you're not exactly rational, you know. You're consumed by hate, by rage, and it doesn't even matter to you that Naraku is the one who tricked you both. Why should we trust you with the Jewel?"
"Because I give you no choice. Go back to your own world, girl, these matters are beyond you."
Kagome stood, and started to move toward Kikyo. "Now wait just a minute! I may not be as..."
"I warned you not to move!"
The arrow flew, and Kagome froze, turning to see. "No!"
The arrow had struck Inu Yasha in the chest and embedded itself solidly in the wood behind him. His pained cry split the air as he reached for it and the arrow glowed fiery violet. "Ugh... not again... Kikyo!"
"Why are you doing this? Naraku is dead! You have no reason to hate Inu Yasha any more!"
"My hatred goes beyond time, beyond hope, beyond reason. You forget... you took back from me most of my soul, girl. The shell that I am knows only the burn of vengeance and unkept promises of revenge. The very air I breathe is tainted with it! I can do no less!"
The half-demon strained against the arrow through his chest, but was unable to move. "Kikyo... don't do this!"
"You will sleep, Inu Yasha. Forever. I will have my revenge. You will know once again the pain of betrayal and not even this child will be able to free you."
Kagome clenched her fists at her sides. "I freed him from your spell once before, Kikyo, and I'll do it again!"
"No. Go ahead and try." Kikyo lowered her bow slightly. "You cannot free him. I wish to see him slipping into that haunted slumber knowing that no help will ever come."
Kagome quickly picked her way across the roots at the base of the god-tree to clamber up near him. Though she could see the arrow's purple glow when Inu Yasha tried to bring his hand to it, she had no hesitation and grasped the shaft firmly. She tugged but couldn't budge the arrow. Even bringing her other hand to bear, with most of the Shikon Jewel still in its vial in her fist, she couldn't so much as wiggle the arrow.
"Kagome... don't bother. I think I've figured it out. You could break the spell before... because you were her. I mean... all that her soul was... was within you. That's not true any more."
"Oh, no... Inu Yasha..." Kagome gave up on the arrow and whirled to face Kikyo. "How does this give you your revenge? I'm never going to give you the Jewel now! I know you! You may look like Kikyo, you may have some of her powers! But I know you're really only a husk, simply her hate-filled dying wish for misplaced vengeance, fermented in ashes and earth! You're a demon!"
Kikyo laughed, a hollow, broken sound. "Not quite. But I don't deny my nature. Give me the Jewel!" Her third arrow was ready to fly, and pointed at Kagome this time.
"All right! All right... I... I want to say goodbye. He's fading..." Kagome waited, but Kikyo did not loose the arrow, so she turned back to Inu Yasha, whose eyelids were already starting to droop.
"Don't do this, Kagome... the Jewel will... consume her... and become worse than before... you have to fight this..."
Kagome found a foothold in the bark of the god-tree, and climbed up a bit more so she was nearly even with Inu Yasha, this time staying clear of the arrows. She leaned in close to his shoulder, reaching to embrace him and tilting her head upwards to tuck her chin against the side of his neck. "I know," she whispered, slowly running her hand down his arm. "That's why... you have to choose now. I'm sorry." As she stood on tiptoe and her lips pressed softly to his cheek, her hand nudged the bundle in his palm open, and upended the vial into it. She whispered, "For luck..." as he clenched his fist tight against the burst of light and spiritual energy that came forth from the fragments. Their edges seemed to be trying to fit themselves together in the bundle in his palm.
Kikyo didn't overlook this. "Trickery! You think to impede my revenge? Die!" She let the arrow fly.
Kagome's reflexes were a fraction quicker than the pinned half-demon behind her, and she stepped in front of Inu Yasha and stretched out her right hand, her palm facing toward the approaching arrow. "NO!" A pale white light formed around the arrowhead's darker aura as it sped toward her hand, and the arrow slowed. Behind her, Inu Yasha's eyes snapped open and with his free hand he again reached for the arrow pinning him to the tree. Its violet-tinged aura burned just as bright as before and though his hand burned painfully for the effort, he couldn't force himself to touch it.
Kikyo gasped, peering intently at her opponent's stance and the competing auras surrounding her arrow, pushing its way slower and slower through the air. Kagome winced, but grit her teeth and poured her will into her hand, as though she was trying to push a boulder back with the very depths of her soul. Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes stung.
The arrow dropped to the forest floor.
Kikyo smiled. "Well, perhaps there's some hope for you yet, girl. And now the choice is his. I should probably thank you."
Kagome's jaw dropped. "What?"
Kikyo lowered her bow. "Choose your fate, treacherous halfbreed. I will have my revenge, and perhaps my destruction as well. Either will bring peace at last."
Kagome turned back to Inu Yasha, worry creasing her forehead. "Inu Yasha?"
He grimaced, his eyes more clear than before as his gaze locked with Kikyo's. "Havin' the Jewel keeps your spell from making me sleep, obviously, but it's not enough to free me. You knew this might happen before you even got here." He paused. "And now I choose, right? Human or demon. Or handin' the Jewel over to one of you."
Kikyo's small smile didn't reach her cold eyes. "That's right. Though I warn you that the arrow's spell may be enough to kill a demon, and the wound itself may be enough to kill a human. Do you choose freely the fate I gave you all those years ago instead of those risks?"
"To sleep, an' give the Jewel over to you? Not damned likely. I'd sooner trust Kagome with it."
Kagome tried to interrupt, "Inu Yasha..."
"But I know what it did to you, Kikyo, and I wouldn't wish that on Kagome. I didn't want that for you back then, either, not that that matters to you now."
Kagome reached out a hand toward him, but he didn't look at her.
His expression hardened. "If I become a full-fledged demon, even with your spell, I'll probably kill you, Kikyo." She nodded once, her dark eyes expressionless. "If I become human, I won't be able to." She blinked a few times, but her expression barely changed, and she nodded again. He paused, and he spoke more softly. "Without the Jewel, what will you do, Kikyo?"
"If you die, I will surely find peace. And I've faced death once before, knowing that you would sleep forever. That will be enough."
"You will finally be appeased?"
Kagome's fist clutched at his clothing. "No, Inu Yasha..."
He shook his head gently. "Quiet, Kagome. Kikyo... you will finally be appeased?"
She paused, then nodded decisively. "I will rest."
He finally turned to Kagome, meeting her bright eyes with his own clear amber ones. "I trust you, Kagome, but I won't curse you with the Jewel. Do you... do you trust me?"
She searched his gaze, but found little clue to his thoughts. She wasn't sure what she hoped his choice would be. She slowly nodded. "I do, Inu Yasha."
He glanced back to Kikyo, who had taken a few more steps toward them, then back to Kagome. He took a deep breath, ignoring the pain in his chest, and blew it out in frustration. The Jewel felt so heavy in his palm.
Kagome took a step back hesitantly, then another. She'd shifted a bit so that she could see Kikyo out of the corner of her eye, and Inu Yasha was glad of that. She'd gotten better at handling herself, even against demons ten times her own fragile human strength. Human...
Was he ready to be human? Could he even survive the wound? Once his humanity negated Kikyo's spell, Kagome might be able to get him through the well to her own time, when healers could do wonders that Kikyo wouldn't have... couldn't have known about... and he would be human. That had all sorts of other problems, though it had seemed simpler years ago when Kikyo had first suggested it. Things just weren't that simple now, and they probably hadn't even been that simple then. He shook his head ruefully, thinking of his earlier self.
Was he ready to be a full demon? As if Kikyo's arrow wouldn't sear an unhealable hole in him right on the spot if he was... but he'd always been powerful, even only half, so maybe that same strength within him would be enough... no. The way this Kikyo's mind worked, he'd be dead, probably painfully, within a few moments, and in likely his final mindless act, so would she. And... somehow he... didn't want Kagome to have to see that. He considered just keeping the Jewel and staying where he was, but... other demons would come, and he couldn't defend himself or the Jewel pinned like a bug to the tree. He refused to think about giving the Jewel away. But to be human... he'd realized over the past few years that he liked some humans, even if he'd never really been able to admit it aloud, but was he really ready to be one? For the rest of his life? To be that vulnerable? To be that weak? To be unable to take care of himself against any of the various demons they'd managed to infuriate over the years? To be unable to take care of Kagome? The demons would be coming after her, too, and he had no guarantees that she'd be safe even in her own time... the real problem was the demons.
He clenched his fist tight around the Jewel. Demons and humans alike had made his life a hell when he was small... but as he'd grown up he'd realized that he could protect himself against pretty much anything humans could throw at him, especially if he was prepared. He preferred to live apart from them all, anyway. But demons had continued to be a problem. Either they came after him on principle, because of his tainted blood, or they went after the humans and then any human who crossed his path blamed him for the demon's violence.
He barely remembered his father, but he'd had so much power... and he'd chosen a human... out of love. And as his son... it made sense that he felt merciful and understanding of humans, but also that he'd want some fraction of that power. It was his birthright, after all, and nothing that humans would ever understand, no more than demons could understand his feelings for humankind.
He raised his hand, glaring at the Jewel as he opened his fist. The curved surface of the jewel reflected the forest around him in miniature, ringed by the sharp edges of his claws... and also reflected there, marked by the cracks still marring its perfect sphere where the final fragments had yet to merge completely, was his all-too-human face, his eyes the color of no human's gaze, his sharp fangs as he gritted his teeth, his silver-white hair.... That was who he was, that halfbreed mixture caught at the fractured edge of two worlds. A survivor.
He raised his palm to his mouth, closed his eyes against the pair of women watching him, and swallowed the Jewel whole.
