Well, seeing as how I'm not in the least sleepy, I decided to start working on my next chapter; hey, who knows: maybe I'll get it finished before I get sleepy and finish it…well, read and enjoy!
I don't own Inuyasha; give me a time machine, however, and I will ^_^.
Chapter Nine
"KAGOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Inuyasha screamed, running over to where Kagome now lay, entombed in entrails and vile green flesh; he clawed at it, but his claws did nothing more than ricochet off the hardening biological sarcophagus, and he dared not try the Kaze no Kizu for fear that it would not only blow the cocoon away, but Kagome as well.
"Aaaaaaaaaaah…," Onigumo sighed, closing his eyes and spreading his arms in pleasure. "Even now, she becomes a part of me…Kikyo, even if I cannot have you as a bride, you shall be mine…"
Inuyasha tried to rip away the cocoon, but once more to no avail; he could hear Kagome's desperate breathing going more and more ragged as the poison began to seep into her. Try as she might, there wasn't even enough air for her to scream now; and as Inuyasha heard her take what he thought was one of her final breaths, something inside him snapped; something that had been held back for as long as he could remember, something that he couldn't remember existing inside him before, broke suddenly.
"Take your filthy flesh off of Kagome," Inuyasha said, in a voice no louder than a whisper, but a whisper that carried the power and strength of a thousand demons.
"What did you say?" Onigumo crowed, opening his eyes again as he saw the hanyou still kneeling, now his head against his chest and his hand on the Tetsuaiga. "I'm sorry, speak up: I couldn't hear you!"
Inuyasha did not respond; instead, he rose, slowly and deliberately, from the ground. No petty anger was in his stance as he wheeled around; no arrogance or sarcasm tainted his voice as he spoke again, cold, remorseless fury defining every line in his face, every step he took towards Onigumo.
"I said take your filthy hands off Kagome, teme," he growled, the chilled calm not leaving his voice as a palpable aura of power and fury, melding into one unstoppable force, sprang up around him.
"And what are you going to do if I don't? My Kikyo's not around to save you anymore, even as you waste time with pointless banter she becomes ever a part of me, bit by bit she melds with me, bit by bit she's becoming me, and there's not a thing you can…"
In a motion so fast that Onigumo could not see it, a motion that matched the speed of his older brother Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha covered the fifteen foot difference in a blur of speed and now held his adversary by the throat, claws digging none-too-gently into his throat, dark blood seeping down his claws as he spoke once more.
"She's not your Kikyo; she's not Kikyo period. Her name is Kagome," he said softly, tightening his death grip on Onigumo's throat. "Say her true name."
Onigumo smiled, then said,
"You know, I'd really rather not," and then began laughing once more as the tentacles shot out of his chest, straight on target to eviscerate Inuyasha, and would have…would have, had they not shattered against some unseen shield generated from his body.
"I'm getting tired of that trip, baka!" He snarled, and then, raising his hand, he plunged his claws into Onigumo's wide-open chest, searching for the source of his regeneration, the Shikon shards…
…and smiled coldly as his hands closed around Onigumo's heart, the jewel shards crying to him from within.
"Say it," Inuyasha demanded coldly, relishing the look of exquisite anguish plastered on his foe's face.
"Her name…is…KIKYO!" Onigumo spat out between clenched teeth, blood mixing with saliva and dripping down his face.
"Wrong answer."
With a deft, deliberate motion, Inuyasha clenched his fist around Onigumo's heart and ripped it straight out of his chest; a fountain of blood sprayed up as rent arteries dumped their contents into his now-empty chest. The heart gave one last feeble thud, then stopped as Inuyasha slashed it open, drawing out the three shards from within, and moved with lightning speed over to what could very well be Kagome's coffin.
A strength greater than he had ever known coursed through Inuyasha as he gripped the iron sarcophagus…and a scream that went up to the heavens tore through the still air as he rent the flesh in twain and pulled Kagome from her tomb, her breathing stopped.
"Breath, Kagome…," Inuyasha whispered, placing a hand to her chin and shaking it gently. "Please, breathe…"
Even as Onigumo's final breath rushed out in a shriek, Kagome's breathe rushed in, and she exhaled: a sound as sweet and pure to Inuyasha as a newborn baby taking its first breath.
Her eyes fluttered open as she looked up to see her savior…
"Inuyasha…," she breathed, her eyes focusing unsteadily on the hanyou's face; smiling up at him even as he smiled down on her, wrapping her in his warm embrace as he thanked the gods that she was still alive.
Aaaah, my second favorite chapter now…a little gory, but hey: you don't like it, you don't have to read it (but if you didn't like it, why would you still be reading it? ^_^). Well, not even forty-five minutes after I post my 8th chapter, my 9th is already done…I just couldn't sleep, and for once not sleeping helped me!
Well, I'm done for tonight…please read and review, as always!