Kiss From a Rose
By Mystical Star
A Kitty-Chan Production
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Mostly because if I did, I'd have a whole lot of money and I could speak Japanese! But I only know a few words and I'm broke, therefore I can't own Inuyasha or any related characters. So there!
Author's Note: A small dictionary of the Japanese words that appear will be provided at the end of the chapter for all you folk who don't know them :)
I'm sorry I'm updating so late!!! Things got really busy around here ^^; I'm trying out for All-State and the auditions are soon, but it'll be over soon so I'll keep updating!
PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT SOMETHING HAS CHANGED!!!! At the beginning of chapter six, I mentioned Naraku as though I was going to weave him into this plot. Well…I'm not anymore ^^; I'm saving it for a possible sequel :D
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Chapter Eight ~ Angels Crying
Kagome stared at the mountains ahead with steely determination in her eyes. Her maternal instincts had increased her miko abilities three-fold and her aura was radiating anger, making it very difficult for Inuyasha to concentrate. He could feel her tension as he carried her over tree tops as quickly as he could.
Inuyasha, on the other hand, wasn't exactly complacent either. His insides were tossing and turning, horribly confused on which side he was taking. His first instinct was telling him that he wanted to rip Kikyou to shreds for even threatening to harm his pups, but his second contradicted the first, giving the hanyou one hell of a headache.
Miroku and Sango, seated on Kirara's back, watched the couple ahead of them, curious as to their reaction. Both the monk and the Taji-ya could feel the anger wafting through the air as if it were a gas.
"Houshi-sama, how are we going to win this battle?" Sango asked quietly.
There was a silence while Miroku thought. No logical battle plan came to mind, and he could not predict Inuyasha's, Kagome's, or Kikyou's actions like he normally could.
"I don't know, Sango-sama. But we will, that much is certain," The monk replied.
Sango nodded. With so much at stake, there was no way that either Kagome or Inuyasha would let them lose.
Suddenly, Kagome broke the quiet of the day.
"There!" She shouted, pointing to a foothill. All in the party looked down to see Kikyou standing near a tree, looking up at them with a menacing smirk on her face as Kagome and Inuyasha's twins wriggled to get free of the soul-stealers which were pinning them to the tree.
Kagome took an arrow from her quiver and aimed.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha cried out.
"Trust me, Inuyasha," She said, releasing her arrow. The wooden and stone projectile hurtled towards it's target with remarkable speed and accuracy. Inuyasha closed his eyes as the two touched down on the ground, fearful of what his mate had aimed at.
"Got it!" Kagome sighed as she hopped off of Inuyasha's back. Inuyasha opened an eye to see that his mate's arrow was not aimed at Kikyou, but at her soul-stealing demons. The young girl had killed one of the demons holding their children to the tree, releasing Hikari.
"Kasan!" The twins cried happily.
Kikyou looked the newly freed twins and then at Kagome.
"You are such an annoyance," The undead miko sighed.
"Hikari, free your brother," Kagome said, not taking her eyes from Kikyou. The little girl did as she was told and shredded the remaining soul-stealers with her sharp claws. The twins ran for Kagome and hid behind her.
"You," Kagome said in a low voice as she glared at Kikyou. "I can understand your frustration and anger, but do you have to bring innocent children into the conflict? What have they ever done to you?" she asked, barely maintaining her rage.
"They were merely a tool," Kikyou said, smiling slightly.
"Kikyou…" Inuyasha growled loudly.
"You stay out of this Inuyasha," The undead miko warned, drawing her own arrow and bow and aiming. "I'm going to take back what is mine!"
Sensing the danger, Kagome pushed her children away. "Get away from here!" She yelled. Hikari and Hikaru scrambled away from their mother just in time to see her stop the arrow that Kikyou had released.
Kagome's hand burned from stopping such a fast object. She glared at Kikyou. "My soul is my own!"
Inuyasha, feeling most helpless, gathered his pups up in his arms and took them a good distance away from the battlefield to where Sango and Miroku stood next to Kirara.
"What are you going to do, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.
"Stand by," The hanyou replied.
"You're not just going to stand here and watch them fight over you are you?" Sango asked, sounding offended.
"They're not fighting over me," Inuyasha replied.
"They are fighting over themselves," Miroku added wisely.
Kagome took aim with her own arrow and released. Kikyou dodged, but not fast enough. The arrow grazed her shoulder, cutting open her miko kimono. The sound of clay cracking split the air and Kikyou fell to the ground, clutching her shoulder.
Inuyasha's heart ached as he watched his former love's shoulder leak blue orbs of stolen souls.* He looked away, not bearing to watch.
Kikyou let out a small whimper of pain as she looked straight at Inuyasha. Kagome, who had already drawn and aimed another arrow let her guard down, finding the undead miko's behavior odd.
"Will you let me die at the hands of my copy, Inuyasha?" Kikyou asked. Kagome flinched, worried.
Inuyasha looked up at the clay woman with his angry, golden eyes. "You told me to stay out of it. This is your fight, Kikyou," He sighed.
Kikyou's eyes flared with anger. She glared at Kagome, who responded by putting her guard back up.
The miko lifted herself up from the ground, not taking her eyes off of Kagome. She smiled evily.
"If I cannot have him back," She began, drawing a new arrow and aiming at Kagome, "No one will!" Kikyou cried, swiftly turning her aim on Inuyasha and shooting.
"INUYASHA!" Kagome screamed, dropping her bow and arrow and racing towards her mate.
The stunned hanyou was too surprised to move. He was easy prey for Kikyou's arrow, which pierced his gut, sending him reeling to the ground.
"TOUSAN!" Hikari and Hikaru cried out, falling on their knees at their father's side. Kagome joined them and tried to force the arrow from her mate's chest as he howled in pain.
"Why won't it come out!?" She sobbed, tugging as gently as she could at the arrow.
"That arrow was not meant to seal him," Miroku gasped.
"It shall purify his youkai blood until there is none left, and then he shall die," Kikyou cackled.
Anger and sadness and worry surged through Kagome's body as the arrow refused to come out of Inuyasha's body. The twins howled loudly, sobbing with worry for their father.
Kagome's eyes overflowed with tears. I can't lose you, Inuyasha. I won't be able to live with myself if I wouldn't be able to save you. She thought. The twins' sobbing made the situation feel more urgent.
Inuyasha's cries of pain became less and less, and his violent thrashing waned as his breaths became shallow.
Kikyou, sure that she had one, stared upon Kagome feeling triumphant as she saw Inuyasha's life coming to an end.
Suddenly, something called out from Kagome's body to Kikyou's, making the undead miko shudder. She could feel Kagome's aura growing even more angry and wanting more energy.
"I won't let you die!" Kagome screamed.
With her cry, Kagome's body reached out and began soaking up her stolen soul that Kikyou was leaking through her shoulder**. Kikyou became weak and fell to the ground as her body glowed a blue hue.
"Wh – What is this?" Kikyou gasped, finding it hard to breath.
Kagome's body sucked up her borrowed soul and used it to extract the arrow that pierced Inuyasha's body.
A great white light exploded from where Kagome sat next to her mate, making it impossible to see.
To be continued…
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Notes/Japanese words
*This is a direct reference to episode 124. I'm not going to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it. I'm trying my hand at literary devices here! Please be patient with my experiments ^^;;
**If you remember waaaay back to the episode where Kikyou was resurrected (I don't know the exact number at the moment), a good deal of Kagome's soul was used to restore Kikyou to the world of the living.
Hanyou – half-demon.
Taji-ya – Youkai exterminator
Youkai – demon
Miko – Priestess
( Boy, do I feel evil for leaving you with such a horrible cliffhanger!! XD )