If You Need Her
by Scribe Figaro
SESSION FIVE: GO HOME
II.
I need a moment to deliberate."
- Alanis Morissette, "Uninvited"
"Kagome?"
"Kagome!"
"Kaaaaa-goooooooo-meeeee!!"
She wasn't certain whether it was the shouting she felt first, or the tiny fox-feet jumping up and down on her chest, or the tugging at the collar of her blouse. She had been dreaming strangely, and now she awoke slowly, opening her eyes the slightest bit.
"You're okay!" the kitsune cried, now waving his arms, smiling broadly.
Kagome sat up, feeling the dirt beneath her fingers, and blinked a few times.
"Shippou-chan," she murmured. "I must've had a nightmare."
As her eyes focused, she realized where she was. With a shriek, she clapped a hand on her throat.
But there was no cut. No scar. No blood. Her blouse was clean. And yet, the look on Shippou's face made it clear to her that it was no dream.
"Shippou-chan, what happened?"
She caught movement in the corner of her eye, and turned her head to see a shindamachuu close beside her. It held no soul in its claws, and – she could swear – it betrayed an expression of disappointment as it circled her and returned to its mistress.
Kikyou stood with her back toward her, and turned slightly at hearing Kagome's question.
"Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru fought here, and in doing so, Sesshoumaru's sword discharged a great deal of healing energy. That is how you were revived."
The words would not register in Kagome's mind for a few moments, for as Kikyou turned, she could see the figure lying at her feet, an arrow deep in its chest.
"Inuyasha!" she cried.
Kagome lept to her feet, a feeling of horror burning in her gut, sweeping up her throat. He lay there motionless, hair splayed about him, arms widespread. Tessaiga lay near, its untransformed blade almost hidden in the thick grass.
She ran, but barely made three steps before the ground in front of her exploded upward, sending dirt, pebbles, and clods of grass into the air. She stopped short, gasping at the foot-wide trench before her.
She turned to her right, and there Sesshoumaru stood, his hand outstretched, a tendril of his energy-whip curling back up into the air and disappearing as quickly as it had come from his fingertips.
Rin stood beside him, her young face fraught with worry.
"Please, Kagome, don't get too close to him! It's dangerous!"
Sesshoumaru lowered his hand and turned away from her, a look of annoyance on his face, as if he was embarrassed that he had protected her from something.
Kagome nodded curtly and held her ground. She looked back at Inuyasha, and now she could see Kikyou kneeling beside him, one hand held in prayer before her, the other holding a small sake-bottle. She perceived a small glow from within it.
A soul?
Inuyasha still did not move. Aside from the arrow, he appeared uninjured, which was good. The arrow itself was apparently Kikyou's sealing arrow, though it appeared to have writing over its shaft and feathers that she could not read from this distance. She could sense his soul, and know he was alive.
She studied his face, at the way his eyes were clenched so tightly, the eyebrows cocked in a grimace of annoyance or pain, and now she saw a spot of movement on his forehead. She squinted, and gasped as she realized what it was.
"Myouga-jiichan!"
The flea-youkai sat quietly on Inuyasha's brow, though what he was doing there, she could not quite tell.
After a minute, Myouga lept upward, landing at the rim of the bottle in Kikyou's hands. The soul inside grew dark, and sensing this, Kagome felt sick to her stomach.
Asesu. Asesu has taken the soul in the bottle.
How could Myouga do such a thing?
"I've defeated it, Kikyou-sama!" the flea-youkai cried. He lept up and down on Inuyasha's head, then, seeing Kagome, lept across the grass to greet her.
She held out her hands, and Myouga landed there, waving his arms gleefully.
"I did it, Kagome-sama! I fought Asesu, and I won! Just as Inu-taisho instructed me! Myouga saves the day!"
"Myouga-jiichan," she said, "how could you fight him? Sango-chan lost against him, and so did Miroku-sama . . ."
"So did Inuyasha-sama and the girl Rin," said Myouga. "Though, one could say Miroku-sama fought to a draw. And Asesu, who never took a hanyou before, did nothing more than upset the balance between Inuyasha's human and youkai sides, giving his youkai-nature control, so that was something of a draw as well."
"His youkai-nature . . ." Kagome whispered. She had not sensed the strong youki he bore when Inuyasha went into youkai-rage, but the fact he had been affected by it was very upsetting.
"Yes, it was terribly convenient, really, since Asesu was so confused trying to separate and defeat different aspects of Inuyasha-sama's personality. It gave me a great opportunity to challenge him myself."
"How?"
"Well, I have natural talent for the game of Go," he said, rubbing his hands together. "I've been playing it for over five hundred years, you see. It was only a matter of challenging him to a quick game. He had possessed a number of men talented at the game, but it was still an easy manner to defeat him. Once that was done, I merely stuck him in Kikyou's soul-container. Worry no more, Kagome-sama."
A sharp crack punctuated his last words.
Kagome looked up to where Kikyou stood. She held the bottle before her in both hands. A thin, jagged line went from its mouth to its bottom.
"The container," Kikyou said, her voice even. "Asesu is rejecting the soul."
"What!?" Kagome and Myouga cried in unison.
Kikyou frowned in frustration.
"Asesu is breaking free."
Author's Note: This is the last time he does this. I swear.