To Protect the One I Love
Author's Notes: Why is Inuyasha attacking Kagome!? Will Kagome be able to defend herself from her once-protector? And if so, how? All this and more will be answered, so read on and enjoy!
Ancestral Lineage
Kagome rolled to the side and heard Tetsusaiga ran into the ground where she had just been moments before. She got up and faced Inuyasha with concerned eyes. "Inuyasha! What's going on!?"
The hanyou held onto the demon fang with two hands, his left seemingly holding it down and his right wanting to wield it once more. "Kagome! Get out of here!" He shouted, although his voice sounded strained. "I can't control my body anymore!" He abruptly swung the blade horizontally at Kagome.
The miko thought quickly and ducked to the side, the top part of the tree behind her falling down, sliced in two. "Is it a youkai!?"
"I don't know, but get out of here before I hurt you!" Inuyasha struggled against the force that wanted to wield Tetsusaiga so badly, but his hands were pulled up and held at a ready stance, facing the distressed miko. Moments before he had been taken over, so to speak, Inuyasha had pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath in order to find the real culprit and catch them by surprise, his senses telling him they were nearby, but he was a second too late and now they had control of him.
Kagome tried to think quickly. There was no way she was going to leave Inuyasha here alone while something else made him do things against his will. (No hentai thoughts, you know what I mean!) There was a time when this same thing happened to Kagome and she had attacked Inuyasha with her arrows, and even given the choice to run the half demon had decided to stand by her side, so she would do the same.
But, if he can't smell a youkai, then it has to be human. Either way I have to find the source of it and soon! I can't attack Inuyasha, but I won't last much longer like this! In the beginning when Inuyasha would go wild, Kagome always used her special word. Maybe now it would buy her some time. "Inuyasha, I'm sorry." She said quickly. "Osuwari! Osuwari! Osuwari! Osuwari!"
The half demon was slammed into the ground and the demon fang flew from his hands, transforming back into its original form before landing deep in the forest floor. Twitching in the two-foot crater made by his own body, Inuyasha thought, One time would've been enough…
Using the precious seconds she had bought herself, Kagome glanced around and saw hair-thin strings attached to Inuyasha in various places. Similar to Yura of Hair's thin manipulative strings. But if it was Yura of Hair back from the dead, then Inuyasha would've smelled her right away. Following the strings with her eyes, she saw they led off to the side, deeper into Inuyasha Forest.
Inuyasha was recovering, and unlike the village girls that had been taken over by Yura of Hair, he seemed almost normal, except for the fact that he came running at her claws bared.
"Get outta the way! Kagome!" He warned.
Kagome juked to the side, barely avoiding his Sankon Tessou. "Come and get me Inuyasha!" She said, running off in the direction of the strings' source.
Inuyasha leapt after Kagome, unable to control his own body, but was beginning to think she had a plan.
Kagome was getting closer to the assailant behind the attacks, when she tripped on a rock and fell to the floor. She turned around just in time to see Inuyasha leap on top of her and pin her down.
"Use Hijingetsusou…" Kagome whispered.
"Nani?" Inuyasha gasped at her words, while his left hand went around her throat. Kagome began to struggle against his grip, all the while actually giving him access to the gash in her leg.
"Trust me…" She managed.
Inuyasha nodded and closed his eyes, digging his claws into the wound he had inflicted on her earlier with his right hand. It pained him as she cried out in anguish, gritting her teeth against the pain, but came up with her blood soaking his claws.
"Be-hind…" She instructed, her hands trying to loosen his death grip around her throat.
Inuyasha gathered up all his strength and jumped off Kagome, resisting the effects controlling him, and ran his claws down into the bushes behind his Kagome. "Hijingetsusou!" He shouted, attacking with multiple bloody swipes.
A woman's scream was heard and Inuyasha was relieved when the force around him ceased. He ran forward and scooped up Kagome, jumping back towards his fallen sword.
Kagome was still conscious in his arms, but felt very strange and as she looked down at her body, she gasped when she saw it faded in and out, at one point almost disappearing. "Nani!?"
Inuyasha got back to where they were before and placed Kagome gently on the ground. Kagome kept the pressure off her bad leg and watched as Inuyasha held his father's sword once more. As he did this, Kagome also retrieved her bow and quiver of arrows.
"This would've been so much easier if you'd just given up on her and left her to me, hanyou…" The dark miko from before appeared and smiled at the couple. "Without you by her side, the Shikon no Tama is all but defenseless in the hands of this amateur." She said.
"So you were the one controlling me!" Inuyasha accused.
The dark miko laughed. "So what if I am? Humans are so easy to manipulate. They would've killed off your precious Kagome as quickly as a common criminal. Evidence or not, the man saw me and thought I was you. Quite convenient I think."
Kagome gasped and realize that it was true. Despite the fact that they were wearing different clothes, the hair and face were quite similar. Kagome and this miko looked more alike that Kagome and Kikyo ever did. What did it mean?
"Well, if you were controlling me then you only look human." Jumping up, Inuyasha powered up Kazu no Kizu in his hand. "But I'll destroy you like the youkai that you are!"
His attack hit the ground and flew at the miko, only to be stopped by a green hued shield. "You may have caught me by surprise with your first attack, but any attack I see coming will easily be blocked by my powerful kekai." The woman laughed. "Hand over the jewel and I will become its new protector!"
Kagome watched as Kazu no Kizu died down and was horrified again when her body blinked in and out of existence. Something wasn't right about this miko…
"A barrier?" Inuyasha scoffed. "I've broken barriers stronger than yours." The hanyou tightened his grip on the demon fang and watched it turn from silvery white to blood red. "Take this!" He slashed again, this time the miko's barrier dissolving under the powerful attack.
Kagome screamed and fell to her knees, clutching her stomach as her body was racked with pain.
Inuyasha's ears perked when Kagome's screams mimicked the scream of the woman before him. He rushed to Kagome's side while both girls seemed to try and recover.
"Kagome, are you okay?" He asked worriedly.
Kagome winced and looked up through one eye and gritted her teeth. "I felt the attack you aimed at her. But I don't know how." Then she saw it. Around the woman's shoulder was the same bow Kagome's mother had given her mere nights before. "This woman…"
"I'll make you pay for that!" The dark miko screeched, sending out her controlling strings again.
This time Inuyasha jumped off to the side with Kagome. Although he couldn't see the strings, he still had his hearing, and he could barely make out the wind being broken by the manipulating weapon.
"Inuyasha, this woman…you can't hurt her." Kagome warned her protector.
"What? Why shouldn't I?" He asked in his "I'm better than you so I can do what I want" voice.
"That bow…" Kagome managed. The pain had subsided, but the problem remained.
Inuyasha looked over and as the miko was approaching he saw the same bow Kagome had on the miko.
"This bow belonged to your family's first miko. She was very powerful, but it's unsure what happened to her after leaving the temple she trained to hard at."
"Well, we know now, don't we?" Inuyasha said to himself as the memory of what Kagome's mother had said returned to him. Growling, Inuyasha put Kagome behind him as he tried to think of a plan. They couldn't let this miko get away with murder, but how could they stop her without destroying her.
Kagome finally realized why she was fading away whenever Inuyasha attacked the dark miko. If the miko were to be killed now, in this time, Kagome would never be born. This was her ancestor, the root of everyone in her family for generations to come.
But another thing that bothered Kagome was how her ancestor was able to use youkai magic. Unless…
Narrowing her eyes and stretching out her senses, Kagome saw a second aura around the miko's green aura, this one a dark black aura, which meant a demon had possessed her and was controlling her to do its bidding. They had to find a way to get the youkai to leave her body so they could destroy it.
Kagome glanced at the bow in her hands and thought up a plan. "Inuyasha, get ready to attack when I tell you." She whispered it so low, she knew only he had heard it.
Inuyasha nodded and as the miko finally caught up to them, Kagome got up and pulled back the string of her bow with an arrow and shouted, "Youkai!!"
She let her purifying arrow go, but aimed for the miko's shoulder.
The woman cried out, but a new, deeper scream followed it and within two seconds, the youkai exited her body and dodged to the side to avoid further injury. The demon looked like a puppet made out of wood and each of his fingers was connected with the string. Behind him floated two crosses made of wood and Kagome recognized him as a marionette-like demon.
"Inuyasha!"
Kagome didn't have to ask again, because the slaying-happy hanyou was already up in the air attacking with a Kazu no Kizu towards the youkai. Without its host to draw power from, the youkai had little defense and was shattered in an instant.
Kagome ran to the miko's side and held her up. "Are you okay?"
The woman smiled and her green eyes seemed brighter than before. "Thank you. That demon had been possessing me for a while now, but I had neither the strength nor the will to free myself from it."
"Well, it's gone now." Inuyasha proudly sheathed his sword and walked over to the two women. "There's a village near here where we can get that arrow wound looked at."
"I fear I've done terrible things while under the demon's control." The miko said sadly.
"But it wasn't your fault. We'll get everything straightened out when we get there." Kagome assured. Hopefully the villagers would be in a listening mood.
* * *
When they returned to the village, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, were defending themselves from twenty or so angry villagers.
"Where did she go!?"
"How could
you let her escape!?"
"Someone must pay the price!"
None of the three had any answers to give, but when they spotted Inuyasha and Kagome coming from the forest, smiles lit their faces and they rushed to meet them. It took some explaining, a lot of patience, and since Inuyasha was never one to be patient, a lot of "Osuwari!" too. But eventually, with the miko's apology, the village forgave both the miko and begged for forgiveness from Kagome, which she readily gave, and took the miko away to be healed.
"Well, I'm glad that's over." Kagome said cheerfully, trying to walk back to Kaede's hut, only to forget about her wound and cry out as pain shot up her leg. She would've fallen if Inuyasha hadn't steadied her.
"Be careful, you've lost a lot of blood!" He scolded.
Kagome smiled nervously. "I forgot about that." This made Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
Miroku was about to raise Kagome's skirt to see the wound when Sango came and slapped his hand.
"What!? I was only worried about Kagome's well being." The priest defended himself.
"Yeah, and I'm a demon." Sango said unconvinced. She bent down and looked at the wound, gasping as the oozing blood continued to flow. "Kagome-chan, how could you travel with such a wound?"
"It looks like a sword slash…" Miroku said from observing.
Kagome took one glance at Inuyasha, saw his bent ears and his (literally) puppy expression, and immediately cut in. "It's nothing. I just need a quick bandage is all. The demon possessing her was very strong." She lied.
Sango helped Kagome to her feet and started leading her away. "We'll have you better in no time."
Miroku watched them leave, then turned to Inuyasha. "That wasn't the demon was it." He said knowingly.
"Shut up, Miroku." Inuyasha crossed his arms.
"You don't have to feel bad about it. If the demon did have controlling powers enough to take over a miko, then it wasn't your fault that you succumbed to it too."
"I said shut up!" Inuyasha growled and ran off towards Goshinboku.
The priest sighed and went to follow the girls. If he was lucky, he might catch a glimpse of Kagome-sama's undergarments…
* * *
Kagome's wound was wrapped in no time, but Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen. Sango and Miroku offered to look for him while Kagome stayed and rested, but she was about to join them when her ancestor returned.
"You know I just thought I never asked for your name." Kagome said.
"I am called Kimiko." She replied, kneeling before Kagome.
"My name is Kagome." I wonder if I should tell her she's my ancestor…nah, too much time to explain.
"Kagome-san, I've heard that you have yet to fuse the shards together, am I correct?" Kimiko said knowingly.
Kagome nodded. "I've managed to fuse three shards together with the help of another priestess before, but never so many at once." She remembered the one time she and Kikyo had been trapped in a cave together, which in the end was actually a demon's stomach. Kikyo and Kagome had been able to fuse three shards into one bigger shard, but it seemed to drain Kikyo of her energy at the time.
"There is a ceremony you perform not only to fuse the shards, but also ask for the gods' forgiveness and blessing upon the jewel. I will help you with this if you wish."
Kagome was uncertain she wanted to do something so important on her own, without Inuyasha, but when Sango and Miroku entered shaking their heads, telling her they hadn't been able to convince him to come back, she consented. "I would be grateful."
* * *
Inuyasha sat in Goshinboku, thinking about how horrible of a protector he was. What kind of protector am I if I can't stop myself from attacking Kagome? Even though he had been under someone else's control, he still blamed himself. Reaching up with his hand, Inuyasha still saw Kagome's blood on his fingers and could still smell the pungent odor, even though his hands and claws remained clean.
How many more times must I turn on her? She's gotten hurt so many times because of me and now this. Will her blood be spilled once again by my hands? Inuyasha couldn't help but think if he were stronger he wouldn't succumb to such puny demons like that. He'd be able to protect Kagome from anything and everyone. If I were a full demon I would get that strength. I would be able to control myself against any manipulative power, physical, mental, or spiritual a demon tried on me. Shoot, I may even gain some of those for myself to use for battle. Inuyasha thought back to his opponent Goshinkishi, one of Naraku's detachments, who had the ability to read minds. Wouldn't mind having that ability.
But the only way for Inuyasha to become stronger was the Shikon no Tama. It always seemed to come back to that. First he wanted it from Kikyo to become human. Now he was thinking of taking it from Kagome to become a full youkai. My reasons have changed but my goal is the same. Problem is…what will the outcome be…?
Author's Notes: Okay, it's finally coming down to the real reason I started this series and it promises to be full of excitement and romance! But don't worry. I'm still a few chapters from the finale. The end of one saga and the beginning of the next. Stayed tuned!
