When Naraku was finally able to feel his feet, it was already late into the morning. Kagura came in, waving her fan about impatiently. Kanna sat nearby, this time without her mirror. Her hands were folded in her lap, and her large, black eyes looked disappointed.
"We're bored," Kagura announced. "We've slaughtered five villagers already. Killing doesn't help at all." Naraku swallowed and looked around the vast room. "Kikyo tried to attack me again last night. You...heard me, didn't you?" Kagura nodded. "You're not exactly the quietest when it comes to sudden pain." Naraku shook his head.
"Damn...I thought I passed this. Kikyo is still connected to me somehow. She is using her power in my mind. How is she accomplishing this? She is trying to overpower me with an emotion that is neither respectable nor cruel." Naraku's cold, red eyes held Kagura's in a powerful, impatient stare. Kagura clicked her fan shut and folded her arms. "We're on standby until we figure this out. Just relax and stay in the castle, Naraku. That is all I can recommend. I'm sure Kanna is much too young to suggest a battle plan... let's just wait."
Even though the miasma around the castle made the air cool, the heat of the season was advancing. The leaves in the trees had gone from lively and green to crumpled and dull. The shrubs had turned this way too, even though the dead soldier servants watered them to impress Kagura. These servants moved slowly by the day, as though they too were on standby and trying to wait for Naraku's new idea.
The entire area was coming to a standstill. Kanna and Kagura stared out into space as if all of time had stopped; and every time the servants brought meals, they were untouched. The servants and Naraku's incarnations sulked down the long hallways of the shaded castle, returning from naps or going to gossip in the large, empty rooms.
Naraku felt as though his mind hovered in the hot, still air around him. He was in severe boredom, and he would not stop thinking about the past few incidents the night before.
When Naraku returned to sit in his quarters, Kikyo's face flashed before him. All of a sudden, Naraku clearly felt the faint, dying breeze that came in from the window. He also felt suddenly aware of the blood rushing through him and the feel of his cot against him. Kikyo's face twisted into a calm, almost happy smile. Then Naraku realized that it had been a long time since he had seen a very young woman, whether she was dead or alive.
He could hear Kikyo speaking to him, even though her face never moved from its position in his head. Naraku gave up on his concentration for what Kikyo was saying, and focused on the features of the beautiful young priestess.
Naraku began to wonder if the image was real. Was he really imagining Kikyo there, smiling and standing before him? Naraku noticed the minute, intricate glow of Kikyo's dark glint against her soft, brown eyes. Her hair and fingernails seemed so well-detailed, so nearby.
He shook his head, trying to disperse the image of Kikyo. Naraku's gaze meant trouble, and yet he still could not keep himself from staring at her. Naraku turned around suddenly, and stared at the giant soul collectors outside. He spun back around, and Kikyo's eyes were still on him.
Naraku hesitated, and lifted his hand slowly. He reached out to touch Kikyo's hand, but the hand went right through her. It is just an image, he thought with slight sadness. He was surprised at himself for feeling this way. He was not familiar with this feeling...was he asleep, dreaming it all?
Naraku took a half-step back, and withdrew his hand as though a large spider crawled on it. Kikyo took a step forward, and Naraku's mouth went slack with surprise. Kikyo turned her gaze directly on him, and her eyes held his powerfully, and were almost tender. Suddenly, a great warmth spread in Naraku's heart. He felt as though this was what he truly needed in life.
Naraku awoke in the late afternoon. He felt light-headed, as though he still could not remember what had happened to him. Then, he started to remember Kikyo's perfectly-detailed face, and sat up in his stiff, wooden cot. He stared around the room, but the image of the priestess had left his mind completely.
Why did I feel so comfortable around her? Was I really happy to see her? Naraku pushed his thin, heavily-bleached blanket off the side of the cot. He shifted his weight so he could lay on his side, and stared across the room at the blank, dull wall.
Why do you do this, Kikyo? Is this some form of revenge that you have carefully plotted against me? Must we torture each other like this?
Naraku sighed heavily, letting his shoulders drop. He could not relax after all of these days, all of these encounters. Each time Naraku would fall to the floor and see images, he would always see or feel Kikyo. She was all Naraku wanted many years ago...until he departed secretly and stayed in the castle.
He had forgotten about her all this time. He longed for her, and he never knew it until the day he first started hallucinating. Kikyo was not doing this...he was doing this to himself. His new desire for Kikyo had caused him to crack up, not Kikyo herself. He had been such a fool. A poor, defenseless fool... almost like a mortal.
Now he found himself thinking like a mortal. Thoughts of Kikyo settled into his days like a haze of depression. It controlled him so powerfully that Naraku was constantly in a high emotional state. He was easily alarmed, easily angered, and easily saddened. It was as though he had embarked on a long, uncharted journey with no end. It almost made him like Inuyasha.
Naraku clenched his fists, and his eyes and heart burned with sudden anger. "Inuyasha!" he shouted. "Inuyasha is why I've been hallucinating! Kikyo still loves Inuyasha, so he must have had something to do with this! I will kill the pathetic half-demon, and I'll banish him to hell, where he can never have her! I will keep Kikyo for myself, just like I had intended to do."
And with that, Naraku decided to go alone. He finally tired of using the puppets. After everything was done, he left the castle and swept out to engage battle with the long-time nuisance that was Inuyasha.
Naraku found Inuyasha far in the distance, training on a mountaintop alone. Naraku smiled to himself, and he felt the blood in his veins flow ever faster. The adrenaline was exciting, and built up strength. The white folds of his baboon robe shone in the light of the slowly setting sun. Inuyasha turned, and his dog ears twitched when he smelled Naraku.
"Naraku! Came to finish me off so soon? Heh, you haven't seen nothin' yet." Inuyasha pulled Tetsusaiga, his giant war sword, from its shiny, black sheath.
"No puppet can help you this time! Tetsusaiga's gotten lighter, and I'm gonna take you down!" Inuyasha ran forward, his bare feet slapping loudly against the hard, mountain rock. Naraku smiled, and raised one clawed hand.
"You are over-confident as usual, Inuyasha. Perish, like the rest of the mortals before you!" Inuyasha shook his head.
"I don't think so! Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" Inuyasha raised his claws and swiped hard at Naraku's mask. Naraku let out a titter of wicked laughter from behind his baboon mask, and held up a small, striped hive.
"Fear the wrath of my poison insects. Make the fool die!" Suddenly, millions of yellow wasps with piercing red eyes left the hive. The wasps took out their anger on Inuyasha, and swarmed around him in clusters of thirty or forty.
"Damn!" Inuyasha shouted. "You think you can take me down with some nasty bugs? You're losing your touch, Naraku!" Inuyasha sliced through small groups of bugs at a time, but Naraku only laughed and released more.
Inuyasha fell after he took more than two dozen bites. He cried out, and fell to the ground. Tetsusaiga lay on the ground a few feet ahead of him. The strong, fang-like sword had turned back into its dirty, tattered, thin form. Naraku knew better than to try to break Tetsusaiga's barrier, so he merely laughed at Inuyasha's supposed defeat.
The wasps had flown from the dusty hive, leaving some of the dust in Inuyasha's eyes. Naraku was not sure that Inuyasha could see.
"Do not underestimate me. You cannot frighten me, half-demon. I am your master now."
Naraku turned, preparing to strike Inuyasha down and take him as his own. While Naraku had his back turned, Inuyasha's shirt had ripped. His back and chest muscles bulged, and Inuyasha raised his claws. Naraku stared Inuyasha in the eyes, and saw that Inuyasha's eyes were large and red. Two stripes had formed on either side of Inuyasha's face, and Naraku smelled the scent of a full-demon.
"So, you've transformed at last. I was beginning to think that this was a waste of time." The new, enraged Inuyasha merely growled, his fangs grinding against each other menacingly. Naraku scoffed.
"You offer me interest at last. Let's see it, then. Show me the power that your half-brother Sesshomaru cannot possibly maintain."
Inuyasha growled, and wildly ran toward Naraku. His expression was as deadly and dangerous as his blood-soaked claws, and Naraku was surprised he did not foam at the mouth.
Right before Inuyasha tried to slice Naraku's head off, Naraku encased himself in a protective cloud of black miasma. Inuyasha skidded backward along the ground, cutting himself when he crashed into the mountain wall.
Naraku's miasma faded, and he stepped forward slowly to examine his opponent. Inuyasha was a mess. His white shirt and baggy red kimono had been torn, and his arms were in a painful, almost bent position. His legs were splayed and bruised, gashes at his feet. Long, crooked wounds stretched from Inuyasha's shoulders to his thighs.
Inuyasha's white, long hair was tangled and covered in dirt. Inuyasha's face was smeared with blood, dirt, and mud from the bottom of the mountain rocks. Blood dripped from his mouth, and Inuyasha's fierce, red eyes were closed now. His breathing was shallow, as though he was slipping in and out of consciousness.
"Well, Inuyasha? Do you see now? Kikyo will be forever out of your reach."
Naraku suddenly heard an arrow pull back against a wooden bow. "He is not."
Naraku turned, and found himself facing Kikyo. Her face was twisted in anger, and from a distance, her eyes looked like they glistened with tears.
"What have you done to Inuyasha?" she shouted. "I know he's here. I can feel it!" Kikyo tightened her bow, and pointed the arrow straight at Naraku's chest. Naraku wanted to back away, but he was afraid to admit his discomfort to a mere mortal woman. However, he was somehow frightened of the burning aggravation in Kikyo's eyes. Her pale hands were deft and sure, and molded around the carved, sienna brown bow.
Soul collectors drifted through the mountain air around them. Naraku stood there, his evil self protected by the white baboon robe that served like his only shield. Kikyo blinked menacingly, and tossed her black curtain of hair aside. She took a step forward, and positioned herself sideways to get better aim. "Naraku..."
Naraku's eyes held Kikyo's in a long, 'what's-your-next-move' stare. Kikyo broke the silent moment by resuming motion. She reached into one of the large slits of her baggy, red hakama and pulled out a spell scroll. She stuck it onto her bow and chanted Japanese, ancestral barrier calls rapidly. After a few seconds, she removed the spell scroll, leaving a protective blue barrier around Inuyasha.
"He'll come around in a few minutes," she replied under her breath. Kikyo pulled the bow back again, threatening to release it. Naraku knew that she meant it this time, and waved his robe over him.
"I have no time for you, woman." Naraku turned to leave, but Kikyo's arrow shot out and hit the rock wall inches above Naraku's head.
"Don't you move!" Kikyo shouted. Naraku was taken back slightly. He had never really heard Kikyo angrily raise her voice. Naraku scoffed and waved his hand.
"When will you understand, foolish priestess? I have no need for you anymore." Kikyo lowered her bow slightly, and gave him a quizzical, yet fairly angry look. She was masterful! How could she show her confusion, while covering herself with rage for Naraku hurting Inuyasha?
"What do you mean?" she asked slowly. Kikyo stared at Naraku for several minutes before she lowered her bow completely to her sides.
This was a lie. Naraku wanted her, and felt that he must have her. He did not want to reveal it yet, not while Inuyasha was around. Kikyo smiled dangerously, and took careful steps toward Naraku.
"You wanted my kiss, didn't you?"