Amehana: I saw Medea, the Greek Tragedy, today (live, not the horrible movie version), and it was so cool. The moral of the story, don't make women mad, hell ya! And anyway, it has gotten me into a wonderfully dark mood. So hopefully, it'll help me write this, because I've been putting it off for forever…
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha ™ although I wish I could…nothing is cool.
"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" –Voldemort
"You are quiet wrong…Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness." –Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter XXI–Worse Than Death
In deepness of sleep something agitated his keen senses. The tip of one of his white inu ears twitched, and the half-demon stirred awake.
Slowly he blinked his golden eyes open, he having no idea why he had awoken in the middle of this still night.
But at sighting the girl sleeping undisturbed next to him, the inuyoukai completely forgot about his situational confusion.
Inuyasha smiled very slightly at Kagome. Her dark hair was fanned out all around her on the white sheets as she lay slumbering on her back. He watched her sleeping and the way her chest moved up and down as she breathed steadily, simply satisfied with that.
They had stayed up late that night, talking in Inuyasha's room in between Kagome's highs and lows with her studies. Sometimes she would work continuously, without allowing herself to be disturbed. Then other times she would give up, frustrated, and talk to him. It was a much-needed excuse not to pick the dusty scrolls again.
Somehow they had fallen asleep, side by side. He didn't know how, but he certainly wasn't complaining.
In the darkness he allowed his eyes to travel down the waves of her curvaceous body, then back up to her face.
He smiled again and set his chin on top of his folded arms. After just staring at her for many moments he reached out and lovingly caressed her cheek.
She stirred slightly smiling in her sleep, then fell back into slumber's warmth.
Inuyasha wondered if she knew how precious she was to him. The demon watched the girl he adored sleeping peacefully, her body illuminated by the moonlight coming in through the closed rice paper doors…
Wait a second,
Moonlight?
The first night of the new moon had been just days ago, so the moon' shining light wouldn't be back in the sky for a week, at least.
Suddenly he remembered that his instincts had shaken him awake in the dead of night.
Driven by something unknown force Inuyasha stood and walked to the back door. Compelled, he grabbed his reliable Tetsusaiga and strapped it to its proper place on his waist.
Quickly he stepped outside. His eyes widened.
He had been right, no moon tonight.
There was another source of light in the night, but it wasn't that of the usual tranquil sliver orb, but something one would be much more loathed to see at any time of the day. (A/N: Because they're creepy!).
The scene in front of him was surreal, even for him; there they were, all around him, they're serpent heads, fish fins, spider legs, and long, white, wispy, paint-brush-stroke bodies ubiquitous against the blackness of dark, singing their eerie song as they few on, unstoppable, in the suicidal missions they always seemed to be delegated to…
Soul stealing demons. Shindamachi. Unmistakably, the breed Kikyo used to do her corrupt bidding.
Something stirred quietly inside him, brushing against his conscious, and somehow he knew who they were after: Kagome.
A horrible mix of emotions suddenly seized the hanyou. If this had been months ago, he wouldn't have known what to do. If he hadn't realized what his ex-love had truly done to him those decades ago, he would have been standing, indecisive, at the crossroads. If he didn't now know that Kagome loved him for what he was with all her heart, then this would have been an emotion-ripping ordeal that he would to face. One that held enemies and allies on both sides. Damn good thing that that wasn't the current situation.
He growled deeply and took a fighting stance, just before unsheathing his sword and springing at the nearest demon.
Easily he cu it down, but their strength, as usual, was in numbers. There was no way he could defeat all of the things with them multiplying so.
They continued to fall at his hands, but kept on coming unfazed. His burning golden eyes fixed on the dark forest from which they were flying. There was only one thing to do. Go directly to the source. And no matter how much that knowledge shook his conscience, that is exactly what he did.
Kagome rolled over, her half-unconscious mind searching for warmth. She whimpered softly when her desire wasn't met. Then suddenly her senses sharpened to the way they were when she was aware of her actions.
She gasped and woke up, opening her eyes, startled at something. Her eyes then got dark when she saw that the bed beside her was empty; no wonder she was cold, Inuyasha's body was always so warm…
The demoness sat up and looked around. He wasn't anywhere. Confused, the girl stood and walked outside.
She screamed. A soul stealer had come out of nowhere and charged her. Just in time she dodged to the side. Her fighting instincts took over.
Four came towards her at once, as if they had been sent from the cardinal directions of the earth. The only way she could avoid them was flinging herself backwards and up into the air, her back shaping her body into a flip. In mid-air, upside down, she pressed her palm into the grass and spun herself to balance, then perfectly landed upright.
Claws ready, she jumped forward and easily chopped a few demons on half as they came at her; they fell to the ground with their white bodies dissolving.
They seemed so consummate that she almost couldn't keep up with them; the demons kept flying at her from all directions ready to burrow through her chest and extract her soul. Over and over again she destroyed them a spilt second before it was too late.
She swiped at one on her left and it easily disintegrated, but she didn't see the one in front of her until it was too late.
The thing flew faster than the speed of light and she couldn't stop it this time, her body readied itself to scream and take in the impact…but it never came.
Kagome opened her eyes, and in front of her was a golden rod shining as it sliced through the alternate light of the soul-snatcher's body like the savior it was. The staff jingled when its holder pulled it back to his side so that he could swing it again.
"Miroku-sama" Kagome breathed, looking gratefully at the person whom had just saved her life. She felt like hugging him as he smiled and said: "Don't mention it"
The half-demon suddenly saw that she wasn't alone. The monk at her side moved to execute another demon with the holy power in his staff, Shippo was burning them with bursts of his blue fox fire, Kirara had transformed and was effortlessly tearing them apart with her claws and teeth, and Sango was mercilessly slicing them into sections with her katana.
Kagome would have smiled, save for the soul stealer hurtled itself at her and reminded her that she was in battle. A swipe of her sharp claws and it was gone. But something wasn't right.
Instantly Kagome realized what it was; all the demons were targeting her, no one else. Her friends were keeping them at bay, but they kept coming. She needed to destroy them at a long range.
Quickly as her feet would carry her she dashed back inside the house, grabbed her bow, and slung her quiver over her shoulder.
Back outside, Kagome ducked out of the path of the closest charging demon, then with lightning reflexes she nocked an arrow on her bow, took quick aim, and shot.
The inu-oni couldn't stop herself from smiling when the purity arrow went straight through a demon's body then lodged itself in another. They both fell to the ground; mouths open as if in shock, their naturally purple blood streaming from their wounds.
But taking them out with arrows one by one was too slow, and there were too many demons. Not to mention the fact that Kagome felt that it was all her fault that they were there.
This time she pulled out two arrows, and turned her bow horizontally. The string hummed and shook in anticipation as the miko drew it back at full length. Kagome whispered an inaudible chant in ancient Japanese that had been stored in her memory from all her priestess training. She let the arrows fly.
As always each arrow lit up in a brilliant, proud, white light thanks to the life energy Kagome had seeped into them, and the arrows flew straight through their targets. But unlike always, the arrows didn't stop there. Gracefully they curved outward from one another, each one taking a different side and shooting through demon after demon, until the ground was littered with their bodies.
At the sudden lack of enemies, Sango, Shippo, Kirara and Miroku all turned around to give Kagome a sincere "We are very impressed" look as she smiled and caught each arrow in a hand and placed them back in her quiver when they returned to her, having fulfilled their task.
But our heroes did not have much time to celebrate.
Unhindered, the demons that had astonishingly avoided Kagome's take-no-prisoners arrows were suddenly joined with more as they came flying out of the dark woods, their long tails trailing behind them.
But it seemed that something inside their miniscule brains shifted their actions from plan A to plan B. The Sindamachi simply stopped attacking, and hovered eerily in the air as if awaiting orders, then all of them charged headstrong into the woods from which they had came.
The protagonists exchanged confused glances, and then suddenly they heard an earth-shaking groan, followed by an ear-splitting crash.
Sango, Miroku and Kirara opened their worried eyes after dodging to safety to see Shippo clutching Kagome as she held him in her arms after saving from the huge falling tree.
The second after Shippo regained himself and backed away from the shelter of Kagome's embrace to thank her, yet another tree fell, and then another, repeating the horror.
Dust and debris cleared so that the team could see that the demons were winding their long bodies around the trunks of the trees, then swimming away, and in reaction to their suspicious spells the tree would just give up and fall…
The soul-stealers were destroying Inuyasha's Forest!
Suddenly, destroying the demons was not the object anymore; it was dodging the colossal trees as they died, crashing to the ground below them.
"Where is Inuyasha?!?" Sango yelled over the endless noise just before hurling her Hiraikotsu at a tree, ripping it in half so that it wouldn't crush her.
"I don't know!" Kagome yelled back in answer, jumping skillfully off a felled tree as another tree began to fall across that one. Hurt was present in her silver-blue eyes at the fact that Inuyasha was missing and loud clues of Kikyo were everywhere.
Sango didn't say any more.
Miroku picked up the conversation from somewhere amongst the confusion. "We can't keep this up for long, we have to find Kikyo!"
Kagome landed on the ground of the diminishing forest, her head bowed. 'Do we really?'
In the inside she knew it was true, but that didn't hinder the fact that she was afraid, deathly afraid, of what would happen when they found the walking-dead priestess…what would happen? Would Inuyasha be there with her?
The youkai squeezed her eyes shut to stop her tears, and clenched her fist. If he had betrayed her, then…then…well, she didn't know what she would do.
But she did know her duty. She had to protect the village and its people. She had to stop the Shindamachi from bringing down the innocent forest. She had to end this so that her friends wouldn't be in danger. And…deep down inside she knew…she knew she had to know the bare truth.
She couldn't do it. She had to do it. It was impossible. It was necessary. The truth would kill her, but…then again, it could also set her free.
She pushed her emotions aside, and concentrated despite the chaos all around her. After a second of searching she had caught the information she needed with her senses.
"Into the forest!" she yelled, suddenly alert, "Keep north!"
She ran into the woods, dodging trees as they continued to fall all around her, she only focused on one thing: getting through this ordeal step by step. Going forward in her thoughts to what would happen when they actually reached their destination was too painful.
The demoness didn't have to look behind her to know that her four friends were following her into a battle that they didn't have to commit themselves to; she knew their scents. So she went on blindly, avoiding the collisions as the world literally came crashing down around her.
Maybe it took many hours for the team to reach their stopping point, but maybe it was only a short while. They didn't exactly know. Kagome was too deep in trying not to think about the immediate future, and the others were too concerned with the welfare of the aforesaid.
But before they knew it they had come upon a wall in the middle of the forest. It went from the soft earth to the tops of the tall trees, which could not be seen. The wall was a dark, deep blue color, and it was spider-webbed with a lighter blue. It swirled there innocently as Kagome, Shippo, Sango, Miroku and Kirara stared at it, contemplating what to do next.
The hanyou among them was the first to step up to it. Cautiously, but with determination in her eyes, Kagome brushed it with the tips of her fingers.
They all spun around. The sound of the crashing trees near them and in the distance had been stopped just when Kagome had touched the wall of chi.
"So it's a trap." Kagome said calmly turning back to the obstruction. This whole ordeal had been carefully planned out.
A few feet away from her Miroku nodded. "Hai, but the only thing we can do now is walk right into this trap."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Right." Kagome stated. "Everyone get ready, on the count of three we go in. Got it?"
She met eyes with each one of them to make sure they understood. Then she readied her clawed hands at her sides.
Miroku held his staff before him ready to swing it if the time came. Sango held her bone boomerang above her head in anticipation, Kirara growled softly and bent down on her front legs ready to spring into action, and Shippo summoned a hearty flame of foxfire in each of his hands.
"Ready?" Kagome said, focusing on the wall in front of her. It wasn't exactly a question.
"Ichi…
Ni…
San!"
In prefect unison they charged headfirst into the wall, only to be separated…
Kagome stumbled forward. Slowly she lowered her arms out of their protective position back to her sides, so that she could use them to fight.
But instead of finding Kikyo (and Inuyasha) as she had expected, nothing to trigger that sort of arousal happened. The girl straightened herself up out of her fighting stance. What was going on?
The scene around her was…calm, quiet, a lush forest with trees everywhere. This was Inuyahsa's forest! The forest she had just been in. The forest on the other side of the wall…so it was simply a barrier, not a portal or anything? Interesting, but not so interesting that it could drastically change things, she supposed. Kagome truly had had no idea what she was getting into when she has burst through that field of blocking energy. But, if it was a barrier, then why had she and everyone else stepped through it so easily?
'Wait- where is everybody?!' Kagome shrieked silently. She looked around her quickly, only to find that the party she had entered with had completely vanished.
'How?' was the only thing that registered in the mess of questions and worries that was her thoughts. But she did not have much time to let her thoughts settle, for a cry suddenly shattered the silence.
Breaking the intolerable stillness, Kagome ran towards it recklessly. Her body charged forward without the consent of her mind, ahead of her she could see a clearing, a strange light coming in breaks trough the trees. She was getting closer and closer, until she burst through the trees, driven by only-the-gods-know what.
But something terrible happened once inside. Kagome's hands suddenly flew to her ears on top of her head, her eyes shut, and her teeth clenched together, she sunk to the ground in agony in one slow, liquid motion.
Something about that place had an affect her body, an affect on her demonic instincts. Screams, thousands and thousands of heart-wrenching screams rung in her sensitive ears unsympathetically and without stop. Screams of thousands of trapped souls crying piteously for release, and one, one single cry for peace could be heard somehow in the masses.
It hurt her ears so much that the pain shot down across her jawbone and made her dizzy.
Then a cold, hard, snake-like thing wrapped tightly around Kagome's wrist, and ruthlessly it pulled on it lifted her helpless body into the air by only her arm. Her weapons dropped to the ground.
Kagome gasped for breath, and forced her eyes to open, it took a moment for the blurriness to cease.
"Leave her alone." she heard a voice demand harshly, "This doesn't concern her!" the speakers commands were doused in anger but truly hiding unrelinquished worry. Inuyasha's voice.
He was here.
"But this concerns her more than it concerns you, my dear Inuyasha…" a smooth female voice answered, and Kagome didn't need any of her senses to tell her who it was.
The thing that had her by the arm dropped Kagome to her shaky feet, but before she collapsed a strong arm wrapped around her waist. The girl's eyes slowly focused.
She saw Inuyasha at her side; he was holding her with one arm, the other had Tesusaiga. Yes, he was there, but, to the miko's great relief, it wasn't for the haunting reason she had conjured in her head.
His clothes had cuts all over them as if the fire-rat hair that had weaved it had been no more than common cotton. Sweat was beading off his forehead. Burn marks had blackened parts of his skin. He was covered in so much blood that his skin was more crimson than its normal peachy color.
He was weak; he had been fighting. 'Fighting Kikyo' her mind pointed out. How was he standing Kikyo's presence? Or, was it not affecting him the way it was her?
Inuyasha turned his head sideways towards Kagome, keeping one eye on Kikyo. "Stand up." he whispered.
Kagome closed her eyes and nodded. If she could only subdue the feeling that made her feel like she was going to throw up, she could fight at his side.
She swallowed and pushed herself out of the safety of his arm, so that she could support herself. Slowly her demonic senses ceased their tantrum.
Kagome finally looked in front of her, to Kikyo. The pale being was standing tall and proud, not a scratch on her, but her usually tame hair had come out of its ribbon, it looked free and wild in a creepy way. Kikyo looked like a ghost, her near-white form in contrast against the dark clearing around them.
Kikyo walked gracefully toward Kagome, around her, her Soul Stealers painted their bodies across the air. "Why are you here?" Kikyo asked.
Kagome just stared back her, no longer delirious but alert, and perfectly aware of her situation. She had forced herself to ignore the strange fatigue that had taken over her body. "I should be asking you that same question".
"Oh really?" Kikyo said with a disgusting fake sweetness in her voice. "I am simply wondering how you avoided my spell…"
Kagome found herself glaring at the zombie in front of her. "What spell?" She growled acidly.
Kikyo didn't answer straightly, "I underestimated you I suppose, but that's no matter…I was thinking of disposing of you along with your little friends but this is much better…"
Your little friends echoed in Kagome's mind. Her eyes widened, the others! "Where are they? What have you done with them?" She cried.
Kikyo smiled cruelly. "They are fortunate; they will simply wonder in darkness until they are driven insane, but you two" her eyes, void of any emotion, scanned over both half-demons, then back to Kagome, "Will die much more painful deaths."
Kagome took a step backward, her eyes wide and shocked. "You're insane." she breathed.
Kikyo smiled. Years of wondering the earth as a soulless wraith had finally broken her, driven what was left of her former self into silence, so that the only thing left in her was pure hatred. All that was left was endless hatred for the one that killed her (A/N: not), and the one that replaced her (A/N: not). She was unstoppable, and she liked it that way. She liked this false afterlife better than the life she had led when she was alive.
"That may be true, little girl, but I am also the one with all the power here." Kikyo said, then she elegantly raised her arms in front her, and in the blink of an eye she had slammed Kagome against a tree.
"Leave her out of this, now!" Inuyasha yelled, glued to his spot for reasons that he couldn't produce.
Kikyo laughed, "Why should I? It's her fault, what happened to us is all her fault. It's also her fault that she's here…or are you to blame for that, Inuyasha?" Kikyo asked, looking at him with mocking sympathy.
His eyes narrowed in a glare, the demon's keen ears sensed Kagome standing to her feet behind him.
Inuyasha pointed Tetsusaiga threateningly at the undead miko in front of him. "You should have left Kagome alone, Kikyo, but you didn't. This is the end, go back to Hell where you belong."
Kagome watched him with wide eyes. He was serious.
In reply, Kikyo smiled her hollow smile. "Is that so? How do you intend to carry out that promise? I can see that you care about her, very interesting…" she trailed off for a moment, looking at the hanyou girl behind the enemy. "That you would choose a copy over the real thing"
That broke the dam of anger and hatred that had been buried somewhere deep inside the boy. "Don't say that!" he yelled acidly at the top of his lungs. "Don't you ever say that!"
In one blinding move Inuyasha's eyes located the rip in the mix of his demonic aura and Kikyo demon-like one. With all his force he skillfully swung his sword and attacked Kikyo with the Kaze No Kizu. Light flooded the scene.
Kagome blinked and lowered her arms away from her face as quickly as possible so that she could see the outcome of Inuyasha's attack. There was a long, deep cut in the smoking earth that stretched between where Inuyasha stood and where Kikyo stood.
He was gasping for breath; the attack had pulled chi out of him. Kikyo was standing opposite him, only about six feet away. She was staring at the gaping wound that went from her right shoulder down her chest at a diagonal that cut across where her heart should be, to her left side. She was shocked at the blood that was beginning to dye her ironically white priestess kimono a dark crimson.
The miko just continued to stare at her affliction, frozen, then hatred burned in her eyes, and all she wanted was payback.
Kikyo raised one hand in front of her, her palm facing Inuyasha and Kagome. A sphere appeared at her hand. The light of her deep red chi illuminated her ghost-like features, and made the clearing around her look like it had been drenched in blood.
Inuyasha saw the ball of energy reflecting in Kikyo's eyes, burning like the fires of Hell before she let loose her attack.
Thousands, millions even, of crimson colored blades suddenly came screaming at the two half-demons from Kikyo's hands.
Inuyasha dashed to Kagome just as she sunk to the ground from being hit mercilessly by the razor sharp energy. He wrapped his arms around her protectively, and was glad to feel the sting of the blades because he knew that they were hitting him instead of her.
This gesture of love only made Kikyo angrier, and driven by her emotions, her attack mounted.
Kagome and Inuyasha heard Kikyo's cruel voice yelling into the red chaos. "Is it worth it, Inuyasha, all of this? You trust her, don't you?!" her voice was demanding answers in screams. "Stupid boy, you trusted me once and look where that got you, I have come back from the dead when you thought you were rid of me. And since Naraku didn't kill you two off properly like we had planned, I'll have to do it myself!"
Kagome felt Inuyasha hold her tighter; she could somehow tell that Inuyasha already knew all that Kikyo was telling him. He had known it for a long time.
The girl's thoughts were cut short. Her eyes shot open as her miko senses grabbed her and told her that Kikyo was going to put everything into a final blow, she was going to end it. She was going to kill Inuyasha.
'He protected you, now you protect him' her mind commanded. If it could take a physical form it would've taken her by the shoulders and shaken her.
Kagome pushed Inuyasha away from her. She swiveled to her knees in front of him.
Then there was a blinding burst of white light.
Inuyasha's eyes blinked open and cleared just in time to see the after-blast of Kikyo's attack dying away at Kagome's flat, open palm.
She was in front of him, her breathing was not coming easily, and sweat had drenched her entire body. Kagome's eyes lowered involuntarily. Her extended arm fell, exhausted to her side. She sighed and her head dropped forward.
Inuyasha wanted to help her…but he couldn't move. Kagome had nullified Kikyo's attack, just stopped it. Just like that. It was out of place, considering the situation, but his thoughts suddenly raced backwards three years and in his mind he saw the smiling, timid girl that he had surely underestimated.
Kikyo shook her head disapprovingly at the Kagome. "You are not very wise; keep using your energy as a shield like that and you'll die."
"So be it…" Kagome whispered, her voice was just audible.
Kikyo looked disgusted. "It would be worthless for you to die protecting the half-breed…because I'd drag him to Hell with me, in the end."
Kagome forced her head up so that her tired eyes met Kikyo's hollow ones. "So take me instead." She said, breathless but firm.
Behind her, Inuyasha unexpectedly found his voice. "What the fuck are you saying?!" he yelled at the girl.
But the addressed simply ignored him. Then Kikyo indiscriminately narrowed her eyes into a stabbing glare.
Kagome screamed as red chains of ki came out of nowhere and twisted themselves around her wrists and ankles. They yanked her exhausted body out of its spent state. Her body recoiled as if trying to get away when more knifes of chi aimed directly at her in uncountable numbers sliced her skin and clothes.
The attack itself screamed as it seared Kagome so loudly that she barley heard when Inuyasha cried out her name. She didn't even sense it when he jumped up from the ground to help her only to be shot down himself.
Finally after what seemed an eternity of pain the chains released the hanyou girl and dropped her without pity. Her eyes were so empty as they fell closed.
For many moments while Kagome lay on the ground, her and Inuyasha grouping in darkness for strength to get up and do something.
Kagome thought she would just die right then and there. She turned her head to where Inuyasha had temporarily fallen; if she was going to die she was going to tell him that she loved him one last time…
Somehow the inuyoukai boy saw the weakness in his love's eyes. His own then narrowed in anger; there was no way in all the seven hells that he was going to let her die! Inuyasha stood and faced Kikyo with his Tetsusaiga in front of him, ready to fight.
"You'll be sorry for hurting her, Kikyo" he growled to an indifferent opponent.
Kagome watched him. He was fighting for her, against Kikyo. Not to mention he looked worse than she felt.
Suddenly, suddenly something came over her. Her short breaths stopped as if she hadn't been fighting; she could breath properly once more. She couldn't feel the blood and burn marks her anymore, although she knew it was impossible that they were gone. Suddenly energy returned to her limbs.
The young miko got to one knee, and then the other, and then she stood slowly, kind of majestically, actually. Inuyasha watched, eyes wide in surprise, as Kagome easily rose after being bombarded with such an attack, before he could even counter Kikyo.
Kagome stared at Kikyo, who seemed surprised that she was even still alive, unflinchingly. "Stop this." her voice was soft and strong at the same time.
Kikyo actually looked confused for a second, but that quickly changed to rage.
Kagome never let her eyes leave Kikyo's. In a split second the world around them shifted, and then its dark aura fell away. A pale white wind swept across the clearing and beyond to the forest like a wave, washing the evil away, and the radius of this blast was Kagome herself. It was a mystery how, but undoubtedly Kagome had broken Kikyo's spell. Far away from them the dark blue barrier wall shattered.
Inuyasha's head snapped to his right when Sango, Miroku and Shippo came out of the black woods. They looked around, wondering what the heck was going on. The demon looked back to Kagome, who seemed like she hadn't even noticed that she had freed her friends.
"For too long you have wondered this earth, stealing innocent souls and just making people miserable." Kagome's eyes were now burning, burning with a hatred that was so unlike them. Her voice was gaining strength until she was yelling.
"But no longer!" she finished. It was as if something deep inside had reached the surface and was now taking over the girls every action.
Kikyo didn't look fazed, but it was very likely that was not the way she truly felt. She looked at the younger miko skeptically. "And what will you do, girl? Kill me?"
"Iie," Kagome answered, a haze of blue light flickering at her hands, "Death is too good for you."
Kikyo didn't get an explanation of her reincarnates' words, as what came next happened too quickly. Kagome raised her arms toward her with lighting speed and in a flash Kikyo was forced back and into a tree by a light blue wave with the force of a hurricane.
The priestess tried with all her strength in her dead body but it wasn't enough; she could barely move. Through the blaze she saw Kagome walking towards her. The girl was covered in red blood and blackened burn marks that Kikyo had given her with satisfaction. Her dark black hair –not much like Kikyo's anymore, she realized– and kimono were blowing in winds from her own attack.
The younger girl walked forward, and as if on an impulse, lightly placed her clawed hands on either sides of Kikyo's cold face. She looked deep into her opposite's emotionless eyes.
"Come on, Kikyo, its time to rest, now you can be in peace." She said, her voice in reconcile as if she was soothing a frightened child, her eyes kind. But Kagome was not talking to the body of earth and bones (not to mention stolen souls) in the shape of a once great priestess facing her. She was looking past that. The youkai was talking to the original soul, the one part not tainted with hate– the soul trapped within.
Kagome closed her eyes for a short moment, and then backed away from the pinned priestess. She was about to release her, as she now had the upper hand in the fight and everything was under control. Everything would be okay…
And then, suddenly there was nothing.
White.
That was it. Nothing else. No aura's, no sounds, no texture, no shadows, nothing. Just white.
That was only way Kagome could describe her surroundings.
The girl blinked hazel eyes. What had happened? Was she dead?
Kagome stood still in her spot in this barren wasteland of nothingness. Then, as if someone had pointed out something to her, she gasped. Her claws were gone.
The girl stumbled back a little, staring at her right hand, and then she tore her eyes from that one to her left. Quickly she tired to sense something that was under the authorization of her demonic senses, like scent.
Nothing.
It was apparent. Her youkai blood was gone; she was full human.
Then –as if she didn't already have enough problems already– the world around turned to revel another being within this strange dimension. The scene unraveled as if the girl was in a movie and the camera had spun around her shoulder to put the other person into the shot. Kagome hadn't moved but Kikyo was suddenly right there in front of her.
Kagome surprised herself when she heard herself speaking with calmness in her voice. "You don't like them, do you?" was the first thing she said.
"Demons, you don't like them at all, any of them…" she added to her vague sentence.
Kikyo simply stared at her for a moment, saying nothing. The woman's face, clothes, and skin were no longer battle scarred, and if Kagome had examined her own body she would have found that true for herself also. Then finally she looked away, breaking their eye contact. "No."
The younger miko didn't reply, nor did she have time to. Kikyo's haunting eyes shot back to hers'. "And why should I?" she pointed out. "My entire life was devoted to defending the Shikon No Tama from the youkai…why should I feel anything towards any of them."
Hot red anger flared inside Kagome, she clenched her fists. "I have picked up the same task you had where you left it and I don't feel any hatred towards demons!"
Kikyo remained calm, of course. She looked at her incarnate squarely, "Then I was mistaken…"
Kagome stopped her course of bitterness and blinked, looking at her predecessor, waiting for a reply.
"You are not like me." Kikyo finished.
For the first time ever, Kagome agreed with her. Kikyo was defending her against all those who had ever proclaimed that she was simply a copy. For the first time ever, Kagome felt something like…compassion towards this person.
She softened, and without her consent her hand went over her heart. "But what about Inuyasha? All that time, so long ago were you just us–"
"Yes." Kikyo interrupted, her eyes meeting Kagome's in a spilt second. Yes was the answer to an unstated point: Yes, she had even harbored a loathing for youkai when a potential relationship had played out between Inuyasha and herself.
Kagome's eyes widened for a split second. Here, in this eerie place, Kikyo could read her thoughts.
Once again the girl let her anger dissolve, but she had no more to say. And that was all right, because the other spoke first. "He loves you."
There was no need to explain who "He" was. Kagome felt her breath catch in her throat. "You can see that?"
Kikyo nodded, and it surprised Kagome to see that there was no emotion in her eyes, not hate or reluctance– perhaps she was so far gone that her driving intent had been lost in the struggle for victory.
Without knowing what else to do, Kagome looked down, her all-black hair fell in strands over her face. "Kikyo" she said, attaining the addressee's attention without looking up, "Please…tell me what is you… want"
The undead woman's silence was so still that it made Kagome look up and meet her chilling eyes.
"There are things that divide us, and there are also things that connect us." Kikyo said, and the way she never let any emotion flicker across her face was eerie. Was she stopping her inner feelings from exposing themselves, or were they just not being felt at all?
Kikyo looked away slowly, as if trying to study the scene around them, but there was nothing to study. "My soul, the soul that now harbors in your body wants peace…but I, without it, want nothing more than to continue." The truth in her voice could sting.
So the undead Kikyo wanted to stay on her path of blood and deceit.
The priestess waited for the girl's returning statement, but there was none. So she looked into Kagome's eyes; they were suppressing an outburst of rage.
"Then I hope that your soul rests in peace." was Kagome's lone, straightforward commentary.
Somewhere deep in Kagome's mind a voice said, "Enough of this." and as if she had the power to control the plane, then white world washed away.
Kagome found herself once again standing in the clearing, her half-demon self was back, but so was the pain from her wounds.
She saw Inuyasha push himself off the ground out of her peripheral vision, then in front her she saw Kikyo –or Kikyo's body, rather– being released from the tree that Kagome's attack had pressed her against.
The blood-streaked priestess' eyes moved to look around. She saw that it was over; she had been defeated. As quickly as her feet would take her, in the safety of the few precious seconds that ticked before any of her enemies could get a hold on the situation, she left the clearing.
The undead one tried summoning her soul-stealers with the silent calls in her mind, but none came. Then she felt anger burning inside of her. When that "little girl" had released her, she had somehow used her amateur powers to take away Kikyo's gift of spirit snatching. But the hanyou girl had done something much more devastating. She had regained the last bit of Kikyo's true soul into her own body.
It was over, she felt it in every inch of her ash-and-dirt body. And slowly, she descended into the forest and vanished into the darkness.
Back in the clearing in which the fight had taken place, Sango drew a blade from one of the hidden places in her slayer's uniform and started to follow in the direction Kikyo had fled.
But she had only taken a few steps when Miroku gently wrapped his hand around her arm.
She turned to look at him. "She's going to get away!" she barked at the man she loved.
He looked straight into her brown eyes with his blue ones. "Then let her."
The huntress paused for his explanation. It came as he let go of her hand and looked into deep woods that had swallowed up Kikyo's image. The many years of priesthood had taught him many things about spells and how to recognize them, so he knew what Kagome had done as though reading it from a book. "She would enjoy Hell" He told his crew, "And, yes, eventually she will die. But her soul-stealing days are over. She will live, dying slowly…" He looked back to Sango. "She will live to see Inuyasha and Kagome's children, should they have any, and she will live to see them happy. And then…finally she will die and go to a place where she will receive her just reward."
Sango stared at him, then back into the black forest, her battle urges broken at the monk's collected words. The girl nodded in agreement. "You're right"
The scene broke as Shippo jumped to his little feet and grabbed a now-compact Kirara in his arms, smiling from ear to ear. "We did it!" He cheered.
Sango smiled back at the kit, then replaced her dagger and allowed herself to slide into Miroku's arms to join the celebration.
"Kagome, I don't know what you did exactly but it was cool!" The fox demon boy exclaimed.
But Shippo was too late; Kagome had already ran across the clearing and jumped into Inuyasha's arms. He held her tightly, spinning her around once then pressing her body to his as they kissed like there was no tomorrow and no one was there to watch.
After many moments, the hanyou couple pulled away. Kagome rested her head on Inuyasha's shoulder and closed her eyes. He buried his face in her hair.
"…I thought…that it was all over…" he heard Kagome whisper in his ear.
At her words a shadow crossed his eyes, but he brushed it away quickly. For now all he wanted to do was hold her.
It felt like the victory over the Final Battle all over again, like the real enemy had finally been defeated…and maybe, that truly was the case.
Owari Chapter Nijūsan
Amehana: whoo hoo! It's over! Praise Jesus!
Okay peeps, I know that there are those who like Kikyo and well Whips cordless out of nowhere Here's a phone, go call somebody who cares!
But seriously, I. Don't. Like. Her. I try and pity her, try to see it from her view and I just…can't. This is what I believe and ♪ I can't change the way I feel, I could never do that, I could never do that…♫. I think that once she was a good person, but life is hard & its demands takes their toll on people. She just went about coping with that fact in the wrong way and she hurt others while doing it, and for that, I can never forgive her.
Well that's it for tonight…actually I'm going to read through it again but anyway…REVIEW please.
Trogdor was a man, he was a dragon man…or maybe he was just a dragon…but he was still TROGDOR!!!! TROGDOR!!!! Burninating the countryside, burninating all the peasants, burninating all the people…goes on and on