Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko et al., not me. I just borrow them to have some fun.
A/N: Thanks to Raijin for beta-ing! She's the best (the genes, you know). Tell her that she is supposed to allow me to keep Kazusa Takashima's Kuro as my desktop image, so I can keep staring at his… pistol… oops, I didn't say that, heh, heh…
It goes without saying that I'm sorry for the delay, but the muse of poetry just didn't want to smooch me after I'd gotten caught with the muse of laziness (and then she – the muse of laziness - sold the video on ebay, too!)
I had a huge problem with all the K-Names in this story: Kagome, Kikyo, Kaede, Kagura, Kanna… what's wrong with this manga, anyway? Bless you, Sango, good girl!
Thanks for reviewing everyone! It's so nice to know that someone's actually reading this. Yay! I hit 150 reviews nine reviews ago. Yay again!
Chapter IX - Storm
The first night of the full moon came. The silver orb in the sky was not quite full, a hair's breadth missing to complete it. Kagome's servants helped her put on a light armour. When she was standing in the middle of the room with a bow in her hand, they left, bowing to us. I took her hand and removed the glove that was covered in jade scales for protection. She held her hand outstretched for me and let me put a ring on her ring finger.
"This is for my faithful ally," I said. "You will be my left hand, as you promised."
She nodded, and returned the glove on her hand, covering the ring. "We are all your faithful allies, my lord. Will you give a ring to Inuyasha, too?"
"We only have a temporary truce," I said. "And besides, I do not plan on marrying my half brother. You, on the other hand…" I left the sentence unfinished. Kagome blushed.
"If I die tonight…"
Kagome shook her head vehemently: "I will give you Naraku's arm for your own when we win, my lord," she said. "There is nothing more to say." The jewel shards around her neck pulsed with emotion, and while I thought that she had better leave them in the house, I said nothing to make her do so.
"Then let us go," I said, and she fell in step behind me.
Some time later, Kagome skipped to the left to go to Sango's room, and her place was taken by Inuyasha, who took the chance to hiss into my ear:
"And when this is over, brother, we will have a discussion," he said.
"What makes you think that we will live to see tomorrow?" I asked, feeling curiosity stir inside me.
"Kagome said so," he answered with unwavering faith.
"Is that so?" I said, and walked through the dark corridors of my home towards the gates leading to the gardens, the quiet sound of Inuyasha's bare feet following me.
He was sitting in the tiny pavilion in my garden, moonlight shining on his white fur cloak. Left and right of the entrance, the red-eyed wind demon and the pale child were keeping a silent watch. He was playing with the last pink jewel shard, trying to capture the moonlight in it. After a moment, I noticed that Kikyo was also sitting on the bench, taking exactly the same place Kagome had occupied a few nights ago. This time, there was no music and no red lights, only the moonlight and the insects in the grass.
Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango and Kaede were standing right behind me. I could smell death in the air – the guards on the walls were lying in their own blood, so they would not interfere.
"The beauty," Naraku said, "lies in the detail." He chuckled softly. "Not only have you not made Kagome stronger by making her a demon, but she will not be able to purify the jewel, or withstand the miasma, if I choose to release it. You have rendered your best ally helpless, and cannot return her to her previous state. Beauty, as I said, lies in the detail."
Naraku's smugness started to get on my nerves. I felt Inuyasha's mouth open to claim that Kagome was not yet completely transformed, and automatically, my hand flew up to silence him.
"I think there is no reason for us to discuss this anymore," I said, drawing the killing sword. The other remained in its sheath at my side. This night would not see the other sword used, I thought. I took a step forward, closely followed by Kagome, who also had a sword drawn, although I knew she knew not how to fight with it.
The crickets in the grass were gone, I noticed, even the wind had stopped its lazy stroll through the garden; the leaves of the trees were not fluttering anymore. Then a rush came, a wave of high air pressure, and Naraku's demons were over us.
They came from everywhere, hundreds, thousands of demons that all obeyed Naraku's strong pull, circling us, coming ever closer. Could it be that it was Naraku's goal to consume us, not kill us? Soon, we were encircled in a shadowy wall of demons coming ever closer. There were so many we could not see Naraku or his children. The demons soon started attacking us with everything they had; a wall of claws and teeth was closing in on us. After a few futile slashes with the sword, Kagome threw the blade away and returned to using her bow.
While Inuyasha started fending them off with his sword, Kaede blessed Kagome's arrows and her own so they would purify demons. Sango wielded her weapon as if she were not months behind her training on top of carrying a child.
In the middle of darkness that had come upon us, the circle of demons opened a little, leaving a gap for the pale little girl with the mirror coming closer, with nothingness in her eyes, unsmiling. She was floating close us, unhindered by demons, moving her lips, her empty gaze on my most important ally. Slowly, thread by thread, unseen by mortals, a white mist rose from Kagome's chest and floated towards the mirror in Kanna's hand. Sword in hand, I tried to get to her, but found myself face to face with the wind demon who had come in just behind Kanna, standing directly in front of me and blocking my way. I reached to slap her out of my way, but she charged into a serious attack, so I had no other choice than to fight her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kikyo standing behind Kanna and smiling while Kagome's soul was slowly drawn into the mirror.
Kagura was a blur before my eyes, clearly trying not to kill me, but to hurt me badly enough so I would not hinder Kanna in her task. Behind me, the others were trying to fight the demons, but their numbers were too high.
Now that half of Kagome's soul was with Kikyo, I feared that Kanna's mirror would be able to consume it. I tried to get between Kagome and the mirror again, but the wind witch was keeping me occupied, although after a while she was bleeding from several wounds and showing signs of weariness. Then, Kagome fell to her knees without a sound. Nobody could help; her friends were too busy fighting for their own lives.
When Kagome fell to her knees, Kagura saw an opening in my defence and attacked once again. Bravely, but stupidly, my half brother threw himself before me and she caught him between shoulder and throat, tearing a deep wound. He fell. I saw my last blood relative go down. His eyes turned, and his hand let go of his sword, then he hit the ground and did not move anymore.
Then, the moment was over and everything happened at once. The dead priestess saw Inuyasha fall and screamed in rage, and, with her bare hand, put a purifying arrow through Kagura's back, who dissolved into a breeze that caressed my cheeks before it vanished. A look at her, and I thought that she perhaps was thankful being finally allowed to die.
Meanwhile, Kaede had managed to sneak behind the pale little girl who was holding the mirror in her one hand and taking the small jar with the jewel shards from Kagome's neck. She caressed the pale necklace for the tiniest moment, then turned around to face Kaede – who put a hand trough the mirror's silvery surface – and with her last power purified it into dust only to fall down to the ground, clutching her hand that was now coated in liquid silver. Kanna opened her mouth, but only to gasp, and threw the jar to the pavilion, where, during this whole time, Naraku had been patiently waiting for her to bring him his preciouss.
The jar flew through the air, too fast that even I could stop it from reaching the pale hand that was stretched out from under the baboon cloak. I could feel him smile under the mask, while close by, Kanna exploded to fine dust, releasing the souls her mirror had stolen, and Sango fell to the ground next to Kagome, bleeding from a wound on her back. The demons drew ever closer, their screams ever louder in my ears, as they were closing in around us, then a sound stopped them, Naraku was laughing quietly, and as one, they drew away from us and back into his body, that was beginning to glow in an eerie light.
I saw the jewel in his hands liquefy and join together in an unholy orb of power. He smiled at it and then looked at me.
"Even if you were to obtain it from me somehow, my lord, she could not purify the jewel anymore," he said pleasantly. "But she cannot even move – her soul is lost."
I wanted to contradict him, but a look at Kagome taught me otherwise. She was lying on her front, her jade plated glove still clutching her bow, her face turned in my direction. But there was barely life in those eyes with demon pupils, and the white mist that was her soul wavered above her body that refused to admit the human soul into its demon flesh. I fell to my knees next to her empty shell and touched her hand, hoping to feel that somewhere deep, a tiny speck of Kagome was left inside.
I could say nothing. Even now, seeing the final result of my actions, I could not bring myself to regret wanting to turn her demon. I released her hand to caress her black hair. Behind me, Kikyo whimpered and took a step to reach Inuyasha's body, hesitated, then ran to him. Just before she could kneel at his side, she stopped dead. The mist above Kagome's body had found another home, so it seemed, and it rushed with might to join with Kikyo's welcoming clay body.
Kagome's heartbeat was slowing down by the second, while the white mist was rushing from her body to that of her rival. Kikyo had won, so it seemed, because she had her soul back and that of my half brother to join her on her journey to hell.
My eyes clung to Kikyo in eerie fascination, but still I did not understand it at first. When she held her hands before her terrified eyes, I was finally able to comprehend what was happening. Kikyo's original body may have held the amount of her soul, but the clay body was only a copy that could barely hold the half Kagome had granted her. The shell of dirt and bones was crumbling, unable to contain all of it. At first, she looked around her as if seeking help, someone to stop the soul from eating up her body, but in the end she succumbed to her fate with the dignity of a priestess. With a serene face, she moved to Inuyasha and fell down next to him, her arms around him and her head on his chest. Then, it was over in moments. She dissolved to fine dust, leaving nothing but a thin layer of holy earth on my brother's clothes, along with the garb of a miko.
Kagome's soul, free once more, and now complete, still wavered in the air, tried to enter her body over and over again, but failed. In the corner of my eye I could see small demons that were waiting for Kagome's body to give out in order to collect the soul to hell to be judged. I knew I could kill them and prevent them from doing their work, but to what end? Kagome could not rise again.
Naraku came closer, his power already going beyond the limits of his body. He was coated in an aura of power that never should have been his. Finally, he stood next to me, not unlike a friend, looking at Kagome.
"It is such a pity," he said. "I could have used her as another addition to my collection. Well, I guess I'll just have you, then."
"You must be mad to think that I would let you consume me just like that," I said.
He shrugged. "Take your time." In a conversational tone he added: "If you didn't turn her demon, you would have had a chance, but I guess even royalty can get caught in an affection that will hear no reason."
I could not bring myself to stand up and fight him. Something in his voice kept telling me that struggling against the inevitable was of no use. She had said that we would win, but the finger with my ring on it was getting colder by the second and the body that had my name carved on it did not breathe anymore. My hand on Kagome's pulse, I bowed my head down before my enemy, waiting for his final blow.