Guess who's back with a new chapter?!? ...Oh, how did you guess? Anyway, loads of explaining in this chapter! Hope everyone likes it! Enjoy!
Dedicated to my first reveiwer, dragonspirit888! You're awesome!
And a special dedication to JadeElemental, in hopes she won't kill me after this chappie...
19 - Confessions of a Teenage Demon Slayer
A blade emerged from Naraku's chest, dripping crimson blood like rain. The man stood shocked, unable to move with the sword holding his body in place. Just as swift as it came, the blade left, leaving only a large patch of blood on the man's formerly pristine business suit. He fell to his knees, his right hand going to the spot on his chest where the blood leaked freely. His black eyes clouded over as his form hit the floor, his skull making a dull thud against the concrete.
Sango just looked at her blade, the blood somehow managing to get on her hand. Her magenta eyes that held so much emotion leaked silent tears, not in grief for the man, but in grief for her friends, her self... and her brother. The sword hit the ground as her grip loosened, and she sunk to her knees, staring at the blood that was still pooling around the dead syndicate leaders form. She regreted nothing. Her heart cold from the discoveries she made, she didn't notice the eyes that starred at her in disbelief, some more shocked than others.
Kanna just stared at the young teen girl, unfazed by her sudden act of hatred. 'I had a feeling it was her...'
Inuyasha looked at his cousin, his own flesh and blood, and felt a strong force tugging at his heart. Telling him that it must be a mistake. That Sango would never work for him. That it was all a misconception. But he knew it wasn't. And he knew she had a lot of explaining to do.
Miroku felt like his heart had been ripped in two. The love of his life, the woman he pledge his undying faith and trust to, wanted them dead? How was it possible? Was she working for them the whole time? And if she was, was everything she sadi, everything that happened... Was it all just a lie? He had known Sango all his life, and he would have never guessed that something like this could happen to them. To him. His love, his life... she betrayed them. One voice in his head was furious, yelling at him to dismiss all the feelings he had for her and leave her. But his heart told him to listen, and try to figure out why this was happening. Being one to always follow his heart, he stayed silent, looking on as a war waged in Sango's eyes.
She could barely keep herself up, much less rise to her feet. No matter if it was Naraku, she had just taken a man's life. Her hands were covered with blood that she knew could never be washed away. It would always follow her, haunting her thoughts and dreams. Finally, regaining a slight bit of her composure, she turned to the cell where she knew she would face her greatest judges.
They just looked back at her blankly, not knowing how to react. She stood, leaving the bloody sword on the floor. Her magenta eyes scanned the area around her, finding the keys hanging on the wall. Picking them up, she came to the cell and unlocked it. She stood there, her eyes locked with Miroku's as she bent and untied the ropes that bound his arms and ankels. When she was done she didn't speak, and moved on to Inuyasha's ropes.
As soon as the ropes dropped, his anger got the best of him. He shot up and with one movement pinned her against the wall by her neck, the other hand poised in attack. "Inuyasha, no!" Miroku cried, trying to restrain the enraged inu-hanyou. Inuyasha easily shook him off, turning his reddened gaze back to Sango. He stopped when he saw the tears in her eyes as she coughed, Inuyasha's grip cutting off the air to her lungs.
"Inuyasha... Please, just listen..." she strangled out, trying with all her might to pry Inuyasha's claws away from her neck.
Hearing her strangled cry, he let go, the red subsiding from his eyes. His breath was ragged as he attempted to calm himself. Miroku looked at Sango, and bent down to her level, wrapping his arms around her confidently.
At first she was startled, realizing that he was attemptiong to comforting her. 'Why would he do this? I decieved them...' In moments her instincts look over, allowing her arms to wrap around him. They sat like this for at least a full minute until Inuyasha interrupted.
"Look, I'm going and getting Kagome. Whatever Sango has to say should be heard by all of us." Miroku nodded and Inuyasha ran off, making sure to stomp on Naraku's back and mutter 'Fucker...' as he left.
Inuyasha scanned the area around him, his nose twitching with the effort of sniffing out Kagome. Her scent was faint, but still tracable. The metallic scent of Kagome's blood suddenly entered the air and his amber eyes widened, red leaking into the orbs slowly. Shaking it off, he ran in the direction, his mind forgetting everything that had just happened in the past couple minutes. Naraku's death. Sango's betrayal. Miroku's acceptance. But it was all gone with the thoughts of Kagome. His Kagome.
He busted into a room he knew from his childhood to be Naraku's office. His eyes instantly went to her. She was chained to the wall, the metal restrains tearing at her skin as she struggled fiercly against them. He approached her quickly, trying to calm her and destroy the chains that bound her. But she didn't stop struggling as he tried to hold her hand, touch her cheek.
Then he saw it. The soft chocolate brown of her eyes was ebbing away, only to be replaced with honey colored amber. He took a step back, noticing many things about her he missed when he had walked into the door. Her fingernails were slightly long and sharp, giving off a bluish tint as the flurecent lighting reflected off them. The raven black locks that ran down her back had grown nearly six inches longer, brushing the top of her jeans. And the ears... adorning her head were two perfect triangles, the soft pink insides unseen as the ears pressed flat to her head. Her eyes were getting more amber by the second, and he could tell pain was searing through her body, tearing her apart.
'Is this some strange after effect of me giving her my blood?' He knew there was nothing he could do for her. After a moment he decided to leave her on the wall until the change was done. 'Knowing Kagome's temper, she would go haywire and end up hurting herself,' he almost smirked as he thought. He raised his large clawed hands to her soft now clawed hands, holding them tightly.
Apparently this act brought her to some state of conciousness, because her eyes sightly softened as she really saw him. Tears flowed freely now, and her body went limp. Inuyasha quickly used his claws to rip the chains out of the wall, freeing Kagome of the obviously uncomfortable position. He sat, pulling the injured girl to his lap to hug her to his chest.
After a moment, he pushed her shoulders away from him slightly, allowing him to look at her face. She looked absolutely exhausted, her ears dropping. 'It's so odd to think of her with ears,' he marveled for a moment as she slowly opened her eyes. He was shocked. Her eyes were compleately colored a dark shade of amber except for a small chocolate brown band right around the pupil.
"Inu..." she mummbled, suddenly clasping her hand to her mouth. When she spoke, her tounge ran across her teeth by accident. Fangs. Her gaze fell to her hands. Claws. Then her dainty hands reached to the top of her head, stopping when she reached what she was looking for. Dog ears. "What... It must've been that drug!" she exclaimed, tears threatening to fall from her dark amber eyes.
"Hold on. What drug?" Inuyasha gazed at her, knowing immediately that he was going to like this little change. Her ears drooped to her head, an angry gaze replacing the tears.
"Some women came in about ten minutes ago and stuck me with a needle. Maybe it released some sort of reaction that allowed for the demon blood in my veins to come out more prodominately," she said calmly, trying to convince herself.
"Who?"
"Huh?"
"Who stuck you with the needle?" He sayed quiet as she thought of a description.
"There were two of them. The one that stuck me had short black hair and blood red eyes, and she had a facination with my hair. Kinda creepy. And the other woman stood off in the corner. She had long white hair and grayish blue eyes. Oh, and on the side of her face she had some sort of birthmark or tattoo."
He thought, matching the descriptions easily with members he knew that were in the syndicate. And both were equally dangerous. The one with the red eyes was a demoness by the name of Yura. She had a specific style when killing her victims: bind them with the invisible hairs that she controled and leave cuts all over their body, allowing them to blead to death. The other was named Tsubaki, an evil priestess with an attitide. She would use her pet snake demon to sneak up on a kill, striking swiftly before the target even knew what hit them. Both were very cowardly methods of killing someone, yet very effective.
"Let's not worry about that now," Inuyasha told her as he helped her up to her feet. "We've go more... important things to deal with."
Kagome looked around her, her dark amber eyes darting from corner to corner. "Where's Naraku?"
A smirk crossed his face as he led her out the door, back to where Sango and Miroku were. "Well, to my knowledge, he's dead."
"Really?" she chirped, hopping as they walked. "How?"
"That's where things get complicated..."
Sango was still crying when Inuyasha and Kagome returned. Miroku looked up to them, his blue eyes widening with Kagome's new apperance. He ignored it for the time being, seeing there were more important things at hand. Miroku easily lifted Sango away from him, silently telling her it was time.
She sniffed, knowing that she couldn't avoid this any longer. "Sango," Kagome said, tears in her eyes.
"Oh Kagome..." Sango replied, not able to look her best friend in the eyes.
"Start from the begining," Inuyasha practically growled. "You better explain yourself."
"Okay, it all started back when we were fifteen..."
- flash back
Sango stood in the cemetary, her gaze resting on the graves of her family. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she looked at them, thier live cut short by the flames. She fell to her knees, her vision blurred. "Why!" she whispered to the newly moved dirt, her fingers grasping the rich soil. "Why did you leave me?"
She stared at the tomb stones, silently getting up. Her feet carried her to one in particular. Her brother's. "You were so young," she told the stone. "Life was ripped away from you too soon..."
"What if I told you it wasn't too late for your little brother, young Sango?" a cold voice announced from behind her.
She turned, only to see a man with cold black eyes and wavy ink colored hair looking down at her.
- end flash back
"Naraku told me that Kohaku was still alive and he held him prisoner. He said that if I followed his commands, that he would release him. Being so grief-stricken, I instantly believed him. He put my demon slayer background into action."
"Wait," Kagome interjected. "You're a demon slayer? Like the demon slayers from hundreds of years ago?"
"Yes. My father's family was one of the last living demon slayer families in all of Japan. He practiced with me all the time to carry on the tradition. Usually it was customary for the son of the family to follow in the father's foot steps, but Kohaku was never the voilent type."
"But you're related to demons," she stated simply, her meaning clear.
"My mother was. She was Inuyasha's mother's sister. So, yes, I am. My father and Inuyasha's father never got along very well. When his parents were murdered, my father instantly stopped demon slaying as a profession, so we could take Inuyasha in. But he still taught me in the ways of the demon slayers, in case I needed to protect myself."
"Oh," Kagome said, feeling embarassed for asking.
"Well, I had done many small killing of demons for him since then, with the assurance that my brother was still safe. What a fool I was. But then you came into town Kagome. He told me to watch you carefully and be prepared for orders. Of coarse, I got too close to you and you became my best friend, so I made sure you were out of the house when the syndicate caught fire to it."
"That's why you insisted we go downtown, eh?" Inuasyah asked quietly, his eyes burrowing into Sango's.
"Yes," she said quietly. "After that we started running. I informed him of everywhere we went, telling him anything her needed to know. It hurt me so much..." The words caught in her throat as she attempted to speak. Miroku rubbed her lower back, encouraging her to continue. "It hurt so much that I was trying to kill you, but her still had my brother. It was all my mind could bear, to even think that he was with that... creature." She spit out the last word with disgust in her voice, her eyes attaining a hard glare. "When we were close to escaping, I got scarred. Scarred that I would never see my brother again. It was a relief with Goshinki came and attacked us."
"Goshinki?" Inuyasha and Kagome asked.
"Yes, that purple monstrosity of a demon that attacked. Anyway, when I got here, I was ordered to tie Inuyasha and Miroku up, and take Kagome to Naraku."
"How in the hell can you be so calm about this!?!" Inuyasha growled after hearing her talk so calmy. "How can you talk so calm about taking Kagome to her death!?!"
"Because I knew she wouldn't be harmed."
"Huh?" they asked, confused.
"The Shikon no Tama. I knew she would be safe. You see, I had a plan. I would take Kagome to Naraku. Then I would find my brother and release him. I'd come and get you two, then we would go safe Kagome and go to America. I... I thought it would work, but something unexpected changed my whole plan."
They all looked at her, waiting for her to speak. Her eyes filled with tears as she recalled what she saw, what she would never forget. "My brother had been dead all along. Naraku kept his body in a freezer, perserving it. Apparenty he would show him to me, then kill me as well. No lose strings, you see," she said with a light smile on her face.
Kagome blanched and clung to Inuaysha, who face was ghostly white. Miroku's eyes widened as he gave Sango a brief hug, the tears silently running down her face.
"So, I was fairly angry. Not at Naraku, but at myself. I belived that the filthy man would keep to his word. What an idiot, huh?" She wiped her face clean of the tears as she continued. "So I found him, and murdered him."
The group was quiet, taking in all the information they just recieved. Inuyasha was the first to speak. "So, this whole time, you've been acting?" His tone was hurt, his ears drooped to his head.
"No. Every emotion I felt and showed was real. Do you think it was easy for me toknow I had to kill my cousin, my best friend, and the guy I love?" she asked, hitting Inuyasha's heart.
They were quiet as Sango's heart was beating rapidly in her throat. 'I told them the whole story. It's up to them to pass judgement on my actions.' She bent her head, unable to look at them any longer. 'I don't blame them if they never trust me again.'
To my Friends and Reveiwers --
dragonspirit888 - Ah, yes, my lovely cliffies! What can I say! I love them! Thanks!
MidnightStormsArise - Um, thank you! I hope I didn't bore you too badly, but it's getting better! I promise! Thank you for bearing with me!
Lost-in-Dark - Oh, don't cry! Yes, the cliffie was evil... but the end of this chappie wasn't as evil, was it? Ah, yes, Mr. King, I salute you! (salutes) Thanks so much! You're a great reveiwer!
Hanyou Vixen - Ah! I know, it was hard for me to bear, too! But they're together again! Yay! And yes, more are coming... you just wait! Love and Hugs, my friend! Thankies!
JadeElemental - AHHHH!!!!! (runs for her life) Don't kill me with your sledge hammer!!! (holds up own sledge hammer to protect herself) And you know I love you! I always dedicate my chappies to the first reveiwer! And the last one was to Martine because she's my beta! But I gave you a special one this chappie... see?!? (point up to top of chappie) And Sango had her reasons... oh, don't kill me!!! And Sango is my favorite character of the series, so I could never make her compleately bad!!! Promise! Oh and just remember... kill me and you don't know what will happen in the rest of the story! So there! But, despite all your death threats, I still love you! Thanks for your input! Hehe! Love and Hugs!
InuKagFan - I shall never quit updating! No worries!
Anime-Devil-101 - Yep! Good job! Thanks!
Suaru - Ha! Go Martine! You tell that stubborn Chel! (hides behind Martine as Chel tries to hit with sledge hammer) Hehe! Anyway, I love you, too! You're awesome, beta! Love and Hugs!
tangled-wires-of-doom - Aw, thanks! And the cliffhangers... I love them! (laughs)
xox.:Mandie:.xox - Ah, I missed your reveiws! Thats okay! Aw, thanks! You're making me blush! Ha! Finally someone else who loves the cliffies! Yay! Thank you!
Wesley - Thanks for not telling anyone, Wesley! Oh well, quite a few people figured it out anyway! Sure, you can show me your story! See ya Monday!
Mystique-Morgue - First off, cool name! And thank you! I love all my reveiwers! And now you're included! And has anyone ever told you pointing isn't nice?!? Just kidding! (smiles) Thanks again!
anna marie-the pirate - Come on! You should know by now I wouldn't stop there and quit! And thanks for the reveiws!
Well, not much else to say... So please go REVEIW!!!! I love you guys! Adios my bien amigos and amigas!
Ash