His Last Words
Disclaimer: I still do not own anything from InuYasha, sadly (lol).
Chapter 2: A Bond is Cut
Red eyes watched boredly at the company from their hidden spot of an oak's shadow. They were connected to the bland face of a young female demon in a decorative red and violet kimono. Her short black hair was tied up with two feathers in their midst while in her hand was a simple, red-striped fan. 'I don't see why Naraku enjoys using trickery to defeat his enemies,' Kagura thought coldly, arms folded in her kimono sleeves. 'Kohaku won't be able to kill Sango, she's too strong for him. What is Naraku trying to accomplish?'
Kohaku's weapon had flown over Miroku and Sango's heads and collided with the soil behind them. Sango had pulled herself free from Miroku's grasp to look back. A gasp ripped from her lips as she recognized the kusari-gama. She quickly turned her head towards her younger brother. He stood with his emotionless eyes like bottomless pits and wore his black and yellow taijiya suit, the same suit he had worn the day Naraku forced him to kill his family.
'What did Naraku do to the boy? He looks more like corpse than a possessed human now,' she thought curiously as she watched Kohaku tug on the chain and fling his bone-blade back into his hand. Sango and Miroku barely managed to rush to their feet and out of the way in time before Kohaku swung down his weapon once more. It hit the ground, but he easily pulled it back up and thrust it at Sango's stomach, whom was nearest him. The female demon slayer managed to dodge it, but she was too late to stop her younger brother when he side swept his kusari-gama at Miroku. The monk wasn't quick enough to avoid the blade digging into his side. He let out a cry of pain and collapsed on the ground, holding a hand to his heavily bleeding wound.
"Miroku!" Sango cried out, but unable to approach him. Kohaku had turned to his sister once more and she had frozen in her tracks.
Kagura sighed lightly and turned away from the battle. It was obvious that Kohaku wasn't putting as much effort into killing them as he could be. No matter what Naraku had done to him, it still wasn't powerful enough to completely squash the boy's rebellious spirit. 'No use in staying. I've done what Naraku has ordered. No doubt he's watching all of this on Kanna's mirror already,' she thought. Reaching up a hand, she plucked a feather from her hair. Throwing it up into the air, a great wind seemed to blow from the ground as it grew larger. After easily jumping up and into the feather, she directed it towards Naraku's castle.
The wind passed her by and the scenery flashed beneath her. Allowing herself a relieving sigh, she once again contemplated the idea of running away. 'I serve no purpose to Naraku. None that is very useful anyway. He uses Kanna's mirror to spy on InuYasha and me to carry around Kohaku.' Her thoughts fell silent for a few moments. 'The only thing I can be of any use for is killing InuYasha, but if he truly wanted me to do so, he would have taken over my mind as he did with Kohaku. He knows that I don't wish to kill them and he knows that I wish to escape from him, but then...why is he keeping me alive?' Sighing again, she closed her eyes for a bit. It was difficult enough to realize how close to freedom she was without pondering what went on inside Naraku's head. It sometimes hurt to think how much of a prisoner she was.
Pushing the thoughts away, she decided to think of something else. 'Naraku said that he was sending Kohaku to fulfill his final act of service. Does that mean he plans to kill Kohaku after it's done?' She grimaced heavily. 'With him gone, I will be of no use to Naraku. Will absorb me back into his body then?' She looked away from the direction she was heading and gazed at the sun for a moment. 'I can't escape from Naraku on my own, but I can't simply wait for him to absorb me back into himself once more. If I run, he will know and he will find me. He'll bring me back and I'll surely be killed.'
Her thoughts forcefully crumbled away once again. Soon she felt the aura of Naraku's castle near her. Down on the ground, something flashed in the corner of her eye. Directing her gaze there, she furrowed her brows at the sight. "What's she doing here?" she muttered under her breath. Upon the ground, the figure of a beautiful priestess dressed in a white haori and red hakama with black hair elegantly tied back in a white ribbon walked calmly towards Naraku's barrier. Kikyou was a strange woman in Kagura's eyes. She posessed so much power and obviously hated Naraku, yet she had freely given them a large fragment of the Shikon No Tama. Naraku had strengthened his barrier, surely her powers were no match for it now? Pausing her flight, she waited and watched as she approached the barrier.
Kikyou paused her walk just before it. She raised her hand up to it and closed her eyes. She remained motionless for some time until suddenly her expression grew intense and angry and her arm stiffened. With a strange whine-like howl, a scrap of the barrier finally gave away just wide enough for her to walk through unharmed. Kagura stared darkly in surprise, but followed the priestess through the barrier. Once on the other side, she followed Kikyou slowly as the two of them approached the castle.
Though the outside of the barrier showed vast land of lush forests, inside the barrier was a barren land full of dust and skeleton bones. In the middle was a castle, obviously abandoned, with a foul demonic aura swirling heavily around it. The discouraging sight clearly did not affect Kikyou whatsoever as she confidently strode forward. When arriving at the castle doors, she grimaced slightly at the miasma, but did nothing else besides walking straight through. Kagura leaped off her feather and landed softly on the ground. Her feather shrunk back to its normal size and drifted back down to her outstretched hand. Putting it back into her hair, she slowly followed the miko into the castle. Kikyou showed no sign of recognition that Kagura followed and travelled surely through the castle halls as if she knew where exactly she was going.
Soon Kikyou stopped in front of large sliding doors with the usual dark silhouette of Naraku behind it. The smaller figure of Kanna stood beside him. With a frown, the miko pushed open the door but did not enter right away. Naraku's eyes were already on her, as if expecting her arrival.
"Ah, Kikyou. What a nice surprise," Naraku said in a cool voice. His smirk was bone-chilling, but Kikyou was not fathomed in the least. She stepped inside and slowly took a few steps towards the demon. Kagura remained further down the hall, watching from a distance.
Kikyou did not answer, but her eyes drifted towards the mirror held in the small pale hands of Kanna. In the glass of the mirror was a perfect view of the battle taking place with Sango, Miroku, and Kohaku. Apparently, Sango had sustained an injury to her leg while Miroku still clutched the wound to his side. Kirara was in her transformed stage and stood over Kohaku who lay on the ground, her paws on his shoulders. InuYasha and the others had just arrived at the scene as well. Even as she watched, Kohaku flipped his kusari-gama and struck it into Kirara's left paw, causing her to growl in pain and back away. Kohaku rose to his feet, but when as his weapon spun in the air, Kikyou drew her eyes away from the battle.
Pulling her gaze back up at Naraku, she spoke calmly. "What have you done to the boy, Kohaku? I sensed him earlier, but the jewel in his back had a different feel than it usually does. Unless I am mistaken, you have put a darker taint on it, have you not?"
Naraku chuckled darkly. "And if I had? What could it possibly mean to you? I was under the impression that you were only concerned for InuYasha, not his friend's brother." His right fist shifted slightly as if he were moving something in his hand.
By now her eyes were upon his fist and her frown strengthened. "An imitation jewel shard? That is how you are controlling him?"
His smile could have drawn ice out of the ground on a summer's day. "Indeed, Kikyou. You have guessed correctly."
Kagura's eyes widened in surprise as Kikyou let out a small laugh. "Naraku, you have indeed grown more powerful than the last time I've seen you. To create incarnations of yourself is one thing, but to create a connection to a jewel shard using an fake is quite extraordinary. But if you are so powerful, why did you need to put a taint on the true jewel shard? Was it because this connection is still not yet strong enough to do something or are you trying to hide something else?"
She took a step closer, ignoring Naraku's frown. Kikyou's own smile had vanished long before, but her face was still calm while she slowly tried to unravel this mystery. "You used this connection to overcome Kohaku's soul, yes? Normally it would be more than powerful enough to make him an eagerly obedient dog, but something got in the way and you had to strengthen it. Was it because Kohaku's spirit was still not completely subdued? Was it because Kohaku was rebelling against your orders, even when his entire mind and memory was wiped?"
The edges of Naraku's eyes thinned and his frown was on the verge of a snarl. "Do not pretend to understand me, Kikyou. I killed you once before and I can do it again, and this time you will not be able to return from the dead."
Kikyou laughed once more, but her eyes still showed calm anger. "That is where you are wrong, Naraku. I do understand you, more than you realize. And do not bother trying to frighten me with threats, I have no fear for death." She took a step closer and raised her hand to him as she had done with his barrier.
Naraku allowed a small chuckle. "Do you intend to try and kill me, Kikyou?"
"Not at all, Naraku. I do not plan on killing you, yet. What I do plan on doing concerns something else," she answered. Suddenly she drew her hand away from his direction, but pointed it at his right fist instead. A small sphere of bright light exploded from her palm and enveloped his hand. Naraku let out a soft cry of surprise and drew back his hand, eyes flashing and mouth twisted in a snarl.
Once the ball of light vanished, something fell from its heart and onto the floor. It was the imitation jewel shard, its dark aura swirling in agony around it. Naraku stared at Kikyou angrily through narrow eyes, obviously understanding what she had done. The fake jewel fragment's aura began to fade and the fragment itself was crumbling away. Kikyou watched it until the very last particle of dust vanished from sight. Kanna's mirror began to shake and the image of the battle blackened randomly. Finally the view gave was into pitch-black shadow.
Snarling, Naraku rose to his feet. Kikyou met his gaze defiantly, not a single speck of fear anywhere. "Is that what you came here for? To cut the bond between myself and Kohaku?" Kikyou didn't answer. "You are a strange woman, Kikyou. You claim that you care only for InuYasha, yet you helped me gain my power and then helped that pathetic demon slayer regain her brother. What is it you are trying to do?"
Surprisingly, a small warm smile appeared on Kikyou's face. "I am trying to do the same thing that I have always been trying to do. Unfortunately, you would never be able to understand it, even if I told you." With that, Kikyou turned away from Naraku and walked out of his chamber as calmly as she had entered. Naraku stared after her in fury, but did nothing to stop her. Kagura also watched carefully as Kikyou passed her by in the hall, but the priestess showed no sign that she even realized she was there. Slowly Kikyou vanished from sight as she continued down the hallway and into the shadows.
With InuYasha...
After Kirara had been struck by Kohaku's weapon, Kohaku had leaped to his feet and immediately began spinning his weapon over his head. Doing the only thing she could think of, Sango grabbed one of the water bottles she had been filling and thrust it into the air towards the spinning chain-sickle. There was a loud crack of plastic and water spilled down upon them, but the collision had forced the kusari-gama to stop its spin and fall back down. Kohaku's eyes showed no anger at all, he barely seemed to realize that his weapon wasn't in the air anymore.
"We have to get the weapon from him!" Kagome voiced, the bow and arrow in her hands useless against this enemy. InuYasha had his hand on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga, but it was also a useless weapon, he could not use his blade on a human, especially Sango's brother. Shippou was perched on his shoulder.
"How are we supposed to do--" Sango was cut short as Kohaku ran towards her, his arm with the chain-sickle winded back for a blow. Miroku grabbed Sango's arm and pulled her back just as Kohaku swung. The blade came short within inches of Sango's throat. There wasn't another moment for thought as Kohaku dived at Miroku with his weapon above his head.
Miroku pushed Sango out of the way and she fell to the ground. Immediately she began pulling herself back to her feet, but Kohaku had already knocked Miroku to the ground. He was on top of him now. His blade was stuck in mid air as the monk had managed to thrust his hand up and grab Kohaku's wrist, stopping him from bringing the blade down onto his head.
Suddenly Shippou leaped off on InuYasha's shoulder and bounded towards the two of them. Kagome cried out in surprise, but the child kitsune demon kept on. He leaped up onto Kohaku's back and came to his arm. He pushed his hand into his brown vest and pulled something out. With a light grunt, he threw it at Kohaku's wrist. It was the little top that Shippou had once used to trick the Thunder Brothers. It began to grow bigger and Kohaku's wrist shook with effort. Finally when it seemed that the fox magic would drill a hole into his hand, Kohaku let go of the kusari-gama. It fell to the ground with a thump beside Miroku's head. Immediately the top shrank once more and fell away.
Sango took this time to rush forward to pull Kohaku off of Miroku, but something happened in between that made her freeze in her tracks. Kohaku's struggle had suddenly stopped and his body went limp. The normal emotionless eyes he had worn faded away as a light appeared in them. They looked exactly like the eyes Sango had grown up with, the eyes he had worn when Kohaku had been the only owner of his soul. Kagome gasped slightly as she saw the light of the jewel shard in his back brighten, though no one else did.
"Kohaku?" Sango whispered, in shock.
Suddenly Kohaku's eyes closed and his body slid sideways. Sango cried out his name again, but Kohaku had already collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
All finished chapter two. -sigh- At first it wasn't going well because I couldn't decide on the point of view I would start the chapter with, but it ended well enough. I hope you enjoyed it and please review! Thank you!
