A/N: I apologize for the length of time it took to get this chapter posted, especially since it's not a very long chapter at that. I lost someone a few weeks ago and for awhile I just couldn't deal with a chapter that was all about death. I hope you guys understand. I still plan to finish this story before the end of the summer.
The Broken Miko
Chapter 27: Collapse
Kagome woke up as daylight singed the horizon with a healthy yellow glow. She could see immediately that it would be a beautiful day, although still chill enough to be late fall in Japan. The few birds that remained north were beginning to warm up their throats outside her window.
Her door opened and the hanyou pulled the covers up to her chin before rolling over to see that it was her mate entering her old room. He carried his armor under his arm and nodded his morning greeting. She smiled uneasily. "How long have you been up?"
"I have not slept," he replied, placing the battered but clean armor plates on the foot of the bed. He untied his yellow and blue sash and placed it on the bed, looking at her carefully the entire time. When Kagome averted her eyes, he frowned. "I will not look at you if you do not wish it."
"You're staring like I'm going to disappear," she said, unwinding the sheets from her body and standing up. Shivers went down her spine as the cool air touched her bare skin and she immediately reached for her undergarments.
Sesshoumaru nodded once and dropped his tail from his shoulder. He would never admit it, not even to his mate, but he had spent the hours after she had fallen asleep gazing at her. He had watched as the sunlight came into the room and touched her, transforming the frail human body into the clawed, red-stained hanyou. As he listened to her move around the room, with the steady steps of a more powerful being, he could not figure out which form he preferred. The hanyou was what he saw, but he was well aware that she was still human in mind and soul, despite any physical transformation.
Of course, it didn't matter. He would never see her as a human again.
He knew that his repeated affirmations that he would die this day disturbed his mate. Why wouldn't they? She loved him and even those that did not love their mates would be disturbed by such news. But he was nothing if not realistic and logical. They were fighting a god. Last time, they had barely escaped with their lives and that was only because Amatsu had not wished for their annihilation quite yet. The shadows overran everything. Even now, they could enter the city doors and no one could stop them. Not even his powerful mate. Yes, it was better to accept death than to refuse to entertain it. Refusal only enraged it, causing it to demand more blood and suffering than necessary.
"Sesshoumaru? Are you alright?"
Her words shook him out of his reverie and he realized that he had been standing with his hand upon his armor for many minutes. He nodded and locked his gaze with hers. She was halfway into her own armor, her arms up to their elbows in dragon hide. "I am fine."
She moved into the rest of her armor with ease, pulling on the boots and lacing them up as Sesshoumaru had to use his rather awkward tail to hold the plates in place as his one hand tied them. Her small fingers suddenly were over his, stilling them and taking over his work. He looked at her reproachfully. "I have done this for many years on my own," he pointed out. "I do not need assistance."
Kagome shook her head. "Oh, shut up. It goes faster this way."
"If my armor falls off in the middle of battle, I will lay the blame on you," he said, letting his hand drop away as she moved around him, securing the plates.
She shrugged and picked up the chest armor, with its spiked shoulder, helping him slip it over his head and pulling his white hair out from beneath it. Lacing her fingers through it, she sighed.
"What ails you?" he asked, turning his head.
How could she point out the large elephant in the room without sounding ridiculous? 'Gee, honey, I know you're just being your usual logical self, saying that we're gonna die and all, but could you reassure me anyway?' She sniffed at her immaturity. He was simply preparing for the worst, as all proper warlords did. If the best scenario happened instead, well, there would be even more reason to celebrate.
Of course, all this didn't change the fact that the former Kagome, the hopeful, idealistic Kagome of her youth was still crying out for a tight embrace and the promise of a long life with her mate. The whole affair still settled darkly on her heart.
"Nothing," she lied. Tying the final stays of his armor, Kagome looked up at her mate. "I'm done. We're ready, I think."
They picked up their weapons and without glancing back to their bed of one night, the pair made their way out of the East wing and into the heart of the castle. Kagome continually fidgeted with the hilt of Tetsusaiga, but trying to keep time with her mate's confident steps. When they reached the great doors that led outside, Sesshoumaru planted a firm hand on her shoulder, stopping her from opening them. "We are fighting for Japan, Kagome, not for each other."
"I remember," she answered, lowering her head.
He placed a clawed finger beneath her chin and forced her gaze back up to his eyes. "However, I will die for you and our pup."
"I'd rather you not."
Sesshoumaru smirked at Kagome's answer, however sullen she appeared. "Come, the army is waiting for us." He opened the doors to the crisp cold of the morning, where the birds had fallen silent and the air was still. Only their gentle leather-soled steps disturbed the courtyard.
The quiet trip into the city was far too short for the hanyou and soon, tired, despondent soldiers surrounded them. She tried to give them encouraging smiles, but they turned out weak and forced. Finally, Kagome gave up and kept her eyes forward.
Makoto and the rest of her friends were at the head of the troops, close to the colossal doors that separated them from the armies of the god. Although the West and North stood silently, Kagome could hear the clatter from the hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the other side of the wall. They were letting out whoops of victory already and taunting the archers that stood upon the parapets above them.
The inuyoukai scowled at the noise, immediately turning to his ally. "We will not open the doors. It will only cause slaughter. Do they have a weak point?"
The celestial shook his head. "The enemy is thick around the entirety of the city, except the rice fields in the east and the barracks to the north, but we cannot fight there either." He grimaced and crossed his meaty, silk-clad arms. "Who planned this damn city anyway? It's a miracle that you haven't been besieged before."
Sesshoumaru ignored Makoto's bad mood, understanding it entirely and wondering the same thing. "We will concentrate on the west side then. Archers will take the flanks from the city walls and destroy any reinforcements. We will not open the doors. Our armies will jump the west wall. I trust that all of yours can do that?"
"Of course," grumbled the celestial.
As they began to discuss troop movements, Kagome lost interest and wandered over to Kagura, who was standing with Ruri and the wolves off to the side of the action. They all appeared more morose than usual, even the skunk demoness, who the hanyou had never seen in a truly good mood. "Cheer up guys," pled Kagome. Even to her, her voice sounded flat and ineffectual.
Kagura lifted her chin. "I'm not running away from this one, Kagome, so why should I be cheerful? Running is the only thing that would keep me alive right now."
The wolves and Ruri murmured in agreement as Kagome lowered her eyes. "Maybe, but we could get lucky."
"I'm sorry, Kagome-san," said the skunk youkai, turning her amethyst eyes upon the hanyou. "We have tried, but the scent of defeat is in the air. It's impossible to not sense it. Even if we felt good about this battle, it would still depress us. It's chanting to us that we will die today."
Kagome shook her head. "That's all I'm hearing lately! I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Do you have any idea how depressing that is? There's got to be something that will keep you optimistic. The West never loses right?"
The wolves looked at each other. "Well," began Hakkaku, "this will give us a chance to exact revenge upon that monkey demon if he's here."
"If we can find him," added Ginta. He caught the stern glance Kagome was sending his way and held up his hands. "When we find him I mean. Of course we'll find him."
"And when you defeat him, you'll have your clan back and you can build a new home and the females will return," commented the hanyou, urging them on.
"Girls are good," replied Hakkaku thoughtfully. He smiled toothily at Kagome. "Okay, neesan, we'll try to hold onto that."
Kagome clapped her hands together. "Great! Who's next?" she asked, looking at the other two.
Kagura warded off the question with a wave of her hand. "You already know what my answer is, Kagome. Can we just leave it and promise that we'll try not to be so depressed? Despite every sense of ours telling us that we should be?"
"Fine," said the rather crestfallen hanyou.
The witch pulled a narrow red strip of cloth from her sleeve and placed it in Kagome's clawed hands. "Here, take this."
"What is it supposed to be?"
Kagura smiled and, tucking away her fan, took the red embroidered silk and began to tie it around the hanyou's neck in a fashionable knot. "The girl I bought it from said that it was for luck," she said winking at her friend. "You seem so fixated on cheering us up, but I think you need it more than I do. See? It says 'happy life'." She brought the corner of the cloth into view, where the traditional Asian saying was embroidered in sweeping kanji.
Kagome patted the smooth silk and nodded at the wind witch. "Thank you, Kagura." She paused and looked at her skeptically. "What were you going to use it for?"
The red-eyed sorceress gave her a Cheshire cat grin and removed her fan from her obi once again. "Let's say that I was hoping luck would find me as well with it. I never had the chance to try it out though."
The hanyou rolled her eyes, but accepted the gift with a smile. A call of her name snapped her attention back to reality. "What?" she asked, rather rudely, turning back to her mate and Makoto.
He arched an eyebrow at her tone, but let it slide. No one was listening anyway. "It is time. We will be going out with the first wave of soldiers. They," he indicated her four friends, "and Keitaro will be in the second wave. We need every line to be strong. Move into places."
She waved goodbye to her friends, trying not to get too sentimental. They weren't idiots, they knew what was coming to them, but they didn't know that she would probably be the one to do it. Despite all of her attempts to cheer them up, Kagome pessimistically gave herself ten, twenty minutes tops, before she became the dark enslaved weapon of Amatsu once again.
She shook herself. Maybe there really was something in the air.
Standing beside her mate, she drew Tetsusaiga, letting it transform. She felt a clawed hand on her shoulder and looked up at stern face of Sesshoumaru. "What did I do?"
"I simply wish to tell you that if you have need of it, Tenseiga is yours to wield. In the case that I cannot do it."
Kagome nodded solemnly, not wanting to start another argument about his defeatist attitude. "Okay, I'll remember. Tetsusaiga is yours too," she added.
His eyes widened a fraction of an inch. No one else would have noticed it. "I cannot wield it without human blood in my veins."
She shoved it towards him inviting him to take the Fang and watched with morbid delight as it remained in its deadly state. He glanced at her sharply, not in anger but in unadulterated wonder at how she had achieved this miracle. She shrugged. "It was a theory. You, um…" she trailed off to make sure that not even Makoto was within hearing range, but he was off giving orders. "You bit me last night again. I thought that maybe even that little of my blood in you might work."
Surprisingly, he shoved it back at her with more force than she had exerted. "It is yours. I have no need for it."
"What? Don't lie, you loved that. If something happens to me, it should be yours."
Sesshoumaru nodded once. "It was something that I never thought would happen again, I admit, but it will not happen in the future either." He silenced her protest with a hard look. "Tenseiga is my birthright and the Fang was my brother's. He handed it to the most suitable heir. I will not take advantage of the gift he gave to you. The sword will stay with the rightful owner."
Kagome's brow crinkled in confusion. "But you were so eager to take it away from Inuyasha all those years ago. I thought you gave up because you realized that you could never handle it."
"I abandoned the quest because I found Tokijin, which is rightfully my sword. When I discovered that Tetsusaiga sealed my brother's demon blood I realized the wisdom that my father had displayed in our inheritance. Tetsusaiga will never belong to a pureblooded demon. That was not its purpose." He did not say that, during the time they had spent together, he had found Kagome to be a worthy owner in her own right.
The hanyou looked down at the Fang and then nodded. "I think I understand. Thank you."
He wasn't certain what she was thanking him for, but he realized that it didn't really matter. The subject was laid to rest, as it should have been long ago when Inuyasha owned the sword.
"I think that it's high time we get this show going, my boy," Makoto said as he strolled back up to them. "We wouldn't want them to think we've run with our tails between our legs. No offense meant, of course."
Sesshoumaru scowled at his ally, wrapping his own tail tightly around his shoulder. His words were measured and calm though. "Yes. Give the order, Makoto."
Trepidation washed through Kagome as the celestial turned to the troops and raised his hand. She couldn't believe it was happening to quickly. The sound of thirty thousand swords leaving their sheaths filled the air as Sesshoumaru told her quietly to prepare herself. Makoto's arm dropped and the first line of attack surged forward in unison, jumping up to the top of the city walls and over.
Kagome and Sesshoumaru joined this mob of uniform movement, launching themselves into the air, landing on the parapets for a brief moment and then gliding onto the battlefield. A thick cloud of arrows came to them as they stepped off the walls, easily deflected by the well-supplied army, although a few unlucky demons fell to the ground. Kagome shielded her only vulnerable spot, her head, from the arrows with Tetsusaiga. When she landed on the ground, the impact was harsh but she was immediately pulled out of the way of the soldiers behind her by her mate.
"Keep your eyes open, Kagome!" he scolded, slicing apart a demon without effort.
"Sorry!" she called back.
She was determined to stay by his side this time, but the battle was fierce. Although Sesshoumaru remained calm and looked as if he was only swatting away pesky flies, Kagome was soon overwhelmed by the multitude of enemies surrounding her. This was the real battle and Amatsu wasn't holding back. He had sent the weaklings the first time, but these were the real muscle.
Even so, her inherent knowledge of Tetsusaiga kicked in and she was killing more demons than she thought was possible in such a short space of time without any of her special attacks. She kept her hands glowing with purifying power, simply touching any youkai that came too close for her personal comfort.
Although she was doing well without a scratch on her, Kagome knew that her mate's army was falling all around them. She could smell the blood of the Western and Northern soldiers and there were more and more enemies surrounding her. But it was still just demons around her. No shadows, no gods and no resurrected mikos or hanyous were close by.
A loud crash behind her claimed her attention and Kagome turned to see the city doors opening slowly, as if they were straining against their locks. The West and Northern armies continued to pour over the walls, but they were more panicked now. They were fleeing something. Kagome sliced apart the demons trying to take advantage of her distracted state and launched herself into the air, straight up, to see what was happening.
She gave a strangled cry as she saw that it was the shadows that the soldiers were running from. They had completely encircled every living creature, forcing them out of the city and onto the battlefield when they were not yet needed. She could hear some of the officers commanding their troops to stay put, but the screams of those who tried to obey drowned them out. The shadows were on every side, destroying any demon that got too close to the perimeter.
Falling back to the ground, Kagome fought her way to Sesshoumaru's side. "We're trapped!" she cried to him, as soon as his white shock of hair came into sight. "The shadows are circling the battle, forcing everyone out of the city."
"I can hear them," responded the taiyoukai as he skewered three youkai at once with Tokijin. His tail was wrapped around the throat of another, squeezing the life out of him. Once finished, the dead youkai was tossed into the bodies of other advancing enemies.
Kagome looked back at the city, her heart wrenching as she saw that it was overrun with shadows. "I could help them! Use the lightening power I have!"
"No. You cannot control it!" he yelled over the din of battle. "It will only hasten your capture."
"Stop being so negative!" She swung the Fang and toppled four demons, blood spurting from their halved bodies. She grimaced. "How many have we lost?"
"Too many," he replied grimly. "Even if we stopped now, I could not revive them all."
A high pitched squeal, like machine parts grinding together, suddenly filled the air, so loud and piercing that it almost made their ears bleed. Kagome flattened her crimson triangles and saw that all of the youkai around her were on the ground in pain. Crawling over to Sesshoumaru, who was kneeling and shaking from the agony, she wrapped one arm around his neck and pulled him close so that the ear he could not cover was muffled against her shoulder.
Youkai around her were crying and struggling to drag themselves away from where she sat, leaving a hollow in the middle of the battle that had suddenly gone into a standstill. Dead bodies were littered upon the grass, staining it red. Looking down at her shuddering mate, she realized both of them were already covered in blood, guts and (much to her disgust) brain. Her surroundings were a veritable chamber of death.
She tried to urge Sesshoumaru to move away from what seemed to be the epicenter of the noise, but he could not move. He was losing consciousness from the torture upon his sensitive ears and she only hoped that it would not cause permanent damage.
When she began to drag him, the squealing stopped, leaving everyone dazed for a few moments. As the battle's pause stretched out, Kagome looked about her and realized that Amatsu and his two companions were standing twenty feet to her left. She began to get to her feet, but the god motioned for her to stay. She felt an overwhelming urge to follow this wordless order.
"Please, don't get up. Let the boy rest," the god murmured. "He has a big fight ahead of him. Dare I say, the fight of his life?"
The fighting was beginning to resume on the outskirts of the field, but those around the hollow continued to stare. Inuyasha's eyes gleamed malevolently as he looked around at them. "Kill them," he said, breaking the hold Amatsu had over the Southern and Eastern soldiers, who immediately turned and slaughtered the still stunned Northern and Western ones.
"No!" choked Kagome, watching as another few hundred of her allies fell to the ground. She looked down at Sesshoumaru, who was breathing shallowly, but was awake. He didn't seem to be aware of what was happening.
"Let's bring your friends here, shall we?" Amatsu said softly. It was amazing the way his voice carried over the battle that was raging around them. Everyone engaged in the fray seemed to understand that they should not step into the ring around the god unless they were invited.
The hanyou shook her head. "No. Don't bring them here. This is between us."
"This is between us," mocked Kikyo, speaking for the first time. "Don't you understand, you pathetic twit? 'Us' includes you. It's between us and the rest of Japan, which includes your friends and your mate. You've been pushing us away as long as possible, but today we're going to pull you in."
Kagome looked at her icily. "If you're going to bring me into your twisted, Deliverance-like family, just do it, okay? Stop the bullshit."
"She's got a tongue on her that could burn a fire demon," the god said, tilting his head. "I hope you don't mind, Inuyasha."
The male hanyou shook his head. "She's been mine for four years. This fling with my brother," he spat the word out like venom, "is nothing. I had her first."
"Or you could always rip the foul thing from her mouth," snarled Kikyo.
"Either way," said Amatsu, continuing to speak as if Kagome wasn't sitting twenty feet from his spot on the bloodied grass, "she will want to say goodbye to her friends. I think we should oblige her. A welcome home present of sorts."
He snapped his fingers and the fabric of space seemed to tear, letting a jagged slice of nothingness peek through. A torrential wind poured through it, forcing Kagome to cover her mate again as her ears flattened. Ruri, Kagura, Keitaro, Makoto and the wolf brothers stumbled through the crack in space, disoriented and off-balance.
It was a relief to know that they were all still alive, but Kagome knew that fortunate condition would not last. She wanted to scream at them, tell them to get out as quickly as possible because there was a god that wanted their blood, but the words didn't form. Her throat was suddenly dry, refusing to work.
"Say 'goodbye', Kagome," prodded the god, coming over to stand behind her.
The skunk youkai turned, the first one who seemed to finally be getting her bearings straight. "Kagome?" she murmured. "What's happening?"
"G…G…Goodbye," the hanyou stuttered, fighting the word with all of her strength, but failing. The god was already making her a puppet and she was vaguely surprised that it wasn't his voice that emanated from her mouth.
"Good girl," murmured Amatsu, stroking her ears. It felt like fire ants crawling upon her skin.
Kagura, winning against the nausea of being ripped across space, opened her fan and walked over to Kagome. Ignoring the god's raised eyebrow, the wind witch shoved the female hanyou back and took hold of Sesshoumaru. "I don't think you should be near him right now, Kagome," she said in way of apology although she only appeared angry and wary of the girl.
As she lost contact with her mate, the taiyoukai seemed to come back into touch with the world. Flinching at the bright light, he pulled his arm out of Kagura's hand and stood up with only a bit of wavering. "What has happened?" he muttered, annoyance and perhaps a bit of embarrassment in his voice.
"She told us goodbye," said Ginta.
Seven pairs of eyes turned on Kagome, as she sat leaned back on her hands, still stunned from Kagura's sudden action. Looking up, she saw that she was at Amatsu's feet, but she couldn't move away. Mouth gaping like a trout, she couldn't even call to her friends, asking them to understand that her actions weren't completely under her own control. She knew that she was still Kagome though. Her soul was intact. She just had to hold onto it.
The god smirked. "Well, I suppose we're all here and all caught up. Shall we?"
A fan and six blades were suddenly drawn and pointed towards Amatsu and his two companions. Kagome could only stare at her mate, whose eyes were cold but now averted from her face. He was glaring at the god, saying something. Kagome squinted, trying to read his lips, but she couldn't understand his words. She knew that he could speak many languages, but a few of the others were nodding in agreement with him. Inuyasha was laughing.
There was a sudden sensation of ice sliding down her neck and things began to slow down and flash, as if a strobe light was drowning out the sun. She tried to blink it away, but it only made it worse. The earth was shaking beneath her, crevasses splitting around her, letting up shoots of hot steam.
She sat on the ground as it heated up, scorching her palms as they rested on the grass. Her friends were yelling at the god, but she couldn't hear them any longer. Sesshoumaru remained calm, turning his pale face towards her, his golden eyes not blinking once. He said something to her, but her vision was swimming, not even allowing her to read his lips.
Swallowing hard, Kagome tried to focus on the beat of her heart, as he had taught her to do. Using the steady rhythm as an anchor, she looked again towards the taiyoukai.
Save us.The words pounded into her ears, although still no sound emanated from his mouth. Kagome blinked and watched her mate's words silently spill from his mouth. "Save you?" she echoed, surprised that she could suddenly speak.
He nodded once, so sharply that his neck should have snapped.
"How?" she asked, vaguely aware that all movement had stopped around them. Her friends and enemies had seemingly forgotten how to breathe.
Go to Amatsu.Kagome shuddered. "What?" Her voice was trill with incredulity, but he repeated himself. The hanyou felt a strong urge to follow his instructions. It was her duty as his mate and as a subject of the city. Sacrifice one to save the whole. Wasn't that what the wolves had done to save their clan? Her mind and heart seemed to scream at her to comply with Sesshoumaru's request.
But a spark of disbelief and suspicion crept up inside her, crawling up from the pit of her stomach to the back of her throat. "No, I can't. You would never say that," she said.
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. Then we will die.
"You said that you accepted death," retorted the hanyou. Her brows knit in frustration. "You were adamant. You told me that this wasn't about us, that it was about Japan."
The taiyoukai lifted the corner of his lip in a silent snarl. Tokijin, until now lying dead in his hand, flamed to life. Without a word, he spun, killing Kagura and Keitaro in one swing. No scream of protest escaped their lips, but their eyes were full of disappointment as the light faded from their vision. The others remained in place, watching the two bodies fall to the ground. Sesshoumaru turned his head to look back at Kagome over his shoulder. See what you have forced me to do?
A force seemed to press down on her lungs, making it difficult to breathe as he lifted his sword again. She wanted to beg him not to hurt anyone else, but speech was once again taken from her. It was difficult to tell if it was the result of the pressure on her chest or the pain and shock she suffered from watching her mate slice apart her friends.
As Makoto and Ruri fell, willing victims to Tokijin's wrath, Kagome found herself in a cloud of confusion. She could not comprehend the reasons behind his actions, nor could she stop them. The wolf brothers died without comment.
Your future is gone. He gestured to the corpses surrounding his feet. You are forcing me to make this decision for you.
He lifted his sword once again, momentarily confusing the hanyou. There was no one else to kill that would push her towards a final answer. Even if she did have one for her obviously incensed mate, she could not form to words to say it. Kagome could only close her eyes, blocking out the carnage that Sesshoumaru had wrought upon her friends.
Her lack of movement, however, left her ears open to the continuing grate of Sesshoumaru's vicious tones. If you will not sacrifice yourself for our city, then I will. There is no forgiveness for your treason. Traitor! My love for you dies in this moment.
Kagome's eyes opened again, watching as Sesshoumaru brought the tip of the sword to his own throat. Instead of mourning his imminent suicide, Kagome felt the pressure lift from her chest and she straightened. "What?"
The single word made the taiyoukai pause and tilt his head towards her. His crooked eyebrow asked her silently what she meant by interrupting his grand exit with such a silly question.
She pushed herself to her feet. "I'm wondering about what you said," she responded. "The Sesshoumaru that I know and love would not tell me that he loves me here and now, not before committing illogical suicide. Everything is wrong about this. I don't even feel real pain over the apparent deaths of my friends!"
Perhaps your heart is dead.Kagome narrowed her eyes. "Now, see? That's exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. Sesshoumaru would never tell me that my heart is dead. I think that I don't feel anything because this isn't real. You didn't kill anyone. You're not contemplating suicide. And you certainly didn't admit that you ever loved me in front of the people you hate most in the world!"
The dead bodies of Kagura and Ruri popped up to sitting positions, their legs still splayed out in front of them. As one, they looked up at Sesshoumaru. "I told you that you were going to go too far at this," they hissed together.
The four male youkai sprang up on the other side. Blood still poured from their wounds. "Ah, it's alright," they chanted. "I have other methods for dealing with the girl. That baby is telling her what is real and what is not. Shall we give her a taste of reality then?"
Sesshoumaru and the two females nodded with a mechanical synchronization. Their edges began to bleed together, as if someone had dropped water on a pencil drawing. Color was draining from their features and from the world surrounding her. Soon, she was in a plane of stark white, with puddles of gray that were quickly receding.
Wake up, my little heart.A jolt went through her, as if she had dropped a hair dryer into her bathtub. Moaning softly at the pain, Kagome opened her eyes to find her mate and friends still alive and staring at her. Sesshoumaru's mouth was set in a thin line. "What have you done to her?" he demanded, noting his mate's glazed look.
Amatsu shrugged, not even glancing at the hanyou. "We showed her what could be in her immediate future. We could have shown her worse." He scowled. "You don't seem to understand, demon, that we want Kagome to come to us willingly. We do not wish to harm her, but your impertinence may force us to do just that!"
Tokijin crackled as its owner's ire increased. "Release her, and we shall see who receives the injury here."
The god simply shrugged. "Very well. I think we have wasted enough time with idle chatter." He nodded to his accomplices, wordlessly telling them to stalk forward in preparation for battle.
"Even Tenseiga won't be able to put together the pieces once I'm done with you, brother," snarled Inuyasha from Kagome's left. His claws were beginning to glow like embers of a flame threatening to come to life.
With stress mounting higher on both sides of what was quickly becoming a staring contest, Kagome felt the presence of Amatsu ebb away from her mind. He was distracted by the swift turn in events. The baby's presence took the prominent place, filling up the darkness left by the god and digging in its claws. She smiled softly at her unborn child's tenacity as she slowly lifted her grass stained hands from the ground and stood up.
Amatsu turned back to her, trying to force his way into her mind once again, as she began to walk towards her mate and friends. Letting loose a growl that seemed almost canine, he sneered at her. "Join them in the battle and your time with me will be all the less pleasant for it."
She stepped up to Sesshoumaru's side before turning her black and crimson head to face him. "I will suffer without my mate anyway. What more could you do to me?"
It seemed as if Kagome's words had settled the matter entirely. Nothing else could be said to forestall the battle. So Amatsu lifted his hands, bringing down a bolt of lightening from the clear blue sky to form a sword in his hands. It was blackened and twisted, as if it was the reject of a blacksmith's work, but its blade was sharp and thin as paper. Amatsu's insignia crested the hilt, the ray piercing the orb. It was truly a sword of a god.
Sesshoumaru lifted his lip in a silent snarl and strode forward like a flash of light, bringing down Tokijin to meet the godly blade. The sick crunch of metal against metal spurned the others to move into their own battles. Makoto and Keitaro joined Sesshoumaru while Kagura and Ruri took on Kikyo. The wolves stood on either side of their sister, tensed to fight Inuyasha.
The male hanyou rushed towards them in a streak of red and Kagome only just managed to ward off his sharp claws with Tetsusaiga. "Pathetic," she heard him mutter as he passed by. Coming to rest on the ground again, he flexed his long fingers. "You gave up such power, Kagome. You could have joined us willingly and now you will be our slave."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Don't you guys ever just shut up about that? I've obviously made my choice, now get over it and fight me!"
"It's not a choice! It's the path we have been set upon!" he retorted, attacking again. He managed to kick Ginta in the gut, but Kagome hit him with the broad side of the sword, throwing him off.
"It is a choice," she snapped back, terrified at how his contact with Tetsusaiga made the blade hum in her hands. "How could it not be a choice of a deranged half-demon, overwhelmed with blood, to ask his enemy for another chance at a half-life? That is a choice, albeit a very bad one."
Inuyasha went directly for Hakkaku next, slashing at the wolf's throat and missing by bare inches as Kagome tackled him. They rolled, sprang apart and landed ten feet from one another. "I led a cursed life the first time. Now I am blessed by a god!"
Kagome straightened her spine from her defensive crouch and stared at him. "You have got to be kidding! Are you truly trying to use a crappy childhood as the reason you became evil? How cliché. I would have expected better from you."
"I could not have you in one life and my lord gave me another chance!" he yelled, with a predatory, possessive gleam in his eyes.
"I'm not your pet, Inuyasha," she gritted out, not missing his expression for a second. "I'm not your mate. I'm not even your friend. So if this is your god's way of bringing us back together, well, forgive the language, but he fucked it up big time."
A piteous cry of pain rose into the air from behind her and Kagome turned to see Kagura flung across the breadth of their personal battleground, blood streaming from her wounds. The wolf brothers had joined in the fight with Kikyo, but the priestess seemed to be batting her opponent away like mosquitoes. Unlike Inuyasha, she was not spending time in senseless talk.
On the other side, Sesshoumaru seemed to be holding his own against a god. Makoto and Keitaro were farther back, sporting fresh gashes in their armor and skin, but healthy enough. Tokijin's pure brute strength seemed just enough to go against Amatsu's blade of power. A thick cloud of poison began to surround the taiyoukai as his hands began to glow green.
Inuyasha followed her gaze and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "My lord is just mocking yours. He could kill him with one strike."
Kagome knew this as the truth. Even as she watched, Amatsu seemed to tire of the game and press against their locked swords harder, forcing Sesshoumaru down to one knee under the pressure. She raced forward, swinging Tetsusaiga to ward off the persistent Inuyasha.
"Sesshoumaru!" she cried, seeing him lower his other knee to the ground. Reaching forward, she sent a shock of lightening between them, singeing the god enough to release his hold on her mate. She shuddered as Amatsu sent her a glance of pure loathing, but held her ground. Behind her, Makoto and Keitaro had moved in to take over her fight with Inuyasha. Their yells heralded that he wasn't being so gentle with them. After all, she had been needed alive and they were expendable.
Ignoring the fog of poison still surrounding him, she stepped up to her mate and covered him with her arms, letting Tetsusaiga hang loosely from her fingertips. He was panting slightly and she could hear his heart beating quickly from the adrenaline rush. His body was beginning to realize his mortal peril. Soon, he would unavoidably be bound for a transformation into his canine form. She had a feeling that the protective bubble around them, keeping the larger battle away from them was also a precaution against Sesshoumaru's larger self. Now closer to the barrier, she could feel the evil emanating from it. It would kill her mate to touch it.
Looking up at the god, who was sneering above them, Kagome frowned. "If you are going to kill him, you will have to kill me first."
He let out a short bark of a laugh. "Oh, how endearing! How I wish for my old power, the power of an untainted god, one without such a restrictive human shell! In my proper form, I could kill your mate with a simple thought."
Kagome flinched as a flash of memory returned to her. She remembered killing Kagura's subordinates for fear of the spy's influence on her troops. The lightening bolts that she could form with a thought struck home each time. It was as simple as wanting them dead before she saw them crumpled on the ground. The hanyou realized that the baby was probably the only reason Kagura had survived at all. Even in its first few hours it had been fighting.
"That's why you want us," she whispered. "We aren't just a weapon. We're a funnel for your power. You can't do it, so you make us do your dirty work for you!"
"I believe that was rather self-explanatory," mocked the god. "My, you are slow on the uptake, aren't you? Good thing I don't want you for your mind."
Kagome shook her head, ignoring the insult. "No, that's what Kikyo is for. I'm the heart, she is the mind and Inuyasha is the strength. She is earth, Inuyasha is fire and I am air. Well, lightening really, but who cares? A triad of elements, capable of encompassing even a god's power. No wonder we were so appealing." She whipped her head around and glared at Amatsu. "You deceived us all! You ensnared Kikyo with talk of a new life with Inuyasha and had her give him a second chance with me and me with a second chance with him. Oh, you just played off our emotions, you evil monster! There is no destined path! There is no prophecy! There is only an opportunity that you took, destroying all of our lives!"
"And once again, my dear girl, you have proven that your intellect is not the desirable part of you," Amatsu said with a taunting lilt. "There is a prophecy. I waited for a long time to see it to fruition. I did not even interfere, for that could have damaged the foretold future. You destroyed your own lives, with the help of that wonderful Naraku."
"It is not a path," she whispered obstinately. "It is a choice. They made the wrong one. I will not repeat their mistake." She stood up, bringing Sesshoumaru to his feet as well. He looked calm and collected, despite his repeated brushes with death.
"You did not have to hold me as such," he murmured, his annoyance evident that he had been embraced twice so far on this battlefield.
She sighed. "Okay. Remind me not to save your life again."
Amatsu lifted his sword again. "Don't fret, my heart. He won't live long enough for you to save again." He moved forward, faster than the eye could follow. The sunlight off of his blade was a streak of gold, telling them precisely when to duck for cover.
Kagome's hand tightened around Tetsusaiga again and she threw out the Wind Scar as soon as the god slowed down to be within her visual perception once again. It sliced through the ground, adding even more gashes in the earth. She had hit the mark, but the streams of light glanced off of Amatsu without effort.
"Foolish girl, I am immortal. You cannot kill me," he cackled.
"And you need me for your weapon," she answered back, "so we're kind of at a stalemate aren't we?"
He grinned. "You would be surprised what is possible with a reanimated corpse," he murmured dangerously, nodding to Inuyasha, who was throwing around Makoto and Keitaro as if they were rag dolls. Beyond him, Kikyo had knocked three of her four opponents unconscious at least, although Kagura looked alarmingly blood-soaked. Only Ginta remained standing, and he was stumbling.
"Go help with Kikyo," muttered Kagome. "Hold the bitch at bay."
Sesshoumaru, recognizing one of the few times that he would have to take an order from his mate without questions, nodded and moved across the field. Only when Tokijin's crackling energy struck the earthen priestess did Kagome turn back to the god.
"What trick do you have up your sleeve?" she asked him. "I know you have something. Something that will even make me rethink my decision."
He smirked. "Well, perhaps I was too quick to judge your intelligence, my heart."
Kagome gave a little sigh of frustration. This was a battle, yet all they seemed to do with her was talk. She considered that maybe they weren't quite sure how to take her into their control again without seriously hurting her. They certainly were not going easy on her friends, as their screams so blatantly pointed out.
A fresh cry of pain sounded out and Kagome turned to see Kikyo spring away from Sesshoumaru with her hand grasping her shoulder. Blood seeped through the spaces between her fingers and she glared at the taiyoukai with utter contempt. Kagome's mate had a mixture of exhaustion and pride upon his face. Without pausing for foolish statement of confidence, he attacked her again, this time blocked by massive earthen walls that Kikyo called forth.
Kagome looked back at Amatsu, who appeared annoyed, but otherwise unconcerned with Kikyo's fight. "He's hurt her," she said. "Now we know that they aren't invulnerable. It won't be long until he lands another, more fatal, blow."
"You want Kikyo's blood on your hands," pointed out the god. He was smiling again.
The thirst for vengeance still lived in Kagome's heart, but she shook her head. "This battle is about the future of Japan, not my petty desires," she said, echoing Sesshoumaru's earlier sentiments.
"How noble of you," Amatsu replied, appearing quite bored with her trite statements.
Kagome fought the urge to roll her eyes again. "Show me your hidden ace or fight me, okay? This is getting really tedious."
The god bowed deeply, keeping his eyes locked with hers. "Of course, my heart. I could never deny a wish of yours." He snapped his fingers and three shadows immediately came forward out of the battle around them, holding a frail, pallid woman between them. She was gently guided to Amatsu's side before he dismissed the shadows with a nod.
"Kaori."
The whispered word stretched across the clearing. Inuyasha and Kikyo fell back from their respective battles, the priestess still clutching at her wound but the hanyou completely whole. Sesshoumaru ignored his opponent and walked towards his mother, cold calculation in his eyes.
Amatsu threaded his fingers through Kaori's raven black hair, allowing his fingertips to brush the strips placed high on her cheekbones. On her pale forehead, a crescent moon glittered. She was wrapped in what once was an expensive white silk kimono, but was now stained with the blood and dirt of battle. It was torn in a few places. Her eyes were blank, staring past them all without any focus.
"She is but a ghost of the beauty she once was," murmured the god.
"Do not touch her!" snapped the taiyoukai, moving forward.
Kagome intercepted him, whispering a single word. "Wait."
The god smiled wickedly, wrapping his arm around Kaori. "You have no power here, Sesshoumaru. She is my wife and mate. I can do what I wish with her and she gladly obeys. She loves me."
"More than life itself," Kaori's deadened voice murmured before Sesshoumaru could speak.
Kagome frowned deeply, quickly figuring out why the former Lady of the Western Lands had the vacant look and why she was allowing Amatsu to touch her. "She has no soul. How can someone who has no soul love?" She glared at the god. "Why did you do this? Surely it wasn't necessary. Did you just want to torture a ten year old boy by taking away his mother?"
Amatsu stared at her for a moment and then let out a great booming laugh, quickly joined by Inuyasha and Kikyo. "Your conception of the situation is flawed beyond reason, my heart."
"Oh, then do enlighten us," seethed Kagome, crossing her arms.
The god pulled Kaori even closer to his body, nuzzling her hair with his nose. "Very well. I see no reason to hesitate to break Sesshoumaru's spirit, if I cannot break yours, my heart."
The hanyou gritted her teeth against the nickname that was becoming increasingly irritating and glanced over to her mate, who was shaking with rage. She had to hand it to the god. He knew when to pick his moments. Sesshoumaru was more exposed right now than she had ever seen.
Amatsu plowed on with the story, ignoring his audience's tension. "I remember it as if it were me, although it was the human shell who acted upon his lust. He loved her as soon as he saw her, standing so beautiful and quiet beside your father, Sesshoumaru. He had to have her. When he went to her, however, he found her to be resistant. It appeared that although she did not love your father, she had a son who she could never abandon."
There was an intake of breath as Makoto sputtered in anger. What he was not able to say, Sesshoumaru gladly supplied. "Human filth," he snarled, flexing his claws.
"If it hadn't been for you, she would have left gladly!" snapped the god. "Your father was a cruel mate that did not hide his preference for humans! She almost looked relieved when my human predecessor placed the love spell on her!"
"Sorcery!" cried out Makoto, finally finding his voice. "Kaori would never have wanted you! And how dare you try to defile the Inutaisho's memory!"
Kagome clutched at her head with a violent movement as memories flooded her mind. This story had been recounted once before, she felt with a rip in her heart. Kaori… love spell… soulless. There was a missing link there. Human love spells, even by the most practiced human sorcerers, were creatures of obsession and servitude. It did not tear the soul from the body.
Sesshoumaru did not notice his mate's weakened state as his own anger rose to unimaginable levels. His eyes were bleeding red, as much as he fought it. Not until he heard Kagome cry out his name, did he turn his head to see his mate moaning in pain.
He moved to her side. "Kagome?" he whispered, as a pleased divinity looked on.
His mate gave no sign that she had heard him. She only gave one more cry of piercing pain before collapsing at his feet, memories overwhelming her.
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A/N: Finally. I started this chapter the day after I posted the last one and so it has truly taken a month to finish. Again, I'm sorry for the long wait. Please review!
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