"What the hell are you doing!" Miyako shouted. "Since when do
you use weapons…? … You never told me about this!" She eyed
Sakura warily. "I bet /she/ knew, didn't she!"
Kagome
glared with cold, unfeeling eyes at both Sakura and Miyako, giving
them a severe case of the chills. Sakura, however, did her best to
ignore Miyako for the time being and instead focus her worried gaze
on Kagome. /Something's wrong/ she thought. /Kagome /knows/
this form releases a lot of energy. Is she trying to attract some
kind of demon/
Then it hit her.
It wasn't Kagome's
doing at all. Sakura suddenly realized that the reason for her little
sister's harsh scowl—and her transformation—was that she was
under someone's control.
"Sakura! Answer me, dammit!"
Miyako yelled impatiently.
"/What!" Sakura replied with
equal irritation, snapping back to reality.
"You look worried
as hell. What's the matter with you?"
Sakura's green eyes
narrowed and a silence passed. Right as Sakura opened her mouth to
tell Miyako, Kagome let out an agonized scream.
"Kagome!"
Miyako and Sakura cried.
"I suggest you leave her secrets in
the dark, human," growled a hidden but unmistakably familiar
voice.
"Naraku!" Sakura screamed. "Leave Kagome the hell
alone! You already killed Inuyasha! Isn't that enough!"
His
villainous cackle bellowed out from nowhere in reply to her question,
followed by a cryptically worded response: "That's only half of
what I'd consider enough." Kagome then screamed once more,
doubling over in pain and clutching her head with trembling hands. At
that moment, a confused and frightened Steph appeared at the scene,
kept silent by Sakura's warning hand.
"Get… away…"
Kagome muttered faintly.
Sakura smiled at this. /Be strong,
Kagome./
"/Run!" Kagome's eyes shot open, and then the
Tamashii no Tama faded from silver to jet black. An invisible wave of
darkness emitted from the jewel and swept over Kagome, turning her
markings, clothes, and wings black as well. Her eyes dulled, and she
lunged at Sakura with the sword. She dodged easily, and Miyako
prepared to retaliate, aiming a half-formed fireball at Kagome. Steph
stood back with her hand on the hilt of her Keyblade.
"Stop!"
Sakura said to Miyako. "We're supposed to protect her, not hurt
her!"
Miyako let the fireball dissolve, only to be forced
backwards into a tree by a fist of dark energy. Sakura and Steph were
also thrown off their feet.
Naraku's voice spoke with Kagome's:
"You lose." With that, the girl vanished in a violent tornado of
swirling black miasma.
"Kagome…" Sakura murmured, reaching
out into the empty air. "Ka… go…" For a minute, it seemed as
though she would lose consciousness, but then she leapt to her feet
with a lively but angry scowl on her face. "/Kagome!"
"Damn
that Naraku!" came Miyako's voice from behind the enraged blonde.
She, too, appeared to be revived by a second wind.
Steph
struggled to stand, coughing a bit as she asked, "Alright… can
you /please/ tell me what's going on?"
Sakura turned to her,
the angry look on her face not fading but growing worse. "You are
only a burden to Kagome. You're no guardian. You don't deserve to
understand the suffering she's been through." She was about ready
to jump off the side of the cliff in a failing, suicidal attempt to
follow Kagome, but Steph took the fleeting silence as an opportunity
to speak, stopping Sakura from leaping to her death.
"I'm no
less a guardian than Miyako," Steph muttered bravely. "I'm no
less than you."
Miyako was obviously insulted. "Shut up,
Keywielder! Kagome and I weren't sent by the Superior to /befriend/
you, you know. I was sent to protect and accompany Kagome during her
mission to /kill/ you!" Steph released a shocked gasp for air. "And
as for Sakura… Until Inuyasha's death/no one/ was able to
surpass—or even /match/—the way in which he protected Kagome.
Sakura holds the title of Kagome's best guardian now, as well as
that of her closest friend, and her only family."
Sakura stared
with nearly as much amazement as Steph did as the infuriated unsent
finished her speech. Sakura looked as though Miyako had left out an
important detail. Close to the point of tears, Steph stepped forward,
looking strongly determined.
"Who… who is 'the Superior'?" she asked cautiously, afraid
to upset either of the others any further. However, before Miyako
could reply, Sakura stood in between the two.
"Shut up!" she
shouted. "We have no fucking /time/ for this! We have to save
Kagome!" She then ran past them in the direction of their home,
followed immediately by Miyako and then by Steph.
"We have to
get the guys, too," Miyako called up to Sakura. "We can't fight
Naraku on our own."
"Yeah," Sakura replied as she reached
the front door. "We're gonna need all the help we can get."
