The Only Way

Icthalur spoke suddenly, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "There is nothing we can do for Ilyo. All we can do now is wait. He said he would be back soon. But we have to be careful; Ilyo must have the sacred jewel. And when Inuyasha possessed it, his power grew immensely. I can't even imagine how much power Ilyo now wields." Icthalur shivered at the thought. All that power available to a demon that was never very predictable in the first place was a very scary thought.

Icthalur then turned to Kagome. "You in particular should be very careful. I doubt very much that he has lost his feelings for you. And now, he most likely does not possess the control he once had. Be careful." Kagome nodded fearfully.

Present day Sesshomaru was the next to speak up. "What will he do? I mean, what can he do now that he couldn't do before? He already was immensely powerful. He could have claimed Lordship over the lands. What is left?"

Unfortunately, Icthalur did not have an answer for that question. With Inuyasha, it had been easy to figure out what he would do, because there were things that he hadn't been able to do before. It had been easy to guess that he would use the jewel's power to do the things he had been too weak to accomplish before. But with Ilyo, there was very little he couldn't have already done. There was no way to figure out what he was planning.

Icthalur suddenly turned and left the room. He quickly made his way out of the castle into the night air. The two Sesshomaru's remained in the small room, quietly wondering why Icthalur had left so suddenly. What they didn't know was that Icthalur had felt himself being called outside by a commanding voice.

Once outside, Icthalur quickly noticed a large form sitting on the ground. Its back was resting against a tree and its head was slumped down onto its chest. He moved closer, and his eyes widened when he realized that it was Ilyo.

Icthalur was about to draw his sword, but Ilyo looked up before he could, revealing his golden eyes. Icthalur halted and a surprised look on his face appeared on his face. Ilyo said nothing; he just motioned for Ilyo to sit down beside him.

Once the dragon demon had seated himself beside his friend, Ilyo began to speak in a low voice. "I will have to leave soon. I can't control myself. Very soon, the jewel will take control again. Before that happens, I will tell you what happened." Icthalur nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"When I was fighting Inuyasha, I attempted to kill him with my sword. That left him an opening and he took it. He thrust the sacred jewel into me, into my heart. It didn't kill me, but the power overwhelmed me. Now, I realize that was Inuyasha's plan all along. Overwhelm me and then finish me off. But it backfired. He was not expecting Sesshomaru to kill him, but his ploy had another effect. See, since the jewel had been with him and his evil intentions, it had been tainted. In my heart, the evil jewel is now fighting me for control of my body. And ultimately, it will win." Ilyo finished his tale and waited for Icthalur to speak.

"What are we supposed to do?" the dragon demon inquired. He had never heard of a situation like that before. "Even just sitting here, I can tell that your power has grown by a huge margin. I might not have even been to defeat you before, so there's no way I can beat you now."

Ilyo smiled sadly at that. "In regards to that, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the jewel can be removed from my heart, which will destroy the threat." Icthalur grinned happily, but then he faltered as Ilyo continued. "But the bad news is that the removal of the jewel will kill me. It is inside my heart now, so the only way to get it out is to tear a hole in my heart and wrench the jewel out."

Icthalur's eyes widened in horror, but before he could speak, Ilyo had leapt to his feet. "I have to leave now. Please protect Kagome." With that, Ilyo once again faded away, leaving Icthalur standing alone, wondering how he was going to tell Kagome what Ilyo had just said to him.

Meanwhile, Kagome had been sitting in her room quietly, when she suddenly felt Ilyo's presence. She had rushed out of her room, only to run right into Icthalur. She bounced off and fell on her ass. He looked down in amusement as she stood up, embarrassed. But embarrassment quickly faded when she remembered why she had been running.

"Icthalur, I sensed Ilyo and he seemed normal. His demonic energy was the way it used to be."

Seeing how happy she looked, Icthalur couldn't bring himself to tell her what Ilyo had said. Instead, he smiled at her. "Maybe he still has some control left. But don't get your hopes up. He could just be screwing with us." Kagome smile faltered a bit, but she still felt happy. Icthalur turned and left her. Kagome returned to her room and quickly fell asleep.

Icthalur, meanwhile, returned to the small room where both Sesshomaru's remained. As soon as he entered the room, both turned to him in surprise. They could both faintly smell Ilyo. Noting there looks, he quickly explained what had happened and what Ilyo had told him.

When he was finished, present day Sesshomaru spoke. "Have you told Kagome?"

Icthalur stared at him silently for a moment before answering. "No. I couldn't bring myself to tell her. She loves him and he will have to die."

Past Sesshomaru scoffed. "If you will not inform her, then I will. She has a right to know."

Wheeling around, Sesshomaru exited the room before anyone could stop him. Icthalur and present day Sesshomaru were surprised, and stood still for a moment before hurrying after him. By the time they caught up with him, he had already made it to the door of Kagome's room. But he never got a chance to tell her.

A scream was heard from inside the room. Sesshomaru wrenched open the door and entered the room, closely followed by Icthalur and present day Sesshomaru. They were greeted with an empty room and the lingering sent of fear, mixed with something else. It was like Ilyo's scent, but different. They all immediately knew that Ilyo had taken Kagome.

Icthalur quickly rushed up the stairs that led to the roof. Once he got there, he could easily discern Kagome's scent, leading away from the castle. Icthalur knew that he had to go after Kagome. He would never forgive himself if he let harm come to his best friend's lover, even if the danger came from said best friend.

Just as he was about to take off, a hand on his shoulder halted him. Icthalur turned to see present day Sesshomaru holding a note out to him. Icthalur looked at it questioningly, and Sesshomaru shrugged.

"I found it on Kagome's bed," he explained. "It appears to have been left by Ilyomaru."

Sesshomaru handed it to Icthalur and stepped back to let him read it.

Icthalur,

I have taken Kagome. If you wish to save her, you better come quickly because I am fighting for control of this body and I don't know how much longer I can last. Ilyo is very strong willed and, even though I am immensely powerful, he has been able to push me back. As soon as he starts to regain control over his body, I will kill her. So you had better hurry.

Icthalur crumpled the letter in anger. He was being goaded. The jewel, or whatever the hell it was that now controlled Ilyo's body, was attempting to draw him into a fight. That way, the only creature that could possibly stand a chance against Ilyo in battle would be dead.

Icthalur, always a very hot tempered person, turned to both Sesshomarus. "We must track down Ilyo and Kagome. Unfortunately, her scent will undoubtedly fade as we get farther away from here. We will have to revert to our true forms to track them."

Both Sesshomarus grinned widely at that. As many differences as there were between the two of them, both Sesshomarus loved to be able to transform into their true demonic form.

In an instant, both Sesshomarus changed. They quickly became their true demon forms; huge, ferocious-looking white dogs. Jumping into the air, they waited with interest to see what Icthalur's true form would like. Icthalur grinned and then started his own transformation.

As they watched, Icthalur's flesh became scales, and he grew a lot larger. Suddenly, he keeled over, only to catch himself with his arms, which were now more like legs. The two Sesshomarus look up at his face, which was clearly visible to their impressive night vision. Said face had elongated, and his mouth quickly filled up with viciously sharp fangs. Suddenly, a set of leathery wings sprouted out of his back, and he launched himself into the air. He was a dragon, pitch black in colour and at least twice as large as his two companions.

All of a sudden, Icthalur wheeled in the air and took off, flying amazingly fast. Both Sesshomarus took off after him, racing just to keep as close to him as possible. Unfortunately, they were not nearly fast enough to keep up and were quickly left behind. Icthalur, however, didn't care. The two would easily be able to follow him just by tracking his scent.

Now that Icthalur's senses were improved, he could easily follow the scent left by Ilyo and Kagome. It led directly into the heart of the city. Icthalur followed it without hesitation, regardless of the fact that many humans were staring up at him in confusion and fear. It wasn't every day that a giant dragon flew right over a bustling city.

Finally, Icthalur spotted an immensely tall building, and with his keen eyesight, he could see Ilyo staring at him through a window, about three quarters of the way up the building. Icthalur thought for a minute about what was the fastest way into the building and came to a quick conclusion.

When he was about two hundred feet from the correct window, Icthalur quickly reverted back to his humanoid form. Since he had been flying so fast, his momentum carried him forward, into and through the window. He crashed heavily to the floor as pieces of glass rained down around him.

Ilyo stood there calmly as Icthalur got to his feet. The first thing that Icthalur noticed was how Ilyo's eyes were beginning to lighten from pitch black to gold. Knowing he had little time, Icthalur jumped Ilyo, sending them both careening to the ground. Ilyo shoved Icthalur off of him, and sent the dragon demon flying backwards, crashing through a wall.

Turning, Ilyo was about to kill Kagome, who had been huddled behind a desk, but suddenly, Ilyo regained control of his body. He dropped his hand and backed away from Kagome. At that moment, Icthalur returned, He quickly noticed that Ilyo's eyes had returned to their regular golden colour.

Ilyo turned to Icthalur and began to speak. What he said drew a gasp of horror from Icthalur. "You must remove the jewel from me now. I don't know how much longer I can retain control over myself."

Icthalur face turned white. "No. I won't do it."

Kagome looked at both of them in "Why won't you remove the jewel? Won't that stop him from being evil?"

Icthalur turned to her, smilingly bitterly. "Oh, it will stop him from being evil. And it will kill him."

Kagome looked at Ilyo in horror.

"It's the only way," Ilyo said desperately, gazing into her eyes. "Trust me; it's better to have me dead, than evil and out of control. No one can understand exactly what I'm capable of, not to mention the added power of the jewel. This is the only way to stop this before anyone gets hurt."

Kagome had started to cry, but Icthalur had seen the wisdom in his friend's words. Sighing heavily, he moved to stand in front of Ilyo.

Ilyo looked at him silently for a moment and then removed his coat and t-shirt, exposing his chest. Then, he smiled peacefully at Icthalur. "Goodbye, my friend. You have been like a brother to me. And Kagome, I love you." His goodbyes said, Ilyo motioned for Icthalur to proceed.

With tears in his eyes, Icthalur plunged his clawed hand into Ilyo's chest and closed it around his heart.