Dark as Day
Chapter Fourteen
"Welcome to your new home," Naraku spoke after almost an hour of silence. Inuyasha looked around the room Naraku had brought him to. He had no idea where he was except that he was still in Tokyo. And that didn't help him in the least.
Inuyasha took a step into the room and glanced over his shoulder. Naraku was gone. Inuyasha sighed and fell onto the old cot that was probably supposed to serve as his bed. He felt empty and tired, but he didn't want to sleep. He would never have another peaceful night of sleep again, it seemed.
His dark musings were interrupted when a figure stepped into the room. For one brief, wild moment, one wonderful and glorious moment, he thought that it was Kagome. But his soaring hopes shattered instantly when he recognized it as Kagome's betraying sister, Kikyou.
He slunk away from the woman when she entered and pressed his back against the wall. He drew his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. He sent her a warning glare, his golden eyes narrowed.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Inuyasha snapped out, hiding his surprise at seeing a woman he thought was dead. It was kind of spooky. He didn't like it. To cover up his discomfort, the man growled angrily at her, feeling the hairs on the back of his head bristle.
"Stay away from me," he growled. Kikyou had tricked him. Kikyou had fooled her sister, and he would never forgive Kikyou for that look he'd left on Kagome's face.
"I have my orders," Kikyou sighed and moved towards him, ignoring his warning growl. He reared up when she approached and felt her pulsing miko energy. He stiffened. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to remove this."
It was in that instant that he realized that Kikyou was holding the rosary that had chained him to Kagome. He stared at it for the longest moment, staring at the purple beads and youkai teeth as if only seeing it for the first time. He'd forgotten that he wore it. Kagome rarely used the sit command. It was what bounded him to her unwillingly at first.
"Don't touch it!" he tried to jerk away, but it was too late. A blast of miko energy from Kikyou's hand shattered the ancient magic that held the rosary around his neck.
Instantly, countless amounts of beads shot through the room, the teeth clinking to the ground dully as the balls of glass bounced and shattered across the room. The weight on his neck was gone instantly. With a gentle sweep, Kikyou was gone, leaving him completely alone.
He sat there dully, watching as a solitary bead rolled across the linoleum floor. It came to a halt when it ran into the wall. Small shards of glass littered the floor but Inuyasha didn't care. The last thing that kept him near Kagome was destroyed right before his eyes. And he never really truly got to say goodbye to her. The next time he saw Kagome, he probably wouldn't be welcomed.
Kagome dashed up the stairs of the university building. She'd left her home early in order to get to her history class early. She wanted to see Inuyasha. After his harsh words in his apartment, she'd run home crying, deciding that he was the worst kind of man on earth. But, after a couple of hours to cool down, she'd realized that she had to talk to him. Really talk to him, without breaking down into tears and declaring that she hated him. Because she didn't.
She paused and clenched the material of her t-shirt, just above her heart. It was pounding hard, and not just from running down the street to class. She sighed and took in a deep breath, trying to regain her composure.
She entered the classroom and was sad to see that she was the first one there. Inuyasha was absent. 'It's okay, I just came too early. I'll talk to him when he gets here.'
She sat down and stared at the doorway. She prayed that Inuyasha would get here soon so that she would be able to talk to him without others seeing. She wanted to talk to Inuyasha. She hadn't realized just how much she liked him, just how much she felt connected to him, until he'd completely dumped her like he had yesterday.
But as the minutes slowly ticked by and students silently filed into the classroom, Kagome realized that Inuyasha wasn't coming. She sighed sadly, disappointment evident on her etched features.
'Come to think of it… no one's here today,' Kagome realized. True enough, only about a third of the class was present. The countless numbers of empty seats was almost frightening.
Then the door clicked open and Kagome whipped her head towards it, hoping that it was Inuyasha. She was once again disappointed to see the professor from the next room enter.
Professor Hango, a younger woman, was a startling contrast to their older male professor who typically taught the class. She cleared her throat as if wishing to draw attention towards her. She needn't bother. Every pair of eyes in the room was on her.
"Your professor as well as the majority of your classmates," the young female professor started without preamble. "Are all incredibly sick. It is my greatest regret that I inform you all that for the first time in thirty years… there has been a case of smallpox."
A hushed silence followed this statement and Kagome stared in wide eyed fascination. 'Now I understand why Sango insisted on the smallpox vaccine. This is obviously Naraku's doing.'
"Until further notice, the university will be shut down. Students are advised to get vaccinations for smallpox, stay in their house, and not to leave until further notice." She eyed all the students, who were sitting stiffly, staring down at her in horror from their vantage point in the lecture hall. She nodded her head. "Please be safe and get home quickly."
With that, she exited the room and Kagome's classmates erupted into a frenzy to get out of the room.
'I hope Inuyasha's okay,' was Kagome's only thought.
Inuyasha was anything but okay. He'd been stuck in his room for what seemed like hours. His only company was the ticking of the clock on his wall and the shadows that crept over the floor from the dirty window on the other side of the room.
The dog demon sighed, resting his head against the wall as he stared idly out the window. He would give anything to be in any other position. Everything had just exploded into one major dramatized sitcom in the space of one day. His days before his twenty-second birthday seemed so long ago. His eyes saddened.
He felt his demon blood thumping through him and clenched his eyes shut. He'd been having trouble controlling himself the past couple hours. His overpowering emotions were triggering some reaction within him. He'd caught himself in the reflection of the window a couple hours ago and had seen a red-eyed monster staring back at him.
"Because that's what I am," he whispered. "A monster."
He fiddled with the sash of his taijiya uniform. The giant red belt felt silky under his fingertips. He stared out the window again, watching the sun sink into the west. He blew out a stream of breath from his mouth. What had he done to deserve this?
"Inuyasha," greeted Naraku as he strolled into the room. He regarded Inuyasha silently, a look of disgust in his eyes. "You have work to do. Get up."
Inuyasha hesitantly obeyed; standing and glaring defiantly at the Ring Leader. Naraku snorted and jerked his head towards the doorway. "Your captain is outside."
"Captain?" Inuyasha snarled.
"You really think I'm going to let you go out there alone?" Naraku laughed at the idea. "I can't have you rampaging through Tokyo alone, now can I? Do you take me for a fool?"
Inuyasha glared again.
"Ah… one more thing," Naraku said icily, his dark eyes glowing with his malice. Inuyasha continued to shoot daggers with his eyes. Naraku dug around in his pocket and extracted an ear communicator.
"So I can keep tabs on you," Naraku whispered, smirking sinisterly as he watched Inuyasha push it into his ear. Inuyasha ducked his head, staring at his feet. How had he succumbed to this? What had he done to deserve this?
'You were born,' the voice in the back of his head reminded him. Inuyasha was beginning to detest his thoughts.
Half an hour later he was trailing behind two other demons. One smelled like a cat demon and the other some kind of reptile, but he didn't dare question the two. He didn't want anything to do with them. They were an eyesore and preventing him from warning Kagome of what might come.
'Kagome…' his thoughts drifted back to the girl. His eyes saddened. 'She probably hates me now. Damn you, Naraku, why couldn't you have just taken me away? Why did you make me hurt her, too?'
"Hurry it up, halfling," the cat demon snapped, his deep tenor of a voice penetrating his thoughts. Inuyasha nodded grimly.
They landed on top of a roof. "What are we doing?"
His two companions gave one another a look. A look that clearly stated that they hated being here with him. Inuyasha bit his lip and said nothing more.
"Smell anything?" the lizard demon said instead.
Inuyasha sniffed. "Um… no…"
The other two nodded. The dog demon, even as a hanyou, had a stronger scent than the cat and the lizard. "Break in."
"What?" Inuyasha asked, alarmed.
"You heard me, break in," the lizard repeated.
"Why?"
"Naraku-sama needs money. We're at a bank. Do it," the cat snarled, his emerald green eyes narrowing dangerously as he glared at Inuyasha. Neither of his pureblooded companions wished to associate themselves with him, but it was obvious that Naraku had forced them.
Inuyasha did as he was commanded and smashed through the roof of the bank. He landed nimbly on the ground amid fallen debris. The cat and the lizard followed after him, bounding towards the locked safe behind the counter. Within moments they returned, money stuffed into knapsacks. They threw two to the hanyou, who caught them easily.
"Let's get out of here. There may be a silent alarm that was triggered," the lizard spoke with a flick of his tongue. The feline and canine followed after the reptile and they hurried away into the night.
"Now what?" Inuyasha asked when he realized that they were not heading back to the Ring Leader's headquarters. "What do we have to do, now?"
"Naraku-sama needs more humans," his reptile companion spoke, glaring at the hanyou, as if scandalized by the mere idea of the dog demon speaking to him. Inuyasha frowned.
"Humans? What for?" His thoughts instantly went to Izayoi, trapped somewhere in the bowels of Naraku's base.
"We do not question our master," the cat snapped, his fire red hair flaming in the dying embers of the sunset. "And neither should you. We do as we are instructed, nothing more."
Stars dotted the dark horizon in the east. Inuyasha's world was growing increasingly darker and he watched the sun sink directly below. In the distance, the waning moon glowed in the sky. It was less than a month ago that he'd learned of Kamen's identity. It seemed like an eternity since then…
"There," the reptile instructed, pointing a scaled finger down to an alleyway. There were a group of teenaged boys, all laughing and smoking. The smoke rose slowly into the air, weaving through the boys' shaggy hair. "There's about six here. Perfect for Naraku-sama's collection."
"Collection…?" Inuyasha whispered.
"Each of us will take two," the cat spoke to the reptile and glanced hesitantly at Inuyasha. "Can you even handle two humans, half breed?"
"I'm not weak if that's what you're thinking," Inuyasha grouched, tightening his hold on the knapsack slung over his back. "Don't underestimate me."
"Good. Let's go," the cat ignored Inuyasha's protests and dropped to the ground, landing with such grace that only a cat could possess. With a loud hiss, claws slung out and lashed at two of the boys. The other four screamed in surprise and backed away, dropping their cigarettes in an attempt to run away.
Inuyasha and the reptile demon dropped down after the cat and slashed at their victims. Inuyasha made sure only to knock out the two he'd taken on. He didn't want to hurt them, though he knew that what Naraku planned to do with the humans was probably worse than some slashes to the chest.
"Let's go before the taijiya show up," the cat said and slung two humans over his shoulders.
"Too late," a feminine voice said behind them. The three men whipped around to see Sango standing there, a large boomerang perched behind her. She was poised to throw it. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Inuyasha.
"Sha?" she asked hesitantly. "What are you…?"
Understanding dawned on the woman's face before her eyes narrowed. "Traitor," she hissed. "How dare you show your face in my quarter?"
Before Inuyasha knew what was happening, his two companions had grasped his humans, thrown them over their shoulders, and disappeared fro the alleyway, running along the rooftops, leaving him alone with Sango.
Inuyasha stood, rooted to the ground, his golden eyes wide in horror as a large weapon came flying at him. He quickly dodged it, ducking behind a dumpster just in the nick of time.
"You damn traitor!" Sango seethed again. Sango was scary when she was angry, he decided silently. "What are you doing associating yourself with them?"
Inuyasha jumped away from the dumpster just as Sango's large weapon smashed into the metal, shredding it in half like a piece of paper. Inuyasha panted, moving as quickly as possible so as not to get injured.
'I can't tell her the truth. Naraku will find out. I must protect them.' Inuyasha swallowed and charged towards Sango, sending a roundhouse kick towards her face. She ducked and he landed awkwardly on his left foot, bounced, and dodged a kick to his own head.
"Have you always been on his team?" Sango snapped out. "A double agent?"
"No," Inuyasha spoke, while burying all of his emotions deep within him. A tone of indifference and apathy would be the best approach to this. If Sango believed him to be willingly with Naraku, then she wouldn't know that Naraku was blackmailing him. He had to protect Kagome and his mother.
"Fight her," a voice hissed in his ear. He recognized it as Naraku's voice, speaking to him through his communicator. Inuyasha bit his lip and scratched his ear, trying to get used to the Ring Leader's voice in his ear. "Destroy her."
He had to save Kagome and his mother.
'But are Kagome and Mother worth saving if it means killing so many people?' the annoying voice in the back of his head whispered. Inuyasha clenched his jaw. 'Willing to sacrifice so many people for the sake of two lives?'
"Naraku just offered me a deal I couldn't refuse," Inuyasha said nonchalantly. It wasn't a lie, but to Sango, it sounded like he was probably offered riches of some sort.
His assumption was correct. Sango looked utterly pissed and she snorted. "You won't be able to live. You have important information about our headquarters and our operations. I can't let you live."
"Just try and stop me," Inuyasha whispered out and launched himself towards Sango. This time, his kick caught Sango in the side of her face and she went flying, slamming against the wall of the building siding one half of the alley the two stood in.
He towered over Sango and pressed his foot against her back, keeping her on the ground. She grunted in pain.
"You're a weak human," Inuyasha snarled out and pressed firmly against the woman's back. He heard a small pop as she struggled to get back up. She gasped in surprise and fell still. Inuyasha inwardly cringed. It sounded like she'd just cracked her knuckles, only in her back. But she was still moving, so he knew he'd done nothing serious.
"I'll kill you… we'll kill you…" Sango snarled as she struggled to get his weight off her. She launched out her hand, attempting to grasp his leg, but he quickly jumped off her.
She moved quickly to her feet and snarled angrily. "Traitor," she said again. "You'll pay for this."
They continued fighting. A strategically placed punch gave Sango a bloody nose and a blackened eye. He felt guilty for hurting his captain, but he had no choice. In the long run, he would protect her from Naraku. In the long run… he may end up killing her, too.
He dodged a dart that went soaring past his face. He jumped and ducked as a small storm of darts flew at him. With a mighty leap, he dove behind a trashcan and knelt, blocking his frame from Sango's firing range.
"Come out and face me, coward!" Sango was far more upset than Inuyasha had expected her to be.
The trashcan he was hiding behind suddenly blasted into the air. A small bomb rolled towards him and he yelped in surprise, leaping away just in time as the small golf-ball sized bomb exploded with a tiny blast.
"I know that you know Kamen's identity!" Sango snarled as she appeared right in front of him. He didn't have time to react as she grasped the front of his uniform and slammed him against the wall with a strength he hadn't known a human woman could possess.
"How do you know that?" Inuyasha wheezed out, trying to breathe. It was hard with Sango restricting his airways.
Sango's eyes remained narrowed. "Well, I do now."
Inuyasha cursed his stupidity. But Sango continued.
"You know who she is, and yet you still betray her? Betray us? I will not allow you to hurt my cousin. I will not allow you to betray our secrets!" Sango was beyond angry, it seemed.
"Sango… you don't understand…"
Sango cut him off. "Have you been planning this the entire time? Have you been bidding your time before you could betray us and betray our secrets?"
"Shut up, woman!" Inuyasha growled out loudly, struggling against Sango's grip. He broke free when his foot lifted and shoved against her knee. "You don't know anything."
"I know enough!" Sango countered.
They threw punches at each other, their knuckles colliding with the bones in their face. Inuyasha cringed as she sent a kick to his ribs. He didn't hesitate: he grasped the said foot and threw her to the ground, causing her to gasp in surprise and groan in pain.
She was on her feet again quickly, however, undaunted by Inuyasha's attack.
They came together again, throwing their fists in random directions, praying to catch some part of their opponent.
He threw a punch to Sango's stomach and kneed her face when she doubled over. She gasped in pain and collapsed to the ground. He sent a kick to her side, sending her across the pavement again. She sprawled out on the tough concrete and she coughed, a small splatter of blood escaping her mouth.
He bit his lip. He had to finish her off. He stood over her and dug his foot into her stomach. She moaned in pain, her eyes squeezing shut.
"Just kill me quickly, half breed," she hissed darkly, her body tensed. She coughed again and more blood oozed from her mouth. She whispered something not even Inuyasha's expert hearing could detect.
Inuyasha felt like a little boy again. A little boy who'd just realized he'd done something terribly wrong. All he wanted to do in that moment was crawl into a hole, curl up, cry, and wait for his mother to come and tell him everything would be okay.
But nothing would be okay after this.
"I'm sorry," Inuyasha spoke before kicking Sango's head and knocking the woman out.
She lay there, sprawled against the pavement, her body limp and bleeding. He'd done this to her. Who would be next to suffer because of him?
He bent down and plucked the communicator from her ear. Hesitantly he pushed the small button red button that signaled immediate help. A small, shrill squeak omitted itself from the device before a crackling of someone picking up the communicator from the other end.
"Sango? Sango, are you there? Sango?" Inuyasha recognized the voice as Sango's father, Hiro. What would Hiro do once he discovered that one of his taijiya had betrayed them and almost killed his daughter?
"Sango?" the man repeated. Inuyasha dropped the communicator onto Sango's stomach. They would come for her and she would be healed. She would be safe. When she awoke, she would tell everyone about what he'd done. He could no longer be Sha or Inuyasha. He was a dead man.
He was a traitor.
"Here." Inuyasha released a tiny grunt of surprise as a large tank of unknown contents was shoved into his stomach. He wobbled in his step for a second before moving towards the water pipe. He wasn't sure what exactly it was he was pouring into the water supply, but, seeing as how it was Naraku's plan, it couldn't be good.
For what seemed like eternity Inuyasha and a large group of demons had been pouring the water tank's contents into Tokyo's water supply. He knew there wasn't anything good in the water, but he couldn't resist. Every time he even showed sign of rebellion, Naraku would mention Kagome or his mother.
He squeezed his eyes shut. His familiar ordeal with the two women were coming back to haunt him. Who knew what damage he could be causing just this moment? Was doing everything Naraku said, kidnapping humans, stealing money and supplies, fighting his old teammates… was it all worth the life of two women when in the long run he could be leading to a large genocidal conflict?
Inuyasha felt the color leave his face. He didn't want to think about the consequences of his actions.
The police had rolled by in their patrol car a little while ago and Inuyasha had feared that they would be arrested and killed. But his fears proved to be irrational. His 'captain' told the officer that they were with Naraku.
Inuyasha had been equally shocked to see the man nod his head, return to his police car, and drive away. That confirmed that Naraku was bribing the government from the inside out. It was enough to make him sick.
"Work faster," the cat demon from before snapped out, his green eyes narrowed in frustration. Inuyasha did as he was told. He did not wish to anger them. Who knew what would happen if he disobeyed orders. He would not gamble Kagome and his mother's lives like that.
'So, Naraku's making us pour some kind of chemical into the water supply… the police are in on it… the STARS Act is supporting inhumane actions from the police… I'm being blackmailed to work with Naraku… I've almost killed Sango… and my back hurts. What else could possibly go wrong?' Inuyasha lifted the now empty tank and set it down before trudging back over to grab another one. 'What is Naraku plotting?'
"Faster," the cat demon warned. Inuyasha frowned and quickened his pace.
They continued working for what seemed like hours. His back was hurting and he had a splitting headache working hard at pounding against his skull. He paused momentarily to rub at his forehead, pressing his palm against his warmed skin.
"We're almost done," he heard the cat mutter out to his fellow workers. Inuyasha nearly sighed in relief. Whatever it was that he was doing would soon come to an end and he could put this depressing night behind him.
'But then again, I'm sure the worse has yet to come,' he thought bitterly as he watched the liquid pour into the water pipe.
"You will join us," Inuyasha said tartly, staring down at the shivering man. He was a young fox demon who'd stumbled upon his path. He remembered Naraku's cold instructions to capture and recruit any demon he came across.
"And should the demon refuse…" Naraku had said calmly, "Kill it."
The young kitsune trembled, his bottom lip quivering as he stared up at him helplessly, his chocolate brown eyes watering. "Please…"
"You will join Naraku-sama," Inuyasha said again, biting back his disgust at his own attitude. He was threatening another demon to join Naraku, when he didn't even want to be on Naraku's team? Wait, not he wasn't. "Or else."
Now he was.
"Please… I cannot… I'm…" the fox trembled and cringed as Inuyasha shot his hand out and grasped the front of the man's shirt, lifting him effortlessly up. He clenched his eyes shut and whimpered again, his fox tail twitching behind him. "Please… put me down…"
"No," Inuyasha said curtly.
The man flinched and snapped his eyes open. He glared at Inuyasha and growled. Inuyasha was startled by the sudden change in attitude. The kit had gone from a groveling child to a surly man almost instantly. But then again, kitsune were famous for their trickery.
"I'd rather die than fight for that murder," the fox hissed out, his brown eyes burning with fury.
"Then you leave me no choice," Inuyasha whispered. But how could he kill another demon? How could he kill someone for standing up against the murdering jerk?
"What are you waiting for?" Naraku's voice hissed. "Kill him for disobeying me. Now."
Inuyasha swallowed and slammed the fox against the wall. The boy gasped, his black hair fluttering at the sudden force. He bit back a moan of pain only for his coffee colored eyes to widen when Inuyasha's claws aimed towards him.
"No, please I'll—" Whatever the kitsune was about to say would never be heard. Inuyasha slammed his eyes shut as the boy's head limped to the side.
Numbly, the hanyou stepped away and hung his head in shame, listening to the thud of a lifeless body hitting the ground. He bit his lip.
'What have I done?' he thought sadly, nearly drowning in his disgust and shame.
His moment of self revulsion was interrupted, however, with the sudden hiss of a smoke screen releasing. Inuyasha watched as green gas flooded the alleyway he'd just hidden in to murder an innocent kitsune.
Inuyasha had the sense to pull on his gas mask, watching for the demon exterminators he knew had arrived. Had Sango recovered so quickly that they knew of his betrayal yet? Or was she still incapable of movement?
As the green smoke cleared Inuyasha saw the feminine figure before him. His whole body filled with dread as he gazed at the demon hunter before him.
'Why did it have to be her?'
Kagome stood silently, staring at him through her goggles. Even though she wore the goggles over her eyes, he knew that her focus was solely on him. Her mouth was parted slightly in petrified shock. She hadn't expected him to be here.
"Sha? Is that you? What are you doing here?" Kamen asked, her voice shaking. She didn't want to believe what she saw.
Inuyasha swallowed, his golden eyes wide in shock.
Kagome herself had been out searching for Inuyasha. After his disappearance and the knowledge that people had become infected with smallpox, Kagome had worried over the notion that perhaps Inuyasha had become infected as well and had been sent to the hospital. The problem was that the hospitals in Tokyo wouldn't let her see the smallpox patients for fear of infecting outsiders, and they refused to offer any information to non-family members.
But as she'd been searching for some sign of Inuyasha's disappearance, she'd seen the strange activity around the city. Then, she'd felt the pressure of a life force extinguishing. Seeing Sha, her partner, who hadn't shown up at work for the past few days and hadn't been answering his communicator, at the scene of the crime was a little more than a shock.
Kagome tried speaking again. She didn't understand why the hanyou was here.
"Fight her," Naraku's voice hissed in his ear. "Fight her or I'll make you pay."
Inuyasha forced the small whimper back down his throat. He would not allow Naraku or Kagome to see his weakness. He steadied himself and straightened his back. He would have to keep Kagome away from him. He would protect her at all costs.
"What are you doing here?" Kagome asked again, finally finding her voice. Her eyes flickered towards the dead body behind Inuyasha, silently bleeding on the ground.
"Just what it looks like," Inuyasha answered once he'd swallowed the bile rising in his throat. He stared at her coldly, trying to stifle any emotions that could leak through in his facial expression. He would not allow Kagome to see his pain. He had to protect her. He had to make her believe.
"You…"
"I work for Naraku," Inuyasha said easily, feigning nonchalance. Kagome stiffened and he could almost imagine her beautiful blue eyes widening. "This fool wouldn't join us."
"You're lying…" Kagome whispered. Inuyasha's silver ears twitched with her breathless question.
He forced out a dry, mirthless laugh. "You wish."
Kagome inhaled sharply and stood uneasily before him. She tensed up and her legs bent. Was she going to attack him? Inuyasha steadied himself. He felt like he might just fall down from all that was happening; he was becoming overwhelmed. Would Kagome attack him just as Sango had?
He licked his dry lips and stared hard at her. He knew she was returning the gaze, even through the thick black glass that shielded the majority of her face.
"Well?" he ventured after a long pause. He continued to glare at her.
Kagome still didn't say anything, she just simply stared. Inuyasha was becoming unnerved by the silence. Why wasn't she saying anything?
"Fight her..." Naraku was speaking to him, Inuyasha realized after a second. He inclined his head, his ear twitching as he tried to digest Naraku's words. He swallowed the large lump lodged in his throat. "Don't let her get away, either."
With Naraku's instructions chanting in his head like a never ending mantra, Inuyasha launched towards Kagome. Kagome, to her credit, didn't realize what he was doing until he was almost there. With the fluid grace that Inuyasha associated with Kagome, the young ninja ducked his oncoming kick and swept her leg out, catching the back of his knee and knocking him to the ground.
She leapt away from him, refusing to land another punch on him. She was going for the more evasive approach, he realized grimly. She didn't want to hurt him… yet. That would soon change thanks to Naraku.
Inuyasha quickly stood to his full height, staring down at Kagome with a look of what he hoped was distaste. He wouldn't allow Kagome to read his eyes. He knew that his eyes would give everything away if he gave her the chance. And he had to protect her. Who knew what Naraku could be planning at this moment?
"Why are you doing this?" Kagome gasped out as he threw a punch, catching her shoulder and making her fall to the ground with the force of his attack. She was quickly on her feet, however, and throwing her hands up and dodging the man's punches. "Sha! Please, don't do this!"
He bit back his grimace of pain at the sound of her pleading. 'God, don't do this Kagome,' he thought bitterly, 'it would be so much easier if you'd just hate me and fight me.'
"Sha…!" Kagome whispered again. "Please."
He didn't listen. He refused to listen. He threw his leg out and caught her stomach with his heel. With a small grunt of pain, Kagome stumbled backwards into the wall. She wasn't fighting back. She wasn't even trying to stop him. She rested her body against the wall, panting.
"Don't do this," she pleaded again. Inuyasha would have given anything for her to just shut her mouth and attack him. Anything would be better than hearing her heart broken voice calling out to him. Did she honor his companionship this much?
He approached her, his shadow covering her in its dark pall. His body blocked out the waning moon behind him, casting the night into temporary darkness. Kagome's eyes widened beneath her goggles as she stared at the approaching hanyou.
"S… Sit…" she whispered out. She hadn't wanted to use the word, but if it was the only way to get Inuyasha to go back to his right mind.
'He can't be doing this voluntarily;' she thought sourly, 'Naraku must have done something to him. I have to snap him out of it. Like I did the day he lost control of his blood.'
Inuyasha heard the word but wasn't plummeted to the ground. He swallowed again. This was the time to show Kagome that he wasn't on her side anymore. He steadied himself, and then forced a hollow laugh out of his lips, startling the girl.
"I don't have that collar anymore," Inuyasha whispered icily, praying that Kagome couldn't see through his ruse. "I am no longer bounded to you."
Kagome's still and stiff posture signaled that she didn't like what she was seeing and hearing. He slunk up towards her, pressing her against the wall. He leaned in close, his breath breezing over her cheek. His lips brushed over her ear.
"And," he whispered, his voice piercing every fiber of Kagome's being. "You can no longer hold me down…"
He heard Kagome's sharp intake of breath. Before he could pull away, he felt a hand touch his chest, almost in a comforting fashion. Then he felt a warm prickling sensation.
His eyes widened in shock as he was sent backwards, sprawling on the ground as he was blasted by Kagome's miko energy. There was a burnt hole in his uniform and he could see the tender skin underneath turning a bright pink and a deep, scarlet red.
He lifted his shocked eyes towards Kagome just in time to see her charging him, her foot projected to slam into his face. With grim satisfaction he saw that she'd unleashed her weapons. The sharp points of her ashiko were dangerously close to redesigning his face before he silkily turned away onto his stomach, jumped up, and grasped her foot.
She lurched forward and landed awkwardly on her free foot. He stared at her dangerously calm for a moment before lifting her up and throwing her hard back towards the wall. She slammed against it and released a tiny cry of pain.
"Don't do this…" he heard Kagome say again.
Inuyasha slunk up to her and grasped the material over her chest. Heaving her up by the uniform's material, he left Kagome dangling. She kicked her legs fruitlessly in an attempt to free herself. Her hands lifted to grasp his forearms but he wasn't rewarded with a priestess blast.
"I can do whatever I damn well please," he hissed out, his eyes narrowing. "And you can't do anything to stop me… Kagome."
Kagome suddenly stilled and tried to rear back in shock. His firm hold on her prevented any retreat away from the hanyou. Her mouth fell open.
"You… You…" she breathed out slowly. "You know who I am?"
Inuyasha nodded gravely. "Kagome Higurashi, a powerful miko. You may prove to be quite useful to… Naraku-sama." He struggled to bite out the man's name and even more so to add the honorific at the end. "I know all there is to know about you."
"But…" she gasped out. Her legs kicked out again. "I don't know who you are…"
Inuyasha smirked wickedly. "A grave mistake on your part, I'll assure you."
With that, he launched her forward, causing her to skid and slide across the pavement before slamming into a dumpster a ways down an alley. She struggled to stand, her legs a wobbling mass of jello. She grasped the edge of the dumpster.
She struggled to move forward, inching her way back towards him. Her hand remained on the wall. She moved over to him and he waited for her. She was struggling, limping. She couldn't fight anymore. She closed her eyes bitterly for a moment, collecting her emotions.
Slowly, she lifted a hand towards him, but he flinched away. She paused in her pursuit before ceasing it, returning her hand to her side.
"Kill me then," she whispered.
"You are no use to Naraku-sama dead," Inuyasha said offhandedly.
She lifted her head up towards him and slowly removed her goggles. Inuyasha had almost forgotten how beautiful Kagome's eyes were. They were windows into all of her emotions. And at that moment, he'd never seen a more heart breaking image.
Kagome's oceanic eyes stared up at him hopelessly, the depths sparkling with forming tears and her emotions. She bit her lip, staring at him with her wide cerulean eyes.
"I know you… Sha…" Kagome murmured, her blue eyes wavering. Her woebegone look was torturing him slowly inside, but he forced himself to remain objective. He would not allow Kagome to see the pain this was causing him, too.
"I know that you wouldn't do this to me…" she finished slowly, then sunk to her knees, staring up at him hopelessly. "I know that you're good. I know that you're not evil."
He stood there. He felt like he'd just entered a dream. Kagome, weak and defenseless, was staring up at him serenely. She didn't move to defend herself as he stood over her.
"Kill her," the voice hissed in his ear.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. Wherever Naraku was, he prayed that he couldn't see Kagome's face.
He took a step away from her and she gazed up at him questioningly. He ignored Naraku's urges of her disposal. He'd promised that Kagome would not get hurt. He would not allow Kagome to be killed. He wouldn't. He would protect her.
He longed to reach for her, to tell her that everything was okay. He wished that he could tell her what was happening, but knew that Naraku would not let her live if he betrayed the dark man.
"Sha…" she murmured, her voice breezing past his ear. It was too much for him to handle. He wanted to hold her, to reassure her that he did not want to hurt her. "I know that you are good."
"You don't know anything. I'm a demon. I want to kill you," he snapped out angrily, trying to break the girl's spirit. He couldn't allow her to sympathize with him. She had to hate him. God, why couldn't she just hate him?
"Then why don't you?"
"I already told you. Naraku-sama wants you alive."
"I don't believe you," she said simply, her blue eyes watering. "Why can't you trust me?"
"I trust no one," he shot back and watched as Kagome flinched, her blue eyes flickering away.
"Kill her," Naraku's voice hissed.
He stared down at her, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Kagome's broken face. She bowed her head, exposing her neck to his scrutiny. At that very moment, had he wanted to, he could kill her with a simple swipe of his claws, just as he had with the kitsune.
She trembled, her knuckles bone white as she clenched her fists. Wisps of her ebony hair swayed in the night breeze. Inuyasha bit his lip. He couldn't hit her… not when she was defenseless like this.
"Kill her!"
"I won't," Inuyasha gritted out. Naraku repeated his instruction. Inuyasha ignored Kagome's curious gaze. "I won't!"
With those words echoing down the empty alleyway, Inuyasha leapt to the sky, running away from Kagome. He felt her eyes burning into his back far longer than necessary. He didn't stop running until there was a safe distance between them.
Kagome watched where Inuyasha's shadow disappeared into the night. She stayed sitting, her body slumped and weakened. Beside her, the dead kitsune remained. Sha had killed the young fox and she'd come to stop the murderer. She hadn't realized that tonight she'd be facing the man she'd come to trust with her life.
'That wasn't Sha. It had to have been a shape shifter. That's got to be it. Sha wouldn't do this to me… to us.' Kagome's mind was convinced. Whatever that had been, it hadn't been her partner.
She had faith in Sha and until she found her real partner, that's all she had.