Dark as Day
Chapter Nineteen
Inuyasha coughed up blood numbly. His father paused in his onslaught of attacks to gaze down at his son. His bloody, tired son struggled to sit up, pushing his hands to the ground. He watched as the muscles tried valiantly to push their owner upwards. He fell to the ground with a tiny grunt of pain.
His son wouldn't live much longer at this rate. The Ring Leader stared down at the pathetic excuse for a demon. A tiny growl emitted from Inuyasha's raw throat.
They were torn in a struggle—a tug of war. Inuyasha refused to relent to his father and was slowly losing all of his power. But he continued on, never faltering in his attempts towards his goal.
His father leaned over, grasping his son by the neck. He dragged him up slowly, watching as his feet danced across the ground, tickling the floor softly with his toes. He held his son up high, locking golden eyes with golden eyes.
"You're weak," his father spoke tensely, glaring down at the pathetic excuse for a demon. Inuyasha snarled angrily. "Unfit to live."
Inuyasha glared darkly at the man, digging his claws into the arm and trying to rip it away from his body. His eyes burned brightly with his determination and he didn't seem to know what was going on around him. His entire focus rested solely on the man before him.
He snapped venomously at the man when his father lifted his hand, knocking it hard against his face. Inuyasha's head whipped to the side and he coughed again, tasting the disgusting, copper taste of his own blood drizzling down his throat.
"Unfit to live," his father repeated quietly, watching his son's struggles intently. "Is this truly the best you can do?"
Inuyasha swore loudly at his father and kicked out his leg, catching his father's stomach. The elder demon released the tiniest of grunts before glaring darkly at his son. The claws in his arm pierced through his skin, drawing blood.
"Pathetic," his father snarled, lifting up his knee and knocking into the hanyou's stomach. A small gasp of surprise escaped the boy's mouth before he wheezed out for air. His father ran his claws along his son's stomach, opening up another cut on the boy's tattered body.
"Bastard," his son wheezed out, coughing.
He tossed the boy roughly, watching as his body knocked into the wall and slid down, landing on the ground with a dull thud, his legs bent in odd positions. "And now you're going to die here a worthless hanyou."
"I won't die," Inuyasha vowed, panting for air as he grasped the cut opening on his stomach.
"Oh?" His father leaned over again, plucking his son upwards and slamming him against the wall. Inuyasha gasped in pain as he clawed at his father's strong arm, trying to pull free and suck in a lungful of air. "And why not?"
"There are people… I must… protect," Inuyasha wheezed out, his eyes growing wide as his father squeezed harder.
"Who?"
"Like hell I'm going to tell you," Inuyasha snarled. Another slam to the wall sent a small cry echoing throughout the room and a jolt of pain to crawl up the hanyou's spine.
His head lolled and his vision blurred. His body screamed at him in protest, wanting nothing more than to fall into blissful unconsciousness. But he refused. He held on valiantly, grasping that final string of his sanity, trying to stay above the churning waters below.
"Don't talk back to me, whelp," his father snarled. He squeezed, watching as his long claws dug into Inuyasha's neck, piercing the soft skin beneath where his ears should have been.
Inuyasha kicked out his foot, trying to strike his father's solar plexus. His foot just fell short, the tips of his feet grazing over his father's chest.
"And you'll have nothing to live for if they're dead," his father said quietly. "Your mother… she might as well be dead with the state she's in now… and Kagome?" Inuyasha's eyes widened. "Yes, I know of Kagome. Kagome Higurashi, a very powerful miko… I'll make her wish she was dead."
Inuyasha snarled angrily, his face contorted in his rage. "You won't touch a hair on their heads!"
"And who's going to stop me? You?" His father released a small bark-like laugh.
"Yes… me..." Inuyasha dug his sharp claws into the soft flesh of his father's skin, feeling his fang pierce his lip—almost as if they were growing. Blood drizzled over his father's abused arm.
"You can barely defend yourself," his father mocked, golden eyes observing his son. He smirked wickedly. "You can never defeat me."
"I can try," Inuyasha gasped as he felt air leaving his lungs. His body screamed for oxygen but his father refused to relent his harsh grasp on his son's throat.
He clenched his eyes shut, gently crying out. 'I have to protect them. If he were to touch them… I'd never forgive myself. I will protect them. I will!'
He felt a change stirring within him. A delicious chill rippled up his spine, seizing him gently and wrapping around him like a warm blanket. Something within him had awakened and he knew exactly what it was.
He growled darkly, feeling his aura pulse and flow around him like a powerful current. He would embrace this feeling. He could defeat his father. He would defeat his father. All he needed was more power.
'You won't touch them…'
Inuyasha felt his vision blur red and ripple, almost like he'd submerged himself into water. He snarled angrily, unleashing an inhuman howl from his throat as he bit down on his father's hand and his razor-sharp claws sliced his father's skin.
His father pushed him away, slamming him against the wall. Inuyasha landed in a heap on the floor. Quickly, with a large growl, Inuyasha crawled to his feet, poised like a quadruped. His back arched as he barked angrily at his father, red eyes complete with dark green pupils taking in his surroundings.
His feral face rested on the man who dared to threaten his family. He growled loudly, baring his fangs.
"Your demon blood," his father marveled. He glanced down at Tessaiga. "So I was correct about your body unable to handle your blood. That is why I made the sword for you, after all."
Inuyasha didn't reply, he crept towards his father, his claws scraping against the ground and his ears flattened against his head.
"You've lost all control," his father stated calmly. "Simply because I threatened your mother and your… mate? Is she your mate, Inuyasha?"
The dog demon snarled angrily, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at the man.
The elder demon laughed again. "But why would a human miko dare to mate with a disgusting half-breed, hm?"
Inuyasha stood on his feet; his body scrunched into a battle pose. His talons clenched as he sneered angrily at the other dog demon before him.
His father's eyes glowed in the darkness, like twin lanterns in a dark cave.
"Why would a beautiful miko dare to even befriend a disgusting half-breed? Pity, perhaps?" His son growled again. "Could it be that you've fallen in love with the little wench, boy?"
"Don't talk about Kagome," Inuyasha snapped out angrily. His voice, two octaves lower than usual and far huskier, took his father by surprise. He hadn't been aware of his son's ability to speak in such a state of mind.
"And why shouldn't I?" his father questioned.
"She's mine," Inuyasha's hazed mind demanded and he voiced such an opinion. The dog howled quietly after his declaration, sounding like a lone wolf. He jumped towards his father and speared him with his claws, watching as the sharp talons slid from his temple down to his chest.
The long scrapes down his father's body puckered and spilled blood.
"You've lost control," his father said gently, dodging another attack. "This is why I gave you Tessaiga in the first place, should you ever lose control of your blood."
"Shut the hell up!" his son snarled angrily in his husked voice.
His father sent a high kick to his son's head, sending him to the ground. He groaned, ending the small breath in a gravelly snarl. His father dug his heel into the back of his son's head, catching an ear with his toe.
His son cursed him.
Red eyes observed the older demon darkly, silently plotting the best way to rip the man to shreds. His sharp talons left shallow marks on the ground. The sharp nails turned towards him, whipping out to catch the man.
Inuyasha's father quickly jumped away, landing in a crouch. Inuyasha growled darkly and did a backwards roll and squatting much like his father. They glared at one another, one with red eyes and the other with large golden orbs.
"Well, I see there's only one way to solve this," his father sighed. Inuyasha barked threateningly.
They launched towards one another and the sane demon punched his youngest son in the solar plexus. He was rewarded with the tiniest gasps of breath and a small squeak of pain. They landed and Inuyasha collapsed to the ground, wheezing and curling into the fetal position.
"I believe I gave this to you," his father said slowly, his amber eyes indescribable. He pulled Tessaiga from his side and tossed the sword towards his son. "It has chosen you as its owner. Naraku confiscated it—with much difficulty I might add—but it seems that my sword no longer wishes to be at my side."
Slowly, a clawed hand grasped the faded hilt of the mighty sword. It pulsed in his hands and Inuyasha released a tiny sigh and cough. Blood dripped from his partially opened mouth. He was losing too much blood. His entire body felt weak and the room was wavering and blurred.
"You made it to protect humans." His son lifted his head, revealing golden eyes once again. Tessaiga pulsed beside him, sealing his father's uncontrollable blood away.
"To protect your mother," his father corrected.
Inuyasha grasped his beloved sword and felt the warmth rush through his hand as he slipped the scabbard through his sash. He brandished his sword towards his father, watching as the rusty sword transformed into the mighty fang plucked from his own father's mouth.
His entire body shook with the weight of the sword and the weight of knowing that he was fighting his father. It didn't matter that the man was warped and corrupted with his own power and years of separation from humans, the fact still remained. He was trying to kill his father.
Simultaneously, as if beckoned by the strings of a puppet master, Inuyasha and his father launched at one another. Inuyasha swung his sword with all his might but his father quickly rolled aside, dodging his son's attack.
"You're too slow, boy," his father said seriously. "Tessaiga was not made to be treated like a mere katana."
"Allow me to show you what I can do with the sword, then!" the hanyou snarled as he lurched towards his father again, sword poised to sweep over his father's body.
His father nimbly jumped aside, planting his hands on the ground and sending a high kick to his son's head. Inuyasha staggered backwards, nearly falling with the weight of his father's sword. Tessaiga pulsed in his hands.
"You're too slow," his father mocked, standing tall before his son.
Inuyasha snarled and leapt up, swinging his sword above his head. The blade impaled the ground, but didn't even strike a hair on his father's body. The smirk his father was sending him—one that looked uncannily like his—irritated him like nothing else in the world.
"How do you expect to beat me, or anyone, if you can't even use your weapon correctly?" his father laughed mirthlessly.
"Shut up!" Inuyasha snapped.
"Can't you smell it?"
"Smell what?" Inuyasha snarled angrily.
"The wind."
Inuyasha didn't know what the man was yapping about nor did he truly care. He ran around his father, searching for an opening.
"We're in a damned building," Inuyasha snarled. "There's no wind in here. There's nothing! Stop trying to distract me."
His father laughed again. "You're a pathetic weakling."
He leapt towards his son just as Inuyasha launched forward to attack, too.
His father's sharp claws dug along Inuyasha's skin, peeling the protective layer of his uniform away from his chest, revealing five red lines falling down his toned abdomen. Inuyasha couldn't take much more of the attacks his father was unleashing. He would die of blood loss before he even made his father nervous.
"I'll defeat you," Inuyasha vowed, clenching his sword tightly. "I won't let you win. Even if I must die, too, I won't let you do this to me or anyone else."
"I'll give you one last chance to join me, boy," his father said gently, trying to soothe his son's ruffled feathers. His chapped lips quirked into the tiniest smiles as he reached out his hand towards his temperamental, grown-up son. "Don't you want to know me? We haven't seen each other in almost ten years. Don't you want to know the father you never got a chance to know?"
Inuyasha paused, feeling his feet plant firmly to the ground. "I…"
"I know that you want to know me, Inuyasha. I can see it in your eyes. It's killing you to have to fight me, isn't it? So why not just push your sword aside and join me." His father lifted his eyebrows, looking firmly at his son. "You could have it so much better, you know."
Inuyasha was torn. He tethered between nodding his head and impaling his father with his sword. Perhaps… perhaps it would be better if he did join his father? If he did, he could prevent him from killing Kagome and his mother. Quite the Catch Twenty-Two.
'And let him kill the rest of the humans? Would Kagome want you to sacrifice Tokyo simply for her life?' Inuyasha knew the answer without even asking it. The answer was no. Kagome would never forgive him.
He glared at his father. "No."
His father seemed unfazed. "But we're family."
"You are not my father," Inuyasha snarled. "The father I knew would never allow this to happen."
He gripped his sword, feeling it groan beneath him at the intense grasp of its hilt. He would never back down. He would never give in. He would win.
"You obviously don't know your own father," he whispered.
Inuyasha was silent for a long moment, his face dissolving into a tortured look. He gazed at his father, wishing that he could preserve the sanctity of his father's image. He tried to recall the man he'd envisioned when Sango told him that his father had died fighting with the taijiya. He tried to recall the face of the man who was with him as a young child, looking after him and loving him.
That face was so distant now. He couldn't recall that face. He couldn't recall the man he had proudly called his father.
He was fighting a stranger.
"So be it," his father said quietly, his eyes glowing like fire. His father growled darkly, his eyes flashing red for a moment. For a horrifying moment Inuyasha believed he'd truly angered his father.
He felt a blast of his father's fighting aura just in time to see the man launch towards him. Inuyasha recoiled in surprise, swallowing thickly.
"No!" he screamed out and pushed his sword in front of him, pulling it upwards at an angle.
His father released the tiniest gasp of pain as the blade of the sword sliced through his chest, cutting through his flesh and sticking out of his back. His golden eyes widened in shock as he stared down at the large fang protruding from his body.
Inuyasha's sword pierced his heart, causing his entire body to scream in agony. Blood spilled from the hole in his chest. The color drained from his cheeks.
Inuyasha stood in a stunned silence, staring down at where his sword pierced his father.
"You…" his father said numbly, his hands lifting to grasp the blade of the sword. "You…"
Inuyasha quickly pulled his sword out, pulling it away from his father's body. The man collapsed to his knees, staring limply up at his son. Golden eyes wavered as his gaze shifted from his blood-drenched sword to the shocked expression on his youngest son's face.
"Dad… I…" Inuyasha wasn't sure of the emotions flying through him. He should hate the man before him, right? He'd… he'd done something unforgivable.
He knelt before the man. "Dad…" he repeated. "I didn't..."
"Do you smell it?" his father said weakly, gazing up at his son with blurred eyes. Blood drizzled from the hole cutting through his chest. He felt the air leave his lungs slowly. One of his lungs overflowed with blood and he swallowed thickly, trying to keep conscious long enough to speak to his youngest son.
"Smell what?" Inuyasha's brows knitted together. It was hard to smell anything over the stench of his father's blood.
"The smell of the air currents around us. Can you smell the wind?" his father asked quietly, his voice growing faint.
Inuyasha scented the air again. There was no wind in the dark room. The air was stale with the stench of his father's dying body. Blood pooled around him as his father vainly tried to cease the flow of blood from his abdomen.
"To be killed by a hanyou," his father sighed. "I never would have guessed."
Inuyasha's grip on his sword tightened. Shouldn't he be happy that his father was dying? He'd killed the Ring Leader. But he'd killed his father. He'd killed a man he'd never truly known and never truly would again.
"Search for the wind, boy," his father warned at his feet, blood pooling around him. "Find the scar that mars its perfect breeze and cut it. Then… then you'll… unleash one of Tessaiga's attacks."
"There is no wind, Dad," Inuyasha explained gently to the dying man.
"Our auras… they sweep the wind… search for it," his father sighed, his eyes falling shut. For a moment Inuyasha believed his father had just died before they opened once again. "Go…"
Inuyasha searched the air, as if expecting to see this 'wind scar' his father kept talking about. His golden eyes found nothing but the darkness of the room. He tried smelling it out but could only find the disgusting stench of blood in the saturated, stale air.
"I can't…"
His father collapsed further, lying supine on the ground. His back pressed against the floor, he stared silently above him, watching something invisible with his eyes. His father had located the wind scar.
"Don't be weak," his father warned wearily. He stared up at the ceiling with dulled eyes.
Inuyasha grasped his sword tightly; trying to find the place he could unleash the brilliant attack. He swung it randomly, trying to find the place where he could cut the air. Nothing happened, just the gentle whoosh of a sword flying through air.
"Inuyasha…" his father murmured. The ambush of death seemed to pull forth a new aspect of his father's character. Inuyasha inched towards the man and knelt. "There's a difference in the air. You can smell it if you try."
Inuyasha sniffed the air, finally detecting the slightest difference in the air around him. He almost missed it, for it was masked by his father's disgusting scent of blood and death. Death lingered in the air, awaiting its chance to grasp his father and carry him away in its cold grasp.
His body tensed as he grasped his sword. He could smell it. The difference in the air that surrounded them like a warm, welcoming blanket. He'd located the wind scar. He'd found it.
He gazed down at his father, who stared dully up at the ceiling, never registering anything as his life drizzled away along with his coppered blood.
"Father," Inuyasha said slowly. "Forgive me."
His father slowly moved his head towards his son, and a shadow of a smile filtered across his face. "Inuyasha…"
The said boy paused in his attack. This final attack would kill his father.
His father closed his eyes. "Take care."
He swung his sword towards the 'scar' in the wind, feeling the power surge through him and release in an onslaught of three lightening strips.
Inuyasha watched in fascination as the three strands of light swallowed up his father, and showered the room in a surreal light. When it cleared, his father rested on the ground, his eyes closed and blood flowing from him.
"Dad…" Inuyasha whispered and dropped his sword. It clunked to the floor before shifting back into a rusted sword.
He knelt before his father and cradled the man's head, watching as the color drained from his cheeks and the warmth left from underneath his hands. Inuyasha bit his lip, not understanding why he was expressing grief for a man who'd never deserved to live in the first place.
But he was his father. His father.
Why had his father willingly showed him the way to destroy him? Inuyasha didn't understand.
"I'm sorry…" Inuyasha spoke to the empty room and the unmoving body. He bowed his head. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you."
His father's body didn't move. It never would again.
'Perhaps…' Inuyasha finally decided, gazing down at his dead, cold father. 'He wanted to be killed by me. Perhaps this is what he wanted. Maybe he didn't want to continue on like this.'
Inuyasha reached out into the darkness, plucking that image of his caring and loving father away from the deadly shadow of the man before him. He would not let the image of his father—his true father—die here alone in this room. He would carry the image of his father forever. He would never forget.
Somehow, that idea comforted him.
"Sir, the BWATE canon, it's—" Naraku entered the room quickly and was shocked to see his Ring Leader lying on the ground and a very weary, bloody Inuyasha kneeling over him. He stared in shocked silence for a moment before he chuckled darkly. "So, you killed him?"
Inuyasha stood on wobbly knees, grasping Tessaiga. "I'll kill you…"
"I'd like to see you try." Naraku laughed. "With your father out of the way, I'm the true Ring Leader now! And to think, our all-mighty leader was done over by a stupid little hanyou. How pathetic. How truly pathetic."
"Shut up! Don't talk about him!" Inuyasha snarled angrily, wondering why it was that he was growing so protective of the father who'd tried to kill him and everyone he loved. "I'll kill you!"
"I'd like to see you try," Naraku repeated. "You can barely stand."
Inuyasha wobbled slightly and hated himself for doing so. Blood dripped down to the ground, mingling with his father's.
"It doesn't matter." Naraku looked around. "So, what did you do with the BWATE canon, whelp?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't play coy with me, bastard. The BWATE canon's missing and the psychic along with it. Where are they?"
"I don't have them."
Naraku's eyes narrowed. "You have them. I know you do. The only other person who could possibly have it is…"
Naraku suddenly trailed off, his eyes growing wide. Then, a dark smirk pierced his face. Laughing manically he turned his attention back to Inuyasha. "Oh, I see now."
"What?" Inuyasha asked, alarmed.
"You somehow contacted Kamen didn't you? She's the one with the BWATE canon. Oh, this is perfect. She's going to pay." Naraku turned to leave.
"What are you going to do to her?" Inuyasha demanded, brandishing his sword. He took a step towards Naraku, but the man seemed unfazed by Inuyasha's presence and unspoken threats.
"Kill her," he said plainly. Inuyasha stilled.
Naraku whipped something out of his pocket and threw it at Inuyasha. The hanyou was unable to dodge in time and watched as green dart pierced his skin. The new Ring Leader laughed harshly.
"A slow reacting poison," he explained when he saw Inuyasha's petrified look. "It kills you from the inside out. Very… very slowly. Enjoy death, hanyou, because it will bring you such peace when it finally arrives."
With a puff of smoke, Naraku disappeared. Inuyasha burst into action, flying from the room. He stumbled with the affect of lack of blood and poison. But he wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop.
He stumbled again and fell on his hip. He cursed inwardly as the knot that held his sash against his body dug into his skin. Why was it so hard, anyway?
He clenched the knot and his eyes widened. He quickly unwrapped it and a small ball spilled out, rolling along the ground. Barely the size of a golf ball it looked completely harmless.
Inuyasha remembered the day that Sango gave him the golf ball-like device. His jaw set in determination. He knew what he had to do.
He ran blindly down the hallway, searching for a clue to Kagome's whereabouts or Naraku's. He had to save her. He just had to.
"It's ready," Kikyou told Kagome, after plucking a wire within the inner core of the BWATE canon.
"How do you know how to do this?" Kagome questioned, leaning over her sister's shoulder and watching her work. "You were a model!"
Kikyou laughed. "Grandma explained the inner dynamics to me one day."
"Grandma?" Kagome asked, alarmed.
"Don't you remember? Dr. Yomohama was kidnapped a couple of months ago… Naraku was using her to create a cure for the smallpox virus he sent out. There's a cure already for smallpox, but not for the Meth he has implanted inside it."
Kikyou had spent the last hour reconfiguring the BWATE canon and explaining to Kagome the situation. Rin slept behind them, albeit uneasily, and her foot twitched occasionally with her dreams.
"Are you sure it will work?" Kagome questioned as Kikyou handed her half of the metal cap Naraku had forced on Rin.
"Just hold that cap and focus all of your purification energy into it," Kikyou said gently. Rin roused from her sleep, blinking her bright brown eyes as she observed her sisters.
"What's going on?" she murmured. She couldn't recognize Kagome or Kikyou through their gasmasks and their goggles. She tensed up and glanced around the two. "Who are…?"
"Rin-Chan," Kagome said gently, ushering the small girl closer. "We're here to help. Just stay close to us, okay? We'll keep you away from the bad man."
"Okay," Rin murmured, finding she trusted the kind, gentle voice of the woman in the black, skin-tight suit.
"Ready?" Kikyou questioned and Kagome nodded her head.
Kikyou flipped the switch and Kagome heard a low humming. She felt a warm flow through her, starting from her hands. She saw Kikyou narrow her eyes and her hands glow pink. Kagome quickly followed suit, her own hands glowing a bright whitish-pink as well. Together, they flowed their purification power into the metal.
Slowly, the BWATE canon seemed to respond to the pure stimulation. Its tip glowed a bright white before shooting outwards, encasing the city in a large dome. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief and pushed as much power as possible into the machine.
"It's working," Kikyou marveled. "We should be able to cure them."
"How do you know?" Kagome asked for the umpteenth time that day.
"Kaede said that miko are immune to the smallpox virus Naraku created. By flowing our priestess powers into the humans, and demons, we can destroy the virus."
"Won't we kill the demons, too?" Kagome murmured.
"Yes, temporarily, the demons will lose their powers and look completely human."
"Do you know what…" Kagome paused. "What will happen to a hanyou?"
Kikyou paused in thought, her hands glowing a bright white now, a perfect match to her sister's. She pursed her lips in thought as she registered what her sister was asking her.
"A hanyou will become human," Kikyou finally said.
"Okay," Kagome murmured quietly and pushed hard against the metal cap, feeling her hands burn with her power. "As long as a hanyou is safe…"
Kikyou gazed at her sister. "Inuyasha will be fine."
The taijiya's face burned a bright red, only visible in some areas of her uncovered face. She sputtered out a quick denial of her worry for Inuyasha before falling silent. Kikyou sighed wistfully and continued her work.
"Is… Inuyasha okay?" Kagome questioned gently.
"I'm not sure," Kikyou sighed. "I haven't seen him since he broke into grandma's cell and took her antidote."
Kagome frowned thoughtfully. Kikyou was unaware of what an impact her words had on Kagome. She still grasped the idea that Inuyasha was innocent. She didn't want to believe that he would do what he'd done willingly. She knew that he wouldn't. She had faith in Inuyasha. But, still, Kikyou's words did little to comfort her. Stealing an antidote to a disease hardly seemed righteous and good.
From their position on top of an empty warehouse near the docks in the harbor, Kagome and Kikyou could overlook the entire city in one direction. Together, they worked hard to cast their purifying aura throughout the entire city, covering it from head to toe.
They didn't want anyone else to suffer from Naraku's sinister plot.
They worked diligently, watching in satisfaction as their white dome encircled the entire city, covering it in a comforting blanket of miko energy. Kagome watched it silently, the bright white light trickling down through the air like water droplets on a windowsill.
"Not too much longer now," Kikyou said gently once the city was successfully encased. "If we keep this up for another hour or so the entire city will be rid of the illness."
"I'm glad," Kagome said gently.
"Kagome…" Kikyou said quietly. "After this is all over… I mean… after the city's safe… I was hoping that. I know that… I mean… it's just that it's been so long."
"Do you want to come home, Kikyou?" Kagome asked gently, her blue eyes shining with tiny tears. She nodded her head quickly. "You can come home."
Kikyou's brown eyes softened and she smiled gently. "Thank you."
Her sister suddenly released the tiniest of gasps of pain and released her hold on the cap. It clunked to the roof of the warehouse and she flopped down, writhing in pain.
"Kikyou!" Kagome shouted in alarm when she saw the dagger protruding from her back.
Rin screamed loudly and scrambled away from the man who melted away from the shadows. Naraku stood, his lips drawn back in a sneer.
"I was hoping it was you I'd hit, Kamen," Naraku said wickedly. His once red eyes burned a deep onyx color and he looked less powerful. He was human. The purification Kagome and Kikyou were supplying to the city had caused Naraku's transformation into his human form. Kagome realized in that moment that Naraku was a hanyou.
She whipped her head around towards Rin, who stood cowering.
"Rin, run!" Kagome demanded and the girl complied, rushing to the emergency exit on top of the warehouse. Kagome turned her attention back to Naraku and glared angrily.
"She's not dead if that's what you're thinking," Naraku said quietly, kicking at Kikyou's collapsed body. True to his word, Kikyou's chest moved up and down with her shallow breaths. "No, I'm keeping her alive. I'll make her pay for her disobeying my orders."
"How dare you!" Kagome cried out, standing up. She still grasped the cap in her hand. She couldn't allow the purification to die. The dome around them was already growing weaker without Kikyou's power.
"How dare you steal my psychic and my canon, wench," Naraku snarled. He drew a sword at his side and pointed it towards the taijiya-ninja. "You've been a thorn in my side from the very beginning. But tonight… tonight I will kill you."
Kagome laughed. "I'd like to see you try. You're a human now, just like me." She laughed again, bitterly. "You're a hanyou."
Naraku dove forward in the middle of one of her laughs, causing Kagome to gasp in surprise. She barely dodged the point of the sword. She swallowed thickly and tried to dodge away from the man's harsh attacks.
She rolled aside and kicked out her leg, catching the back of Naraku's knees and knocking the hanyou-turned-human to the ground. He collapsed and Kagome jumped on top of him, drawing her dagger and poising it at his throat.
"I'll slit your throat if you move," she threatened harshly.
Naraku smirked, seemingly unfazed by Kagome's warning.
His sword went flying out and slashed across the side of Kagome's face, catching the strap that held her goggles in place. With that distraction, Kagome released her dagger and groped her face, forcing the broken goggles to her face.
Naraku laughed. "There you go," he whispered and kicked her off with a high kick to the back of her neck. She lunged forward and collapsed onto the roof. "Much better."
He grabbed her hands and forced them behind her back, pulling her muscles into an uncomfortable position. She hissed in pain and attempted to twist herself away from his grasp. Her protective goggles fell to the roof with a clunk.
He pushed her to the ground and grasped her pony-tail. Forcing her face to turn, he stared at her face. If not for Naraku's composure, his jaw would have dropped at the sight of her face.
He slowly pulled her to her feet, his onyx eyes blazing furiously.
Suddenly, he laughed hysterically. "Kagome Higurashi!"
Kagome cowered away from the maniacal way Naraku was looking at her. He launched forward and grasped her neck. He pushed her down to the ground again, harshly forcing her body to comply to his power. She slammed her head against the flat roof of the warehouse. Her head came dangerously close to cracking against the BWATE canon.
"Kagome Higurashi," Naraku repeated, laughter still in his voice. "It was you all along? I should have known. I should have known…"
He laughed. Kagome felt increasingly uneasy with every cackle that escaped Naraku's human lips. He squeezed her neck painfully and she choked.
"So why did precious little Kagome become a taijiya, hm? To avenge her daddy? Wanted to repent for knowing that it was you that the demon possessed in order to kill your precious little daddy?" Kagome bit back tears, not wishing for the dark hanyou to see her pain. She saw truth in Naraku's words and couldn't force herself to shoot back a retort.
"Such a shame your family's dead. You're the only one left to carry on the name. You and your sister. Unfortunately, Rin won't be around much longer." He squeezed her neck. "And neither will you, for that matter."
"Let… go…" Kagome wheezed.
"You've thwarted my plans countless times, Kagome. I won't let you go… I'll kill you right here. You can see your father in hell."
"No!" a third voice shouted out. Naraku's presence was suddenly off of Kagome as a foot slammed into Naraku's cheek. Kagome lifted herself up instantly, blue eyes widening as she saw a very human Inuyasha land painfully on top of Naraku. Blood followed their path and Kagome realized that it belonged to Inuyasha.
The said hanyou-turned-human panted painfully as he punched Naraku repeatedly. The poison in his veins caused a painful jolt to shoot through him every time he moved. But he wouldn't let Naraku hurt Kagome. He'd located them when he'd heard Rin's scream.
Blood pounded in his ears as he threw Naraku down on the ground and continued punching him. Naraku coughed.
"Kagome," he snapped out as he whipped his head around towards the said girl. Kagome jumped, not expecting Inuyasha to address her. His lavender eyes softened. "I'll protect you. Get Rin. You two can recreate the barrier."
"But—"
"Go!" Inuyasha ordered and punched Naraku.
Naraku seemed to have had enough because he grasped Inuyasha's wrist and bent it backwards until he heard a painful snap. Inuyasha gasped in pain as his broken wrist flopped when he dropped his arm.
"So, you managed to make it this far without death, Inuyasha?" Naraku laughed harshly, dodging two punches and a kick. "Unfortunately you'll have to die. And after trying so hard to protect Kagome, too."
"Stop talking," Inuyasha bit out, his violet eyes narrowed in determination and burning with his passion. Their fists collided with one another, sending a resounding crack through the air as their heads whipped to the side.
"Ready to die?" Naraku sneered.
"Are you?" Inuyasha countered, dropping down and sending a high punch into Naraku's solar plexus. Naraku felt the air rush from his lungs and stumble backwards. As he backed away, his heel caught the side of the building's roof. Naraku's eyes widened.
The said man tumbled off the roof and fell into the water. Inuyasha stared down after him before turning back towards Kagome. "Take care."
"No! Wait!" Kagome called out, running towards him. She reached him and touched his cheek. He didn't push her away like she'd expected him to. "I knew you were good."
His eyes softened and he smiled. "Get Rin."
With that, he ran towards the edge of the roof and jumped off, aiming to where Naraku thrashed below. He landed on top of the man and struggled to keep him underwater.
When they resurfaced, a powerful white barrier encased Tokyo again. Outside of the city's barriers, treading the cold water of the harbor, Naraku seethed.
"What do you plan to do now?" Naraku snarled out and forced a sinister smirk on his lips as he stared at the black-haired man next to him. "We'll drown. We can't get into the barrier."
"I'm not planning on drowning," Inuyasha snarled as he pulled the golf ball shaped device from his sash. Naraku stared at it incredulously. "I plan on dying… and I'm taking you with me!"
Naraku's eyes widened and he tried to get away, swinging his arms in an attempt to swim away from the taijiya. Inuyasha overpowered him, wrapping his arm around Naraku's neck. Spending his entire life as a hanyou, Naraku's muscles and powers revolved around his hanyou blood. As a human, he was as week as a young schoolboy. Inuyasha, however, was human for over twenty years of his life. The black-belt could overpower a weak human any time of the day.
He pulled Naraku underneath the water and stared up through the inky darkness to the white light beyond the surface. It seemed so surreal to see that light beyond the surface and know that it was Kagome up there, placing all her trust in him. He clenched his eyes shut.
He would do anything for her. He would do anything for his mother. And now, he would do anything to keep his home safe from Naraku and anyone like him.
He grasped the bomb in one hand and his other arm was still wrapped around Naraku's neck, choking him. He would do anything to protect the ones he cared about.
His eyes captured the unearthly white light beyond and a smile almost crossed his lips. He longed to reach out to that light. But he had something he needed to do.
'I'm sorry, Kagome,' he thought silently.
He clicked the button on the bomb Sango had given him when he'd first joined the taijiya. Under no circumstances, Sango had told him, was he to use it. But curiosity killed the cat. Or the dog, in this case. He had to save the city. He had to save Kagome.
And he was taking Naraku along for the ride.
Kagome and Rin sat on top of the warehouse, pushing energy into the BWATE canon and encasing the world in the purification power.
The warm, white light surrounded the Tokyo area. As she worked, Kagome heard a blast behind her and turned around, watching as a large tidal wave rushed towards them.
Rin screamed again and recoiled, but did not remove her hands. Kagome watched in horror as the water splashed against the barrier but didn't breach it.
"Inuyasha!" she screamed out. He'd been the cause of the explosion, she knew it.
As the water spilled back into the harbor, and Tokyo was protected by Kagome and Rin's energy, Kagome searched the area for Inuyasha's body.
She didn't see it.
Inuyasha was gone.