Well hello again! This chapter will, for the most part, be an explanation as to how Kaguya came back. There will be some major Inuyasha/Kagome fluff, but nothing will actually "happen" between the two. You'll just have to see for yourself.
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"Ah, Inuyasha you remember me. How very flattering on my part." She raised her hands to hover over each other at least six inches apart as a mirror faded into existence, her long purple robes flowing in the breeze (side note: She's dressed like she was before Kagome was kidnapped and everything). The mirror seemed to focus mainly on Inuyasha and Kagome, the only two people that she really considered a threat.
"But…how? We destroyed you ages ago!" Kagome said as she drew an arrow across her bow. Kaguya only smiled.
"If you remember, my dear girl, your arrows pose no threat against my mirror." Kagome's back shot with pain at the memory of jumping in front of the path of her own arrow to save a pinned Inuyasha. Kaguya seemed to be able to hear her thoughts through the mirror, for its surface glowed slightly, then showed an image of Inuyasha pinned to the tree (not Goshinboku) by several roots, then Kagome clinging to his haori as her arrow pierced her back, the Celestial Robe stabbed with the arrow as well. Kagome gulped, walking a little closer to Inuyasha, who was growling at Kaguya.
"And as for your questions, I was dead, my body disintegrated and my aura and soul left dormant in that monk's Kazaana wind tunnel. I had tried and tried again for my soul to be free, but it was that rosary around his wrist that kept me at bay. It wasn't long before I saw my opportunity and forced a fracture of my soul out to control another, who happened to be this eagle.
"I had vowed to regain my entire aura and soul, to become what I once was and perhaps even more. I had traced my path back to you by following my own aura that was inside your Wind Tunnel, monk." Miroku readied his staff, his left hand gripping his rosary especially tightly, lest he should use the Kazaana.
"And now that I am whole once again, I will be taking my revenge." Inuyasha drew out the Tetsusaiga and charged at her.
"Nice try, but we beat you once and we'll do it again!" He was smart enough NOT to do something stupid like use the wind scar, or anything, lest she reflect it. Instead, he tried stabbing her mirror with the Fang's tip. Kaguya's face flashed a dark expression.
"Keep your filthy, vile hands away, you half-breed mutt!" Just as the Tetsusaiga's tip was about to run through the mirror, it glowed, Inuyasha's attack ricocheting off the surface of the glass.
"What!" Kaguya's dark expression only grew even more sinister.
"Stay out of my way, dog." She thrust out her mirror slightly, throwing Inuyasha back. Before the ground ever got a chance to catch him, he was encased in a light blue aura that held him in mid air, just hovering above the ground. 'I…can't…move…' He could faintly hear Kagome cry out his name, for it seemed that the only thing he could hear perfectly was his heart pounding in his ears. Kagome stood beside him, trying desperately to use her priestess powers to purify the aura and free him. He tried opening his mouth, but he couldn't even do that. 'My throat…it's…paralyzed…' Kagome seemed to be getting somewhere with the purification, because he managed to choke out,
"Ka…go…me…just…run."
"Hiraikotsu!" The bone boomerang flew out of Sango's hand, arched and flew to Kaguya, who reflected the attack back at her. Kagome met eyes with Inuyasha's and shook her head.
"Forget it! Remember when Menomaru had me trapped in his spell and you said you weren't running without me? Well, I ain't running without you!" He remembered it well, and the outcome of that was he was shot in the chest with Kagome's arrow. Not a very pleasant experience. He tried fighting the spell, to free himself, but the aura held fast. Kaguya laughed at their attempts to free Inuyasha as she began chanting inaudibly. Inuyasha remembered this as the same chant she was using when she tried getting the Celestial Robe the first time. His memory served him well, for a bright ring of gold embers swirled around Kaguya slowly.
"Ka…gome…get…behind me." She refused, gripping his neck with all her might. Miroku tried distracting Kaguya by making himself a target, but she knocked him out like she did with Sango, only she reflected his staff instead. The ring around her only grew brighter as the mirror pointed at Inuyasha and Kagome. A gold pentagon formed inside the circle of flames as there was a blinding light coming towards the two. Inuyasha pleaded her one last time to get behind him, but her grip on his neck only grew tighter. Inuyasha tried desperately to break free so Kagome wouldn't get hurt, but it was too late. The light hit Kagome's back dead on as the pain coursed through her body. Her eyes began to dim, now half lid as she felt her energy quickly leaving her, the white-hot attack running through her frail body.
"Inuyasha…" She softly whispered in his ear before her grip around his neck loosened. Her eyes closed as the rest of the world faded away from her.
Inuyasha's will to protect Kagome overpowered the spell, causing it to break, so he embraced her, spinning to take the force of the attack, but it had ended. He lifted her head, desperately searching her face for any signs that she was alright.
"Kagome…say something…Kagome…KAGOME!" He held her close to his body, pleading her over and over again to wake up, his eyes shut tightly. He turned to Kaguya with Kagome in his arms bridal style, a deadly look on his face.
"What's wrong with Kagome? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" Kaguya didn't respond, but there was something that seemed to fade into appearance inside her mirror…
Kagome. His Kagome.
Inuyasha's grip on Kagome only seemed to tighten. Growls emerged from deep inside his throat as he bared his fangs at Kaguya.
"Release her soul, you wench!" Kaguya seemed to expect something along the lines of it, for she responded,
"That girl…she carries an unfamiliar essence of time…one of which I have never sensed in one's aura, along with her priestess powers that are held deep within her soul…if I were to devour it, nothing would stand in my way. Eternal night would encase the world, and I would reign supreme." As she spoke, tiny pink glitters swirled out of her mirror and took the transparent form of Kagome, bound in chains linked to the mirror.
"As if I'd let you keep her soul!" Inuyasha shouted, bringing Kagome's body closer to his, his heart crushed at the fact her body held no warmth to it at all anymore. She was truly an empty shell. His eyes burned but he refused to shed tears in the face of an enemy.
"I will gladly give the girl her soul back…if you give up your freedom to me." Inuyasha looked down at Kagome, cradled in his arms, not willing to ever let her become an empty shell. He looked at the possible outcomes: if he said no, Kagome would die. If he said yes, he would be taken and most likely cast into darkness. He couldn't let Kagome die, not when she had so much to live for. He needed her, needed to hold her, be with her. Even if he wasn't physically there, he would find a way back to her, some way or another.
"I'll oblige, but only on one condition." Kaguya listened intently.
"Very well, half-demon. You hold my interest." Inuyasha pulled Kagome's body even closer, if that was at all possible.
"I get to see her…one last time before you take me." Kaguya pondered for a moment, but nodded in agreement.
"We have a deal. I will summon you to my castle in ten minutes." Saying that, the chains on Kagome's soul shattered, her soul becoming tiny pink sparkles as they melted into her body. Kaguya faded to lay in wait at her castle as Kagome began to open her eyes. Inuyasha stood her gently, a small, sad smile on his face.
"Are you alright, Kagome?" He never took his hands away from her hips, supporting her until she could stand on her own. She nodded, but she then saw the sadness and pain in his eyes, she frowned in concern.
"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" He sighed as he pulled her into his arms.
"Kagome…I don't have much time. Please don't reject me…I really need this." She brought her arms up to his chest, gripping his haori without touching the gash still there from the fight.
"Please tell me what's wrong." Inuyasha took a deep breath, loosening his grip on her so that their eyes could meet.
"Kaguya had stolen your soul, so in exchange…I offered her mine." Tears formed in Kagome's eyes, threatening to fall. Inuyasha raised a clawed hand and wiped them away with his index finger's knuckle. He pulled her deeper into his arms, practically crushing her to his chest as he felt her tears bleed through both his haori and his undershirt. He brought one hand behind her head and gently began stroking her soft midnight hair.
"Shh…I know…I know. Believe me…I know." He rested his head on top of hers, closing his eyes. He took in everything about her; her scent, her tears, her warmth, not ever wanting it to go away.
"Why did you do this for me? Is it…because you need me to find the jewel shards?" She sobbed again, only to be calmed when Inuyasha soothed her.
"No Kagome…you mean so much more than that to me…I…" He stopped as a golden pentagon within a circle etched itself in the earth around them. The wind picked up as gold lashes of twisting purified celestial aura began to swirl around them. Inuyasha quickly took off his red haori and wrapped it around Kagome's shoulders.
"Even if I'm not here, that cloth will protect you, so will this…" He grabbed Tetsusaiga, still in its sheath and handed it to her. The swirling aura was closing in on them now.
"Kagome, I-" There was another blinding light as the swirling lights wrapped around Inuyasha, light encasing him slowly. Kagome tried moving, but the light bit at her ankles, keeping her rooted to the spot. She reached out a hand to his extended arm, desperately trying to bring him back.
"INUYASHA!" She could see him mouth her name, but there was a thunderous roar as the light encased him fully and in an instant, it was over.
"Inuyasha…" She whispered as she gripped the haori he had wrapped around her, her other hand gripping the Tetsusaiga. Sango, Miroku and Shippo came to just as Kagome hit her knees.
"INUYAHSA WHERE'D YOU GO!" Kagome cried out as tears flowed down her cheeks. Sango tried soothing her by putting her arm around Kagome's shoulders in a sisterly way, but nothing could console the sobbing miko. Miroku said she should rest while he, Sango, Shippo and Kirara try to come up with a plan. Kagome numbly walked over to a tree and sat at its base. Hugging her knees, she cried herself to sleep, the only comforts she could cling to were her own tears, the Tetsusaiga at her side, and Inuyasha's lingering scent on his haori as a painful reminder.
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Inuyasha fans do NOT attack me, or I will NEVER tell what happens next! Hopefully you guys are liking this so far, and it only gets more angstful and romantic…promise!