Inu-Yasha
A Feudal Fairy Tale

Disclaimer: This episode of Inu-Yasha is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Inu-Yasha. "Inu-Yasha" and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1998-2003 Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc. Inu-Yasha is a trademark of Viz Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Change of Heart
Scroll Nine:
A Betrayal

Naraku gazes at Inu-Yasha and Sesshô-maru with great interest in his evil red eyes. "Now this is a surprising turn of events," he chuckles. "I had never expected to see the two of you fighting side by side. If I'm not mistaken, I believe there is a lot of animosity flowing in between both of you."

"There still is," Sesshô-maru calmly replies, "but we have decided to put aside our dislike for one another for the time being to fulfill a common goal."

The evil hanyou smirks at the lord of the western lands. "Really now? And what may that be?"

"We both really don't like your ugly ass," Inu-Yasha answers, watching all the youkai in front of him and his brother carefully, "and we want you dead, hopefully in the most painful way, and the Shikon Jewel out of your hands."

"And how do you expect to do that?"

Sesshô-maru suddenly rushes forward, flying through a dozen or so unsuspecting harpies and Saimyôshô in front of him. A second after he stops moving, all the youkai he passed fall to the ground, dead before they even knew what hit them. "Like that," the inu youkai says, pointing his now blood soaked Tokijin up at Naraku, his calm, cool demeanor still holding strong.

Naraku narrows his eyes, his smirk now gone. "So be it, but it is your funeral. I will allow none who stand against me to live. Had you been intelligent enough to stay out of this, I would have spared you, but now you leave me no choice." He nods and the torrent of harpies and Saimyôshô swarm down to attack.

As they approach them, Inu-Yasha holds up his Tetsusaiga, preparing for its ultimate attack, the Kaze no Kizu. As whisps of wind begin to swirl around his sword he raises it above his head and slices down, releasing the 'Wind Scar'. It is about to strike the harpies when several blades of wind intercept and stop the Kaze no Kizu from reaching its target. "W-What!" the inu hanyou shouts, looking around. "What the hell happened?" He looks up at Naraku as a smaller figure walks out from behind him. She waves a fan in front of her and smiles evilly at him. "Kagura!" he growls. "Well if I can't use my 'Wind Scar', I'll just go through every stinkin' harpy one-by-one!" And with that, he charges in, slicing down every creature in his way.

Down at the base of the mountain, everyone else watches with a mixture of surprise and awe. Two women in particular watch a certain inu hanyou with admiration and love in their eyes. 'Oh Inu-Yasha,' Kagome thinks to herself, her hands clasped in front of her, 'I forgot how heroic you can be! How could I have thought that I could stop loving you?'

Not too far from her, Kikyo is readying her bow, skillfully placing an arrow on it and watching everything in front of her intently. 'Good work Inu-Yasha,' she thinks, 'you and your brother need to keep them distracted long enough so I can get in just one good shot at Naraku and end his evil once and for all. Then we can gather his Shikon Jewel shards and find any others that still remain elsewhere and then I can become truly alive once more.' She smiles in thought. 'We can finally live together and be happy.'

Koga runs in front of his ookami brothers, pointing up towards the battle. "What the hell are you lazy bums doing? You want those two mutts to hog all of the fun for themselves? Let's go!" All of the remaining ookami youkai cheer and rush into battle, ready to destroy the harpy menace and station themselves at the true maters of the mountainous region once more.

Sango leaps back onto Kirara and follows the ookami tribes into the harpy horde, throwing her Hiraikotsu out and slicing them apart. She turns her head to the side slightly to see Sesshô-maru rushing by, slicing through harpy and Saimyôshô as if they were nothing, which to him, they are. 'I don't know why he's helping,' the young taijiya thinks to herself, 'or how he and Inu-Yasha are getting along without killing each other, but this battle is looking more to our favor now that they're both here.'

Inu-Yasha takes down another dark harpy, smiling the entire time. "It's been a while since I could let loose like this! These guys aren't even that tough!" The mountain suddenly rumbles again as several hundred more dark harpies emerge from its peak, all screeching and coming down onto the combatants intent on wiping them out. "Damn it! Where are they all coming from?" He looks up and sees Kagura and Naraku smiling down at them. With a growl, he lunges towards them, but a horde of harpies and Saimyôshô fly in front of him, preventing the inu hanyou from moving further. "Out of my way!" he shouts, tearing through them with his Tetsusaiga.

The youkai that are killed are instantly replaced by another wall of harpies. 'Damn, I can't get through!' he thinks with a growl. A flash of white on the corner of his eye slightly diverts his attention. The hanyou turns his head to see his older brother slice through another harpy, looking almost bored. "Hey Sesshô-maru!" he shouts, getting the inu youkai's attention. "You're lookin' a little bored, if you want something fun to do, why don't you go and take out Naraku? That is, unless you're not youkai enough to do it." He internally smirks at the scowl Sesshô-maru sends in his direction. Without a single word, he rushes forward. "Man that was easy," Inu-Yasha chuckles while punching a rather large dark harpy in the face, sending it backwards into some of its own.

Up ahead, the inu youkai speeds through every creature around him, intent on getting to the one responsible for this madness. He leaps into the air, soaring above the savage battle. He softly lands several feet from Naraku who, despite looking calm, has an underlying tenseness now to him. Kagura backs off, watching the two warily. Sesshô-maru stands tall and regal, not showing a single emotion on his face. "You are pathetic."

Naraku's eyes narrow in anger. "Pathetic?" he repeats. "How dare you call me, the youkai Na…"

"Hanyou," Sesshô-maru interrupts. "You may hide it as hard as you possibly can from everyone else, but I know the truth. You are nothing more than a pathetic, worthless, weakling hanyou."

Kagura lifts her fan up to her face, covering her smile. 'I always believed that Sesshô-maru was powerful enough to take out Naraku. If he can actually do it, then I will finally be free from his stinking clutches.'

Naraku, despite now being in considerable danger, calmly walks up to the inu youkai, a small smirk on his face. "A hanyou I may be, but I am anything but pathetic, worthless and weak. And besides, I would have thought we could have been allies. I did help you once before when you desired revenge upon Inu-Yasha and to have and use the Tetsusaiga."

"You did," Sesshô-maru agrees. He suddenly unsheathes the Tokijin and points it directly at the villainous hanyou's throat. "But if I remember correctly, you cursed that human arm with a Shikon Jewel shard in it so it would devour me if I kept it on for too long. You would kill me, just for some pathetic little jewel fragment. Let me return the favor." He begins to swing at Naraku's neck, when it suddenly strikes a strong barrier and is unable to move any further. "A barrier," he mutters.

Naraku chuckles evilly, his smirk widening. "Did you really think it was going to be that easy?" he asks, backing away with his hands clasped casually behind his back. "You will find it to be quite a difficult task to kill me. With nearly all the Shikon Jewel shards in my possession, the barrier I can create around myself is completely indestructible. You have no chance to defeat me now." He begins to chuckle lightly. "Now who is the weakling?"

Sesshô-maru moves the Tokijin away from Naraku and sheathes it back to his side. "Your barrier may be strong, but it is not invincible." He holds out his right hand while his claws begin to glow a sickly green. The youkai thrusts his hand forward into the barrier, letting the faintest of smiles emerge as he feels it struggle to maintain itself against his own strong youkai powers. He pulls back after another moment, letting the barrier reform completely. "With that boast about the Shikon Jewel shards, I had expected better."

Despite his barrier nearly being penetrated, Naraku continues to smirk. "Do you truly think that was my strongest barrier? My true barrier is much more powerful than that, but now I bore of you and your own boasts." He holds up one of his hands and deliberately cuts it, letting the venom noxious vapors that flow through his veins to seep out of his barrier and head right for Sesshô-maru.

The inu youkai quickly covers his mouth and nose with his hand, leaping back to escape the deadly poisons. "Do you think that will keep me away for long?" He lands a safe distance away, his gold eyes narrowing dangerously. "You are even more pathetic than I originally presumed. I have never in my whole existence seen a single creature with youkai blood in them act in such a cowardly manner. You deliberately do everything in your power to not raise a single finger to do your own battles. You send anything and everything else in your stead, proving that you truly are not strong at all, but in fact extremely pathetic and weak."

Inu-Yasha tears through the harpies and Saimyôshô with ease, smiling all the way. "Boy, this is pretty easy," he mutters, slicing through enemy after enemy. "I was hoping for more of a challenge." Just as he finishes those words, a small swarm of harpies rush him from behind, their sharp talons slicing across the inu hanyou's back. "Ouch! Damn it, that stung!" He hops back just in time to avoid getting sliced again, this time by two harpies coming in from each side. Inu-Yasha smirks at their new pattern. "Heh, so you guys actually have some brains in those big ugly heads now? Good, I wanted to work up a little sweat!"

Down below, the ookami tribes are taking care of the opposing youkai that are streaming down at them. Koga kicks and punches through each harpy that attacks him. 'Hmm, they're gettin' smarter,' he thinks to himself. 'They definitely are a lot tougher and harder to kill than last time, and way more ferocious.' He looks over his right shoulder at the sounds of one of his ookami brethren screaming out in terror, just in time to see two harpies rip the poor young youkai in two. He winces and turns his head away, not wanting to see the ookami's fate. "Damn you Naraku," he hisses, "you're gonna pay for this!"

Miroku slams his houshi's staff down onto an unsuspecting harpy, knocking it down onto the ground. The young man quickly ducks down, dodging a swarm of Saimyôshô that have been relentlessly attacking him, specifically going for his right arm. Already, he has almost had the rosary beads containing the Kazaana ripped off of him a couple of times. "Ungh, they are getting too close for comfort!" he shouts. Kagome, who is nearby, rushes over to his aid, carrying her large yellow backpack with a trembling Shippô inside with her. The young girl from the future pulls out an arrow and fires it at the swarming insects, destroying the large group with one spiritual arrow. "Many thanks Lady Kagome," the houshi says, nodding to the young woman.

"You're welcome," she responds, stopping at the houshi's side and readying another arrow. "How are you doing?"

Miroku frowns, his eyes watching the battlegrounds ahead. "I am faring well, despite the never ending Saimyôshô that are trying to remove the rosary beads from my hand." Kagoma gasps in response. "I'm assuming Naraku finally wants to end what he started with my grandfather. If my Kazaana gets exposed now, there's no telling who could get caught in its path, friend or foe." He pauses for a moment to swipe at another swarm of hell wasps. "These Saimyôshô are more persistent than ever!"

"I'll stay by your side and keep all those wasps off of your back," the young woman exclaims while readying another arrow on her bow. Some movement to her side catches her attention. She turns to the side, to see Kikyo holding her bow up with an arrow set and prepped to fire. She has a look of pure concentration on her face while she is aiming high up the mountain. Kagome's eyes travel upwards until they rest at the point in which the miko is aiming. 'Naraku,' the young girl's mind hisses. She notices the two other figures that are near him. 'Kagura and Sesshô-maru. Inu-Yasha's brother must be facing them both. Well he is pretty strong, I just hope he's strong enough to face those two all alone.'

Sesshô-maru's words are the breaking point for the nefarious hanyou's usually strong ego. With a wave of his hand, the noxious vapors vanish. Naraku stands tall and proud, beckoning to Sesshô-maru and dropping his barrier in challenge. "Well then, if you think you can do it, then come. Destroy me!"

"As you wish," the lord of the Western lands says, beginning to sprint towards his target. He is several feet from Naraku when a strong gust of wind pushes him from the side. He looks over to see Kagura slowly walking up to him, her fan waving back and forth in front of her. "I should have known," Sesshô-maru outwardly comments, "too weak and cowardly to fight your own fights." He then unsheathes his Tokijin, the faintest traces of a smile on his lips. "I may not be able to use my sword on Naraku because of his barrier, but I am quite sure it will work perfectly well on you."

Kagura stops walking, the smile leaving her face. She quickly snaps her fan shut and shakes her head. "I am sorry to disappoint, but I am not your foe today."

"What?" Naraku calmly, but quite dangerously asks, his red eyes narrowing menacingly. "You dare to defy me? I am your creator, I gave you life, I control you Kagura. You either obey me or you will die." He holds out his left hand as a pulsing heart comes out of his palm, expressing his point. He squeezes it and his reincarnation falls to her knees, clutching her chest and groaning in pain.

"N…never!" she gasps out. "I am through…doing your dirty work…ugh…and being your…puppet. You want him dead…you do it…yourself!"

The hanyou frowns slightly. "Well that is your decision. You were a good servant, when you did what you were told." He squeezes tighter, intending on ending the young youkai's life and then absorbing her dead body back into his when he is finished.

What he doesn't expect is the spiritual arrow that comes soaring at him and strikes his shoulder, blowing his left arm off of his body. In one swift move, Kagura grabs the severed arm and wrenches her heart from it, grimacing in pain as she does so. In a flash of brilliant light, the heart vanishes, going into its true owner. The wind witch looks up, a stunned expression on her face. She places a hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat inside of her for the very first time. "I…I can feel it," she says in a barely audible whisper. "My heart…is finally mine. I am…free." Kagura stands up, smiling evilly at her former master. "You can no longer tell me what to do Naraku!" She turns and faces the fierce battle going on below. Opening up her fan, she shouts, "Ryuuja no Mai!" as several tornadoes emerge and fly down, grabbing all of the harpies and Saimyôshô and trapping them inside the torrential winds and gathering the attention of everyone else involved in the battle. When all are trapped, she yells, "Inu-Yasha! You know what to do!"

The inu hanyou raises an eyebrow, not exactly sure what to do. He looks down at Kikyo, searching for an answer. The miko beckons him on, lowering her bow and shouting, "You can do it Inu-Yasha! Destroy them!"

Inu-Yasha smirks while turning to face the evil youkai trapped in the tornadoes. "You don't need to tell me twi…er…well I'll do it!" he quickly finishes, the faintest traces of a blush on his cheeks. He grips the hilt of his sword and whisps od wind form around it again. The hanyou then raises his Tetsusaiga up high, and in one fell swing its ultimate technique is unleashed, taking out all off the 'Birds of Paradise' and poisonous insects. With a satisfied smile, Inu-Yasha leaps into the air, landing behind Naraku and trapping him in between himself, Kagura, Sesshô-maru and the mountain. "Give up Naraku," he growls, tightening his grip on his sword. "You lost and you're surrounded."

The evil hanyou gazes around him, at all of the enemies he has made, including one of his most powerful reincarnations. He bows slightly with an evil smile. "I concede defeat for now, but you have in no way completely defeated me, for as long as I hold almost all of the Shikon Jewel, I will continue to return until you are all destroyed." Suddenly, a shouki emerges from his body, forcing the two youkai and hanyou around him to leap back to avoid its poisonous and corrosive vapors. "We will finish this one day," his dark voice says from the shouki, "and I do not handle betrayal well Kagura. You will pay." And with that, the shouki dissipates and Naraku disappears.

Sesshô-maru and Inu-Yasha both walk up to Kagura, eyeing her cautiously while holding their swords up, ready for a possible attack. When she clips her fan shut, they sheath their swords. "What will you do now?" the inu youkai curtly asks, getting straight to the point. "You are freed from Naraku, what do you plan to do?"

"Yeah," the hanyou adds. "Are you like switching sides now or something?"

Kagura turns her head to the side and closes her eyes, a slight smile on her face. "Of course not. Just because I can outwardly hate and fight Naraku does not mean that I'm now all goodie-goodie like you Inu-Yasha. I still despise you and would like nothing more than to behead you right now, but now we share a common enemy in Naraku, and I believe that you, your brother and that dead miko of yours are powerful enough to rid the world of him, so I will spare you for the moment. Until then…" she plucks a white feather out of her hair and, in a whisk of wind, the feather grows in size and Kagura flies away on it, watching everyone below her with a smile.

The inu youkai turns around to leave. "I must get back to Rin and Jaken. They will be worried about my long absence. I presume you and your miko will join us once more?"

"Sure," Inu-Yasha answers. "Kikyo and Rin seem to really like each other. We'll be back in a little bit." With a nod, the older brother leaps off of the mountain and rushes away. The hanyou slides down to the base and is greeted by Kikyo, who wraps her arms around him.

"I am glad that you are unharmed Inu-Yasha," the miko whispers into his ear, tightening her grip around him.

The hanyou returns the warm embrace. "You were worried about me? Heh, I was more worried about you, especially when that stinkin' harpy grabbed you and flew away." His ears twitch at the sounds of people coming closer. He looks up to see his former traveling companions walking up to him.

"Inu-Yasha," Kagome begins, the admiration practically pouring from her voice, "thank you."

Koga suddenly comes rushing up, the surviving members of the ookami tribes not too far behind him, overjoyed, yet surprised at their strange victory over the dark harpies. "I'll admit, you and your brother did good mutt-face, but it was nothing I couldn't have handled."

"Whatever," Inu-Yasha replies, rolling his eyes. "Are you guys alright?" he asks to Kagome and the others. They all nod, including Shippô, who finally has left the safety of Kagome's backpack. "Good, well I'm off." He kneels down and Kikyo climbs onto his back.

They are about to depart when the young girl from the future stops him. "Wait Inu-Yasha!" She rushes up to them. "Can you…I mean…will you join us again? It's…not the same without you." Miroku, Sango and the little kitsune all nod in agreement, but Koga crosses his arms and mumbles out a few choice phrases, just out of hearing range of the hanyou and sensitive young ears of Shippô.

The inu hanyou shakes his head and turns back around. "Sorry, but…I'm not ready to come back." With a slight nod, he leaps off with Kikyo still on his back.

Kagome fights to hold in the tears that are screaming to come out. Her unlikely savior from the tears comes when her ookami mate pats her on her shoulder, shocking her and scaring off her tears. "You okay Kagome?" he asks, his voice filled with concern for the woman he loves. "You're looking and smelling a little upset."

"No…I'm fine," she lies. "I'm just a little sad that Inu-Yasha didn't want to join us again."

"Ah don't worry about that inu-kkoro. We can get on just fine without him, so lets get going and go find some more jewel shards!" He looks over at his ookami brethren. "Good work guys. I'm gonna head off now, but I'll return once in a while to make sure everything's going on well." The youkai tribe all wish the group a safe farewell as they head back off on their seemingly never-ending journey.

Inu-Yasha leaps from treetop to treetop, Kikyo safely holding onto him. "Kikyo…" the hanyou slowly begins, "why didn't you kill Naraku when you had the chance? I mean, I knew it was you who shot him with that arrow, but why did you just shoot off his arm? Why not just destroy him then and there?"

"It was not his time," the miko answers. "As soon as he gathers the rest of the Shikon jewel shards and it is whole once more, that is the time when I will truly destroy him."

The inu hanyou pauses for a moment as he feels the wind rush through his hair. "And what about Kagura?"

Kikyo gazes off into the distance. "Though she is by no means a friend, she has now become a powerful ally in our fight against Naraku. I sensed within her a deep hatred for her creator, and that is why I helped to free her."

Inu-Yasha looks at her for a moment in surprise, but smiles after a second. "I guess you have a point there. I just hope you made the right choice Kikyo."

The miko returns the smile, but thinks to herself, 'So do I.'

To be continued…

Translations (in order of appearance):

Shouki: Miasma, Naraku sends out poisonous vapors either when trying to escape or to trap his enemies so they cannot escape themselves.

Author's notes: Well I finally finished another Inu-Yasha chapter. Sorry for the long delays between chapters, I try to do more, but I keep on getting distracted, what with out looking for a new job or jobs and all. I'm not too sure when I'll get a new chapter in, but I'll try to make it as soon as I possibly can. Thanks for waiting all you remaining fans!

Well Kagura is finally free from Naraku's grasp. What will she do now? Where will she go? Find this out and more later! – lighthawkdemon

Questions or comments? E-mail me at: lighthawkdemon(at)Y!