Chapter 7: Return of the Evil One

As Sango stalked along the path towards the village where she could sit in relative peace and ponder her thoughts and the recent happenings, she found herself thinking,

'Damn that monk. He knows how much I love him, and yet… she suddenly found that tears were pouring from her eyes. 'And yet…my heart refuses to forget him and move on. Why am I cursed to love a womanizer? Why?'

She continued to walk on, her head down, completely absorbed in her own sadness and self-pity. Sango did not notice as the man approached behind her, taking hold of her arms quite sharply and tightly, unceremoniously crushing his warm lips against her own tear-streaked ones.

"Mm-!"

She attempted to cry out, but to no avail. Her shout was muffled by the lips of her assailant, leaving her to be undiscovered by any potential rescuers.

Far above the heads of random villagers and the group below, hovered Kagura, sitting comfortably on her feather, observing the chaos created by the gusts of wind she was unconsciously emitting from her own body. She scowled with boredom and annoyance. Ever since that bastard Naraku had died, her world had gotten more boring by the day. Yes, it was true, at first she had reveled in her freedom, spending all her days doing whatever it was she had wished. This had gotten old, after a while, however, and she had taken to checking up on Kana every now and again, just to make sure she hadn't sucked out the souls of anyone they knew. She had even attempted to find Sesshoumaru, but it had been an impossible task. If he did not wish to be found, he obviously would not be, as Kagura had discovered the hard way.

She surveyed the ground below her now, watching in utter tedium as the villagers below her went about their daily business. She watched as a young girl walked into the village with a boy who looked suspiciously like Inuyasha… the same boy she had watched die in Kagome's sad arms less than two years ago…but that was impossible, because he was dead…right?

Swooping in lower for a closer look, she was startled to see that it was in fact, Inuyasha, the silver dog ears atop his head confirming this and it was Kagome whose shoulder he was leaning on, resting his face in the bright red haori which had once belonged to him. But what puzzled her the most, was the fact that Inuyasha was not wearing his haori or any of the clothes she was accustomed to seeing him in, but clothes that appeared to be of Kagome's era. Most puzzling indeed…

Suddenly, when she was about 40 feet above them, a dark aura hit her hard in the chest, staggering her. This wasn't supposed to be at all; Inuyasha had never had an aura of such power or evil before or in all the time she had known him! The girl beside him couldn't either, for she was supposed to be a miko, among the purest of the pure! So…it could only be Inuyasha…couldn't it?

The more she descended, the more painful it was for her, as the aura continued to increase in power until there was no doubt in her mind that it was Inuyasha emitting that horrible feeling. Unexpectedly, a shockwave seemed to emanate from his body, and it struck her body with such a force that she almost fell to the ground from her feather. Her body began to pulsate with what felt like heartbeats, as a voice whispered to her from deep within her own mind.

"Kagura…Kagura…"

"No…! No…not you!"

"Kagura…"

"No…no, you're dead…I watched you die! From high above, I watched you die!"

"Kagura…I have returned, Kagura…Return to serve me once more…return to your master…"

"No! No, I won't return! I'm free now, free as the winds which I control!"

As the voice of Naraku reverberated within her mind, her eyes widened with pure terror. Wincing slightly as the voice crescendoed within her, she ascended until she was out of sight. Holding her head in pain, she flew over the couple, and with the wind currents swirling and colliding about her and reflecting her emotions, she flew off into the distance, muttering to herself darkly under her breath,

"Damnit… Damnit to hell…I can't believe he's back, that bastard…Damn you, Naraku…"

Miles away, across the varying landscapes of Japan's countryside, across the mountains and plains and lakes and rivers, a strong wind blew through the air, causing the trees and other foliage to begin rustling excitedly, as if in fearful anticipation. Animals of every shape and size scampered, slithered, galloped, and flew in panic and fear, in the general direction of their respective caves, dens, burrows, thickets, and nests before what their senses interpreted as a storm was upon them and trapped them in the supposed sheets of pouring rain.

Down below on the ground, a small, half-starve fox skulked in a group of bushes, hoping that the lone woman traversing steadily along the path in his direction would not spot him. As the fabric on the woman's robes fluttered and danced in the wind, the fox tensed with each step she took closer to him, fearful anticipation building within him as he readied himself to bolt from the scene at a second's notice if needed.

Now feet from him, the woman stopped suddenly in the path. The fox stood still as a statue, and believing he had been discovered, dashed away, hoping to get farther than the next cluster of bushes. Unfortunately, this was not to be so. The woman nocked an arrow to her bowstring, took aim, and fired all in the same amount of time it would normally take for the fox to flick his bushy tail.

The arrow pierced the fox just below his ribcage, sending him flying backwards with the sheer momentum of the lethal projectile, which had been fired with deadly accuracy, and adhered him securely to a large maple just behind him. The fox's last sight before his breath froze cold in his chest was that of a woman with long, shiny black hair tied back loosely at the nape of her neck and red and white priestess's robes approaching to inspect her handiwork.

As the fox's eyes closed in death, the woman sighed with minor exasperation, slightly annoyed that her efforts had not wielded better results for a meal; for the animal was small and had little meat on its well-defined bones. Dismissively, she turned from the scrawny beast and was about to continue in her search for food, when without any warning, a spasm of pure evil swept throughout the area, hitting Kikyou dead in the chest like a bucket of the same ice water which seemingly flowed in her veins and the residue the aura left behind chilled her to the bone with fear.

She recognized that aura all too well, for it was something she had hoped never to feel again. Naraku was alive; somehow, someway, he was alive and he had returned to the time in which she wandered. She had heard that Inuyasha and his group had slain him two years ago, but Inuyasha had died soon after. But apparently, Naraku was back and this time, she, the (A/N: self-appointed) reincarnation of the great priestess Midoriko, would be the one to kill him. And this time, no one would interfere when she did.

The pair walked through the shady forest, Ian's head still resting wearily on Kagome's shoulder as he walked behind her. They sighed with contented exhaustion as they just continued to walk, each simply enjoying the other's presence and continuing company. Kagome wished that the moment would never end. Continuing their small trek towards the village, Kagome smiled happily as a soft breeze blew calmly through the trees, spanning her hair out behind her and tickling Ian's nose as the tree branches above rustled and groaned merrily. She felt Ian's head shift on her shoulder and chuckled slightly when she looked over her shoulder to see Ian, who was almost asleep, reached out his hand blindly and absentmindedly and begin swatting at her hair as if it were a stray fly which had decided to land upon his nose.

She smiled and continued walking, the crest of some of the buildings of the village beginning to come into view over the crest of the hill ahead of them. Suddenly, a question seemed to spring to life in her mind. As she continued to walk, it refused to die and she had no other choice but to face Ian and voice the query which was beginning to bore into every corner of her brain.

"Inuyas- I mean, Ian?"

"Mm?"

"When…When you become…Naraku…can…can you…see what he does? I mean, do you remember any of it?"

A long silence passed between them, and Kagome began to fear that she had said something inappropriate to offend him or asked a question that he would rather not answer.

"Ian…? Listen, I'm sorry, if you don't want to answer, you don't have to. It was a stupid question anyways, nevermin-."

"No."

"Eh?"

"No, it's okay. I don't mind." He sighed deeply and raised his eyes to the sky, his hands on the back of his head in what Kagome interpreted to be tired exasperation. Sighing once more, he turned to face her again, his answer ready on his lips.

"Yea…I do remember most things that happen…"

"Oh Ian-!" she moved forward in an attempt to embrace him but stopped at his next words.

"But…sometimes…I don't remember anything at all. And it's at those times, that I frighten myself the most…"

For a moment the pair just stood there, Kagome in pitiful horror and Ian in tired reflection.

"I-Ian?" Kagome simply stared at him, uncertain of what he would do in his current mood. Surprisingly, he did not break down once again, but reasserted himself and took hold of her hand and began to drag her towards the village not far ahead of them. Still puzzled, Kagome continued to stare at him until he turned around and smiled at her, saying as he did so,

"Come on, Kagome. I want some answers, let's hurry!"

Startled by his sudden uncharacteristic cheerfulness, Kagome was temporarily at a loss for what to say, but quickly overcame her speechlessness to reply cheerfully and with a similar smile,

"Kay!"

The pair ran along, a mask of happiness temporarily covering their feelings of guilt, sadness, and worry.