This Tangled Web we Weave

"What do you mean Naraku is here?" I asked Sesshomaru "If he were here, I would be able to feel the presence of his jewel shards, and the only ones that I can feel are the ones attached to Kanna's mirror."

Sesshomaru turned to face me, and I could clearly tell that the eyebrow raised in my direction was asking me 'do you doubt my abilities?' I gulped a little at the realization that I had just unintentionally insulted him. It really wasn't what I had meant to do, I was simply confused. I opened my mouth to apologize to him, but before I could form any words I was cut off by a wicked, hissing laugh reverberating against the tangled web enclosing us.

The sound seemed to be coming from everywhere. Even Sesshomaru with his demonic hearing was scanning the web trying to pinpoint the source of the disembodied laughter, but, like me, was getting nowhere with the effort. The maniacal cackling continued in an endless, hissing stream; making the hair on my neck stand up against the shivers of sickened fear that danced across my skin. The repulsive sound filled the vast enclosure of the web, hanging in the stilled air around us like a heavy poison which blocked out all else to the senses.

"Naraku," Sesshomaru's voice, laced with venomous loathing, stilled the wicked laughter as easily as a sharpened blade slips through silk. "Show yourself you cowardly vermin."

"Are you so anxious to face death, Sesshomaru?" The voice was so unlike the Naraku I had so often encountered. There were no smooth, gentle tones used to deliver his vile messages. No, the voice speaking to us which cascaded across the expanses of the great web was as repulsive as the being which spoke them. A sickening hiss filled with malice, spoken in a voice cracked and distorted like the plaguing sickness that the beast truly is.

"The only one that shall see death on this day shall be you, hanyou."

Sesshomaru's threat against Naraku sent him back into a repulsive fit of hissing laughter. Again the sound filled the web, but this time Sesshomaru was not scanning the interlocking bands of silk; instead, his sight was focused solely on an area of the web above us. I followed his gaze, but couldn't see anything but for the impossibly woven stands forming the impenetrable web.

"Ah, but there is more than one way to suffer the pains of death," the wicked voice hissed.

I watched as Sesshomaru shifted his gaze slightly to settle on another region of the web. His eyes were intense, alert; stalking. If Naraku thought he could keep up a game of cat and mouse with Sesshomaru for very long, he was even denser than I would have given him credit for.

"Surely, Kagome, you did not think I wouldn't have retribution for your manipulation of my Saimyoushou."

"Silence!" Sesshomaru roared as, in one swift motion, he unsheathed Tokijin and unleashed its destructive force in a surging blast in the direction of the formless voice. The energy of his attack collided with the spun bands of the web, crashing against the weave like a tidal wave upon the rock cliffs of a shoreline, but in the wake of the powerful blast, the web remained unaltered. Smoldering and singed from the sheer force of energy sent against it, still the barrier held firm.

The laughter returned, repulsive and dreadful it filled me again with shuddering fear and unease. From everywhere and nowhere at once, the laughter came, taunting us with its nearness and at the same time keeping us from finding its source.

"Do you think, dog, that your power has any meaning here? You are the one caught in my web. Here, your lives are mine to command. Here, the weavings of your lives are mine to control."

"Naraku!" I lifted my voice into the trappings of the dome web. "Your wicked plans will never come to fruition! We will never fall victim to your wretched traps!"

"But you are still here, little miko. It appears that you have fallen much further than either of you have realized. No matter though, you will see soon enough how easily the threads holding your lives may come unraveled by my hand."

"Trapped within the tangled web we weave." The small, haunting voice of the void child sounded out; her hollow, soulless voice, chilling me more deeply than the repulsive hiss of the hidden creature. I turned my attention away from the disembodied voice of my enemy to face her. "You may see without, but you may never leave."

She held out her mirror before her and I instantly stiffened. I had encountered the effects of that mirror before, and though my soul had been too large to be consumed completely by the void, it was still not an experience that I was wishing to repeat. I can still remember the feeling which I can only equate to a shop-vac being plunged down your throat and then turned on high to suck you out from the inside. Truly, not a pleasant thing, and definitely not something I would volunteer for, for a second time.

I refused to look into the refection cast by the enchanted glass, preferring to look into the endless black of the child's soulless eyes. But I soon found myself drawn to the mirrors glass, pulled from within to look upon its image. It was not the void child that softened my resolve no to look upon the image, but rather a piece of myself which called out for me to heed what was to be shown.

I slowly lowered my gaze to look upon the shimmering surface.

The glass surface shifted from within, reminding me of the soft churning of a lakes surface: beautiful and yet concealing of its deadly depths. From within the clouded, shifting surface of the mirror an image began to take shape.

A pair of eyes not my own stared back at me from below the surface of the mirror. Expressionless and devoid of life, but at the same time concealing of deep-run sorrow; the haunting eyes locked with mine. But it was not me those eyes were focused on, for what they were seeing was what I was not. I knew who it was I was looking upon, and though I was relieved that he was still alive, the sorrow that consumed me was immense. Kohaku was still a pawn to that monster. Naraku still held the boy in his terrible grasp.

The image in the mirror expanded. Now, not only was I looking upon the face of Kohaku, but I could see the figure standing at his side. My eyes widened with astonishment when I realized I was looking at Naraku. Draped in his pelt, Naraku stood smugly by the boy's side, his hand resting lightly on Kohaku's unresponsive shoulder.

But if Naraku was with the boy, then what was it that had Sesshomaru and I trapped in the web? Was the hissing beast another incarnation? Was it simply a diversion to keep us locked away from the real fight? Or was the image I was seeing simply another of Naraku's golems? How could I know when I could not see for myself? How could I be certain when I could not detect the presence of the jewel through the void child's mirror?

"Kohaku?" I heard the soft and saddened voice of Sango travel through the mirror to reach my ears.

Again the image being shown to me widened to reveal the new players on the scene. Sango and Miroku, along with the firecat, had arrived at their destination. And upon reaching the site determined by Naraku to be the place of their last stand, Sango was coming face to face with her worst nightmare. Kohaku belonged to the evil hanyou. So long as Naraku lived, Sango's brother would never be free. And so long as Kohaku was cursed to follow Naraku's heinous orders, Sango would be forced to confront the horrid truth that her brother would never see her as the sister he had once loved so.

This had been Naraku's plan all along. He was splitting us up, preventing us from leaning upon the strengths of our comrades, forcing us to confront our worse fears alone. If it was possible, my hatred towards the vile creature would have grown, but for so long I had been forced to bear witness to Naraku's evil plots, that I could no longer feel any more repulsion or hatred towards his actions or towards what he had allowed himself to become in his pursuit of power.

"Is this what you would have me see Naraku?" I questioned, directing my voice nowhere and everywhere so that the wicked beast would hear. "You will succeed at nothing but to fuel my anger. What good could it possibly serve you to have your wretched tricks put on display in such a way?"

My words were greeted by nothing but the wicked hissing laugh. The coward still refused to show himself, still refused to confront his enemy; but it didn't matter. He thought he could gain the upper hand by showing me what horrors awaited for my friends, but he would be the one to fall in the end; I would make certain of it.

I looked back to the void child's mirror, knowing that whatever Naraku had planned, patience would be rewarded. I would have to simply wait out his cowardice.

The image began to form again, taking shape to display a different scene.

"No," I whispered in horror when the image finally cleared.

There, bolted and tied, wounded and bleeding, and hanging limp and lifeless from a crude crucifix, was the wolf prince whose shards had been presented to me by Kanna when I had first been snared by Naraku's web. No matter what had happened between Kouga and myself; I couldn't bare to see the proud youkai beaten down in such a way, trapped, as we had been, by Naraku's devious tricks.

But Kouga wasn't the only one that was being shown to me in the mirror. The view widened and brought forth the images of the remaining players of this twisted game. To the left of the fallen prince, a hardened look of disgust and anger marring her face; the wind witch, Kagura, stood poised to attack. To the right, just now coming into view in the mirrors reflection stood yet another image of Naraku.

How could this be? Three copies, three forms; but which one was the real Naraku? Where was the coward hiding? What was he planning?

Suddenly, I saw Kagura spur into action. Provoked in some way I could not see, the wind witch released her attack. The blades of wind cut across the field of vision being presented by the mirror, but just as suddenly as they had shot forth, the were turned away from their target.

Kagura's scowl deepened when her attack did not hit its mark. But instead of launching another towards her unseen opponent, she lifted her hand and plucked from her hair one of the decorative feathers. The feather answered her call to magic, and transformed to support her weight. The wind witch lifted into the air just in time to narrowly miss the arrow which struck the ground where she had stood.

I knew immediately whose arrow had been shot. The scene being played for me was the one to be walked into by Inuyasha, the one where he would reunite with his love. Kikyo was already playing Naraku's game; she had already engaged the enemy.

The mirror's image fell dark, converting once again to the shifting and swirling of turbulent waters. The show had come to a close for now.

"Have you seen enough?" the wicked voice without form questioned. "Or would you prefer to watch them die?"

"My friends will never fall victim to your wicked games Naraku." I called out to the beast. "In the end it shall be you who meets your death."

"So wrong you are, little miko." The laughing voice hissed. "Come, look upon the face of your demise."

From out of the woven tangles of the web descended the monster. All pretenses had been stripped away from the loathsome creature, revealing the hideousness of his true form. Naraku, a beast accumulated from thousands of monsters combined, but always foreshadowed by a single image; the image of the spider. It was the spider that I looked upon then. Massive and repulsive; covered in ugly tufts of course hair; spouting eight impossibly long and slender legs protruding from his bulky form and tipped with deadly claws; and focusing on Sesshomaru and I with gleaming and reflective, never blinking compound eyes.

"Vermin," Sesshomaru ground out from my side. "Prepare to meet your death by my hand."

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Do you see? Do you see why it has taken me so long to put this together? Do you see how the web is being woven? I was lost in the chaos of my own making, but then I started to see how the web would pull together. I actually drew it out, giving each character their own place on the outside of the web, then pulling then together along the tangled lines. I can't tell you how horribly complex it all was when I was working with this idea, but I hope that you shall begin to see how each thread starts weaving together with the others to bring you back again to where it all started.

Do you think you know where Naraku is hiding? Give me your guesses; I would love to hear them. And if anyone actually guesses right before the next chapter is posted then I will answer any one question you have (except for 'what will happen in the rest of the story' because that is just ridiculous). That shall be your prize, knowing the answer to one of my riddles before anyone else.

Good luck.

ShadowsWeaver1

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters I am about to weave into my web of chaos. Any and all definitions (with the exception of those cited specifically) have been taken directly from Wikipedia the online encyclopedia because I am far too lazy to do any further research to support my Inuyasha obsession.