Finale
If someone told you that you are the guardian of an ancient, sacred power; would you be blessed or cursed?
If someone told you that the world as you know it is nothing but a lie; would you listen for the truth or would you laugh and walk away?
If someone told you that you would have to watch the ones you love suffer; would you fight to see them avenged or would you give up hope?
If someone told you that you would have to walk into a battle to the death; would you move forward with courage or would you be held by fear?
If someone told you that you had the power to set everything right again; would you know how to use it or would your efforts be in vain?
If someone told you that you could have one wish, one wish for anything that you desired; what would you wish for?
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I know that this all may sound like something out of a dark fairytale; but for me, this was my life.
My name is Kagome Higurashi, and once upon a time, I made a wish.
Knowledge, truth, power; those things which can never be gained completely had been placed within my hands. All I had to do was wish for them. I could have had anything, and I could have had everything. But there was one thing I desired above all else, one thing that my heart told me I could not live without. But while it was my wish, and while I was wishing for myself upon the jewel; at the same time I was wishing for everyone that had been drawn into this horrifying war.
What I wished for was something so simple, and yet it was something that had been taken from us all. Whether taken by force or by deception, by fates hand or by the hand of another, by our own misdoings or by another's will; we had all lost something that without made us incomplete.
From bodies that had been scarred irreparably by battle, to those that had been made to bare scars that could never be seen by the eyes. From minds that had been wiped clean of all that had made them, to those that had never had the opportunity to write a history of their own. From hearts scarred so deeply by loss, anguish and despair, to those that had never been given the chance to know love. From souls torn and ravaged by the trappings of darkness, to those that had never truly seen the light.
We had all lost something, and because of it we had all suffered. I had the chance to set everything right again. So I made my wish.
"-I wish for all of us that began battle on this day to be made whole: body, mind, and soul.-"
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The jewel clasped tightly between mine and Naraku's hands surged one last time, releasing a wave of power so great that the spectral form I had created to exist within the barrier was torn apart. In an instant, I had been repelled back into the world beyond.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in my body; being held tightly in Sesshomaru's arms. The explosive power released by the jewel had shattered both Naraku's barrier and my own, and had continued to spread. It carried its enormous power throughout the confines of the dome web until it too was demolished under the force of the great wave of power, clearing the path for the wave to sweep uninhibitedly across the land.
"Kagome," Sesshomaru spoke as he helped to steady me on my shaking limbs, "What happened?"
I looked up at him. A small, tired smile played on my lips when I saw the concern flash across eyes. But my sight was pulled to his left side where I could see the magic of the jewel still glowing brightly. I lifted my hand to rest on his arm, drawing his attention to the newly formed limb for the fist time. My smile grew with the look of shock and wonder that crossed his face when he realized what had happened.
"I made my wish," I told him. "The jewel is gone, but now we must all be at our strongest if we are to gain victory."
"All of us?"
"Yes," I sighed a deep sigh of relief. "All of us."
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All of us; all ten of us. Allies, friends, pack; all of us stood against what Naraku had become.
Sango and Miroku had been released from the web when the Shikon's blast tore through it. With them, fighting by his sister's side once again; was Kohaku. His body had been healed and his life restored by the power of the jewel, but his mind as well had been given back to him. He remembered the family that had been ripped away from him but also the sister that still remained; and he fought valiantly to protect her against the monster. Together, the three made an awesome force, and though the wind tunnel in Miroku's hand had been sealed forever, with skilled blades and holy magics they sent forth their power against Naraku.
Across from them, the youkai who had been wronged by Naraku took their stand. Kagura, her heart beating strongly in her chest and her life hers to command at long last, brought down her wraith against the facilitator of her painful imprisonment. Kanna too had been set free from Naraku's clutches and the emptiness in her mind and her soul had been filled with substance for her to mould into a will and a purpose of her own; a purpose first realized as she used what power she had against the one who had wronged her so. The wolf prince stood with them as well. The wounds that had left him lame after Naraku extracted the jewel shards from his legs had been healed, and Kouga was ready and able to add his strength to the battle.
Completing the triad of power that would prevent escape from any angle by the cowardly Naraku, I stood with the remainder of my allies.
To my left was Inuyasha. His eyes were burning the dark crimson of his beast even as his hands gripped tightly to his father's fang. But he was in control of the beast now, not it of him. My wish had granted Inuyasha the ability to live in harmony with the demon inside of him; it allowed him to call upon the power of his demon blood when he needed its strength, but also to bring out his humanity when his strength would need to come from a much deeper place.
Beside him, warm blood coursing through the once broken clay of her body and her soul alive again with feelings and emotions stretching far beyond the burning hatred left to her after a painful betrayal, Kikyo brought the purity of her priestess powers into the battle. My wish had given her a second chance at life, a second chance to set things right that had so long ago been torn asunder by the villainous Naraku. She had life again in her body, and the chance for love to heal her broken heart and soul.
To my right, standing proud and strong; was Sesshomaru. His very presence filled me with confidence and conviction. So long as he was with me my faith in our victory was complete. I had no doubts any longer that we would put a stop to the madness on this day.
And so it was all of us: the sons of Inu no Taisho, a priestess of the past and one of the future, two demon slayers, a monk, a wolf prince, a void child, and a wind sorceress that made the final stand against Naraku.
Naraku had been so corrupted and subverted by the power he had wished for and obtained, that he was no longer recognizable as a creature of this world. His once favored image of charm, dignity, and beauty had been stripped away, revealing the monstrosity of the demon underneath. His body had become a slithering mass of slime covered tentacles which shot in all directions as his form twisted and surged in fetid masses; his arms had been replaced by great hooked talons that sought to impale his opponents and which cut through the air in sweeping arcs releasing devastating blasts of dark power; and his head had been transformed into a repulsive collection of eyes and teeth. Hundreds of blood red eyes focused on us from all sides, each stalking for prey and each filled with the darkly burning fires of his corruption. And from the mouth that had become a great gaping maw filled with rows of spiked and jagged teeth, he spit burning streams of acrid poison from armored funnels concealed within, and massive torrents of procured energy that brought devastation and corruption to everything that they touched.
But still he was deceiving himself. So consumed by the dark powers coursing through him, Naraku failed to realize that my wish had been for him as well, that he too had been given back that which had left him incomplete. My wish gave back to Naraku that thing which he had hidden for so long behind barriers of darkness and deceit, that thing that he had sough to keep from his enemies at all costs, that thing which had fought him at every corner, made him doubt his wicked plans and his selfish manipulations, that thing which made him believe he was weak but which could have made him so much stronger if only he was able to heed the message that it wanted for him to hear.
Onigumo's human heart, his human emotions, his humanity; and all of the frailties and all of the strengths that went along with it were given back to the dark hanyou. But Naraku could never see the strengths that his human heart could bestow him, and he had expanded tremendous amounts of energy to hide it away and to keep it distant from the monster that he had become.
But for all of Naraku's attempts to keep Onigumo apart from himself, for all of his beliefs that it was that part of him that was human that made him weak; in the end it was the heart that Naraku had fought so long to rid himself of that became his downfall.
One moment of hesitation, one moment of human compassion, one moment for the man that he had been to take hold of the reins of the creature that he had become, was all that was needed. In that moment when Onigumo had broken free of the bindings that the demons had cast upon him so long ago when he had made his selfish wish, he was finally able to gain redemption for his time of weakness and despair. It was his choice to make the sacrifice he made, but it was a choice that had only been made possible when my wish had set him free.
While Onigumo, nothing but a specter of what he once was, held the bestial form of Naraku fast, we took our chance to strike. Powerful attacks filled with righteous fury lanced out at the beast from all sides. When they collided with Naraku the result was a massive, thunderous explosion of blinding white light. The fallout from the blast had us all shielding our eyes from the brilliance of the light and our bodies from the force of the residual energies. When we could finally see again, there was nothing but smoldering remains in the place where Naraku had once stood.
Naraku had finally been brought down.
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I could hear the voices of the others as they enjoyed cheers of victory and cries of joy for their new lives, but I was drawn forward to the place where my nemesis had last stood. I looked down into the crater formed by the blast. There, surrounded by the blackened earth and the scattered remains that were the only thing left of brutal path of conquest tread since he had sold everything to the darkness of the shadows, Onigumo's spirit stood waiting.
I knew what it was he waited for. All of the atrocities that had been committed both by himself and by the wicked creature that had taken control of him, held him back as he waited for judgment.
But judgment is not for me to give.
"Find peace," I whispered to him, a small and gentile smile rising on my lips for the man that had been my enemy.
His dark eyes found mine, and from them I understood. He was willing to face the penalty for his crimes. But though he turned away from me and began to fade from this world into the one beyond, he knew that he carried with him my prayers and my forgiveness.
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For a long time I stood staring after the point where Onigumo had vanished, but I was brought from my thoughts when a pair of strong arms wrapped around me.
I sighed in contentment and leaned back into Sesshomaru's hold.
"It is over," he whispered gently to me.
"No," I corrected as I turned around so that I could see into the beautiful gold of his eyes. "It has just begun."
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THE END
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OMG! Just Kidding! LOL no seriously, I couldn't end it without having at least one more chapter. This is supposed to be a humor story after all, so I can't go out without making a few more jokes at the expense of these wonderful characters.
I just want to say though, that this last chapter of the battle had me fighting with myself for a long time. I was torn between writing the scene as I had with the previous battle chapters by giving play-by-play descriptions of what was happening, and writing a summation from Kagome's point of view. I knew that having so many characters all in the same scene and only the first person perspective to narrate would be very difficult, but I also knew that using a summative monologue would be very anticlimactic. It was a tough choice, but as you can see, I settled on doing mostly story-telling on Kagome's part but added in the scenes that I thought deserved special attention as sequenced events. Hope you all liked it.
Well, until next time (LOL and there will be a next time, but I just had to scare everyone a little)
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.
