Author's note: If you want a happy ending, you probably don't want to read any further, maybe go over to my original story and read the end of that. I pulled a lot of punches in that story. This story is where those punches ended up.
Hotaru sat on the fence outside Lady Kaede's house enjoying the breeze on her face. Miroku was with her, leaning casually against the same railing. It was early in the evening, the sun was casting long shadows across the dusty paths of Lady Kaede's village.
Hotaru had been there for ten days now. Staying in one place had become such a strange concept to her after the past few months of her nomadic lifestyle. It warped her perception to the point where the small village was beginning to feel like home. Lady Kaede, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and even Inuyasha started to feel like a family. Rin had become so comfortable here that she was starting to seem like a local child. Even Jaken seemed to have settled into the gentle rhythm of this place. There was a feeling of safety here. A sense of community. It was eerily peaceful, a welcomed rest after so much hardship. Still, Hotaru wasn't able to rest easy. Her anxiety increased every day that Kohaku remained unconscious.
"Kagome should be returning today." Miroku commented. The monk seemed to have a natural ability to know when a person needed time to think, and when they needed to be pulled from their own mind.
Hotaru graciously accepted the distraction.
"I wonder how her entrance exams went."
"I know she was quite nervous about it. Tell me, are these entrance exams dangerous?"
Hotaru laughed. Usagi and Minako thought so.
"No," She replied, "they're paper tests. But they are very important for students in our time. How well you do determines what high school you can go to. And what high school you go to determines which university you can get into. And that pretty much determines your entire future. Most students study all year for their entrance exams. Kagome had two weeks. That's got to be a lot of pressure."
"Kagome has sacrificed a lot in order to be here with us." Miroku said. "As have you."
Hotaru just shrugged. At this point she had been stuck in the feudal age for so long that it was beginning to feel natural. Like this was where she belonged and her real life was the foreign one. That seemed to be her nature. She had lived so many different lives. She had been so many different people. Princess Rhea of Saturn: her past life which she remembered in excruciating detail. Sailor Saturn: the soldier who that girl had been forced to become. Hotaru Tomoe: a pathetic, sick little girl who had been little more than a guinea pig for her father's god complex. Mistress Nine: the monster that had almost destroyed everything. Hotaru, the daughter of Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna: the happiest life she had ever lived, the person who she had been so content to be. Now there was this version of herself, this feudal Hotaru who was almost unrecognizable from the girl who fell through time just a few months ago. Who was she now? Which of these identities was the real her? Who did she want to be? Even she didn't know the answers to those questions.
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't notice the demonic aura approaching the village until the sun vanished from the sky. A shiver shot down her spine. She jumped off the fence.
"Something is wrong." She said, though she didn't need to state it. Miroku obviously noticed it as well. Hotaru looked up to see a giant mass of demons moving in overhead. She transformed at once. As Miroku opened his wind tunnel to suck them in, Hotaru's attention was drawn to a shifting energy coming from Lady Kaede's house.
"Kohaku!" Hotaru shouted, she ran towards her friend. She burst through the door just in time to see Kohaku rise to his feet. His eyes were dark, cold voids. "Kohaku!" The evil energy which had been possessing his jewel shard now radiated off of him in full force.
He looked at her with a sinister smile. It was Kohaku's face, but the expression was unlike anything he could have ever managed to make on his own. His features seemed to warp in their malice. He threw his chained scythe at Hotaru. She blocked with her glaive, the chain wrapped around the glaive's staff. She jerked it away, pulling the weapon from Kohaku's grasp.
"Magatsuhi, I presume." Hotaru said.
Kohaku's face twisted further. His smile had a chilling sneer to it now. He opened his mouth and spoke in a harsh, mocking voice which seemed to reverberate around the small house.
"You are the one who has been pouring your energy into this boy in a futile attempt to cast me out."
Hotaru angled her weapon towards the demon, "That would be me. I'd advise you to release him if you want anything even resembling mercy."
Magatsuhi laughed, a sound that was too cruel to possibly come from Kohaku's mouth, yet somehow it did.
"I have been waiting for this moment since you first gave me a taste of your energy on the mountain." Magatsuhi jeered. "I knew I had to meet the one who possesses such power."
"You got your wish. I will be the last thing you ever meet. I'm going to cast you back to Hell where you belong." Hotaru said, her energy started swirling around them like a tornado, with herself and Kohaku in the center. Her hair whipped her face as the wind roared around them, sparks of raw energy flew off her body. She wasn't sure what she was doing, or how to stop it. Her emotions overwhelmed her. Her power overflowed from her without her consent. She destroyed Lady Kaede's house, but she couldn't make herself stop. In spite of the damage she was causing, it seemed to be working. Magatsuhi was being pulled away from Kohaku.
Magatsuhi's laugh filled the air. Kohaku's eyes snapped into consciousness.
"Hotaru?" He called. His voice was hardly audible over the roar of the wind. His eyes were wild with fear and confusion. Magatsuhi broke free of Kohaku's shard completely.
For a moment, the demon's warped face surrounded them, pulled by Hotaru's whirlwind of energy. The face was like a distorted clown mask, stark white with red eyes and purple lips. Then he smiled. Hotaru realised her mistake a moment too late. She had managed to pull him from Kohaku's shard, but in doing so she had left herself vulnerable. The demon shot towards Hotaru. She wasn't fast enough to cast her Silent Wall. Magatsuhi hit her square in the chest.
Instantly, pressure filled Hotaru's head. Her ears felt as if they had been boxed in, loud shrill ringing was all she could hear. Red light exploded from behind her eyelids, blinding her. Her head felt like it was getting split open. Her brain itself felt compressed. Meanwhile, a white hot mass felt like it was forcing its way down her throat, gagging her. Her heart felt like it was about to burst. She stumbled backwards blindly, reeling from the attack.
"Hotaru!" Kohaku ran to Hotaru's side, she shoved him away. Pain consumed her. She had to get away. She had to put distance between herself and anyone who she could possibly hurt.
She ran. She ran faster than she had ever ran before. She was still blinded by pain, but somehow her feet seemed to find a safe path. She could feel Magatsuhi trying to possess her. She couldn't let him. Finally her luck failed her, her foot found a tree root, and she tumbled forward. She quickly clawed her hands into the soil, gripping tight to fistfuls of grass.
A laugh echoed in her ear. I sensed your abilities as you tried to heal the boy. But I hadn't anticipated this much power! The soldier of ruins! The guardian of destruction! The power of the shikon jewel pales in comparison to you, Sailor Saturn!
"That power will never belong to you." Hotaru gasped. The act of speaking felt her lungs were being ripped apart. "You picked the wrong person to try to possess. I've fought off worse than you."
This time Magatsuhi's laugh filled the whole cavern. You have been feeding me your energy since you first attempted to heal Kohaku. The more you tried to push past me, the more energy you gave me. The pain that had consumed Hotaru's arm after every failed attempt to heal Kohaku suddenly returned. It spread up her arm, through her shoulder and engulfed the rest of her body. All of her muscles seized up. It took all her strength to keep her body from moving without her consent. I have fused to your very soul. You can resist me, but you will never cast me off. It's only a matter of time before you break.
No. Hotaru realised in horror that he was right. His grip on her was too tight. She could fight him off for a while, but she couldn't break free of him. It was only a matter of time before her strength gave out. When it did, the world was doomed.