Damn them! Damn them all!
Naraku glowered at the jewel in his palm, hate radiating from his red eyes as his tentacles thrashed in rage; a cloud of furious miasma pouring from his body.
Fifty years. For fifty long years he'd planned, waited, watched, schemed…It had taken all of his cunning to survive, all of his patience waiting for the jewel to return to this world. When at last it had, Naraku was forced to race Inuyasha to locate and assemble the pieces. He put every effort into forming his web, a string of manipulations, laying his pieces carefully and waiting for the right moment to strike.
How dare you defy me! Naraku clenched his jaw, every ounce of his fury aimed at the crystal ball, you were supposed to be mine to command!
The web he'd spun for years had worked perfectly, every effort he'd made towards collecting the jewel had paid off…
…only for the jewel itself to be the one to manipulate and betray him!
Kagome had been in his grasp, Inuyasha had lost his senses and sought her blood, Naraku could finally destroy the one person who had the power to defeat him…and she was gone, nowhere to be found.
At least not on this plane.
The jewel still swirled with darkness, still using the energy from Kohana and Ronuku to fuel its malefic power, but deep within the endless abyss a small spec of light had returned to the jewel. There she was, the jewel had somehow transported Kagome directly into Naraku's hands, the only place where he couldn't reach her.
At any moment the jewel could turn her purification powers against him. With the two fools below still fueling it, no doubt the attack would be devastating.
Naraku would be completely obliterated, he would be helpless against it.
But the jewel hadn't done so.
That isn't its intention, Naraku had thought, No, it has something else planned.
Worried that the monk's soft heart would prevent him from killing Ronuku, Naraku had gone out of his way to nudge Miroku and give him extra incentive. If the monk killed Ronuku, if the jewel could be cut from its power supply, then perhaps Naraku could regain control over the gem.
If only Miroku hadn't hesitated, the monk's soft heart had cost him his life, leaving Naraku with few options.
Fighting to survive, Naraku had gone on the hunt for Ronuku and Kohana himself, still perplexed as to why the Shikon jewel hadn't attacked yet. As he floated through the sky, the giant spider that served as his fortress raining miasma down into the woods below, he used its senses to search for his prey.
It should've been easy, he just needed to circle the dome of dark light until he came upon one of the two and then crush them. But the dome seemed to stretch on for eternity, the farther he flew the more the ground beneath him stayed the same. For the first time, Naraku found himself trapped in a vortex that he had no control over.
Somehow, beneath the dark dome, they'd entered a dimension that was no longer in the world of youkai and mortals. When the mountains beneath him suddenly crumbled and shot towards the sky, when the dark abyss swallowed them up and pulled the spider towards it, Naraku finally understood.
The jewel was born of the souls of battling demons and a miko.
It already had Kagome.
"You dare to think you can devour me?" Naraku hissed, his hand clenched in an angry fist around the jewel. He would not sit by and allow it to draw him in. No, this was his web that he'd cast, he wasn't about to let some sentient gem suddenly start pulling his threads!
He poured miasma from his fist towards the jewel, trying his hardest to drown out the light and impose his will. A soft voice chuckled in his ear.
"Well well, Naraku, it looks as though you've finally realized that you're no longer in control."
He turned, his red eyes furious as the shadow in the shape of a man stood next to him.
"Then again, you never really were in control in the first place," if the shadow had a face it would have been smirking, "The puppet master was a puppet himself all along."
Naraku's tentacles thrashed wildly in anger.
"Is that what you think?" He asked, rage permeating his voice, "You're nothing more than a gem, meant to serve me."
"Oh, but Naraku, you don't think it was you who actually found all of my shards, do you?" the jewel asked, "You honestly believe that through your skill and manipulation you managed to find all of those tiny pieces? No, my friend, I was the one who willed it. I called out to you, I made sure every little shard could be heard, and in turn you played your part beautifully."
The shadow stepped forward, reaching towards Naraku.
"All your efforts are about to pay off," it said gleefully, "For soon, you shall become a part of me."
Naraku shot his tentacles out, intent on impaling the shadow. A thick choking cloud of miasma poured through his body, Naraku's hate filling the spider in which they stood.
"Did you forget who it was that gave you your power?" The shadow asked as the tentacles flew harmlessly through its body. The miasma surrounding it disappeared, swallowed into the shadow's body.
The gem pulsated in Naraku's hand, the shadow suddenly reached out and grabbed one of his tentacles. The limb instantly shriveled and fell uselessly to the ground.
Out-maneuvered.
Naraku, the calculating mastermind, had no solution, no contingency plan for the enemy before him. Hurriedly, he fled into his cloud of miasma. Hidden from the shadow, he burrowed his tentacles into the flesh of the spider and sent his will through the hulking beast, ordering it to expel the shadow from its body.
The spider's senses disappeared, the creature was suddenly deaf to his will.
"Naraku, all these years, all the effort you put into chasing me…we are bound. Fighting is pointless, running is pointless. For you, there is no escape."
Naraku's hand grew hot, his eyes widened as he saw the jewel fusing with his skin. Panic flooded his mind, he tossed his arm and tried to fling the jewel from his grasp, but the gem stayed firmly glued to his skin.
Gleeful laughter rang in his ears.
"Give in Naraku. This is the end for you."
NO! Naraku's mind roared, I WILL NOT LOSE!
A glint in the purple haze caught his eye. He glanced up at the rusted object laying useless in the spider's gut.
Inuyasha's sword. The Tetsusaiga.
A memory ran through Naraku's mind, when long ago he loaned Sesshomaru a human arm embedded with a jewel shard in an attempt to manipulate the proud demon into killing Inuyasha.
Sesshomaru had needed the human arm, the Tetsusaiga's barrier repelled the grasp of a demon. Only a half demon like Inuyasha could properly wield the sword.
Naraku's panicked heart beat wildly in his chest.
The heart that once belonged to the human bandit, Onigumo.
Wasting no time on contemplating the possible ramifications, Naraku raced forward and grabbed the sword with his free hand.
It did not reject him.
Angry, hateful demonic energy poured through his system and into the blade. The rusted sword shook, but with a roar it suddenly burst with light and grew to its true size. The mighty fang glowed purple, miasma swirled around it, and tar-like splotches stained the once pristine blade, no doubt a side effect of Naraku's influence.
He didn't have time to think about it.
Barely strong enough to lift the weapon, Naraku turned the blade and cut off his own hand. The useless limb fell, the swirling dark jewel still fused in its palm.
Naraku's arm bubbled, a new hand quickly replaced the discarded limb. Gripping the hulking weapon that felt awkward in his grasp, he swung it down at the jewel. The blade struck the crystal and it shuddered.
Momentarily, the swirling within stopped.
"In pieces you obeyed my command!" Naraku shouted, "This is the price for defying me!"
He swung the blade down again.
The jewel shuddered again, a tiny crack forming on its surface.