Author's Note: So, here's chapter sixteen. You've been waiting for it since November 5th of 2007, but I finally wrote it and uploaded it. The battle should end soon and, with it, the story I've worked on since July of 2006, so I hope everyone who has kept me on alert all these years enjoy the story regardless of the ridiculous wait period. As always, I thank you, my beloved Readers and Reviewers, and hope I won't disappoint. Ja ne!
Chapter Sixteen: Awakened Purity
Sesshomaru's Point-Of-View
It took all his will power just to keep running towards Naraku. He hated this for her. She only ever tried to protect Rin and the only thanks he ever offered her came at this moment, as he delivered her into the hands of a monster. The more he thought on these things, the harder he pushed himself to move on. He moved against every fiber of his own will, racing ever-faster towards the dismal finish line. This act he performed—this deplorable, grotesque, perhaps even dishonorable act...
…his father's mistake paled in comparison to those of his eldest son's.
Kagome shifted on his back, bracing herself for her leap to destiny. He wanted to freeze in his tracks and call out to his younger brother. He wanted to cage her under Inuyasha's guardianship and take over the battle himself. The emotions Sesshomaru once so easily kept at bay now uncontrollably twisted and warped his features. For the first time in his long stretch of existence, Sesshomaru felt torn between rage and a deep sense of helplessness.
She climbed up his spine with her delicate feet, readying herself for the second time since they decided on this perilous course. Sesshomaru desperately…! Sesshomaru, never before to be called desperate, desperately wished to halt in his tracks and retreat once more.
For the sake of a human, this became his truest desire.
Alas, with a gallant thrust, Kagome sent herself airborne and Sesshomaru's choice flew with her. Soaring straight for the waiting tentacles of their enemy, she never saw the Ice Lord lift up his tortured face. She could not sense his harried heart plunging into the deep abyss.
He gazed after Kagome's weightless form as it stretched across the sky, and the realization suddenly struck him: In that moment, she took herself away from him and all the protection invested in him to offer her. She slipped from any safety his reach might grant her.
Some grim chord resonated within his self-petrified heart as he witnessed the writhing vines of Naraku's tentacles greedily snatch her up. The chance to take back his foolish actions no longer remained available. Something felt horribly, irrevocably wrong.
'Do not move. Do not dare to follow her. You cannot follow her,' he chanted to himself – an impromptu sutra to hold himself where he stood. Delaying the plan any further only served to throw the perfect plan askew. And the plan WAS perfect.
Humans were imperfect and, being such, were only capable of throwing true perfection into chaos. Lord Sesshomaru had been a prime example of how a taiyoukai should behave and rule their lands. And then humans had corrupted that image.
And yet a human stood more willing to follow the necessary procedure to procure victory, while Mighty Sesshomaru trembled with unease. They already decided on this. He must wait. He could not rush to her aid—not yet. He mentally nailed his feet to the ground, clenching his jaw painfully as he watched Naraku's black flesh lethargically swallow Kagome's limp form. It mimicked quicksand, if perhaps many decomposing carcasses putrefied the pool.
Humans threw true perfection into chaos.
Humans corrupted perfection.
Rin and Kagome changed Sesshomaru forever, and whether it meant chaos for him for all eternity or no, the mighty taiyoukai would not ever trade them for the guarantee of a perfect existence. Because, today, Sesshomaru knew that no such perfect existence could be wrought from the absence of the two humans who so completely threw him into chaos.
Naraku took her under with leisurely savor, as though tasting the rarest ambrosia of all. What incomprehensible agony to watch Kagome slip away from him bit by bit—to watch her go somewhere that he must willingly choose not to follow! She stayed quiet, Naraku unsuspecting of why she refused to call out to her friends, and only met his eye for a moment before realizing her mistake. She smiled at him, her eyes set in determination, and immediately closed them when the troubled ache in his eyes could no longer be contained and spread over the rest of his features.
As she blanketed her eyes from his display of utter weakness, allowing the smile to fall from her lips, Sesshomaru thought she looked too much like the martyred Kikyo. It unnerved him to no end until he, too, needed to hide the world from his sight.
The plans he decided upon when conquering an enemy never instilled such vulnerability in him before. However, conquering an enemy never required him to sacrifice one of his own before, either. 'No!' He jolted, alarmed enough at the mere thought that his eyes snapped open as if from a nightmare. 'Fool! Truly, am I not simply sacrificing Kagome to Naraku in order to defeat him?' One human girl against Naraku: The one-sidedness of the match seemed abruptly and blatantly obvious. 'No! I won't allow for this!'
But it was too late. Even as he watched, the last inch of Kagome's pale hand vanished within the glurping muck. Without allowing himself another moment to reconsider, he performed a graceful dive at Naraku. Graceful, yes, but the craze that ignited it echoed the instinct of a starved beast descending upon its prey. He wouldn't allow this! He couldn't! The mighty Lord of the Western Lands declared himself far too dignified and honorable to allow a mere human girl alone to take his place as warrior against his enemy!
Naraku laughed an icy laugh as Sesshomaru drew his sword and began slicing and gouging at the spider hanyou's flesh. The furious youkai hacked massive purple and black chunks from the demon, emboldened by the sick splatters and "thwacks" as the thick, slimy meat fell to the ground around his feet.
And still, Naraku laughed.
Sesshomaru stood back, feasting his eyes on the fruits of his hard work, and felt his hot anticipation cool with disappointment. Against the colossal, ugly heap that was Naraku, only a small portion of his body displayed the results of Sesshomaru's unbridled rage. His eyebrows knit in frustration.
The plan entailed that Sesshomaru follow Kagome when time enough passed for her to complete her task, but if such sincere effort produced so little results…? 'I underestimated the spider hanyou,' he admitted to himself. Now, his conceit while forming this idiotic plan threatened to further endanger Kagome. He could not forsake Kagome, the human girl who counted on him and expected him to uphold his word.
Sesshomaru, I just wanted to let you know that if something happens and you can't get to me in time, then…then I won't think that you did it because you didn't think enough of me or something. I mean – um, I'll know that you did your best…
He must find a way to enable himself, lest the miko perish! Somehow, he must find a way to dupe Naraku into admitting him into his flesh… 'The mere thought of being inside this abomination is enough nauseate me.' Sesshomaru slid his eyes up to focus on Naraku's countenance. The smug sneer still wormed over the mutant's pasty features.
Perhaps if he feigned ineptitude, pretended to lose focus at a crucial moment, Naraku might believe that he fairly gained the upper hand. Then, Naraku's flesh would take him in as the hanyou attempted to absorb him into his being. If Sesshomaru and Naraku vaguely shared anything, the Ice Lord believed it must be arrogance. Sesshomaru withheld a cruel smirk, imagining the great torture he could inflict on Naraku once within his very body. As with a parasite, the taiyoukai intended to destroy his host from the inside, out.
He pushed off from the ground with his powerful legs, propelling through the air with the ease of any winged creature, and landed briefly and lightly on a pulsating mound of Naraku's "body." Bounding up towards the core of the malignant terrain, towards Naraku's head, a tentacle swooped down overhead. Out of sheer reflex, Sesshomaru found himself ducking expertly out of the way.
He found it surprisingly difficult to allow Naraku to catch him. Always named champion in battle, his pride felt like birthright. The shame of succumbing to an enemy, even if for his own gain, felt like too miserable a descent. He never wanted to defeat an enemy so intensely that he might compromise his high standard. Nonetheless, if he wished for Kagome's survival, he must fall.
It seemed an eternity of such compromises, the longer he remained beside Kagome.
Inuyasha's Point-Of-View
"Hiraikotsu!" Inuyasha braced himself to use his Backlash Wave as Sango leapt back down next to him, catching her returning weapon with surprising fluidity for such a slight-figured woman. Naraku hadn't returned a single attack yet and it unnerved Inuyasha to ponder possibilities as to why. He shared a disconcerted glance with Sango before quickly glancing towards Sesshomaru and Kagome. Nose-to-nose in an argument that seemed to be pretty loud, he strained his ears despite knowing they stood out of range. The moment he allowed his curiosity to take hold of him, unfortunately, Naraku decided to attack.
"Look out!" Inuyasha's eyes widened in horror as Naraku belched forth a cloud of poisonous miasma, not at them, but directly above at Kilala. Kohaku panicked and veered Kilala sharply to the right, causing the great beast to tilt precariously and nearly cause the weakened Miroku to slip away to a gruesome death. Forced to flee the battlefield, Kohaku guided Kilala out of sight to wait for the gas to dissipate.
Sango delivered her scream just in time, giving Inuyasha the slim opportunity to stumble back from the noxious gases as they roiled like angry storm clouds over the luscious grass. Naraku's booming laughter told him that, moments from now, the spider hanyou would be attacking them in a way that would leave them absolutely defenseless.
"Inuyasha! The kids! Hiraikotsu!" As Sango's boomerang sliced through the tentacles heading for Rin and Shippo, Ah-Un swept down from out of left field and allowed Rin to quickly hoist the mummified Shippo upon her back, carrying them away from the poison. Inuyasha turned to see if his brother summoned the beast, but when he turned…
...Kagome flew across his vision, heading for a puddle of Naraku's flesh.
"KAGOME!"
The miasma inched towards them, but the air stayed clear there for a moment and neither the airborne Kagome nor the stoic Sesshomaru seemed to notice the pestilence. Kagome dived into the putty-like mound, disappearing into the darkness within seconds. Inuyasha couldn't even move as he watched Sesshomaru's futile attempts to save Kagome from the clutches of the spider youkai.
Utilizing the Wind Scar to dissipate the gases threatened to take out his brother and, possibly, the recently absorbed Kagome (who probably floated somewhere just beneath Naraku's skin.) However, the miasma began to drift uncomfortably close now, so Inuyasha made a split-second decision.
He dashed further into the miasma's perimeters.
"Sesshomaru! Get out of there!" Lividly, Sesshomaru spared him a cursory glance before returning to his useless efforts. "SESSHOMARU!" Inuyasha bellowed, finally making it to his side. Sesshomaru continued to attack Naraku, paying his younger brother no mind at all, until Inuyasha lost all patience and gripped him by the shoulders. Sesshomaru sent him soaring for his trouble.
"What do you think you're doing? Do you have any idea as to what has happened, you insufferable half-breed?" Inuyasha was taken aback. Half-breed? That re-entered his brother's vocabulary without warning. Lately, he grew accustomed to Sesshomaru referring to him as "little brother" or at least calling him by name. With no time to waste, Inuyasha quickly shouldered his irritation and attempted to focus on dragging away his brother. The miasma felt like acid in his sinuses.
"Yeah – Kagome got snatched up by Naraku. I know. Now, just take off and watch out for the others. I'll get her." Sesshomaru plunged Tokijin into a pulsating sub-mound of Naraku's throbbing boils and stared at its point of entry as though contemplating the vastness of the universe.
Naraku's attacks and even subtle movements, ceased without cause or reason. It was as though he waited for something. Or maybe Kagome did something so notable and malicious within Naraku that she forced him to concentrate on her instead. This did not sit well with Inuyasha, who disliked the idea of Naraku directing his full attention towards the human girl.
The miasma thickened around them now and Inuyasha felt his lungs beginning a struggle that only proved more desperate as the time wiled away. "Get out of here…I can't blow this…shit away…with you standing so damned close by!" It grew increasingly more difficult to breathe the longer he stood there, but Sesshomaru remained completely unaffected.
"Inuyasha," he said evenly, not looking at him, "it is no longer your responsibility to watch over Kagome. The others are your wards now. I shall guard the girl." And with that, Inuyasha's knees became scarcely strong enough to carry his own weight. Sesshomaru made an unusual half-whistle, half-grunt sound that caused the two-headed creature to reappear out of the rapidly-darkening atmosphere and land right next to him. The children no longer rode upon Ah-Un's back, presumably meaning they took cover somewhere outside the venomous smog. Inuyasha became sour as Sesshomaru lifted him up on the beast, as a parent might a child.
"Damn you, Sesshomaru. Why d'you always have to treat me like such a weakling for?" Inuyasha vaguely felt abashed that he asked such a straightforward and awkward question, deciding that the answer would infuriate him even further. Asking his older brother such a thing only served to accentuate his junior rank. He wished Sesshomaru would ignore him.
"Inuyasha, my brother," Sesshomaru began, surprising him so deeply that he met his eye to confirm the older brother's sincerity, "there's no time to say what needs to be said. However…"
Inuyasha began to nod off; Sesshomaru gave a subtle, uneasy sigh as he rushed to find words. Interested enough to fight for consciousness, he heard Sesshomaru calmly explain, "I will not survive this, Inuyasha. I know now that you were never truly weak, but that your constant struggles are due to your infallible loyalty." Sesshomaru frowned, finally turning his eyes upon Inuyasha. "But it is because you are loyal that you never fail, and because of your friendships that your strengths are fortified."
Inuyasha's brows knit, but before another word could be exchanged, Ah-Un lifted him away from his brother. Dizzy with air-sickness and the poison flowing in his veins, Inuyasha wondered half-heartedly if the delirium of near-death spoke every word from his brother's lips.
Because, surely, Sesshomaru would not die.
Kouga's Point-Of-View
"Kagome…!" Kouga's eyes widened as he looked off into the horizon, his entire pack following suit as they each noticed the mingled scent at once. "Damn it! C'mon!" He tore off into the thick underbrush, quickly taking to the trees to move more deftly. Because of that Inuyasha, Kagome's scent all but completely vanished among the rank stench of Naraku. They already set their course for the battlefield once Naraku's scent pervaded the air, but redoubled their efforts once Kagome's flowery aroma dissipated so significantly.
As Kouga bounded ever closer toward the spider hanyou, other scents became more distinguishable beyond that of Naraku's overbearing odor. Inuyasha, the two human comrades, the fox demon, the unfamiliar scent of a young human boy…the small girl that traveled with Sesshomaru…
…and he sensed Sesshomaru, himself, no doubt in the heart of the battle.
"Kouga! Is Inuyasha really fighting Naraku and Sesshomaru at the same time?" Ginta gasped from his right.
"Is it really wise to interfere?" Hakkaku added, running so fast that his Mohawk laid flat against his otherwise bald head. Kouga growled, darting them both warning glares.
"Don't you guys realize that Kagome's in trouble? Run away if you want! As for me, I'm gonna save my woman!" With a fresh burst of speed, Kouga dropped down from the treetops and surveyed the battlefield from his temporary aerial viewpoint.
What he saw nearly choked the life from him; Inuyasha not only stood outside the battlefield with his group members, but lay unconscious among a huddle of his concerned friends. Stranger still, Sesshomaru fought a limp Naraku by himself from within the thick smog of miasma that only full-demons stood impervious against.
Kagome evaded his eye, but her scent still lingered in the air.
Landing just as his pack arrived from the forest's dark chambers, Kouga sped out to meet Naraku as the last of the sunlight vanished from the horizon. He leapt into the air to deliver a sound kick to the side of Naraku's inattentive head, but felt himself hit a barrier that repelled him with such force that he flew back so far as to land ten feet from Inuyasha.
"Kouga!" They all chorused, abandoning Inuyasha in light of his noisy arrival.
"Damn it, Mutt! Where the Hell's Kag—" Kouga grimaced as he strained the arm he used to lift himself off the ground. It trembled at the elbow and erupted in sharp pain that he innately ignored. "Where's Kagome?" He fixed his gaze upon the monk, as though able to enforce his will upon him through the mere look alone. The monk studied him for a moment, but then his eyes swiveled in answer toward Naraku.
"He absorbed her." Kouga leapt to his feet, eyes widening in uncontrollable rage, and flung himself atop Inuyasha.
"Wake your half-bred, good-for-nothing ass up!" He began swinging his fists without aim and striking Inuyasha across the face without care or thought. The monk and the demon slayer grabbed him by the shoulders, but they could do nothing against his full-demon strength. "You half-wit! Get up and use Red Tetsusaiga already! Kagome's gonna get turned into spider food!" Inuyasha opened his eyes, but Kouga way-laid him one more time, despite. Fucking imbecile.
Inuyasha sucker-punched him back, flinging the wolf youkai off of him in one careless gesture, and rose to his feet. "Where's Sesshomaru?" Kouga kicked him upside the head, leading to a vicious brawl between the two canines as they wrestled each other to the ground.
"You idiot! Don't you mean, 'Where's Kagome?' What the fuck are you thinking?" Inuyasha's jaws closed over his bicep, making Kouga yowl in pain.
"I know where fucking Kagome is! Sesshomaru's the one that needs help rescuing her, you mangy wolf!" Kouga twisted Inuyasha's head around until his neck began to emit soft crackling sounds, making the dog hanyou growl low in his throat.
A sickle dashed between them, encircling Kouga's neck until the chain tightened and he felt himself pulled off of Inuyasha. "Kohaku!" Kouga turned slightly to see the source of the unfamiliar scent he caught as he approached the battlefield earlier: A young demon slayer boy, obviously related to the demon slayer woman, whom called his name.
"Kouga!" Ginta and Hakkaku rushed to his side in aid, but the chain already slackened and Kouga began disentangling himself. Within seconds, the group found themselves surrounded by wolves.
"Tearing each other's throats out isn't doing anything for Kagome." Kohaku's eyes fell beneath the shadow of his bangs, but with a single jerk of the wrist, his weapon returned to him and his eyes met Kouga's. "Join forces already and dig Kagome out of there!" The wolves directed their focus on Kohaku then, snarling and baring their teeth with renewed threat. Kouga slid his eyes to Inuyasha, who brushed himself off with an air of utter insolence.
"Stand down, guys," Kouga grumpily commanded, getting to his feet. "Inuyasha, get Red Tetsusaiga out and let's get Kagome outta there. I'm sick of fucking around with you."
"Keh, as if you'd be of any use! I'll save Kagome!" and the mutt flew past him, shouldering him as a last barb, and took off towards the battlefield with a scarlet blade rising above his head.
"Ginta! Hakkaku! Mobilize the pack!" and then Kouga forced his shard-imbued legs to supersonic speeds as he surpassed Inuyasha in the race toward Naraku.
Sesshomaru's Point-Of-View
Sesshomaru felt the barrier when it erected, trapping the miasma within. Even if he retrieved Kagome from Naraku's flesh now, her first breath might very well destroy her. Sesshomaru decided that his only option rested in forced entry of Naraku's body. He raised Tokijin overhead and sent a crippling wave of dark energy into Naraku's violet tentacles, leaving a gaping crater behind.
"I will gain entry, one way or another," he murmured to himself, smirking only slightly. He dropped into the open wound without hesitation, immediately re-performing the attack. Very slowly, Sesshomaru began to descend into Naraku's flesh, the wound sealing over his head until all light from the moon above dimmed away. He began to smell something soft and meadow-like, so he immediately began to hack his way in the direction.
"Kagome," he said aloud, ceasing in his attack and listening carefully. "Kagome, speak!" he demanded, his voice loud and potent.
"Inuyasha's older brother…absorbed by Naraku…?" Sesshomaru's eyes shifted to his left only to find Kikyo's face speaking from a wall of flesh. He turned to face her, disappointed to realize that her head remained the only part of her body at this point. She only reached Sesshomaru's eye-level due to her head's embedment within Naraku's blackened boils. "Kagome is three meters before my eyes. She is looking for me, I'm afraid, so please forget you saw me."
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed at the disintegrated miko, then he drew his sword. "You choose to expedite my journey to the Other World? It is not your place." Sesshomaru wordlessly inflicted his blow, leaving Kikyo to stare at him with angry, uncomprehending eyes. "You…you did nothing!"
"…" He reached forward and extracted the chunk of flesh from the rest of Naraku, holding Kikyo's living head in his hands without further damaging what remained of her anatomy. He turned to face the direction Kikyo pointed out to him and released another feral strike against the tentacles. "Kagome."
The priestess recovered from her cringing position in the wake of the blast, turning confusedly to find Sesshomaru wielding the head of her ancestor. "Ah! Sesshomaru, this is all that's left of her?" Sesshomaru watched the young miko with his blankest expression yet, but Kagome seemed unconcerned with whether he chose to answer.
"What is the meaning of this?" Kikyo demanded, but with little effect considering her current state. Kagome smiled half-heartedly at her.
"It's a little strange, but Kikyo…" Sesshomaru produced the jewel from beneath his armor, holding it before Kikyo's lips.
"Swallow the jewel," he coldly instructed. Sesshomaru found it natural to relate to Kikyo's near-ghoulish detachment from emotion, having tossed his away despite retaining his soul. Bring so, the taiyoukai understood that Kikyo best identified with straightforward logic. Kikyo closed her eyes, but made no move to comply.
"You've sensed Midoriko's awakening as well, have you?" Kagome winced at Sesshomaru's calculating stare, closing her eyes to avoid it.
"I have." The realization that Kagome withheld something so colossal from him raked his every nerve, but he, too, opted to close his eyes and compose himself. "The jewel, once it meets with the portion of my soul that you carry, will reconstruct your body due to Midoriko's soul which has awoken within the Shikon no Tama. Then, the two of us—ahh!"
Naraku's body suddenly reanimated, quaking as though stricken with thousands of lightning bolts. Sesshomaru forced the jewel into Kikyo's mouth, covering it over with his hand, and clutched Kagome by the waist. Kagome pushed away from Sesshomaru. "Stand back! I'm going to purify an exit!" Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, the only defense he knew against widening them in surprise.
"Foolish girl, you lack the skill!" Kikyo's head complained beneath his arm…but then she erupted in light that scathed Sesshomaru's only good arm. Before his muscles reacted to the sudden pain, the force of Kikyo's sacred powers as she reconstructed sent him flying through Naraku's flesh.
"Kagome!" But Naraku seemed to be finished with watching their tirade. Whatever he spent the battle preparing, now came the time to present it. And so, Naraku no longer wanted Sesshomaru within his flesh.
"Thank you, O' Mighty Sesshomaru," Naraku cackled as Sesshomaru's vision began to clear enough to make out the stars. He flung himself upright as he understood his position—as he felt the grass beneath his burned hand.
His gaze snapped up to Naraku's pimple of a head as it chortled atop the black mass of his body. Inuyasha arrived with his unsheathed Tetsusaiga to his right, while Kouga appeared to his left.
"All I required was the Shikon no Tama you carried in lieu of Priestess Kagome," Sesshomaru grimaced. "And now that I have it, I shall have the wolf!" Suddenly, Naraku trembled as though in an earthquake. "Argh! Wh-What is this?"
Kagome's Point-Of-View
"Kikyo…" Kagome began, stunned at the other priestess' revived form. "You look…healthier, somehow." Kikyo scowled at her reincarnation.
"Of course I do! I now harbor the spirit of Midoriko, thanks to your foolish plan!" Kagome's eyes widened in shock.
"Is that really so horrible? You've got your form back, so now we can defeat Naraku and—"
"Two souls were expelled to create the Shikon no Tama and two souls were trapped in the jewel, you hasty nit!" Kagome scowled back at her.
"Could you try to explain without all the name-calling? What're you even talking about?" Kikyo surveyed their surroundings as she spoke.
"Have you forgotten Midoriko's opponent, 'Magatsuhi?'" Naraku shuddered once more, with increasing violence, making Kikyo's expression flicker in apprehension. "We cannot speak further here. We must purify our exit."
She snatched Kagome's hand without even a preliminary courtesy, and ordered, "Focus you spirit. Though Midoriko's spirit possesses me, her power is inaccessible without a vessel that harbors a true living soul." Kagome tried to shrug off her daze, closing her eyes and concentrating as she would when firing a Sacred Arrow.
Something snapped within her, immobilizing her as the darkness behind her eyelids exploded in soft, pink light that seemed to spiral into a vortex. Suddenly, she existed only in her mind, and Kikyo stood next to her as though part of a dream. Her ancestor reached out into seeming nothingness, touching her porcelain fingers against something invisible to Kagome.
A woman screamed, and then the scene vanished in blinding white light.
"You will be mine, Kikyo!"
"You will be mine, Midoriko!"
"She's my woman, so get the Hell off of her!"
"Good to know, Mutt! I'll take Kagome!"
"Kagome is not property, Wolf. My ward shall not be touched without her consent."
Kagome opened her eyes, half-laughing at the ridiculous exchange. The end of the world seemed nearer than ever, but each man on the battlefield seemed only interested in fighting for women that they held no right to call theirs.
When Kagome opened her eyes, however, she found Kikyo and herself surrounded by sacred light and still within Naraku, though he seemed to work especially diligently to expel them. How would Kagome hear the conversation of those separated from them through the thick sound barrier of Naraku's boundless flesh?
In an instant, Kagome and Kikyo burst forth from the cavernous innards of Onigumo Naraku, shooting through the night sky like a pink shooting star. Kagome cast her eyes down to see her friends gazing up at them in between executing and deflecting attacks. Kikyo still gripped her hand, her eyes closed and her brow twitching in deep concentration. Kagome knew that if she released her hand, the power used to levitate them in this way would fail, causing them to plummet to their death.
Kagome gripped her ancestor's hand more securely, directing her energy until they landed almost a mile away from the battlefield. As the pink light dispersed, Kagome took her hand from Kikyo's, but the other miko remained unconscious.
"KIKYO!" Inuyasha. He arrived at Kikyo's side with the urgency of a professional baseball player sliding into home base. "Kikyo! Kikyo! Wake up, damn it!" He shook her, seemingly unconcerned with how her body came to be restored, and Kagome watched him with something of pity. She touched her hand to his forearm, making him look at her.
"She'll be fine. She just used a lot of energy." Inuyasha turned back to Kikyo, positioning her in his lap as he knelt to the ground.
"She's warm," he noticed aloud.
"She's alive. For now." Kagome turned all the way around to find Sesshomaru studying the back of his younger brother's head. If Inuyasha also turned to face the taiyoukai, Kagome scarcely noticed.
"Sesshomaru, your arm!" He met Kagome's worried eyes with half-crescent amber, but then he smiled infinitesimally as she examined his wound more closely.
"Alive? You mean, her body isn't made of grave dust any longer?" Inuyasha's voice drifted from behind her with bitter hopefulness that Kagome knew Sesshomaru must crush quickly. Sesshomaru's burn seemed to be the result of the purification within Naraku as Kikyo regained her vessel. Nothing Kagome offered would amend it.
"Kikyo swallowed the half of the Shikon Jewel that Kagome once carried," Sesshomaru began, but then stopped suddenly. Kagome glanced up from her dismal examination to find Sesshomaru giving her a black look that only she could decipher as a meaningful look. 'Right. I never told him about Midoriko.'
"And that's all it took? All this time, we just had to get her to eat half a jewel?" Kagome turned to face Inuyasha, allowing her sadness to show through in prelude to the terrible news she must give. Inuyasha's puppy ears twitched, but then slowly began to droop.
"No, Inuyasha. Lately, I've felt something strange happening to my sacred powers. It felt like they were growing stronger, but I couldn't understand why until earlier today." Kagome opened her mouth to continue, but then turned a steely gaze onto Sesshomaru, willing him to remember. "When you returned to your humanoid form before we fought the chained ones, something happened…when I was there. Do you understand?"
"…" Sesshomaru searched her eyes, but Kagome felt he caught on.
"It was hazy, erm—after I woke up—so I didn't quite understand. I didn't even think about it for a while..." Kagome took a deep breath, "but as Naraku was drawing me inside him, I remembered everything, and I understood. That's why I didn't tell you—I didn't even remember." Sesshomaru closed his eyes.
"I see." Kagome sighed, touching a hand to his arm to pry open his eyes. He gazed at her without comprehension for what he saw in her expression.
"Do you?" she asked carefully. Sesshomaru frowned.
"I sure as Hell don't! What the Hell does any of this shit hafta do with Kikyo?" Kagome turned to face him, suddenly remembering from where the conversation began, but then she saw Kikyo sit upright.
"Kikyo…" Kagome murmured, making Inuyasha whirl around and fall at her side.
"Inuyasha, Midoriko's soul woke within the jewel recently, which meant that when I took the purified jewel into my body, I became Midoriko's willing vessel." Inuyasha stared at her, totally not getting it. "By her power, this body was granted to me, but when this battle ends and her presence leaves this realm…" Kikyo brought her hand to his cheek in a caress meant to console, "…my life, also, shall leave this realm.
Before Inuyasha could react in his usual explosive way, Ah-Un crashed to the ground mere feet from the four of them, sending Ginta and Hakkaku sprawling. Shippo and Rin, by transport of Shippo Blimp, also spent no time with gentle landings; Shippo de-transformed and dropped himself into Kagome's hands, as Rin landed in Sesshomaru's. Sango and Miroku made a bumpy landing ten feet ahead of where the rest of the group stood, Kohaku sitting between them on the two-tail's back. They all converged around Kagome, Inuyasha, and Sesshomaru, talking all at once. Neither Kagome nor Inuyasha could make out what all the fuss was about.
"Silence!" Sesshomaru demanded in a voice few dared to reckon with, effectively quieting the cacophony. "Monk. Speak."
"It's Naraku," Miroku told them, wetting lips that suddenly cracked and bled. His eyes darted from Sesshomaru's cold glower to Kagome, who tried not to look overly concerned. "He's swallowed his half of the corrupt jewel and transformed." Kagome felt the blood rush from her face.
"Into what…?" Sesshomaru asked calmly, his eyes taking a puzzled sweep of her horrified face. Kagome and Kikyo's eyes met and they almost choked on the word as they said,
"Magatsuhi."