Chapter Seventeen: Kagome or not Kagome?
Disclaimer: I only own Tetsuya and Kimiko. Please do not take them or abuse them. They are NOT real characters in Rumiko Takahashi's "Inuysaha". If you do steal them I will be very sad. Thank you. Good bye.
Chapter 17: Kagome or not Kagome?
"Let go!" Inuyasha's focus was shattered as Kagome suddenly screamed into his ear. She started squirming violently. His eyes snapped from Kagura to her, but nothing was wrong. Thin wisps of her dark hair fell into her face as she thrashed wildly against his hold. She was like an animal in a cage, struggling desperately to get free. She was terrified. "Let me go!" She demanded so loudly that it made his ears ring. He flattened them against his head instinctively, but it didn't help.
"Kagome what are you-"
"I said let go!" She shrieked with another violent thrash. It almost like she couldn't hear him. "Let go of me now, you filthy demon! I said let me go!" Her eyes suddenly shot up to connect with his. They were so cold. They were full of hate, and fear, and anger… In those few seconds he could tell that she despised him. The thought sunk in slowly like molasses, even Kagome seemed to be moving in slow motion. 'It's…It's not her… Kagome wouldn't look at me like that.' Memories of the way she looked when laughed and when she smiled… the way she looked when she looked at him… when she spoke to him… they all flashed into his mind in an instant. And then it all made sense.
He dropped her and switched sword hands from right to left in the span of a second. How could he have been so blind? How could he have not understood why Naraku's scent was all over her? Why she'd denied her own name… or why she had looked at him that way? The real Kagome, his Kagome, would have never looked at him that way. He knew as he stared at her staring back at him that it was a trick. It was Naraku's trick. His rage crashed around inside him like an ocean as he realized that he had fallen for it again. How could he have let himself?
Tetsuigia's tip was pressed against her neck, putting her in serious danger of having her throat slit, and from the look on her face, she knew it. "Who are you?" he growled as he spoke, making his voice sound rough. He was so angry that he could barely keep himself from just slashing her throat open then and there. Damn that Naraku… How dare he? How dare he send someone to impersonate her?
'Because he knew you would fall for it.' He told himself silently, mentally pummeling himself. 'He knew you would fall for it. Naraku knew she would be the one thing that could weaken you…' He knew those were the reasons, and he hated himself for it.
The demon… or whoever he or she was opened Kagome's mouth to reply, but seemed too scared or surprised to move.
"I've already asked you once and I'm not going to ask you again." He snapped, as he pressed the blade farther into her throat. The Tetsuigia made a very shallow cut with its tip, a thin pink line of blood now ran down the silver edge. "Who are you!"
"I…" She breathed deeply, wincing at the pain of the blade. "Am… Sayuri…. Asakura, Sayuri."
Inuyasha moved the blade from the middle of her neck to directly under her chin. His eyes and his voice seemed to threaten her darkly, "Change it."
Kagome frowned, confused, her chin held upward now because of the Tetsuigia. Her face tilted upwards, she looked down her nose to see him. "My name?" She asked quietly, afraid to speak to loudly.
"No, you idiot!" Inuyasha roared. "I don't care about your name or what face you assume, but leave this one ALONE!"
"What are you-" She gasped as the man pressed the sword little harder against her skin. It was barely a difference from before, but she could feel it. "What are you talking about!" She could feel the fear of impending death against her neck, and those captivating golden eyes… they were so angry.
"Change now!" Inuyasha demanded. "And don't you ever, ever even think about taking on this form ever again! Do you hear me!"
"I don't know what you're talking about! I can't-"
"Don't!" He cut her off, he sounded almost vicious. "I know he had you take this shape try to get to me." He said, his voice suddenly lowering to a growl. "And if you think that just because you look like her means I won't be able to kill you, you're dead wrong. In fact, it's because of this that you've royally pissed me off." His voice suddenly grew quieter, his face looming up into hers. "And If you ever violate her memory like this again, I swear I'll be washing my hands in your filthy blood before you can even blink. Now for the last time," he said, his eyes narrowing. "Change! Shape!"
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and glared at him with a mask of Kagome's face. It was strange how this demon could imitate her so perfectly… "I can't!"
"Do it!" He roared.
"For the last time, I told you, I CAN'T!"
"If you don't want your throat cut, then change your shape, now!"
"I TOLD YOU I CAN'T!" She cried, suddenly furious. "If you're so fed up with the way I look, why don't you just kill me already!"
He was almost over the edge… almost. "You asked for it." He said with a snarl as he pulled his sword back, readying himself to cut through the imposter's throat. But as the Tetsuigia started its deadly dive forwards, she gasped, her eyes so wide in fear… that he froze. His hand, no matter how hard he tried to drive it forwards, would not listen. All he could seem to do was stare at her. He knew it was a trick. It had to be a trick, but… he saw so much of Kagome in her.
Kagome had closed her eyes, preparing herself for the pain of being killed. But when she realized that it was taking longer than it should have, she cautiously opened one eye a little to look at him… then the other. Then she began to frown, doing a surprisingly good job of masking the fear he could smell radiating off of her. "Well?" She whispered, somewhat defiantly. "You talk big. Where's the backup?"
There it was again. Kagome used to always say that to him whenever he had been bragging. And while he was furious that whoever she or he was had the nerve to try and impersonate her, a small piece of him felt as if he had somehow been given a little bit of her back. And he didn't want to lose that either. He couldn't kill her, despite his rage, because she seemed so much like the real Kagome he had lost a year ago…
"Damn it!" He muttered under his breath as he sheathed his sword again with a metal scraping noise. "You got lucky this time." He said, for some reason unable to meet her eyes.
"What?" She breathed. She could hardly believe it. What had changed his mind?
"I said you got lucky."
"I did?"
"Yeah." He said as he studied the road. "I'm not gonna kill you right away. I'm gonna kill you after fight you."
"Wh-what!"
"You can understand Japanese, can't you?" He asked, his voice icy. "Now fight me," he said, locking himself into combat position, "that's what you came here to do anyway wasn't it?"
"N-no." She said weakly. "I didn't-" he raised an eyebrow, questioning, and it occurred to her that she had come to fight him. Oops. "I mean Naraku asked me to." She said. Inuyasha scoffed at that.
"Nothing new. I see he's still sending out other people to do his dirty work." He said, as if thinking about something nasty. "Feh… still a coward."
At that Kagome became suddenly annoyed. But she wasn't sure if it was because of what he had said, or just the way he had said it. She lifted her head a little higher as she looked at him. "Naraku told me that you're murdering people." She said, raising her fingertips to the cut on her throat. It was bleeding…
"He told you what?" Inuyasha made a face that would have seemed comical if she hadn't been scared to death of him. She could practically read his thoughts, they were somewhere between the question 'huh?' and furious outrage.
"That's what he told me." She said. "And he asked me to come and kill you."
"And take on Kagome's shape…" He said absently, still frowning. "Just to get to me… heh…" he laughed a little, but the emotion wasn't behind his eyes. "You've got some nerve, trying to toy with my feelings like that. But then… I guess that always was Naraku's style."
Kagome heard the question start to form in her mind. 'What is he talking abo-'
"Kagome!"
Both Kagome and Inuyasha were torn out of their conversation. Sango was running towards them, breathless, the Hiraikotsu held above her head.
'What is it with these people and giant weapons?' Kagome thought to herself, staring at the ridiculously sized boomerang without quite knowing what to make of it. It was huge, even taller than the girl who bore it. It might have even been bigger than Inuyasha's sword.
"Don't." Inuyasha held out his hand to stop her. "It's not Kagome."
"What?" Sango breathed, stopping abruptly and shifting her weight backwards as if readying herself to be attacked. Kagome studied Sango carefully. But didn't recognize her at all. She couldn't help but feel that she should have…
"She's a fake." Inuyasha said coldly. "Naraku sent her."
"He what?" Sango's voice completely changed, suddenly sounding bitter. The older girl stared at Kagome, making the latter shift uncomfortably. Suddenly Sango's grip tightened on her enormous boomerang, her eyes narrowing in disgust. "And I suppose Kohaku is waiting for me somewhere in the forest, isn't he?" Sango asked her.
"Who?"
"Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about!" Sango's temper flared up without warning. "Is Kohaku alive or isn't he!"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" Kagome said honestly. Who was Kohaku? "I…" Kagome started, feeling flustered. "I don't even know him."
"He's only a boy." Sango said. "If he's alive you've seen him at Naraku's palace. And if you haven't…" The slayer's eyes dipped to the ground for only a moment, before abruptly snapping back to Kagome. "Naraku told me a while ago that he had removed the shard in my brother's back that was keeping him alive." Sango said quietly, her voice strangely dangerous. "Is that true?"
"What?"
"Is it!" The exterminator demanded, her hand moving towards the hilt of her sword.
Kagome felt herself begin panic. This woman was going to kill her too. Couldn't she get a break today? She found herself turning to Inuyasha for his help. But the hanyou was looking grimly at Kagome, his eyes hard and uncaring. She realized with a twang of pain that he wasn't going to help her. Wait… why had she even thought was going to in the first place? He was her enemy. She had established this before! Inuyasha stood beside Sango like an ally obviously placing himself on her side. 'That's right. Naraku said that Inuyasha had two friends. But where is the other one?'
"If you won't answer me, then I suppose I'll just have to kill you." Sango stated matter-of-factly. "Prepare yourself."
"Prepare myself?" Kagome echoed, slightly shocked.
"Die!" Sango was moving towards her faster than Kagome had ever imagined a human being could have. There was no way she could've dodge the slayer's attack… no way in hell. In fact, if Kagura hadn't then chosen to interfere, Sango would have probably killed her. And then there would be no story. .
"Dance of the Blades!" The sorceress's voice echoed through the tiny valley, seeming to even shake the leaves which were bathing in the bright sunlight. Kagome watched as little half moons of light showered down around the three of them. They were like strange clods of snowflakes… only frightening.
The half demon grunted, his arm going up over his head, his red sleeve deflecting the little silver moons, but tearing slightly at the forearm. Sango however, was not so lucky. "Ah!" The slayer cringed, stopping dead in her tracks, sword falling into the dust. The shower of moons was over within seconds, and Sango's right shoulder was bleeding. The cut was crude and deep, Kagome watched in slight shock as red liquid started seeping steadily into the black fabric of the uniform.
"Sango!" Inuyasha lowered his arm and looked at the girl worriedly. He was next to her in a matter of seconds.
"My arm…" Sango said slowly through clenched teeth. She sucked in air, making a hissing noise as she sunk to the ground. "Damn it!"
Kagome started forwards, instinctively, reaching out to help the girl before she stopped herself. What was she thinking? She backed away, having to force herself to leave them alone. Sango had been about to kill her before Kagura had attacked them…
Inuyasha however, had noticed the gesture before Kagome had backed away, looking troubled. He frowned slightly, noticing how conflicted the girl appeared to be. Had she really been reaching out to help them?
Kagura landed down in the dirt beside Kagome. A soft cloud of yellow dust rising up to her ankles as a white feather drifted down to her open palm. She placed it in her hair with one single movement while Kagome watched. Before she knew it she was in the sorceress's face. "Kagura!" She shouted, sounding slightly desperate. "What do you think you're doing!"
Kagura leaned back, a look of distain coming over her face. "Saving you, Lady Sayuri." She said tartly, "What did it look like I was doing?"
Inuyasha watched as the demon pretending to be Kagome opened her mouth and then closed it again, seemingly torn. Finally she fell silent, defeated and watched Sango worriedly.
'What is going on here?' He thought silently to himself. 'If she's on Naraku's side, then why does she look so upset?'
Sango's breath was labored against the pain. She clutched at her bleeding shoulder tightly, her face twisted in discomfort.
"Is she going to be all right?" Kagome asked Kagura softly, trying to make sure that neither Inuyasha or Sango could hear her. She didn't see the way Inuyasha's tears flicked ever so slightly at her words. She didn't know he had super hearing. She couldn't have. She didn't remember.
The hanyou studied her carefully from the corner of his golden eyes. Something was weird about her. But he couldn't quite tell what it was.
"Why should you care about this woman's well being?" Kagura asked loudly. Great. Kagome felt her body tense. Now both Sango and Inuyasha knew that she had been asking about it. And if it seemed weird to her, what would they think? "It's not as if the two of you are friends." Kagura said carefully, testing her.
"Er… n-no." Kagome said, thrown off guard by the unexpected remark. "We're…" She hesitated, watching the other girl as Sango's dark brown eyes tightened, her face whitening. "We're not." She said.
Inuyasha was watching carefully. Now he knew something was wrong. She was acting way too strangely for his liking.
'This isn't getting us anywhere.' Kagura thought angrily to herself. She listened, and although she was unable to hear the Samyosho, she thought she knew that they were there.
'Why are you telling me this, Kanna?' She could hear herself asking her little sister again.
'Because you yearn for your freedom. And she is the key to everything…' (A/N: See chapter 3).
'My freedom…' She thought longingly to herself. 'Is it worth the risk?' She hesitated, knowing that she was taking a huge chance… 'But…' the wind sorceress thought to herself 'It might be the only way…' She made up her mind, pushing away her fear.
"Tell me, Sayuri," Kagura said suddenly, her eyes no longer watching her, but instead looking forcefully at Inuyasha. The young man was visibly confused at the sudden demand for eye-contact. "Now that you've seen this man, have any of the memories of your past returned?" She asked, willing Inuyasha to understand. "Or haven't you been able to recall anything about who you are yet?"
"What?" Inuyasha felt his breath come up slightly short. She didn't have any memory?
At this point Kagome had been taken by complete surprise. "Uh… no…" She said, trying once again to batter down the stonewall in her mind. But then it always made her feel sort of weak to try and recall her past. "I don't remember… anything." She said regretfully.
There was an extremely long silence. Kagura let everything that had just passed between herself and the girl sink in to Inuyasha's mind. She knew he had been listening. "Hmph." She said after a while when the silence was too long to be natural. "Pity."
Suddenly Inuyasha stood up and stepped forwards. "Hey." He said, sounding strangely emotionless.
Kagome turned and looked at the silver haired hanyou as he produced his sword. "Hit me with one of your arrows." He said, preparing himself for a fight.
"Wh-what?"
Even Kagura seemed to be thrown off guard by the strange request.
"You heard me, wench." Inuyasha said, trying to make her angry. "Shoot me or I'll kill you."
"You're… You're not serious!" Kagome said, sounding slightly frantic.
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
"Kagura," Kagome said, turning to the sorceress. "I can't-"
"HAHH!"
Kagome screamed as she saw a red blur rushing towards her. A lock of her hair dropped to the lightly to the ground, immediately covered by little particles of yellowed dust in the earth. Sango watched carefully. She could tell that Inuyasha had aimed to miss.
Kagome stood stock still, her back painfully straightened before she turned around rigidly to see Inuyasha standing behind her, his sword held at the ready. "Next time I won't miss you." He said, his eyes deadly serious. "Now are you going to defend yourself or what?" Inuyasha demanded. "Shoot me with one of your arrows!"
"You've… You've got to be kidding!" Kagome breathed. She didn't know how to shoot a bow and arrow.
"I warned you!" Inuyasha said, readying himself for another charge. "If you don't shoot I'm going to slice you in two!"
She turned to Kagura desperate. The wind sorceress was watching Inuyasha. She didn't seem to notice Kagome asking for help.
"One!" Inuyasha warned.
Kagome felt her body freeze.
"Two!"
'Oh my God…'
"Three!"
He was coming at her again, his eyes watching her, calculating distances and timing to precise results. He knew what he was doing, and his voice was replayed in her head. 'Next time won't miss you…' She couldn't bring herself to move. She was so afraid. Inuyasha held up his massive sword and it erupted into golden light.
"WIND SCAR!" CLANG! Kagome watched in wonder as the arrow ricocheted off Inuyasha's blade and embedded itself in the dirt, tip down. And then, quite suddenly, the sword in Inuyasha's hand shrunk down to life-size before her very eyes. Yup. There was no denying it. The Tetsuigia was actually shrinking, all the while humming softly as the metal recovered from Kagome's arrow.
The priestess herself was still in shock. She hadn't even realized she had shot the arrow. It had just happened. One minute she was standing there, ready to be sliced and diced, and then the next her hand was flying to her quiver of arrows, stringing the ebony bow and letting it loose. The silence screamed at her as everyone became rigidly immobile, their eyes watching her carefully, making her feel incredibly small and embarrassed.
Everyone had seen the bright trail of light that had enveloped her arrow and streamed through the air behind it. It was a holy light. And although she didn't know it, it was also the symbol of Kikyo's sacred arrow… Kagome's arrow.
"Kaogme." Inuyasha breathed, slamming the Tetsuigia back into its hilt. Not seeming to care that it had been rendered useless. "It is you!"
"What?" She said softly to herself, still unable to recover. "… What!"
"That's your arrow! I know it!" He was suddenly face to face with her, staring intently, and seeming to have lost all respect for personal space. "I'd recognize it anywhere!"
She stepped away from the overly excited hanyou, confused and a little afraid. Was he going to make another threat to kill her again?
"Kagome, listen to me." Inuaysha said, reaching forwards and grabbing both of her hands, ignoring the way she instantly blushed and tried to back away from him. "You name is not Sayuri!" He said forcefully, as if he thought that the sharper his words were the more she would be inclined to believe them. "Whatever Naraku had been telling you is a lie!"
That's what made her snap. Instantly her anger was boiling over the rim, taking even her by surpise. "Stop lying." She said, yanking her hands from his, remembering exactly who it was that she was dealing with. "Don't you dare say something like that to me!"
"I'm saying it because it's true!" Inuyasha cut her off, seeming to want to take a hold of her again somehow, making her stumble backwards. "He's done something to you to make you believe your someone else!"
"What are you talking about!" She shouted, defensive, "Naraku would never do anything like that to me!"
"Yes, he would."
Kagome turned around to see the girl, Sango, struggling to an unstable stand, blood dripping from her fingertips as she stood hunched in the road. "Naraku always does things like that," she said, her face downcast and focused on the road. "He's always taking advantage of people who are weaker than him." Her liquid brown eyes lifted to meet Kagome's, imploring her to understand… to believe. But Kagome couldn't. She couldn't betray Naraku. He loved her. She knew he did. "Kagome," Sango said, her voice so incredibly gentle. "You have to believe us… don't you even recognize? Can't you even tell that Naraku's been lying to you?"
"No!" Kagome yelled, backing away from her. "Naraku wouldn't lie to me!"
Kagrua rolled her eyes at that. If only she knew…
"And what makes you so damn sure you can trust him!" Inuyasha demanded angrily, the whole situation too frustrating for him to even keep his voice even. "What makes you so God damned sure that he's not lying to you, Kagome?"
She opened her mouth to reply… but she couldn't speak. She was so afraid. What if they were right? What if they… 'No.' She shook her head fiercely, trying to shake the horrible thoughts out of her head. 'They're not right. They're not! If they were…' her stomach twisted at the thought. 'If they were it would be…' "You aren't right!" She screamed at Inuyasha before whirling around to face Sango. "Neither of you are! Naraku's the one who found me, and he's the one who cares about me!" She screamed, never admitting to the fact that a part of herself had been unsure. "You're the liar!" She screamed, as if she said it loud enough, it would force it to be true. And yet, even though she was trying to believe herself with everything she had, there was something squirming inside her stomach, nagging at the back of her mind… she didn't know what it was. But she didn't like it.
"Kag-"
"Don't call me that!" She whirled around to face Inuyasha, unaware of the tears streaming down her face. "That's not my name!"
"It is!" Inuyasha shouted back with just as much anger. "You know it is! If you didn't you wouldn't be crying!"
"I-" Kagome stopped in mid sentence. 'Crying?' Slowly she lifted her fingertips to her cheeks. They were warm and wet. She was crying. 'What… what is this?' She asked herself as she stared at her glistening fingertips, little droplets streaking down her face now and landing in her open palm. 'Why am I crying like this? I'm not… I'm not sad… am I?'
"Kagome." She jumped, Inuyasha had moved closer than she thought. "Look at me, Kagome." He said firmly, his golden eyes not allowing her to look away. "Look at me and tell me you don't recognize me." She bit her lower lip, trying her best just to hold herself together. "Tell me you don't feel anything when you look at me." He said softly, she was sure she was the only one who could hear.
"I…" She forced herself to speak, feeling herself start to break down. "I don't feel anything…" she said softly, willing herself to finish, "when I look at you."
She was lying. She did feel something. She felt a lot of something, but she was too afraid of it to try and figure out what it was. Or even admit that she felt it at all.
Inuyasha was either a great actor, or he had actually allowed her to see his face when he was genuinely hurt. It was only for a grand total of three seconds. But she still saw it. She saw it so clearly that she found herself wishing she hadn't said it at all. But then, an instant after she had thought she saw the weakness, his face hardened over like a mask. "Are you lying?" he asked hardly, and she could tell he was on the edge of losing it.
She couldn't bring herself to say anything. Part of her was screaming to say 'YES! YES YES YES! GOD YES, I AM LYING! AND I AM SO SORRY! JUST STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!" But the other part was too proud, and too scared to allow it.
She found he was looking at her so intensely, searching for something again. "… I…" she breathed unable to continue. "I'm not."
A/N: Ok! (cheery smile) time to stop! This chapters just too long! Hahahah! … ha… ha… hey…. Why are you all looking at like that? What… what are you doing? AHH! NO STAY AWAY! Just kidding. Anyway I didn't really want to end it here. Its just that the chapters so dang long. I couldn't stand to drag it out any longer! But rest assured I know exactly what's gonna happen next. So you wont have to wait long ok? Ok.
Also...
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! THE REVIEWS ARE WHAT KEEPS ME GOING! (hint: the nicer the review the quicker the chapter update.) Anyway, I really do luv you all for reviewing. Oh and Mia: My special thanks to you! That is seriously the best thing i have ever had anyone say about my wiriting! thank you! Thank you! (sob sob). and HelikaAkileh, just wondering, whichpart made youthat emotional? And lastly,its nicetoknow you're out thercrazylady123, i saw your name when i looked at MMH's stat'sa while ago, its so nice to get areview from you! Onceagain,thank you ALL so so SOOOOO much!
xox
nanirian