Chapter 3 – The Demon Inside
"I do not know," she admitted. Everyone turned to face her. She kept her gaze on Kurama, but now, had in her hands a bright red jewel, a perfect sphere.
"What do you mean?" Sango asked. Her voice was soft and caring for her close friend. Sarome turned her gaze from Kurama to Sango and Miroku. "Can't you apparate them home like you did with yourselves?"
"It doesn't work that way, Sango. We have to be a part of that world to be able to apparate there, and if we didn't, like we can apparate them home, but, we would land in a completely different dimension, that is parallel to theirs. It is a complicated system," Shelbra said.
"She's right. I could use Hikaru to send them, and they could land in their homes, yet, a thousand years in the future. It really isn't an easy process, and it takes a lot of power, more than the four of us combined will be able to savor the trip, and then be able to come back, and I can't do it today, because it is the night of the full moon."
"What's up with the full moon?" Yusuke asked. Sarome turned her gaze towards Yusuke. Her eyes seemed to flash a cool bluish-gray before it turned back to its fiery red. She looked around, her, but her claws grew a few centimeters. She put her hand to her neck and began to snarl like a cat; a very angry cat.
"It's Naraku!" Tarja yelled, and jumped down the branch to the ground. She laid Sarome flat on the ground and she started to convulse like she was having a seizure. Her eyes were forced shut, and her fangs became sharper. "Sarome!" she yelled. The girl stopped instantly. Her eyes flew open, and they were completely white. There was no pupil, no iris, no nothing. She looked dead. No part of her body was moving.
"He's doing it again!" Shippo yelled. The little two-tailed cat that was on Sango's lap transformed into a larger form, and she pounced over Sarome's body. "Kirara, can you help her?"
The giant cat growled, and began to snarl, her eyes, close to the same color red as Sarome's looked angry, yet hurt at the same time. She took her sheathed claws and smacked Sarome across the face with them.
Her eyes regained their pupils, only the cat-like slits.
Kirara smack her again, and Sarome convulsed, making the same snarling sound. She pulled her legs under Kirara and pushed her off of her. Sarome was no longer in a human form, but in a four-pawed, three tailed, cat demon, in full form. On her forehead, was a spider, as red as a drop of blood. Her fangs were twice the size of Kirara's, and flames burned at her paws, where the fur was black.
"Sarome!" Miroku yelled, running up to the cat-demon. She lashed out at him, claws unsheathed. Something was not right. The claws on Sarome just barely missed Miroku. Inuyasha unsheathed his sword.
"What are you doing?!" Jin yelled, letting his wind lift him off of the ground. Everyone else was on their feet, a good distance from the cat.
"It is the only way!" Inuyasha yelled. Bands of wind formed around the fang, and Kurama could see Shelbra helping him a little bit. She was using her air power to hold Sarome where she was. When Jin tried to interfere, Sango pulled him out of the way, and Tarja was standing next to the demon slayer.
"Trust us, Jin," Sango said, letting him go, but she still held her giant bone boomerang at the ready. "We know what we are doing."
"Sarome," Inuyasha hissed. "Come back! Wind Scar!" Inuyasha slammed his giant fang on the ground, and yellow slashes came across the ground, right toward Sarome. Dust filled the air, and everyone's vision was blurred. When it dimmed, the human form of Sarome laid on the ground. The scars on her neck were bleeding, but everywhere else she looked fine. Her ears twitched as Tarja and Shelbra ran to her side, and she pulled herself up, but her arms failed.
"Sarome, stay still," Tarja ordered. The cat demon rolled over on her back, and Kurama sighed in relief to see her eyes were back to their original fiery red. Tarja unrolled a wrap from her wrist and tied it around Sarome's neck, and then placed her hands on it. The wrap turned a bright gray, and then a blood red. She removed the wrap, even as it dripped with Sarome's blood. "Are you Ok?"
"I know how they got here," she said, wincing in pain as the skin closed over her blood in front of Kurama's very eyes. Everyone gathered around her, trying to hear what she had to say. "Naraku…" she said, and her voice faded off.
"Sarome?" Kurama asked. Shelbra shook her head.
"No, she's just past out. She is the only one that is able to transform like that, either by her will or not, but if she does do it on her own will, she forgets who she is, and who we are. She has taught her body not to refer to that part of her blood."
"What do you mean?" Kurama asked.
"She's a half-demon, Kurama," Tarja said, looking up from her friend up to her. "She is the reason I am here. I wasn't one of the original three; I came on my own will, and found I was also a half-demon. We each have a purpose here. I am here to protect Sarome from transforming, Shelbra is here to watch over the others, Katoma is here for reasoning."
"Why is Sarome here?" Touya asked.
Everyone looked at Shelbra and Tarja, who looked worried. "Why is Sarome here?" Kurama asked.
"She is the one who was prophesized to kill Naraku, with the one she cares for the most," Tarja finally said.
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked. "As a friend?"
"No, Yusuke, as in a lover. She is alone out here."