Beyond the Darkness
:::

A/N: Okay, as promised, I've written up chapter forty-seven, and, WOW, it is a whopping five-pager on a word doc! :D Yayuh! Okay, well, hope you all like it. (: ENJOY. R&R por favor. Gracias! :D -Michele

::Forty-Seven::

The look on Naraku's face was priceless, Nikala thought. It was a mixture of both horror and anger, a look of surprise to sum it all up. She wasn't sure if Naraku had been expecting Sesshomaru to arrive, that maybe he'd lost him while they flew up and disappeared into the barrier. It was at that moment that she'd been knocked out by the power of the evil aura.

The roof that Sesshomaru had ripped off so easily, like it was a petal from a flower, was still clamped in his mouth. He noticed Nikala, a flood of relief that she was safe flash across his eyes. She smiled at him before shooting some more fox fire at the wall behind her, creating a hole for her to escape. Sesshomaru tossed the roof aside while Nikala transformed into her fox form. However, as she did so, she staggered, almost collapsing. Sesshomaru saw this right away.

He knelt down to her, her fox body like a small mouse compared to his giant dog form. Sesshomaru shot a look of death at Naraku, as if he had down this. Nikala whimpered briefly before slowly getting up.

"Her pregnant body won't be able to sustain being in the fox form," Naraku mentioned with a dirty grin. "She's too weak."

Sesshomaru roared at him, toxic drooling pooling at the edges of his black lips and dripping onto the remains of the manor. The wood sizzled and burned through. Naraku shot a look of distaste at Sesshomaru.

"I'm surprised you're even balanced with just three legs," he smirked. Nikala glared.

He's trying to get a rise out of Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru's not going to fall for it, though, she thought.

Then, after hearing Naraku's retort, Sesshomaru shifted back to his humanoid shape.

"It would please me in any shape just to kill you," Sesshomaru said in his usual indifferent tone. Nikala glowered at Naraku, lowering her head slightly. Then, Sesshomaru looked down at Nikala. "You shouldn't be here with the baby. Get out of here."

Nikala suddenly glared at him and she growled. No way in each seven hell was she going to leave him. She was staying and fighting. She could protect her baby while doing so. Besides, Tairoku was watching over her.

"Oh, Nikala's not going anywhere, Lord Sesshomaru," Naraku piped, "and neither are you."

"You speak nonsense, I hope you realize," Sesshomaru remarked. Naraku chuckled.

"I speak no nonsense at all." Suddenly, long tentacles sprouted from Naraku's back, reaching out for Nikala and Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru jumped in the air effortlessly while Nikala jumped out of the way. She needed to get away from here, Sesshomaru knew, or she'd get herself killed.

You've underestimated her before. Do you think it wise to do it again? he asked himself. But then, there was this whole dilemma. None of this would be happening if he'd only kept his ground and forbade her from going off into the forest alone. He couldn't lose her again.

"Nikala! Get out of here!" he shouted at her, but she refused. Her refusal was beginning to get to him, which was making him angry. Why couldn't she just leave? Was she even thinking about the baby's safety?

Suddenly, a hoard of demons came out from behind the manor and lunged for the two demons. Sesshomaru drew Tokijin from its sheath and raised it high above his head.

"Dragon Strike!" he boomed and suddenly, a large, bluish-white dragon appeared from the sword, destroying everything in its path as it made its way to the hoard. Nikala was fighting them off as well with mouthfuls of her green flames.

Sesshomaru eyed her briefly, just making sure she was okay. He could see how her body was more rounded because of her pregnancy.

Get the hell out of here, Nikala! It isn't safe! he protested in his mind. Before Nikala, Sesshomaru had never known what it was like to be refused upon, unless it involved a fight. But he had no desire to battle Nikala ever. He just couldn't understand why she was sticking to the area.

Naraku surrounded himself with another barrier, a bubble like he'd used when he'd kidnapped Nikala. As he left the manor, floating high into the sky, both Nikala and Sesshomaru could see Naraku's body expanding, horns and tentacles and scaly armor ripping out his kimono. Sesshomaru clenched his sword, but made no expression of horror, like Naraku would have preferred. He produced more demons from behind the manor and, once again, Sesshomaru attacked with the Dragon Strike. However, that didn't stopped the demons from coming. Horde after horde after horde, there was no end to them. Nikala helped with her fox fire, but it wasn't doing much.

And then, suddenly, Sesshomaru felt so overwhelmed with fatigue. He'd been in the dog form for so long, it had taken so much out of him. He swayed ever so slightly, but remained calm, though inside, he thought this couldn't be happening at an even worse moment.

"Just give up," Sesshomaru advised. "You won't win. You'll never reach my standards."

Naraku merely smirked. "It doesn't look that way, Almighty Dog Lord. You've been weakened by fatigue. And once your baby is born, I'll become even stronger than you."

Glaring, Sesshomaru swung his ribbon claws at Naraku and his barrier, though it failed to do much.

Nikala ran to Sesshomaru's side, changing back to her humanoid shape as well.

"Sesshomaru," she said softly, wrapping her arms around him.

"Nikala, you shouldn't be here," he muttered. Nikala pressed her head against his chest, hearing the slow beats of his heart. He was tired. Had the transformation from humanoid to dog-form worn him out?

"Neither should you, in this state," Nikala reasoned, lifting her head and looking into his eyes. He placed his solitary hand on her elbow and looked up at Naraku. He was glaring so intently at their embrace, it made something stir inside Sesshomaru. Was Naraku somewhat jealous of this embracement? Did he have feelings for his mate?

Everyone's in love with Nikala! First the monk, now Naraku?

Naraku began to lower himself onto the ground. Both Nikala and Sesshomaru wondered if he was just getting cocky. Did he think he could take on the both of them, since they were weakened? Sesshomaru made a point to prove him wrong by clutching his sword again and swung it at another oncoming horde of demons.

"You're not getting the baby," Sesshomaru said fiercly through his bared teeth.

"I highly doubt that," Naraku said. As he said that, a large swarm of demons and Saimyosho lunged for Sesshomaru only and while Sesshomaru fought all of them off, Naraku lunged for Nikala. Her eyes widened and she mustered up her fox fire quickly as Naraku's tentacle shot for her. She grabbed the tentacle with her fiery hands and it broke off, releasing a cloud of miasma. Through the miasma, Naraku appeared, face to face with Nikala. He stroke her face gently as she froze with fear.

"You're beauty is remarkable," he whispered, holding her chin delicately with his thumb and index finger. She managed to tear her chin out of his grasp, but not in time for Sesshomaru to see Naraku's actions.

"You are in love with her," Sesshomaru hissed in his ear. Naraku's eyes widened, not being able to sense Sesshomaru's appearance. He swiped his poison claws across Naraku's face. The violent gashes began to sizzle and foam as Naraku glared and cried out. He was soon reduced to a nasty, bubbling corpse, but was soon replaced by a little wooden doll.

"A golem," Sesshomaru sneered. "He's still here."

"Indeed," Naraku's voice sounded from behind. He'd become a mass of large tentacles and horns and scaly armor once more, but with many more additions. Nikala returned to her fox form and Sesshomaru was holding on to Tokijin. They faced Naraku, ready to fight.

"All I want is the baby, so in this case, I'll be needing its mother as well," Naraku said casually.

Nikala roared a refusal. Naraku shut his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, another swarm of demons chased after them. A grim smile pranced along Naraku's lips. Nikala and Sesshomaru broke off into runs as she spewed fox fire from mouth and he performed another Dragon Strike. The demons were still coming and Naraku's smile was growing wider and wider. Oh how Nikala was so sick of him. He wasn't going to take her baby, not even if her life depended on it.

She skidded to a stop to shred some demons apart with her claws and fangs. The demons kept coming. She continued using fox fire. Would there ever be an end?

Tairoku, she thought, why aren't they stopping?

Fox fire. Dragon Strike. Claws. Fangs. Sesshomaru's poison claws and Whip of Light — the ribbon claws. Nothing was stopping them. Naraku was calling them, Nikala knew. They would stop coming once he would stop calling them. He'd stop calling them once he was dead.

Nikala had no time to lose. Sesshomaru remained focused on destroying every demon that came across his path. Nikala snuck around Naraku, dodging every demon that lunged for her, so she could sneak up on him from behind. A surprise attack was much more beneficial than a forward attack.

Her heart burned with rage. He would never rise to Sesshomaru's standard because he was never going to take her baby. She hated him for underestimating her mate, for kidnapping her, for planning to steal her baby. She even hated him for saying so was so beautiful, and she didn't care if it was supposed to flatter her. It didn't.

She charged for him, every step she took her paws growing hotter and hotter until they were enflamed with her own fox fire. Her fangs were bared, a vicious expression etched all over her face. As she ran, she mustered up her fox fire inside her mouth, preparing to spew it at Naraku when she attacked.

However, little did she know, she wouldn't be spewing anything. Because, as she lunged for Naraku, he immediately turned, his eyebrows narrowed, and stabbed a thick tentacle through her chest.

"I don't love you," he hissed, even if the words weren't true. She didn't know, and she never would.

Nikala's red eyes widened and she yelped. Her paws clumsily grazed the tentacle, sort of patting it away, as if it would go away if she continued. Naraku twisted the tentacle inside her chest. Why was this happening, she wondered. And where was Sesshomaru?

Her breathing grew heavy and long, but there were long pauses as well. She coughed out a few flames of her fox fire, the fox fire she'd been holding inside her mouth.

At that moment, Sesshomaru had turned around to check on her, where she was, and whatnot. The demons had stopped coming, surprisingly, and Sesshomaru had seemed to finish the last of them. The sight of Naraku's tentacle pierced through his mate's chest made his entire body froze.

Was she … ?

Did she …?

Every system in his body seemed to shut down. He almost collapsed, even, but he managed to find the strength to stand straight. However his eyes never left her struggling body that seemed to be moving less and less with each passing minute.

It was when Sesshomaru noticed Naraku absorbing Nikala's body that he gained full consciousness of his body. He mind snapped back to reality and he charged for Naraku, holding his sword up and roaring. His eyes were turning that bloody red and the stripes on his cheeks were growing out in jagged lines. He was returning to his dog-form, only it seemed he stopped his transformation short so he wouldn't be losing much energy. Naraku noticed Sesshomaru, glared, and shot another tentacle at him to distract him, but Sesshomaru cut right through it and swung his blade down on the tentacle absorbing Nikala. It shriveled up and died and Nikala was freed.

"What did you do?" roared Sesshomaru. His anger was reaching full max. Would he still be able to contain himself?

He looked down at Nikala, his heart stopping again. She was limp, frozen, not moving. Quickly sheathing Tokijin, he unsheathed Tenseiga, but as he held it, he could not see the pale-bearers that would be taking Nikala's soul to the underworld. His anger refurbished when he realized that Tenseiga wouldn't be able to heal Nikala. He threw the sword and roared again. Why can't Tenseiga heal her?!?!

He couldn't help it. Naraku was going to die. He was going to die by Sesshomaru's own hand. As he stepped over Nikala's body, he began to transform back into the heartless demon he once was before.