Chapter 47

As they drew closer, they could sense the barrier. It was strong and they could feel it was made with energy siphoned from Kagome because despite the indigo-black color of the barrier, it glimmered with her signature pink in little shards of light. Toga turned to Inuyasha. "You can break this with your red Tessaiga, but likely only after Kagome breaks her curse. We must wait for her."

"Fuck that! Who knows what that maniac is doing to her? I vote we barge our way in there!" Inuyasha exclaimed.

Toga and Sesshoumaru both checked their watches. "Inuyasha, we still have 32 minutes until midnight. Everything put in motion was done to preserve the date in the prophecy. We dare not deviate now," Toga said.

"Kagome is the chosen of this Sesshoumaru. She can hold her own until the appointed hour."

"Yeah. You so sure of that?" Inuyasha challenged.

Sesshoumaru looked away, a tell tale twitch at the corner of his eye marring his mask of indifference, unable to answer his brother.

"Enough," Toga said. "There is no room for doubt."

"Agreed. Yasha, babe, you need to knock it off. Besides, she knows to break the curse if things get out of hand," Shiori cautioned.

….

Things were definitely out of hand. Everyone was depending on her to keep herself out of trouble until midnight and she had let herself get drugged by way of her own, stupid relationship between her emotions and food. She knew her father was intelligent and dangerous but she had underestimated him and it had cost her. She was naked, in a tub full of herbs that dulled her holy powers and thus her healing, having ingested something in the cough syrup that acted quickly to restrain her physically and the monster that was her father was bathing her and taking liberties with her body.

If she could get out of this water, her healing and power would return underneath the spell she and Kaede had woven to mask them from Naraku and she could purify the poison from her system, but for now she was at his mercy. She couldn't even summon the energy to break the curse and alert her family, who surely had followed her GPS signal and would be near by now.

She struggled to move her left forearm up out of the water so she could see the watch face on her wrist, masking the movement with a look of discomfort so her father would think she was merely readjusting her body in the tub. She waited until he looked away, distracted by her wet, naked body as his cold hands traveled over her flesh, to check the time. 11:32. 'Shit.' Sesshoumaru was going to go insane when he found out what she had let happen and she needed him to keep a clear head for the battle. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do until he was done bathing her.

She had been lost in her thoughts, trying to distance herself from what was happening when she caught his movement in his lap. 'Shit. Shit. Shit!' Wide, panicked eyes watched as he untied the drawstring on his pants and pulled his erect penis out, stroking himself with his left hand as his right moved between her legs. A single tear fell. She cursed her weakness and stupidity. Sesshoumaru would never forgive her.

…

Sesshoumaru was pacing like a dog sensing an oncoming storm. Something was not right. He knew it. He had a feeling of dread in his heart and a prickle of fear for his chosen at the back of his neck. He checked his watch for the third time in a minute. It was still 11:39. Had time stopped just to mock him?

He found his brother's eyes and silently communicated his worry. Inuyasha's eyes flashed and he nodded minutely.

Inuyasha unsheathed a transformed Tessaiga, summoned its red, barrier-breaking ability and struck all in one lightning-fast motion. Toga's shout of, "No!" was ignored as Inuyasha's sword shot a blast of power at the barrier.

Nothing happened. He swung his sword again. Still nothing. And then a sound that chilled their blood. A dark, rumbling chuckle.

….

He had shot his seed on her, actually had sprayed his release all over her face and her breasts. It had seemed like there was no end to it and she was filled with shame. She needed to get this mess off of her. Now.

Overwhelmed with her feelings of shame and of being unclean, she lost rational thought and fought desperately to submerge herself in the water to rid herself of his filthy ejaculate. She managed to get her body and face under the water and tried, unsuccessfully, to move her arms to clean herself. Then she tried shaking her head and barely managed it.

She opened her eyes under the water and realized it was red-tinged with her blood. She knew he hadn't bothered to sheath his claws as he touched her between her legs, but she had been so out of it, she obviously hadn't realized the damage he had caused. 'Great. One more thing to drive Sesshoumaru into madness.' Perhaps the herbs in the water dulled her pain as well? It must be a side effect, because the man—hanyou—she knew enjoyed causing her pain.

She saw the image of that hanyou smiling wickedly down through the rippling water at her and she had an awful sense of foreboding. He leaned towards her and said, "Your dog has come after you, little slut. I can only imagine the pleasures you must have given him to inspire such a gesture." Her eyes blazed with hatred. "I must leave you now to ensure our guests are properly greeted. I did promise you Daddy would take care of things for you and that is exactly what I intend to do. When you wake up, your mutts will be dead and you will be free to love your Daddy again." He called over his shoulder for Kanna, chuckled darkly and got up, leaving her struggling desperately to surface her face from the bloody, herbed water before she drowned.

…

"Fool!" Toga shouted. "He knows we're here now and we are separated from Kagome, making her a hostage! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Yes, Inuyasha, what were you thinking?" a darkly feminine voice like freshly brewed espresso asked.

"Kagura!" Inuyasha exclaimed. "'Bout time you showed up. Where's Kagome?"

"Where do you think? In the exuberant claws of my master."

"Well, let us in already! We have to find her!"

"You truly are a fool. I no more have the power to help you breach the barrier than I do to free myself. Naraku has sent me to you and I must appear to obey." A look of sadness passed over her face before she shook it off. "I am your opponent! Dance of Blades!" She whipped her fan and sent blades formed of wind at the group, forcing them to jump and dodge to avoid being hit with the attack.

….

What limited strength she had was seeping away. She couldn't hold her breath any longer and knew she would drown before her family reached her—there still had to be several minutes before midnight. Her last thought was that Sesshoumaru would forever think her a fool for playing so thoroughly into Naraku's hand. 'I love you, Sesshoumaru.'

She let out the last of her air, involuntarily taking in a lungful of water and choked before everything went black.

…..

The little void demon stretched out her perception, finding Naraku rapidly approaching the other end of the house, towards his chambers. He had given her her orders earlier and she knew what he expected of her. Kagura was pretending to fight her other sister's friends at the edge of the barrier. She hurried to the bathroom to do what must be done.

She found her sister in the tub, eyes wide in fear, but still. The water was still barely moving so there was time. She reached under the water and grabbed at the woman, pulling her up and out of the water and laying her on the cold, tile floor.

She placed her hand in the air over the woman's mouth and concentrated her power, forming a vacuum and sucking the water from her lungs in a spurt that disappeared in the void she created in her palm. Coughing and sputtering, the girl returned violently to consciousness, blinking her eyes to focus them on the small, white, childlike demon above her returning her gaze with a blank stare. Had this girl saved her?

"Hello, Sister. Please remain calm. I came to help because you could not help yourself," she whispered.

Sister? "Naraku?" she queried quietly.

"He has been distracted by the arrival of your family. Rest. The effects of the water will wear off in a moment and you may rid yourself of his poison."

"Rid myself…how did you know?"

"I have made many private rebellions over the years, Sister. Keeping the secret of your power from him was my greatest one until today."

"Kanna?"

"Yes, I am Kanna and you are Kagome, daughter of my master, the only one who can deliver the world from his evil."

"You've seen much, haven't you?" This demon girl looked to be no more than 8 or 9 but spoke with the certainty of an ancient prophet.

"Where do the gods live but in heaven and hell, surrounded by the void. I hear their plans and know their machinations by nature of my existence, something I have also kept secret."

'Thank the gods.' To think, all this time Naraku's creation had been able to observe the plans of the gods and he had been unaware. Things could have been a million times worse. She felt her body begin to heal itself and felt for the first time the deep pain from where her father had gouged her tender flesh with his claws as he had molested her in the water. As flesh sewed together, she winced, but also felt the effects of the drug she had inadvertently ingested fading away.

Kanna helped her sit up, covering her with a towel, and went to find her something to wear. When the girl left the room, Kagome looked to her watch. 11:56. Almost time.

Kanna returned with a green and white yukata. Kagome had returned to a healthy weight but her frame remained much larger than Kagura's petite one and hers were the only adult female clothes in the home. She got to her feet and slipped her arms into the robe, frowning when she saw how short it was and how deep her cleavage was despite how she attempted to pull the edges of the fabric together. Deciding it was better than nothing, she sighed at her reflection in the mirror.

"Kanna, why do you call me 'sister?'"

"Because we were both created by Naraku, both used for his demented pleasures and both wish for his demise. Do you see?"

Sadness and empathy washed over her face. "Yes, I see, Sister." She smiled a small smile down at the girl who merely stared vacantly back at her. "You must stay close to me. I will not let him hurt you again."

"That is brave of you to say, but my master holds my life and that of our sister, Kagura, in his breast pocket. If I wish to survive, I must leave you for now and do as Kagura is doing, giving him no reason to doubt my loyalty."

"No—," Kagome was interrupted by the alarm on her watch beeping.

"We all must play our part in this story. Do not worry if you cannot save us all, Sister." With that, she turned and left the room.

….