Chapter 24 – Anger
Inuyasha. He was here. But… but he couldn't be… no. She wouldn't let him die here. It was her punishment, not his. Not his.
"Inuyasha!" she screamed. "Get out of here!"
"Keh. As if, wench!" he yelled right back at her.
God, why did he have to be so bloody stubborn?!
"Inuyasha, I am telling you, just go! Leave me here! God, is it really so hard?!"
"Yes! I am not leaving you! I love you, Kagome!"
Those words struck a blow to her heart. She raised her face to meet his golden eyes. They were filled with anger, confusion, pain, and… oh God. He loved her. And he wasn't going to let her go.
"I left you there so you would be safe!" she shouted. "Why did you have to come after me?"
"Because I am not going to let you die. Not like this. And not alone." He told her. Simple. Beautiful.
She sighed.
"Hope I'm not interrupting," Naraku drawled, "But I believe this is my turn to have some fun with our little Kagome. Kikyo, take care of the hanyou." He continued to walk towards Kagome, twirling the knife between his fingers, a leer on his face.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Inuyasha roared, drawing his sword.
Kagome gasped at what she saw. The rusty metal transformed as it slid smoothly out of the shabby scabbard. It grew bigger, sharper, stronger. The dilapidated katana became a weapon of majesty, a shining silver point. To protect her.
"Well well," Naraku grinned. "Looks like our little half-breed has some tricks up his sleeve. Let's even the playing field, shall we?" and with half a stride, he had gathered Kagome into his arms, his knife pressing behind her ear.
She stiffened, and tried not to scream as the cold metal sent shivers running through her body. Inuyasha, she thought, closing her eyes despairingly, Please don't do anything stupid.
"Now what are you going to do?" Naraku taunted, holding Kagome close to his body. "You can't hit me. Not without hurting her. I guess this puts you in a bit of a predicament."
Inuyasha growled, his eyes flashing red.
Oh God, no. Please don't Inuyasha! Stay with me!
As if hearing the screams within her mind, Inuyasha turned his fevered gaze to her, and his eyes resumed their normal molten gold.
She hardly dared to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Don't forget about me, my child," Kikyo purred. And she was behind Inuyasha. Suddenly, she had always been there. Kagome heard the sound of elastic, and Inuyasha felt something poke him in the shoulder. An arrow.
But… Kikyo wasn't there.
Yes she was.
But… she hadn't been.
Inuyasha was standing, stiff, too terrified to move, a low growl in his throat. His eyes desperately sought hers. He couldn't let her die. But he didn't know what to do.
No, Kagome thought. This was wrong. She knew it was. Something was wrong with the way this was.
Kagome closed her eyes. Show me what's really there, she begged.
And when she once again opened her chocolate orbs, the world was tinged with a pure, purplish light. She immediately turned to where Inuyasha stood, a deadly weapon pointed at him.
But… there was no weapon.
There was a wooden puppet behind him. That was all. A wooden doll, standing on its point on the floor. And Kikyo was standing to the side. Smiling as she extended her hand and held the doll up with a crackling, blue energy.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed. "Inuyasha, it's not real! Break the doll! It's not real; it can't hurt you!"
Without hesitating, the faith and trust he felt in her words overriding all primitive instincts for survival, he turned, a snarl on his lips, and, in a swift, fluid movement, the doll was sliced in half.
Kikyo gasped, and staggered backwards, one hand scrabbling, clasping the front of her robe, the other still raised, desperately trying to keep the blue energy flowing. But it wasn't working. She was too weak. Her cold, lidded eyes turned to Naraku. And she nodded. Oh so slightly. But Naraku still caught the movement. And, with a sinking feeling, Kagome did too. She closed her eyes. Please, please let them spare Inuyasha. Because it was too late for her. This was it.
"Such a shame," Naraku hissed into her ear, pressing the knife harder against her skin. She felt a drop of warm liquid trickle down her pale neck. "Such a shame. I was so looking forward to spending some quality time with you. Goodbye, my little Kagome."
That did it. That final declaration of possession. That was what fuelled her. A hot, heavy, burning anger filled her, running through her body like fire through oil. She felt the colour rise to her face, the heat and tingling to her fingers. She had the power. And she would not be afraid of him anymore.
"I AM NOT YOUR PROPERTY!!" She screamed, wrenching her hands and bringing them up to his face.
She felt the flesh sizzle and give way under her touch. She heard his wrenching cry of agony, but she didn't care. She was ending this. Right now. It was going to finish. She closed her eyes, and memories flashed through her, each image strengthening the power within her, each picture strengthening her resolve and hatred. Her father. The bow and arrow. The knife. Goshinboku park. Kanna. Her mother. Souta. Sango. Miroku. Koga. Ayame. Inuyasha…
She screamed.
And Naraku's body let go of her and slithered to the floor.
She heard the knife clatter to the ground.
He was dead.
She was shaking as she fell to her knees. She brought her hands to her eye level, so she could see. The strong, purple magic was still glowing. She didn't know how to stop it.
"Kagome," she heard his voice.
Inuyasha stood there, looking at her trembling form with concerned eyes. "Kagome, are you ok?" he began to walk towards her.
"Don't," she said, scrambling backwards. "Don't. I might hurt you."
"I don't care."
"Inuyasha, please," she begged him. "Stay back."
"No."
He reached down and pulled her up, not even wincing as the sacred magic burned him. "Are you hurt?"
"N-no," she said, a tremor in her voice. "Inuyasha, get away!"
"No. You're lying." He trailed a hand up to the mark on her neck.
She jerked away. "Please, Inuyasha. I don't want you to get hurt."
"And I don't care."
Hot tears ran down her face as Inuyasha pulled her into his arms. She felt her still-glowing hands burn the skin on his forearms. Please stop, she thought.
And the magic glowing on the ends of her wrist dimmed and died.
She drew in a great, shuddering breath, and surrendered herself to Inuyasha's arms.
She thought everything was perfect.
Until she heard a slow clapping behind her.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
She pulled apart from Inuyasha, dread filling her heart. Slowly, they both turned.
And met the eyes of Kikyo.
"I suppose," she said. "I really should thank you. After all, you removed Naraku for me. Saved the energy of having to do it myself."
"You never planned to share my powers with him," whispered Kagome.
Kikyo's eyes flickered. "Smart girl. But you already knew that, didn't you? He planned to kill me. I planned to kill him. The only thing binding us together was the common purpose. To kill you. Now he's gone, of course, I can achieve that so much more easily without his sick mind entangling the means."
"You will not hurt her," said Inuyasha. He removed his arm from around Kagome, and, using both hands, drew Tetsusaiga.
Kikyo laughed. "Here it straight from the lips of your protector, Kagome," she said mockingly. "There's nothing I can do to harm you. Well, except this, of course," she said, and waved a hand.
Kagome was slammed forwards into the ground, letting out a breathy grunt of pain as she impacted with the concrete.
Inuyasha moved towards her, but Kikyo stopped him midair, throwing him backwards with a crackle of blue energy. "Nu-uh," she chastised, wagging a finger. "Your turn will come soon."
She turned her attention back to the miko on the ground.
"Well, Kagome?" she asked contemptuously. "Still not going to fight back?"
With a muffled moan of pain, Kagome dragged herself up off the floor. She stood, swaying, breathing heavily. Inuyasha could only watch helplessly as she weakly shook her head.
"I wouldn't give you the satisfaction," she spat feebly.
Kikyo sighed. "Well, I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way," she said sorrowfully.
With one hand, she shot forward a blue string of lightening, and lifted Kagome into the air.
"Still nothing?" she called up to her.
A shake of the head.
"Pity," and she shook Kagome like a rag doll.
Inuyasha let out a wordless cry of indignation and anger as he watched his beloved manhandled.
Kikyo was so much worse than Naraku. She didn't care about agony, physical pain. She wanted to kill them. To break them. To maim them. From the inside out. She could destroy a victim who was still breathing without a mark on their body. And that, Inuyasha realised, was why he was so afraid. She didn't have to stop Kagome's heart to kill her.
And that was why he was still alive. Kikyo was letting him watch, letting him hurt, as she tortured Kagome.
And he knew there was nothing he could do about it. She had him frozen. He couldn't protect his mate. And that was what she wanted.
"And for my next trick," Kikyo purred. She dropped Kagome.
Inuyasha would never forget that scream. A penetrating, terrified, pained, scream that struck him right down to the core as she landed heavily on the ground. But what terrified him most was the sound that came next.
Silence.
He felt his demonic blood boil inside him, and for once, he didn't care. He didn't care as he felt his vision flicker and the Tetsusaiga pulse in his frozen grip. He went hot, and saw red. Anger and pain filled him with power, and he growled menacingly as he tore himself free of the restrictions Kikyo had placed upon him.
She gasped, and saw him as he stomped threateningly towards her.
She moved her hands fast, desperately trying to create a way to restrain him.
But Inuyasha was beyond it. He was beyond being held by some stupid enchantment.
She had hurt the one he loved. And she was going to pay.
Kikyo threw up a blue wall between the two of them, shimmering with her warped sacred powers.
But the Tetsusaiga cut through it as easily as if it had been made of rice paper.
With a howl, he raised his sword.
"Wind Scar!"
Kikyo stopped, the expression on her face frozen as the ray of light hit her. And for the first time, Inuyasha saw something in her arms flicker. Fear.
She gasped, falling backwards.
Falling…
Her body cracked.
The colour from her face and skin vanished, to be replaced by the reddy-brown of damp clay.
The clay crumbled within her clothing.
And Kikyo fell to the ground, her body returning to the earth it had been made from.
It was over. The people that had made his mate's life hell for the past three years…
They were gone.
Inuyasha was panting. He felt his eyes flicker, and his demonic blood calmed down. His reason returned to him, and he stared at what he had just done. But he didn't regret it. No way could he regret saving Kagome.
Kagome…
With a strangled cry, he turned and stumbled towards where she was lying, motionless on the ground.
She was laying horizontally, one hand braced against her abdomen, the other by the side of her face. Her legs were straight, one bent at the knee.
"Kagome," he whispered to her, shaking her shoulder.
No response.
"Kagome, wake up."
Nothing. He tried to ignore the pain that was stabbing at his heart. Any second now...
"Kagome, please. It's over. They're gone."
She didn't react.
"Please, baby. Please look at me. I love you Kagome. It's over, you can wake up now. Come on, baby. For me."
But she wouldn't open her eyes.
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They're gone! Yay! But... it's not over. Not yet...
BlackMagicWhiteMagic - i know, a hero! evil naraku! here it is, hope ya enjoy!
mkblackrose - thanks! i know, dum dum dum! hope this is good for ya!
Xalainu - lol, thought about it but somehow it didn't quite fit... i hope this is good too! XD
brinaalee - lol, your story rocks! all updated, hope it was fast enough! although it is still a cliffie...
myInuYasha15 - :D THANK YOU! that's really made me happy now!
Namike - lol, fight scene!
Sassybratt - thank you! i know, i'm really pleased with that part :D. thank you, here it is and please enjoy!
tazzels - yay! here it is, enjoy!
reader238 - here ya go, have fun!
Peaceful Dragon Rose - thanks! enjoy this one too!
dangitsesshomaru - thank you! dunno about awesomeness, lol... hope this is a good one!
Shichinintai's girl - lol, it's about time! pleas enjoy!
bumblezee - hola, oh flying monkey of the sun high in the sky on the afternoon of the chocolate picking!
gah, that would kill me! lol, i do that in science... the characters never talk to each other though! lol XD did you come up with anything interesting?
eek, i can see why XD
yeah, like deja vu, that movie. i've never seen it, but ma mere watched it with her friend... they had to call in her 15-year-old son to explain it to them! lol XD
:D thanks!
i dunno what he is exactly... just sick and twisted in general!!
:D glad you liked! hope this next part is also good!
love libra
xx
Black And White Kirara - lol, thanks! just in time... but was it enough? lol, stay tuned... XD
HeidiBax - thanks, hope this was also good!
Strawberry-Ringo - lol, enjoy! all updated, but stay tuned...
words unheard - lol, thanks! thank you, that's so sweet! i hope this one is good, too!
kouga's older woman - it's over! they're gone! but... stay tuned! lol XD
Okay, right now it is 19:10 so i'm not as late... err... early as last time! i hope you enjoyed, and stay tuned! there's more to come!
Libra Sorceress xx