Chapter 9:

Illusions of Darkness

"I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses."
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Where was he? Where was that son of a bitch Naraku!? Ryura growled deep in his chest, the force of the sound shaking his form. Three days he had been searching! Three. Days. And he hadn't found a trace of him anywhere! Was this why it was taking so long for Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's pack to track down and destroy the vile, cursed, horrid spider-hanyou? It must be, because no way in hell would Inuyasha, much less Sesshoumaru, allow that cur to walk freely on the earth for this long!

"Fuck!" Ryura yelled at nothing. "Touga, you rat bastard! You brought me back for this!?" Now he was yelling at the sky, shaking a fist threateningly.

He heard Touga's voice drift softly through his head, "Ignorant pup..."

"You shut your stupid, dirty mouth and do not call me that again!" Ryura roared back. "I am a Dragon. Dragon! Not some smelly damned Inu!"

Despite himself, Touga laughed loudly within Ryura's mind before his presence faded, leaving Ryura utterly alone once again.

The Dragon Daiyoukai spun on his heel, snarling at his surroundings. "Naraku, when I find you, I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart piece by shitty little piece!"

Ryura stalked in a circle, his booted feet falling heavily on the earth, a rare sight for someone who was normally so light on his feet. It only proved his anger was mounting higher with each passing second. Kagome could be dead for all he knew. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of Inuyasha since the hanyou disappeared into the well – not that Ryura had exactly been looking for him, but still. Naraku had somehow managed to infect Kagome with some sort of disease, and right under three Daiyoukai grade noses! Not one, not two, but three!

What the hell was wrong with the world when a simple fucking hanyou, no matter how evil he was, could pull of such a stunt!? It's like a rat wiggling its butt in your face, spraying its diseases right up your nose, and you don't realize what the hell it was doing until you were lying on your death bed with the plague, wondering "Woe is me! How did I ever catch this!?"

Ryura tilted his head back and yelled in frustration. It was that damnable bauble Naraku was obsessed with, that's how he pulled it off! For a so called former War God, Ryura was doing a horrible job at sticking to the basics – learn as much as you can about your enemy so things like this wouldn't happen!

But no, he had to be an emotional wreck, rambling off when one person asked what happened to him and his family. And wondering where his swords were! Weapons, he was worried more apparently about weapons than he was about finding out information about the creature infesting his lands with its filth.

What the hell? This was why he locked these emotions away centuries ago!

"Argggh!" he yelled as he scrubbed his clawed hands through his hair. "That's it!"

White light burst forth from the ground at his statement, and quickly Ryura was in the air, shooting across the sky as if he were a falling star.

"Find Naraku, find Naraku, find Naraku, find him find him find him findhimfindhim – KILL THE VILE CUR," ran through his head like a mantra, and with every moment the mantra was borderline insanity. Six hundred years, for him at least, in a void did nothing for his mental stability, that much was obvious, but that moment Ryura couldn't find it within himself to actually care. As he streaked through the sky he felt his instincts rise back up and back track his course, and that is exactly what he did.

Kagome panted due to the effort it took to pull her body from the well. She felt like she was made of lead, or bricks, whichever was heavier. Once she was free of the well and resting on the lip of the wood she simply slid down the outside of it until her face was resting against the ground, the lower half of her body still dangling into the darkness of the well.

"Inuyasha, Ryura!" She tried yelling as loud as she could, which wasn't very loud at all. Her throat was killing her still.

Either way, she waited to see if one of them would show up. She tried calling out for them again, but her efforts were in vain. No one had heard her, or they were too far way to hear her to begin with. And so, she crawled away from the well until her feet were on the ground, and then she gingerly stood up. That was when she saw it.

A pile of youkai parts was stacked on the ground, blood seeping into the earth and staining the grass a nasty color of muddy-red. The cuts were too percise, too clean, to be Inuyasha, and there were no signs of Wind Scar's claw marks the attack left behind anywhere Kagome could see. Did that mean Ryura killed all these youkai?

Oh, Kami, no. She prayed silently to Touga, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father turned Kami, that it wasn't the case. If he had killed them, it would be like giving a recovering drug addict cocaine. Since Ryura had just been brought back to life, she didn't know if he was in the right mind frame to enter this big of a battle; there looked to be literally hundreds of youkai stacked atop each other, no matter how many parts they were in. He was going to get addicted, he was going to fall, his soul was going to be destroyed.

"No!" Kagome croaked out. "Lord Touga, if you can hear me, please wait! Don't kill him yet! Please, I'm begging you!"

When she felt a cool rush of air brush along her left cheek, Kagome managed to calm her panic down some. Even if it wasn't Touga answering her, it still made her feel better. She found a new energy to press on, and using a trick Kaede had been trying to teach her, Kagome attempted to locate Ryura's youki or aura. It was difficult for her at first, given this was the first time she tried to do it on her own, but the more she fumbled the more experience she gained and within an hour of her walk, Kagome had the ability down fairly well.

His aura wasn't exactly hard to find, the more she thought about it. It was so enraged she worried Ryura had lost control of himself. Either way, it made her task easier. She would find the Dragon Daiyoukai and try to calm him down. He just returned and it wouldn't be fair if he was destroyed for a single slip up when he hadn't been back on earth for more than a week.

She felt pity for him, she truly did. It's why she gave him his swords back the night before. They were his; heirlooms from his father. Kagome couldn't imagine losing the bracelet her father had left for her before he died when she was a young girl. It would absolutely crush her. While it wasn't exactly a pair of swords, the fact remained the same that both carried sentimental value that could never be replaced with a replica.

Two hours into her walk, Kagome wondered if this was really the best idea. The only out of control youkai she had ever faced was Inuyasha, and then she had the subjugation beads to help her out. What did she have to help her with Ryura if he lost himself to the point he couldn't recognize her? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. All of this was piled onto the fact she was still sick and feeling sicker by the moment. Not to mention the sun was just about to set, leaving her with only minimal light to see by.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, ignoring the pain following the movement, Kagome steeled herself as much as she could. She would soon be approaching Ryura's location and she couldn't afford to be paranoid and worried. Kagome pushed away all thoughts of what could happen, and focused on the now, on the Daiyoukai that was standing in front of her once she broke the tree line.

Ryura's form was heaving to and fro with how hard he was panting. He was beyond enraged, Kagome could tell just by his actions. His claws were digging deep into his forearms, his arms crossed over his chest tightly. The actions caused blood to seep into the white of his sleeves and forced the fabric to bunch up and cling tightly to his flexed muscles of his biceps. The Dragon Daiyoukai was still covered in blood from his large battle. It was extremely old, staining his clothing and armor that Kagome could see in dark red, almost black, splotches and lines.

Kagome bit her lip, gnawing on it nervously. She could see his swords rattling wildly away in their scabbards on his back, but he wasn't making any attempt to calm them, possibly because he couldn't calm himself. The sight of him scared her to a small point yet at the same time she was in awe at how he looked. Bathed in the dark of night, the light from the moon shone in broken pools of hazy white off of his clothing. It was as if she was watching yin become yang, and watching a rose made of blood bloom without the sun to aid it.

"Ryura, you're hurting yourself..." Kagome said softly in a hoarse tone.

Ryura jerked as if he'd been struck and quickly spun around to face her. His face mimicked the rest of his body; tense and hard. The muscles along his jaw line jumped sporadically. His eyes, wide with rage, stared at her as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Claws leaving his arms with a soft pop, Kagome could see fresh blood coating his fingers. His face, too, was covered with blood, but like the blood on his clothing and armor, it was old and dried.

"Lady Kagome," his voice was rough, and he sounded worse than she did and she was sick! "Why have you returned? You are still ill, I can smell it."

The Miko flinched at his question, knowing it was stupid how she just waltzed back into the past while being as sick as she was. "I-Inuyasha left a message – a haiku we use when Naraku shows up and I'm at home. Sometimes he can't always find me, so we decided if that happens he would give the message to my mother to give to me. This was the first time we've had to use it... It's a way to let me know what's going on, without freaking out my mother."

"Which haiku?" Ryura asked, his voice still showing his rage.

"Journey's end- still alive, this autumn evening." Kagome answered in a whisper, too afraid to raise her voice any higher for multiple reasons.

"Damn right that asshole is still alive." He spat out after Kagome was finished. "I've been looking for three days, almost four!"

Okay now it was a good time for her to raise her voice. "Four days!? That's how long I was unconscious for!?"

Ryura gave a stiff nod. "Almost. Tomorrow morning will be the fourth day."

They fell silent and Kagome returned to gnawing at her bottom lip. Ryura was looking anywhere but at Kagome, not knowing what to say. He was so angry words couldn't even begin to form, and for the life of him, his damned swords wouldn't stop their infernal rattling. He growled loudly to see if that would get them to shut up, but it only served to make his swords rattle more.

Kagome jumped at the sound, letting out a soft squeak, which made Ryura's eyes snap to look at her face. His harsh gaze made her flinch yet again, and she began to chew harder on her lip until she tasted blood. She heard Ryura growl again and when she looked at him, he finally moved from his stationary position, and he was heading right towards her, a dark look taking over his face.

What was she going to do now?

A.N. I totally forgot to say this before, but I have roughly around 19 chapters of this story completed so far, and I'm planning many, many more. The story just won't end with Naraku's death. Thanks to those so far who have taken the time to read this, and I hope you've enjoyed it and continue to enjoy it as it progresses!