It's been a year, hasn't it? Oops.

I'm nonbinary and my pronouns are they/them or ille in french.

Anyway, there are some important notes relating to this fic down below.

Reminder that I started this when I was 12 and it was a while after I finished (for the most part) the Inuyasha series. I was forced to read and watch since my local library was missing some of the volumes. When I went to refresh my memory in 2021 the whole series was gone like it got Thanos snapped. It says AU in the summary for that exact reason (and because I barely remember most canon events and created my own).

!TRIGGER WARNING! mentions a baby animal in pain and hints at a painful death in the second paragraph of Naraku's first point of view in this chapter. It shall be marked by TW at the end and the beginning of the paragraph.

13 Shadows

(Kagome POV)

I turned for the umpteenth time under the covers. The words from my mom along with the memories of what happened when I found my core played in my head and forced me to stay awake.

"Might as well do some homework if I'm not going to sleep," I sighed.

Earlier that day…

A little fox scurried around looking for a place to rest. The young creature moved among the creepers following the rocks until it found an opening. It hesitated as it could feel that there was something not quit right with the cave. That hesitation was all it took for the shadows to reach out and engulf the animal.

(Naraku POV)

I watched as my new ally started to work his magic against the biggest thorn in my side. He was settled in a meditative state. The shadows around him started moving on their own accord. A large chunk of these shadows banded together before breaking off and racing out. I stared at Kaage searching for any sign that something was working. Nothing happened for a while before he tensed and shuddered. I leaned forward and waited for something. Minutes passed before I settled back into my seat. Just then the shadows in the cave darkened and twisted.

"Fascinating..." I breathed.

TW

The shadows shuddered before revealing the form of a small struggling fox. It was thrown around a bit as the darkness played. The animal started to whine in pain as the shadows got rough; throwing became pulling before the kit gave a finally shriek as it was engulfed. A moment later the bones clattered to the floor to join a couple other sets of bones.

TW over

"I wonder if Kaage can receive the nutrients from the shadows..."

I was pulled from my thoughts at a sudden motion from the demon on the floor. His head had twitched to the side before snapping back up. A moment later he shivered, then shuddered. He was sweating had his breathing had gotten louder and quicker, like he was hyperventilating. I leaned forward in interest as Kaage's behaviour caused the shadows to quiver and flicker. This continued for several moments before his eyes snapped open with a loud cry. Then in a blink of an eye he was leaning over coughing and gagging.

"What on earth was that!" I demanded as soon as he had recovered.

"I- I'm not entirely sure but for now it's a major unexpected setback-,"

I cut off his startled musings, "A major unexpected setback?"

It was phrased as a question, but my voice held a note of fury that caused Kaage to flinch. He smoothed all expression off his face, straightened his spine and wiped the black trail of blood from beneath his nose. The shadows seemed to still in an instant and gave of a slightly eery aura. This made me pause.

"What do you mean?" I questioned in a calmer tone.

"Well at first everything went according to plan. I found her with my shadows, and they sunk into her shadow. Everything was fine until she jumped into the well. From then on, I could no longer see or hear anything. I could only sense things and even then, the only thing I sensed was—well I'm not sure how to explain it except to say that it was wrong. It felt wrong to use my abilities, it felt wrong to be sensing what I was sensing. The more I tried to ignore or push past the feeling the strong it got. Then out of nowhere I could feel... whatever it was leaching my shadows away from me. I immediately tried to retreat but the... whatever it was held fast to my connection. I—I fear that whatever happened was because of-"

"-The Ancient Laws!"

Kaage nodded after we spoke in unison. I sat quietly as I absorbed this new information. It was clear to me that all plans regarding the strange priestess and her well would have to be dropped and revised immediately. The fact that The Laws could be at play would never have crossed my mind. I shivered before nodding at the demon before me.

"In the end I had to break the connection with her shadow in order to retreat. I can't do anything until she comes back and by then she may have noticed the residual taint from my work," Kaage finished.

(Kaage POV)

I watched as Naraku processed my report. He was conflicted. The fact that his plans were going to have to be reworked made him quite angry, only the fact that the Ancient Laws were at play was stopping him from going into a full-blown rage. A rage that was becoming more common as of late. It was this growing instability that was going to be used to my advantage. I watched as Naraku's shadows shook telling me everything his blank face wouldn't. After several more moments of this I huffed internally. It seemed it was up to me to end this meeting. I shifted in my position to convey discomfort. It took a while before his shadows stilled and he stood and exited the room.

"Now I have time to...-," I muttered as I walked to the shadows that would serve as my exit.

My vision went dark, and my other senses extended before a demon graveyard appeared before me. I stepped out of the shadow of a large snake demon.

"Home, sweet home."

(Kagome POV)

I shifted around in my seat at the breakfast table. After completing my homework and finally falling asleep last night, my dreams decided to take their turn and mess with me. It started off as another failed math test, then spiralled into a vision of my core and ended with a snake lunging at me. I had almost dismissed the whole thing as a normal dream, but atmosphere was off. There was a stillness, one that was incredibly overwhelming.

"Kagome are you ready for our day?"

I snapped my head up to meet my brother's gaze. He beamed at me from across the table making me laugh.

"Of course! Let me just finish up and grab my phone," I breathed before gulping down the rest of my tea.

I washed up my dishes before heading for the stairs taking them two at a time. The door swung open as I barged into my room looking for my cell. I shuffled through my things making it all the way around before I was left looking at my traveling gear. Pushing the bag aside I saw a small pile of laundry from my previous visit underneath. Mixed in was my phone. After checking the battery life, I moved to reposition my gear.

"Great I'm all set to—oh whoops!"

As I turned to leave my quiver of arrows spilled onto the floor. Dropping to my knees I grabbed the quiver then reached for an arrow and let out a shriek as it burned me.

"Oh my god! What just—…" I trailed off as I stared at my hand and the discarded arrow.

The arrow was pulsing on the ground like how it did when it was close to a demonic presence. My heart leapt into my throat as the possibilities raced around my mind. I sat waiting for something that never came. I moved my hand back over the arrow and gasped as my shadow pulsed with the arrow. The arrow pulsed one more time before my shadow darkened. The shade seemed to bubble like molasses before it zoomed off in the direction of the backyard. It was returning to the well.

"What," I whispered, "was that?"

I glanced back to my shadow and saw that it had lightened.

"Kagome hurry up!"

I shook myself and finished cleaning before leaving my room. This was a problem for this evenings Kagome.

"I'm coming Sota!" I yelled as I ran down the stairs.

Notes: Ancient Laws will be explained in a later chapter, but I would like to know what you think they are and which one you think Kaage almost lost his abilities to. The main ship is going to be a slow burn!

I had more planned for this chapter (the final note in chap 12 said this was going to be a long one but it's not lmao), but it decided to leave it there since I've had more than half of this chapter sitting there for since last time I posted. I have no idea when the next one will be out since January is the last month of the semester, but I'll try my best.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Reviews (and comments) are appreciated.

Peace from somewhere,

Chiyo The Chibi (a.k.a. Salus Lucifer Slytherin)

Reviews

Fanfiction net Guest: so, why doesn't kagome kill inuyasha or just seal him to a tree if murder is too much for her? seriously, they clearly aren't friends or anything else.

Because I said so? Kagome killing him or sealing him away puts her at a disadvantage. The group (usually) fights well together. Getting rid of him would be the height of stupidity considering his power. Kagome wants to put the jewel back together for reasons that I still haven't decided yet so she's not going to put herself at a disadvantage. Killing him would also affect her powers. Besides I still have more planned for him and Kikyo.