Chapter Twenty Three: Hiyuke's Resurection

Naraku appeared in his castle a few days after he took Kagome's Mother and gently laid her on a beautiful pallet of silk purple and gold blankets and pillows in the West wing of his castle, Hopeful that the bloodbonding ritual he'd performed on her would soon bring the kind hearted beauty back to him...

" Hiyuke..." Naraku said sadly, " If you die, I will be lost forever..."

Naraku gently kissed the woman on the forehead and thought about how Kagome felt about his actions for the first time... He knew he'd wronged them all severely and he had a plan to make things right... His heart revealed the first task at hand... Seek out kikyo and find a way to right the wrong he'd done to her and Inuyasha so long ago...

" Naraku..." An evil voice said suddenly, " You will never be happy... Have you forgotten the power you seek?! You hold a tainted secured jewel, it's power fueled by the despair and hatred it's absorbed for so long... Remember your real goal? You wish to become a full fledged demon and rule the world with an iron fist! Pain and suffering, that is what you want to indict on your enemies!"

" No longer!" Naraku roared angrily, fed up with hearing whatever evil entity it was that was haunting him, " I want none of that now... I only want Hiyuke back... I wish for peace..."

The evil prescence laughed cruelly before all was silent once more and Naraku sat by Hiyuke's still form, terrified that he was too late to save her... Until, her chest began to rise and fall as she began breathing once more... Although it was labored, Naraku wanted nothing more then to leap for joy! It worked! He'd truly saved Kagome's mother!

"Kagura! Kanna! Kohaku!" Naraku yelled happily, " Hiyuke is alive!"

Kohaku was dumbfounded when he ran in to see Naraku, his most hated evil enemy, practically dancing for joy over the beautiful lady sleeping semi peacefully on the bed...

" Kohaku... I want to apologize to you for everything I've put you and your sister through..." Naraku said bowing humbly, " I wish to set you free so that you can return to your sister..."

" Are... Are you serious?!" Kohaku asked hopefully, " I'm really free?!"

"Yes... But I need the jewel shard so that it doesn't taint you... It's got a mind of its own, and I fear it will try to use you to wreak havoc as it once used me..." Naraku said solemnly.

" So then... You wish to kill me..." Kohaku said sadly, " To offer me my freedom and then say you want my shard back, knowing it's the only thing keeping me alive, it's too cruel, even for you..."

" You misunderstand..." Naraku said, determination glinting in his eyes, " I am a full fledged demon now... I now have the power to save lives through bookbinding... If you agree to it when we share our blood you will no longer need the secret jewel to stay in the realm of the living... The only thing it will do is allow me to feel when you are in danger so that I can protect you if you need me... Do you agree with this?! I only want to right the wrongs I've done..."

" Your really finished hurting people?!" Kohaku asked hopefully, " Did that lady really change your heart that much?!"

" Yes... This I swear to you... And after the ritual is performed, I'm giving Kagura and Kanna thier hearts and thier freedom..." Naraku said, smiling warmly at Kohaku for the first time...

Later that night, around midnight with the full moon at its peak, Naraku performed the bloodbonding ceremony on Kohaku, so that he could be released from the evil poison of the secret jewel... After Kohaku's ceremony was completed and he was released from the jewel shard in his neck, he fell to his knees in gratitude and wonder... Who knew that Naraku would change so completely for a human female?! Naraku then turned to Kagura and Janna and gave thier hearts back to them, before offering them the protection of his bloodbonding as well... Both instantly agreed, thankful that thier father finally developed a kind and loving heart after so long...

After everything was done, Naraku hugged his children as well as Kohaku and bid them all farewell...

" Where are you going?!" Kagura asked in a panic...

" I'm going to right another of the many wrongs I've done in the past... I just pray that with my now noble actions, they can find it in thier hearts to forgive me..." Naraku said sadly...

Then, he vanished without a trace...

On the other side of Edo Japan, kikyo was wondering the land, aiding any and all who needed her spiritual powers and healing capabilities... She had just finished healing an elderly man with a dangerously high fever, when she sensed the shikon jewel... Immediately on guard, kikyo placed an arrow in her bow string and aimed at the dark forest that surrounded the village she was currently helping...

" Naraku?" Kikyo asked in confusion...

It was Naraku, she was certain... And yet, there was no evil in his aura...

"Be at ease..." Naraku said, emerging from the forest, "I have not come to harm you..."

" So I see... There is no hatred, nor malevolence in your aura..." Kikyo said cocking her head to one side, " Why is that?"

" I've been given a second chance at life, so that I may right the wrongs I've done in my life... And so, Lady Kikyo, with my new full demon powers, I wish to help you..." Naraku said as he bowed in respect...

Before Kikyo could ask just what exactly he was up to, Naraku dug a lump of flesh from his now full demon body and Kikyo watched in awe and amazement as the flesh took on the shape of a woman's body... Her eyes widened even more as hair and facial features began to take shape until there in front of her, lay a perfect replica of herself...

" I don't understand..." Kikyo said in a shaking voice. "Why have you done this?!"

" That body you have right now is nothing more than bones and graveyard soil, held together by dark magic... Magic that, I regret to inform you is soon about to run out... That body that I made from my flesh is real... Flesh and blood... All it requires is a soul... This is my gift to you as a means of rectifying the wrong I've done to you and Inuyasha in the past..."

" You mean... You mean I can actually live again?!" Kikyo said in astonishment, " Why?! What has changed you so?!"

" I found the other half of my soul... I now have no reason to hurt people any longer... I just want peace and your forgiveness..." Naraku said, bowing once more...

" How do we go about transferring my soul? And how will this effect me?! Your flesh is that of a full demon!" Kikyo said worriedly.

" Rest assured, your soul is human, therefore, when it enters your new body, you will still be human for the most part..." Naraku said calmly, " You won't be fully demon or fully human... You'll have increased strength and endurance, speed, agility... All the powers of a powerful demon... As well your priestess powers, your healing abilities, everything you were originally born with as well..."

Kikyo was dumbstruck... Naraku had obviously not only changed for the greater good, but he was genuinely wanting to restore her life to her... Unable to speak from such tremendous news, Kikyo nodded her head yes... And Naraku used his demonic aura to pull her soul from her fake clay body which instantly returned to dirt... Then, ever so gently, Naraku laid Kikyo's soul on the chest of the new body, which had been kind enough to cloth in a stunning silver kimono, and waited...

Kikyo's soul glowed with happiness as it absorbed into the body and Naraku smiled as her still heart began to beat with renewed life...