Kagome paces around the room. No matter how hard she tries to stuff down the pit of worry, she cannot. Her texts have gone unanswered, and it's well past 2 A.M. Long nights are not that uncommon -she knows that Satoru is always in high demand because of how strong he is, but…
She stops and turns to Buyo Jr, noting how unconcerned the nekomata is on the bed. He is spread out on the bed with his legs in the air, looking more like a dog than a cat at the moment. If only she could be that nonchalant, but she knows something is not right. Satoru always answers her, even if he's in the middle of exorcising a curse.
"Fuck this," she mutters, shrugging out of the silk robe. She tosses it onto the bed, ignoring Buyo Jr's cry of annoyance. She changes out of her pajamas for sweats and a hoodie. She refuses to stay put when something could be terribly wrong.
Her instincts have yet to fail her and right now, they are screaming that Satoru needs her help.
Buyo Jr. treks over to her, his two tails flickering back and forth. "Meow."
"I know, I know. But I have to." Buyo Jr. blinks his large eyes at her slowly in response. "You can stay here," she says.
"Meow." Buyo raises one paw and waves it back and forth, lecturing her as though she is some disobedient child.
"Then stop complaining." She scoops him up and sets him on her shoulder. She wrinkles her nose - sniffs once, twice. "Are you wearing cologne?" Buyo Jr nuzzles her cheek. Jeez, Megumi-kun spoils him. "Not a sound, okay," she says, opening the door. The house is silent save from her own harsh breathing pounding in her eardrums as she tiptoes down the hall and down the stairs. Best-case scenario, Satoru walks in the door and puts her worries to rest.
She doesn't dwell on the worst-case scenario.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Megumi asks, meeting her at the end of the stairs with a bowl of ice cream. He's wearing an oversized shirt and plaid pajama bottoms. His hair is spiked up, which takes Kagome by surprise as she thought that he styled his hair that way - not that it was naturally spiky. His eyes seem to glow in the darkness as he casually takes another spoonful of the ice cream.
Buyo Jr. smacks his paw to her cheek to her mild irritation. "Okay, okay," she grumbles. "I'm heading out to look for Satoru."
"Uhhh…." Megumi shifts his weight, his head cocked to the side. "He's been out later than this before," he says with a reassuring tone, "and Gojo-sensei is strong."
Kagome gives him a small smile. Megumi-kun is still a child, she tells herself, and while he has seen things that no one his age should have seen, there are things that children just cannot comprehend. "He is, but…" She steps off the last step and walks towards the front door.
"I'm coming with you." The sound of the bowl being placed down reaches her ears. She sighs.
"You should get some rest. I won't be gone long." She bends down to slip on her shoes, not surprised to see Megumi doing the same. She didn't expect for him to take her words to heart, not with how seriously he has taken his role of protector. "If anything happens—"
"I'm not running away."
"Megumi—"
"Kagome-san."
She pinches the bridge of her nose. "Alright." She goes to grab her bow and quiver, but Megumi grabs them first. Her eyebrows raise up as her weapons disappear into Megumi's shadow. How convenient. She wonders how much he can hide in there. "Well, that's handy."
"I've been practicing," he says, opening the front door. "I can hide non-cursed items now."
"Can anyone else access the items once you put them in your shadow?"
"No. I'll get your bow out if I sense danger." Megumi locks the door behind them. Kagome hums, switching her focus back to finding Satoru. Her gut is telling her to go west.
"Buyo, can you fly us?" Buyo Jr. huffs as he jumps down. In hindsight, she thinks that it would have been more discreet if Buyo Jr. had transformed in the backyard. Hopefully, no one looks out their window. It might be a bit difficult to explain why there is a gigantic cat with flames on its paws and tails in the front yard. She climbs onto Buyo Jr's back. Megumi gets on after her, loosely wrapping his arms around her waist so he doesn't fall off.
"Kagome-san, I hope that you're wrong," he says as they take to the skies.
"I hope so too."
Satoru debates how much of a scandal it would be if he just blasted the entire manor away. Each step he takes is heavier than the last. The once pristine flooring is coated in a mixture of red and purple. His infinity protects his shoes from the sludge as he treks through the estate, trying to pinpoint either Yakeru's or Naraku's energy.
It should be easy.
He casually punches a mutated human that runs at him with a mere kitchen knife. The body convulses from the impact as large spider-like limbs burst out of its face. He sighs as he sends a blast of raw, cursed energy at it. It really fucking sucks that he's having to kill the workers. Exorcising a curse is one thing - they are born from the negative emotions of humans and cannot be redeemed. No matter what, curses need death and destruction like humans need oxygen to survive.
But this hits him differently. As head of the clan, these deaths rest on his shoulders. He didn't think anyone would have been so bold as to attack someone in his clan. The estate is vast. There were times when he could avoid his uncle just by ducking into one of the many rooms, and maybe that was the problem. The estate keeps curses out, but not demons.
All the things he should have done loops in his mind. Should have warded the estate. Should have checked on Ryu the following morning. Should have…
He grips his head, squeezing his eyes shut. His limbs are heavy. Despair coats his lungs like the sludge on the floor. Is he dry heaving? His hands move to scratch at his own throat.
He should have….
"Get a hold of yourself." Yakeru's stern voice breaks through the fog, shattering the vision of devastated families. Satoru opens his eyes. Yakeru is covered in blood. He struggles to remember what color his shirt was before. "Don't let him get into your mind." Yakeru strides forward. The power radiating off of him gives Satoru pause.
"Why aren't you being affected?" he asks, half grumbles. His head still feels as though it is being split into and if he closes his eyes too long, he can see mothers screaming at him for the deaths.
"Illusions are kit's play for me," Yakeru says so matter-of-factly.
"So those -" He struggles to right himself. It's humiliating for anyone to see him like this and even more so that it's Yakeru.
"No, you put them at rest. This wasn't your fault." Satoru follows behind Yakeru, watching with thinly-veiled interest at how the fox sniffs the air every so often. They make their way down the corridor to Ryu's room, where the demonic energy is the strongest.
How did he miss that?
"He targeted your six eyes the moment you stepped foot in here."
"He could have done that at the exchange event." So why didn't he? If taking him out was the goal, why didn't Naraku try it when he didn't know who he was?
"Perhaps he has found other unsavory ways of increasing his strength." Yakeru kicks the door in, striding in as though he didn't just cause more damage to the property.
Naraku, for his part, seems unconcerned. His red eyes are more sinister under the moonlight.
Wait. His hands flex at his sides. The moon shouldn't be out this early. He notes the frown on Yakeru's face. So even he had difficulty getting through the illusions.
"There's a sight I never thought I'd see," Naraku says, turning his back to them. He opens the patio door, allowing a slight breeze from the night air to filter through. "Took you two long enough."
Frankly, Satoru has no time to go back and forth with Naraku. The demon's reasoning for attacking the estate and going after Kagome does not matter, for there is no justification for his crimes.
"How's Yumi?" Naraku continues.
"Dead."
Naraku visibly flinches. "That's too bad," Naraku replies, his face blank. "So much for us becoming one."
Yakeru rushes past Satoru, his claws outstretched, aiming for Naraku's head. Satoru curses under his breath. Naraku laughs as more limbs materialize from his body, stretching out. A purple mist seeps from around Naraku's feet. Whatever it is, hits Yakeru before the blow does. Yakeru places both hands over his nose and mouth. He gets knocked back into the dresser. The wood splitters.
"Oh, your infinity protects you from the miasma?" A flash of worry crosses Naraku's face as he tries to put more distance between them. The room fills up with the miasma. Yakeru's coughs move him into action.
Satoru raises his hand, red energy swirls around his index finger as he brings his infinity to the front. "Red—"
Naraku tosses a body at him—Owl, he realizes as his servant hits the floor. The man immediately convulses as the miasma seeps into him, his body covered in green goo as though Naraku had merely thrown him up. In that split second, Naraku tries to get away. Satoru chases after him, pushing down more guilt at the senseless deaths that have occurred.
"Not so fast," Naraku goads, as he materializes another body. This time, he holds the small child to his chest like a shield. "Let me go and I won't kill her." The green goo hits the grass with an audible pop.
Satoru clenches his jaw. "Bastard," he says with a snarl, to which Naraku only laughs. He has no other choice but to use his domain expansion. At this rate, Naraku will continue to throw human after human at him or use them as some shield.
"So, what will it be—" A sharp gasp followed by an explosion of pink cuts Naraku off. The young girl runs to Satoru. Her pigtails flop with each step. Naraku's eyes widen as the realization sets in.
"Satoru! Are you okay!" Kagome yells from Buyo Jr's back. They fly over to him. Megumi slides off of Buyo Jr. immediately crouching down to eye level with the girl.
"Megumi, watch the girl," he commands, turning his attention back to Naraku. Shit, he thinks as Naraku flies away, only to be burned and knocked back down to the ground. "Red reversal," he says right as Naraku turns back to look at them. Only ash remains.
Shit. Shit. He forgot about Yakeru.
"Yakeru was poisoned," he says. He barely gets the words out before Kagome runs towards the room. He watches as she notches an arrow and aims it at the floor, dispersing the miasma from the room.
"How long?" she asks, bending down next to Owl. She presses her fingers to his neck and frowns before moving over to Yakeru. The fox is pale but still alive. Kagome places her palms on Yakeru's chest and closes her eyes. A pink glow is cast over Yakeru's face.
"What are you doing?"
"Purifying the miasma out of him."
Satoru sits down next to her, rubs at his eyes. "How did you know?"
"Same way you know when I'm in trouble." A bead of sweat rolls down her face. She lets out a breath and leans back. "He'll need somewhere to rest."
No. Fuck no. He does not want Yakeru under his roof. Kagome looks at him expectantly and man, is he whipped, he thinks to himself. "Fine." He stills at the sensation of the veil dropping. "So that's why he couldn't get away."
"What?"
"Naraku had a barrier up when we got here. It should have let him out."
"Someone else wanted him gone."
"Yep," he says popping the p. "What time is it anyway?" he asks even as he digs into this pocket. There's no point in trying to track the person responsible for the veil down. Whoever did it, dropped the veil when they knew it was safe to.
"Like 3 A.M. now," Kagome says dryly. He freezes at that and notes all the calls from her and some not so nice messages from Ijichi.
"Time moved differently for me," he says, apologetic. He moves to a squat and lifts Yakeru, throwing the fox over his shoulder. They walk back outside. Satoru places Yakeru on Buyo Jr's back like a bag of luggage. "You two head home," he says, holding up a hand. "I need to get this girl -
"Cho," the girl speaks up, her lips quivering.
"I need to get Cho checked out by Shoko."
"She's not going to like that," Megumi says, as he takes the bow and quiver back from Kagome.
"She'll get over it." He shrugs and then leans down to brush his lips against Kagome's ear. "Wait up a little longer?" She nods. He pulls back and then picks up Cho.
He can't change what happened tonight, but he'll make sure that something like this never happens again. He waves at Kagome and Megumi as he whisks himself and Cho to Shoko's.
His gut tells him that Naraku was the least of his concerns.
A/N: Thank you all for the support! I hope you guys had a great Christmas and New Year. I thought that Naraku was going to last longer, but sometimes (all the time) the characters hijack the plot. Anyway, stay safe everyone and gets lots of rest!