Chapter 74
Absit omen
"Let this not be a bad omen"

"All the history of human life has been a struggle
between wisdom and stupidity."
—His Dark Materials

Kagome watched the insect move way faster than it should be able to. She'd seen insect youkai of all sizes and styles, and they never moved this fast before.

"Kirara, let's move a little farther away from this. Just in case," Miroku said, urging the cat backwards and away from the fight.

Kirara shifted slowly back a few steps with Shippo still riding on her head.

"They're okay, right?" Shippo asked, voicing Kagome's concern with his own question.

Something was wrong; she could feel it.

"They'll be perfectly fine. I'm sure of it. They've faced much tougher opponents."

The sharp ping of a jewel shard ran across her senses, and she squinted to see where it was on the bug and hopefully give their friends the upper hand.

Except it wasn't in the bug.

It wasn't near the bug at all.

The smooth flesh of something wrapped around her throat, and she managed out a squeak before being throttled and dragged off of Kirara's back.

Miroku spun on his heel, eyes wide as he lunged for her, hands outstretched and reaching for her arm as she passed by him, only to watch him slam into an invisible wall.

Flailing her arms, she tried to free herself, latching onto branches and anything that her hands could grab, even as the thorns sliced into her hands making them bleed. She tried to fight the slithering little snakes, but the more she struggled, the tighter they wrapped themselves around her, cutting off her air and threatening to crush her windpipe.

Right up until they dropped her unceremoniously in front of the one person that she really didn't want to see ever again.

She yelped as she knocked her ankle against the ground and fought valiantly not to cry about it.

"Little girl," Kikyo sneered, as she narrowed her eyes at Kagome's presence. Kagome was sure that she'd be crinkling her nose up at the sight of her if she was prone to any such displays of emotion.

There was a good distance between them now, and Kagome wanted to keep it that way.

Only Kikyo knew what she wanted, but it was nothing good if Kikyo had dragged her away again.

"Have you thought about what I said?" She asked, eyes roaming over her. It was clear that she saw something that Kagome didn't, judging by the way she grimaced.

"I—" Kagome started, mouth already feeling dry.

"I see the corruption still stands."

There was something off about the priestess.

And that was the moment that Kagome realized what exactly was wrong.

"Why are you using a shard, Kikyo?"

"Because—!" Kikyo had started to lean forward, edging towards her space, but then she stopped turning her head as Kagome watched Inuyasha, sword brandished, sliding to a stop between them.

It was a relief and heartbreaking all at the same time.

She wanted him here, but not with her.

"Kikyo?" He asked, letting his sword fall to the side.

She should've known.

Tetsusaiga reverted to it's normal state, a rusted and dulled blade.

Because it couldn't transform if there was nothing here to attack.

"What're you doing here?"

Kagome watched as her hand sprayed some sort of pearlescent dust in a small arc, covering Inuyasha's face and chest completely in it.

"Inuyasha!"

He coughed, staggering back blindly, shaking his head to dispel it. He tripped over her, as he hacked and wheezed himself into a fall against the tree, where he slumped, completely still except for the heavy rasping wheeze of air.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, scrambling towards him on all fours. Her movement hindered by her injured ankle, she crawled towards him on hands and knees as fast as her body would allow. "What did you do?" She wiped his face with her hands, trying to clean it of the white dust that had affected him so strongly and so quickly.

Nothing had ever taken Inuyasha down this fast. Not even Naraku's miasma or Sesshomaru's poison hand.

"It is a poison," Kikyo answered simply, and the soft sound of an arrow being drawn made her turn. "If you will not give me what is mine, then I will be forced to take it."

The arrow flew, the sharp twang and whistle signaling its release, and Kagome braced herself in front of Inuyasha, feeling the sharp edge of the head graze her arm, embedding itself into the tree beside her as her barrier flared to life.

Her barrier encompassed the both of them.

Her barrier had been strong enough to stop one of Kikyo's arrows.

She'd thrown it up fast enough to stop an arrow.

And it had been strong enough to stop Kikyo's arrow from piercing through entirely.

The glee almost overwhelmed the fear at her achievement.

He would've been furious at what she'd done—throwing herself in front of him like that. But this wasn't the first time, was it?

"Ah, I see my sister has been meddling," she mused, drawing another arrow, and Kagome braced herself for the onslaught. "If you do not give me back what is rightfully mine, then you are sentencing him to a painful death."

"What do you mean?" Kagome glanced over her shoulder at the priestess.

"He's been poisoned. One that was specifically designed for youkai." Kikyo gave a brief pause, letting a small smile spread over her face. "He will die if no antidote is given and soon."

"I thought you loved him!" Kagome shouted at her, but Kikyo merely straightened her back.

How could she do this to him?

She was supposed to love him like he loved her! She kept chanting about it, saying how they were meant to be, how their fates were tied together.

And didn't Kikyo realize that she would do almost anything to have his love like Kikyo did?

"You can't hold that barrier forever, foolish little child. It will fall eventually."

There was a cool shiver that ran through her body at the thought of her barrier flickering. Kikyo wouldn't take chances; she'd take the opening the moment it presented itself. She'd go for kill without hesitation.

Kagome's eyes landed on the arrow embedded in the tree trunk. It wasn't deep, just stuck in there enough to keep it in place.

Kaede had mentioned to her that priestesses could make barriers with objects. They'd seen it done before with Tsubaki and other priests and priestesses; she was pretty sure that was how Kikyo made hers so large and stable. She just didn't know if she could manage it. She'd never done it before. She'd never even tried it before. The odds—

But Kikyo was right. Her barrier would fall eventually. It was already getting harder to hold it up the longer she went with her mental struggle.

Wrapping her hand around the shaft of the arrow, she tugged, but it barely moved at all. It took a couple of hard yanks before she'd wrenched it free of the hard wood of the trunk. There were great gnarled roots that were curled up around the base, and they helped support Inuyasha from slumping over completely. He couldn't be comfortable like that, but there was no time for that now.

In a moment, maybe.

Kagome resisted the urge to help shift him into a more comfortable position. First things first.

"You have no bow," Kikyo pointed out, holding her own at the ready.

But Kagome didn't need one. Even if she had one, she wouldn't be able to use it. Not against her.

The look he'd had when he'd thought Kikyo had died was something she could never forget.

And not one that she ever wanted to see him make again.

It made her chest hurt just thinking about it.

Sango kept making comments that he liked her too, but Kagome knew deep down that he didn't love her like he loved Kikyo. It might be a type of love, but it wasn't the same.

It would never be the same.

She couldn't be the one to do it. She'd never be able to look him in the face and see that expression on him.

Kagome looked at Inuyasha, staring for a long beat as she ran her thumb up and down the shaft of the arrow, feeling the smoothness of the wood.

Her ankle throbbed as she shifted her weight onto her knees. There would be one singular shot at this.

Because if she screwed up—

Well, Kikyo would get what she wanted, wouldn't she?

And in a way, she supposed, so would Inuyasha.

Kagome took a deep breath, shifting so that she was blocking more of him from Kikyo. Just in case. Kikyo might not take such care with him; she rarely ever seemed to care about his well being as long as it didn't affect her.

Kagome didn't want him to be hurt. She never wanted him to be hurt, but especially not when he couldn't defend himself.

She just wanted to protect him. That's all.

Holding onto the arrow, she took a deep breath, raising it in front of her face.

It was just a matter of transferring her energy into the arrow and creating the barrier. Using it like part of herself. An extension of her body. It was a receptacle just like her.

She'd have a split second to do it. A split second to do something that she'd never done before or even tried.

No pressure or anything.

There was the soft slide of the arrow against a bow string again, and Kagome let the barrier drop, charging the arrow and slamming it into the root right beside her as searing pain roared through her shoulder and she screamed.

The sheer force of the blow sent her sprawling over Inuyasha, knocking her head into the tree trunk.

Her ankle throbbed as she reached behind her, finding the shaft easily with her fingertips. With a hard yank and a yell, she pulled the arrow free and slumped against him, taking deep breaths to ease the piercing pain in her joint. Whimpering, she pushed herself up, and turned around to face Kikyo, a shaky hand coming up to grip her shoulder.

"I'm impressed," Kikyo said, letting her bow rest back at her side. "Not many could stop one of my arrows."

"Thanks, I guess," Kagome panted, still trying to ease the pain in her shoulder. She had literally nothing with her. No supplies, no medical kit, and she could feel the blood trickling down her back.

"But you're only delaying the inevitable," Kikyo continued. "Your barrier will fail, because you are untrained."

"You don't know that," Kagome countered, shifting her weight to a more comfortable, or rather a less painful, sitting position. "You don't know what I'm capable of."

"I know that you've stolen what belongs to me," Kikyo snapped.

"I didn't steal anything! And if I did, it was probably already mine!"

"It was mine first!" Kikyo flung her arm out to the side. "You stole it away from me!"

"I didn't steal it from you! If I'd let you keep my soul, I would've died!"

"I didn't deserve to die!"

"And I do?" Kagome shouted back at her. It stayed quiet for a beat, and she took a shaky breath in. "I didn't ask to be your reincarnation! I didn't ask to have some witch try to steal my soul! I didn't ask for any of this!"

Kikyo stepped forward, and Kagome suddenly feared that her barrier would not hold after all. As Kikyo approached, Kagome scooted backwards until she was touching Inuyasha, pressing herself against him. Her barrier was small, but it still encompassed them both.

"That just proves that you don't belong here. You don't deserve the powers that you've never even tried to learn to control." Kikyo pressed the tip of her bow against the barrier, but there was no reaction. The barrier held but no sparks or signs that it was rejecting her. "He only chooses you because you're weak. Someone incapable of protecting themselves."

"That's not true," Kagome hissed back. But it was. It was true. Every word of it. Inuyasha didn't have to protect Kikyo like he did her, because Kikyo didn't need it. Kikyo didn't need to be coddled. Kikyo wouldn't sprain her ankle running away. Kikyo wouldn't have gotten her shoulder bitten off. Kikyo wouldn't have almost purified a friend. Kikyo would never have been—

Kikyo wouldn't have done or experienced any of that.

Because Kikyo knew how to use her powers. Kikyo knew how to control them.

Just like now. No one was coming for them, because they couldn't get in. Kagome still didn't know how she never managed to purify Inuyasha with her own reiki—a feat that should be impossible, and yet, here they were.

But there was another bigger nagging issue that Kagome was staring down as Kikyo firmly pressed her hand against her barrier.

For a moment, Kagome feared that she'd slip right through. After all, she was Kikyo and Kikyo was her, right? That's why she was always able to slip through Kikyo's barriers, even when Kikyo didn't want her to.

She and Kikyo were one and the same, and her power recognized it's former owner.

But the barrier held.

It didn't spark and burn like it had done to Shippo or the oni, but this time, it didn't let Kikyo through.

Even Kikyo appeared surprised by this new development.

But that only made her press harder. Palms flat against iridescent barrier between them.

And the barrier held strong.

Kagome watched Kikyo's bow light up with reiki, raising her arm up and smashing the edge of her bow against the side of the small dome.

Kagome flinched and ducked down, arms coming up to defend her face.

But there was just nothing.

Not a spark, not a sizzle. Just the sound of a wooden bow striking the edge of something.

But when she struck again, Kagome felt it.

That tingle. The familiar twinge of a jewel shard being used.

Except that it wasn't pure. And it should've been, right?

"Kikyo, why are you using a jewel shard?"

The undead priestess flinched.

Why would Kikyo need a shard? She'd always been plenty powerful on her own. Everyone made sure that Kagome knew—and was reminded frequently—that she was no match for the revived priestess.

"Why do you need to use a jewel shard?" She pressed.

"It is your doing," Kikyo spat out at her.

"Mine?" Kagome shifted forward slightly. "What have I ever done to you?!"

"You ruined everything!" Kikyo screamed, and Kagome flinched back away from her, even though she was still under the protection of her barrier. "You aren't meant to be here. It should be me! It should've always been me! If it had been me guarding the jewel, none of this would have happened! It would have disappeared already!"

"You don't know that," Kagome protested weakly.

Kagome knew what wish she would've used to make it disappear. She glanced over her shoulder at Inuyasha.

"Do you even understand what you've done?

"No! I don't!" Kagome shouted as she turned to face her. "I don't understand, because everyone just expects me to be like you, and I'm not!"

"My point exactly! You are not needed here! Your presence is meaningless because I am here! You're just—excess." Kikyo stood, back straight, and looking down at her. "Inuyasha loves me. I am the one that he should be with!"

"You just poisoned him!"

Kikyo narrowed her eyes at her, and Kagome knew that she'd struck a nerve.

"I may have poisoned him, but you're the one killing him," Kikyo said, reaching into her shirt to remove a vial, holding it up in the stream of daylight for Kagome to see.

The reddish liquid glinted in the small vial, and Kikyo gave her a smirk before tucking it back inside the cloth.

"It is easy enough to save him," Kikyo said, turning her back to Kagome as she walked across the clearing and sitting properly against the trunk of a tree. "I can wait as long as is needed. This body does not require food or water, and my shinidamachu will bring me souls enough to sustain me until you come to your senses."

"And if I don't?"

Kagome didn't want to die.

Sure, there had been times—moments—when dying seemed a lot less—painful, but she'd never actively wanted it or sought it out. She'd made a choice a long time ago in Kaede's hut.

Kagome stared at Kikyo from across the way.

"Then Inuyasha will perish. And with enough time, so will you."

So, in the end, Kikyo would get whatever she wanted.

But Inuyasha would die in the process.

It didn't seem fair. It wasn't right. Kikyo had no right to take his life, even if he'd offered it to her time and time again. Even if she'd tried to kill the both of them before.

One, she felt, happened far more often than the other.

Kagome turned to look at Inuyasha, who was still breathing heavily. Too heavily for being unconscious.

No one was coming.

One of the little snakes slithered a little too close, and the barrier crackled, sending it skittering away and curling back around Kikyo's arm.

They were everywhere, blocking her view of anything useful in the trees as they circled around.

No one could get inside Kikyo's barrier if she didn't want them inside in the first place.

Except for Kagome.

But to do anything, she would have to leave the safety of her own little bubble. And the moment she did, Kikyo's little serpents would snatch her up and—well, that would be that.

Using her sleeve, she dabbed at his forehead, dragging it over his face to dry it.

He was sweating an awful lot. Enough that Kagome was starting to get a little concerned.

Inuyasha had made it through tough situations before.

"I don't know if you can hear me," she whispered. "But I'm here. I won't let—" Her voice froze at mentioning her name to him, even if he couldn't respond. "I won't let anything happen to you, okay?"

Kagome made another swipe across his jaw where droplets had begun to form.

"I'm going to figure it out," she whispered to him so lowly that Kikyo couldn't hear her. "I swear it."

A/N: This was a ridiculously long chapter (over 11k words), so I broke it up into three parts. This is Part 1 of 3. It took me a while to figure out if/where I could split it, and I think that it actually works out well now.

I hope that you enjoyed the angst as there is more coming next week! As always, let me know what you think!