Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Chapter 44: Some Instincts Can't Be Changed...
"KAGOME!!" Inuyasha screamed out to her the moment he recognized the altered girl aiming at them from over twenty feet away. His heart clenched violently at the sight of her, her face set grimly as her eyes gleaming with unspoken threat. The voice said she couldn't be called any of the three races fighting in her blood, but the look of her and the FEEL....

Naraku had turned his miko into a youkai.

Laughing with dark pleasure at the myriad of emotions racing over the hanyou's face, Naraku jumping from his perch in the tree to stand in the midst of the destroyed ground. This was what he'd been longing to see in the hanyou's eyes, the pain and disbelieving shock as he looked at the miko he'd mated not two days earlier, "Save your breath, Inuyasha. There is absolutely nothing you can say to reach her now. Kagome is mine."

Inuyasha's growl was feral as he clenched the Tetsusaiga so hard it wouldn't be surprising if the hilt had molded to the shape of his palm, "What the fuck did you do to her? You turned her into a youkai!"

Naraku lifted a hand, and Kagura appeared at his side to make a flicking motion with her hand and bring the wind from behind Kagome to Inuyasha's senses. When the hanyou's eyes widened, then narrowed sharply as the growl gained dangerous volume, he smirked at them, "Do you smell blood perhaps, Inuyasha? Human blood?"

"Your death can't possibly be painful enough to suit me," Inuyasha's eyes blazed, his teeth grinding together as he looked at Kagome again.

"I had nothing to do with this," he shrugged casually. "Your blood inside her is what's forcing her human blood out of her, taking her over just a piece at a time. It just needed a little... encouragement."

"It needed to feel like she was being killed," Inuyasha's lip curled.

"Nothing so serious. All it needed was for me to touch her and it took over," Naraku gave him a mocking nod. "Such volatile blood, and so strong... But then this guardian of the Shikon jewel is the most powerful yet; she may even last another day or two before all traces of her humanity are destroyed."

“You had this all planned out, didn’t you? You knew Kikyou would be there with me! That Kagome would see and think-!” Inuyasha bit down on his lower lip hard, struggling against the intense rage rocking through him, urging his to lose control and take apart the man responsible for Kagome’s pain.

“Think you were toying with her for her body? Her resemblance to the dead? The thought had crossed my mind,” he turned his face to regard the woman standing perfectly still, only the breeze playing with her clothing and hair to prove she was indeed alive and not some cold statue. “Humans are complicated creatures, Inuyasha, especially this one. Her mind is so used to the thought of you leaving her for the corpse that it was no small matter to revert her to those feelings when she is all ready so off balance adjusting to youkai emotion. As a matter of fact, it was easier because of how soon it was after you mated her.”

Another notch of Inuyasha’s control slipped, and on the hill a faint shudder rolled through Kagome, bringing a frown to her face, ‘What are they saying, Onigumo?’

*Inuyasha has not recognized you. He believes you are a new offspring of Naraku, and Naraku is taunting him for his stupidity. I think Inuyasha is buying time for Kikyou to try something new.*

‘I don’t feel her yet,’ she closed her eyes briefly, inhaling to search with the youkai senses even as she felt for the aura with her miko powers.

*Be alert, Kagome. We can kill the hanyou and his bitch, and then you will be able to purify Naraku and restore me. Then I will protect you and Shikon-no-Tama as you were meant to be protected. I will teach you to love me.*

Naraku smiled at the way the hanyou began to pant, well aware of the struggle going on in his head. If he could push him over the edge, that would spark the same kind of reaction in Kagome and make it that much more difficult for the hanyou to get close, “I must thank you for being so closely connected to her though. If not for the way she guarded your blood inside her I might never have been able to move myself into her so completely. Although I will be a better lover... You leave so many bruises it’s a wonder she can stomach your touch at all.”

Inuyasha’s control snapped.

“You fucking BASTARD!!” Inuyasha shot forward even as Naraku leapt away and lifted a hand to summon a swarm of his youkai to meet the attack. Inuyasha didn’t even break stride tearing through one after another, using his claws if they came too close as he pressed towards Naraku’s position. He didn’t even acknowledge Sango and Miroku fighting behind him, doing their best to keep the youkai from surrounding Inuyasha as they defended themselves.

Miroku looked grimly at the horde, concerned that they seemed content to dash in and out rather than trying to overwhelm them with their numbers. Naraku still had something planned and Inuyasha was too enraged to see it. His hand closed over the sealing rosary even as he hoped the plan didn’t include any of the Saimyoushou. He could at least try to clear the youkai coming from the side without risking Inuyasha or Sango, “Air Rip!”

Amazingly enough, for a long moment there was no sign of the wasps and Miroku let out a sigh of relief as he continued to pull in all the youkai he could manage. The Saimyoushou appeared so abruptly that he let out a shout even as he rushed to seal his hand, but they were close enough that he knew he wouldn’t be able to prevent absorbing at least a few of them.

A blast of purifying energy dissolved the youkai in front of his hand just before Miroku sealed it, preventing the wasps from reaching their goal even as the fighting momentarily paused in shock. Miroku closed his gaping mouth; his eyes wide as he looked at the arrow embedded in the ground in front of him up to where Kagome stood notching another arrow.

“K-Kagome-sama?!” Miroku gasped out, his eyes lighting up with a mix of confusion and excitement. “She protected me?”

‘Remind Naraku that my friends are NOT to be hurt, Onigumo,’ Kagome turned his disapproving frown to Naraku, waiting until he gave her a slight bow of apologetic acknowledgment. ‘They had nothing to do with the spell or with Kikyou and I will not make them suffer for it.’

*I told you that Naraku could not be trusted, Kagome,* Onigumo said softly. *It is a lucky thing that you have become such a proficient archer.*

Inuyasha’s brows narrowed in speculation as he calmed enough to defend against the renewed onslaught, trying to figure out what had just happened. ‘Kagome,’ he cast her a quick glance, watching her stand poised with her glowing eyes sweeping over the fight. ‘It’s still her? It has to be like the last times that she was overwhelmed! She’s still herself, aware of all this then, but he’s in her head and she... she doesn’t realize it isn’t her own thoughts!’

“Kagome! Don’t listen to the voice in your head! It’s a trick, you have to fight it!” he roared at her, abruptly reversing the direction of his attack to move towards her.

Naraku slid around to place himself between the hanyou and the miko, the bizarre tentacles ripping out from beneath the baboon pelt and forcing him to leap away or get impaled, “I told you, Inuyasha. It’s pointless for you to try and call for her. Her pain, your rage, my hatred... She doesn’t even realize how strongly she pulls off you and I, fighting our battle in her head, letting our emotions dictate her responses.”

Sango set her jaw as she watched Inuyasha defend against Naraku, catching her boomerang on its return trip, “He’s trying to get Inuyasha to attack him instead of attempt to reach Kagome-chan.”

“Inuyasha is likely the only one with the ability to restore her,” he nodded grimly, looking from her still form to Inuyasha. “Sango, I am going to test something... be prepared in case I am mistaken.”

Sango barely had time to turn when Miroku made as though to swing the staff, but twisted at the last moment with a determined expression to put himself directly in the swing on the youkai he was fighting. “HOUSHI-SAMA!?” she whirled already bringing the Hiraikotsu around to slice the youkai in half when it promptly exploded, taking a wide circle of the surrounding force with it.

Sango grabbed his arm in a bruising grip and yanked him backwards, her heart pounding madly as she hissed out, “What the hell are you doing!?”

Miroku’s gaze, however, was on Kagome as she reached over her shoulder and strung another arrow in a smooth motion, “Kagome-sama IS protecting us. Sango, the youkai are just a distraction for us, that‘s why they aren‘t attacking seriously! They are only after Inuyasha!”

Naraku barely gave them a glance as he clashed with the hanyou, pulling Kagome’s own energy back into him to weaken the force of the attacks. Inuyasha knew he was fighting against Naraku, but his soul would sense Kagome’s power and hold back...

“Face it, Inuyasha,” Naraku smiled as he connected a strike, gouging a deep gash along the hanyou’s shoulder. “This time I have won. Soon I will be connected with Kagome deeper than you could possibly imagine and you will have nothing but a corpse in hell. I have the stronger miko now, and I will make her love me as she would never love a half-breed like you.”

He grinned in triumph when the aura around Inuyasha flared wildly and in response the smell of blood from Kagome grew stronger. Just a little more and it wouldn’t take more than a few hours to purge the last of human blood from her system. The shards of the Shikon-no-Tama pulsed against his skin, bringing him the echo of Kagome’s tangled emotions, and he casually lifted a hand to stroke over the jewel.

Inuyasha leapt forward only to have Naraku lash out with more of the tentacles, wrapping them around his arms and legs as he turned and slammed his body into the trees with crushing force. Inuyasha gritted his teeth hard against the pain the shot through him when he came to a stop, pinned against the massive trunk of a tree. Forcing his eyes to open and focus on Naraku’s gloating smile, he snarled out, “How the fuck did you get in her head?!”

Naraku’s grin had a feral edge as he tightened his hold, watching the strain on the hanyou’s face, “It really was disgustingly simple, Inuyasha.” He slid the large chunk of the Shikon jewel from his pelt and held it up admiringly, “Did you know the kind of connection that girl has with this jewel? If I had known how she came to have it in the first place, I would have taken her from you long ago.”

“Why you-!” Inuyasha’s eyes narrowed, but he was cut off by yet another tightening of the tentacles.

“The Shikon-no-Tama searches for her aura,” he continued as if Inuyasha had never spoken. “Being so close to each other relaxes them, soothes their auras for lack of a better way to say it. Kagome feels the Shikon’s power and pulls it to her, and the jewel gives its power to her easily. They recognize the feel, so that if someone was to slide their own power into the jewel...”

Inuyasha’s mouth slowly fell open, his gaze going from the jewel to Naraku and then to where he could barely see Kagome watching over them with a hard expression, “You fucking tricked her into thinking it’s the damn jewel inside her?!”

“The jewel’s magic at least,” Naraku turned a warm gaze to the girl as well, bringing a new wash of anger through the hanyou. “She is so accustomed to the feel of the jewel’s magic she barely fought it at all. I doubt she would have stayed close at all had I not had this calming her soul as I sent my powers inside her,” he held the jewel between his thumb and forefinger with a narrow smile.

Kagome felt something pull at the leg of her hakama and frowned, stoically ignoring it as she watched the dark stains spread along Inuyasha’s kimono. Her hands tightened on her bow as she fought the urge to send an arrow into Naraku. Was she some kind of twisted masochist that she kept wanting to go back to Inuyasha for more of the same pain? The same rejection she’d had day after day since they met? Even the mating had been a lie, him taking advantage of how she felt to satisfy his desire for Kikyou.

She shook her head in confusion, ‘That didn’t feel like me...’

There was an odd pressure against her leg, like a pinch and she dimly wondered what exactly could have caused that sensation, glancing down briefly and going still when her glowing eyes met with huge, watery blue.

Unnoticed to the combatants, Shippo had taken one look at Kagome on the rise and gone running after her. He’d waited until everyone down below seemed distracted and crept up to her, uncertain with the waves of tangled energy pouring off her, and called her name.

When there was no response, not even a flicker of showing she’d heard him at all, he snuck closer and tried again...and again. His sneaking carried him directly to her feet and he’d gazed up in alarmed horror than Kagome showed not even one sign of noticing. What could Naraku have done to her to she wouldn’t look at even him? She’d protected Miroku twice and didn’t he mean more to her than the lecherous monk?

Determined to get her attention, he tugged at the black hakama and called her name louder. That time she’d frowned, but still her gaze had stayed riveted on the scene below. Desperate for a reaction, he’d whispered an apology even as he leaned down and sank his little teeth into her exposed ankle. He sprang back when he felt the skin break, tears spilling down his cheeks at the thought that he’d made her bleed, but his eyes went huge when she didn’t even flinch.

After a moment, though, she turned her gaze down and met his, melting from annoyance into shock before she spoke, “Shippo-chan?!”

His lip quivered and he flung himself at her stomach, making her gasp in surprise as she dropped her bow, the arrow snapping awkwardly at the sudden gesture and gouging a cut along her forearm.

Shippo felt her arm close around him and hold him close and he opened his eyes to look at the deep wound on her other arm, “Kagome!! You’re arm!”

When she said nothing, he looked up at her again, his brows scrunched together, as he studied her face. Kagome was looking at him, but he saw something flash behind her eyes and her lips compressed.

*Fuck, Kagome, don’t let that brat distract you now! We must be ready to purify Inuyasha and Naraku!*

‘Shippo needs to be protected, Onigumo,’ she responded, her brows lowering as she instinctively pressed the kit close and turned her head to glare down at where Naraku had yanked Inuyasha away from the tree.

One of the tentacles punched through Inuyasha’s stomach and she flinched, her eyes going suspiciously glassy for a moment before the power around her fluctuated again and her expression hardened. This was what Inuyasha deserved after all...

Shippo was calling her name again, confused that she didn’t even pat him on the head like she usually did if she was distracted. He was about to tug on her robes again when her head turned to the side and he tensed, giving out a shriek of surprise.

There was a little black disk over Kagome’s ear, not large enough to draw much attention, but covering enough that he could reason out her unresponsiveness with their presence. Certain he could help, he twisted in her arms and screamed out across the distance, “Inuyashaaa!!!! Kagome CAN’T hear us!! She has things over her ears!!!”

*Damn it all to hell, Kagome, can’t you shut that kit up before he ruins everything?!* Onigumo screamed in her mind when the combatants again froze and turned to look in their direction.

Inuyasha froze when he heard Shippo’s yell, his eyes lighting with comprehension as he watched Naraku’s lips turn down sharply, his gaze turned to focus on the kitsune in her arms. Gathering his returning anger, he growled out low and dangerous, “So that’s how you’re fucking keeping me out!”

Naraku turned back to him, his voice colored with irritation, “It does not matter that you know, Inuyasha. In another moment you’ll be dead and I will take control of her completely.”

Two more of the pointed tentacles shot out, one spearing the hanyou’s shoulder and the other ramming through the other side of his stomach. When Inuyasha let out a violent scream of pain, he yanked the hanyou close enough to see his own scarlet eyes burning in the depths of shadows beneath the head of his pelt, “Kagome will be in my bed before sunset.”

Naraku flung the tentacles upwards before bringing them down to slam the hanyou into the ground so hard a tremble rocked through the area. Sango and Miroku stumbled to their knees as a new cloud of dust and debris filled the air, their eyes wide with mutual horror.

Shippo let out a gasp when Kagome dropped to one knee, pressing a hand hard over her heart as her head bowed and her lips pulled back in a snarl. “N...No way! Inuyasha can’t...?”

Naraku stepped back to where Kagura stood in the trees, a silent observer to the carefully orchestrated battle. His eyes slid to where Kagome was shuddering violently, her arm falling away from the kit as her hands rose to clench against the sides of her head.

“Have you finally succeeded then?” Kagura asked with a bland calmness she was far from feeling, lifting her hand to clear away the dust obstructing their view of the hanyou.

Naraku closed his hand on the Shikon shard, his answer cut off abruptly when he felt a shift in the power flowing through it. His own lips pulling back in an uncharacteristic snarl, he looked at the crumbled earth with the rusty katana embedded deeply in the upset dirt.

The ground shifted as a clawed hand broke free to close around the hilt, yanking it free and transforming it in the staggering wave of energy that rocked the air around them. Inuyasha rolled to his feet in a fluid motion, almost as though he felt nothing from numerous wounds he’d gained moments ago.

Shippo clung to Kagome’s leg, begging and pleading for reassurance as her shoulders slumped and she pulled her hands away from her head to catch herself before she fell face-first to the ground.

His eyes widened and he backed away slowly when he saw her hands, ‘Claws?!”

Inuyasha lifted his head as he raised the Tetsusaiga, startling Naraku with the murderous chill in the glowing crimson and blue eyes. His lips twisted back off elongated fangs in an arrogant smirk filled with dark promise, “You’ll fucking regret letting those words ever cross your lips, Naraku...”

Comments (0)