InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Changing Lives ❯ Shikon No Tama ( Chapter 30 )

#“Don’t worry, Jaken-sama,” Rin said, though her voice shook. “Sesshomaru-sama and Inuyasha are too strong to lose the battle. We’re safe.”

True as that was, Kagome could only think, I need to be out there, too. I need to be helping Inuyasha – but I can’t see anything. Sango and Miroku are out there, fighting with them. . . I should be, too.

The sounds of battle and cursing as things failed filled the air, and every now and again, a scream rose out from the village. In total darkness, the humans’ natural fear of being hunted and devoured rose tenfold, and Kagome felt pain in her heart as she thought of all those people who didn’t have the luxury of Shippou’s foxfire as light.

Sixty

Kagome wasn’t expecting the fight to last very long, which is why it surprised her so much when she heard Inuyasha give a string of curses that could only mean he was frustrated and hurt. Though she wanted badly to step outside and see for herself what was going on, she didn’t have so much as a bow to protect her, and she didn’t know much about using her spiritual powers without some kind of an anchor.

“Jaken,” she said, catching his attention, “doesn’t Sesshomaru have Bakusaiga?”

Gritting his teeth, the toadlike youkai replied, “No. He gave it over to Toutousai a few days ago for a bit of maintenance, and we were actually on our way to go get it back.”

“. . .If Toutousai noticed Sesshomaru hasn’t come back as planned,” Shippou started, thinking it out, “does that mean he’ll come here, with the sword in hand?”

“Knowing Toutousai, not yet,” Kagome told the kitsune. “He’d probably wait a day or so before getting worried.”

Kyou was curled up next to Shippou, holding on for dear life, and now finally spoke. “Kagome. . .I’m really scared,” she admitted.

“Don’t be,” Kagome told her, “you’ve got Shippou protecting you, y’know.”

Kyou gave a small smile, while Shippou’s face flamed. Though embarrassed, he still sat up straighter, as though trying to impress everyone around him.

Outside, Inuyasha gave a grunted yell and yelled out an attack – from the sounds of it, Kongousouha. Kagome only looked down at Rin in her lap, the girl holding on but not nearly as visibly scared as Kyou was. She thought of telling Rin some soothing words, but of course, Rin didn’t need them; Sesshomaru was the girl’s God in all rights and purposes. Rin simply wasn’t the kind of girl to be frightened in this situation, with a person like Sesshomaru fighting for her.

That’s when she got the idea. If Bakusaiga wasn’t here, why shouldn’t its attacks be? A single swing of that blade would end this threat for sure. And if she thought about it well, she was fairly certain she could find a way to mimic that attack.

Tearing a hole that couldn’t be healed would make it acidic, though. She wasn’t so sure if she could make acid, but given how uncharted her spiritual powers were, she figured it was worth a shot. Handing Rin off to Kaede, she stood and plucked up a bow and arrow. One shot, she promised herself; she would give it one shot, then head back here, to safety.

She poured a lot of hope into this, telling Shippou to remain inside when he asked her where she was going. When she stepped out into the darkness, to her surprise, she found a glow on her chest -- the Shikon no Tama. It was glowing a little white light. . .

Then there was a click in her mind. Pulling on Midoriko’s own power, mixed with her own, could probably purify anything. And purified demons, she knew, tended to shatter or dissolve completely. Like as if they were dipped in acid.

Moving quick, before Inuyasha could notice she was outside the hut, she touched the tip of her arrow to the jewel, watching in fascination as the glowing lessened on the jewel itself, spreading to the arrowhead. With a smirk that was entirely victorious, she aimed far out to where she knew no one was. Almost aiming directly overhead, she focused on her spiritual powers, pulling them from herself and trying to drench the arrow in it.

She released the arrow. With satisfaction, she watched it glow brighter as soon as it left, darting upwards. She knew the moment it hit the demons, because at that point, it was as if the light itself had shattered, spreading outwards like a flame. Where the arrow went, she didn’t know, but within seconds, that purifying flame was definitely making progress.

And the entire demon-cave shook and screamed, proving just how much damage that one hit was doing. Mentally, she thanked Midoriko, then ducked back inside. She knew that at some point, probably even minutes from now, she was going to be terribly berated by Inuyasha. But she had done her job, accomplished helping everyone, protecting the village she had grown so fond of.

She could hear the sounds outside as one by one, those fighting noticed the hole she’d punctured in the demons’ walls. She heard, not surprisingly, how angry Inuyasha’s voice was compared to the others. And she heard more demon shrieks as time went on, smiling to herself to know that she’d been of help.

Twenty minutes later, with everything settled, she was starting to regret trying to help. Inuyasha was absolutely furious at her leaving safety, even if she wasn’t in direct danger or managed to fatally wound the demons. Though she hadn’t seen the end of the battle, she knew the demons weren’t stupid enough to remain joined to others who were being purified. Naturally, eventually the demons fled.

Since Inuyasha was more concerned with berating her than answering questions, it was Sesshomaru who gave the details asked for. And then he, Rin and Jaken were gone.

Apparently the demons tried to heal the hole multiple times before giving up, splitting apart. The individual demons flew in different directions, hinting at dissention among the ranks; they couldn’t agree on what to do at that point, so they abandoned each other. Which meant, thankfully, that they wouldn’t be trying the attack again.

It took a long time for Kagome to get Inuyasha to quiet down and accept that there had been no loss in her one moment outside of safety. Kaede assessed the damage done, noting that while it was terrible that they’d lost a total of eleven villagers, somehow or another the demons had avoided destroying any homes. The silver lining became that no one would have to rebuild anything physically, but those scarred mentally would have a long road ahead.

It was sad to think she knew that from experience, but she chose not to dwell on it. “Inuyasha,” she said now, as they settling to get some rest. When he looked at her, she went on, “I think we should make that trip tomorrow.”

He nodded. “I was just thinking that,” he agreed. “Now go to sleep.”

She gave him a weak kind of smile. “You just love your guardian duties, don’t you?” she teased. When he snorted as a response, she relaxed on her mat, Shippou and Kyou curled up next to her. Thinking about it, she could almost see little hearts floating around those two.

It made her think that those two were just fated to be together. And she was glad Shippou had someone to be with him all the time now; whenever she left for home, she worried over whether he was getting bullied by Inuyasha or not, regardless of the fact that Shippou tended to start their spats. But with him focusing on Kyou more, it was unlikely he would test Inuyasha like he used to.

~*~ Midoriko’s Cave ~*~

“Have you thought about what wish you’ll make?” Miroku asked Kagome. It was something he worried about, and a lot, at that.

Kagome nodded. “I remembered something my grandpa told me a long time ago. It all makes sense, so it should work.”

“And if not,” Inuyasha threw in, “we’ll just have to face another Naraku, won’t we? Heh, we’ll do it all over again if we have to.”

Kagome couldn’t help but smile at the way he spoke. When they first met, it was all “I” and “me” and “my.” Now, he included everyone in the way he talked. “That won’t happen,” she said now. “I’ve figured it out.”

Walking up to the statue, she lifted the Shikon no Tama high enough that it could easily be seen as an offering. Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to think that Inuyasha was still here, right behind her, and erased all doubt and fear from her mind. Then she said, “Shikon no Tama, I want you to disappear. Forever.”

With a flash, it was gone. The statue of Midoriko and the demons began to shake, and she hastily took some steps back. She wasn’t expecting it, but the statue collapsed, little by little. Then, oddly enough, as arms and limbs and gaping jaws fell, Midoriko’s statue remained, still standing tall.

“. . .Midoriko-sama?” Miroku asked no one. They were all held in a kind of stupor, wondering why the demon collapsed and yet Midoriko hadn’t.

Then, very abruptly, that part shattered. Midoriko’s body simply fell apart, but in her place was a kind of white outline. But it couldn’t be a ghost, because ghosts had middle parts, and the outline didn’t. Or at least, it didn’t at first, but slowly, it gained a face, a body, hair. But it was nude, and Sango quickly made Miroku look away at that fact.

It was Midoriko, and Kagome knew it. She gave the older woman a smile, but said nothing, having nothing in her mind appropriate for such a meeting. Midokriko said nothing as well, looking down at Kagome from her place. It looked as though she wanted to say something to Kagome, yet she didn’t; instead, she returned Kagome’s smile. With a bow in her direction, Midokriko faded out.

Unable to stop herself, Kagome bowed back, wishing the older woman could find peace where she was going.

And then Inuyasha shattered the moment. “Well, that’s done with.”

Kagome groaned. “Inuyasha, that was terrible timing,” she chided.

“What?” he asked, offended, while Miroku and Sango left, chuckling. “It’s the truth!”

“It’s still rude,” Kagome told him firmly. “Midokriko-sama should come back and ‘o-su-wa’ you.”

He flinched at the first three syllables, but when Kagome didn’t finish, he gave a sigh of relief. Then she was walking out and he was following, grumbling about priestesses and their nasty attitudes. She just rolled her eyes.

Shippou and Kyou had been waiting outside the cave, in case anything bad happened. Now they both dashed over to Kagome, each one latching onto one of her legs. She couldn’t help but smile down at them, thinking they were just too cute. “Everything’s fine,” she told them softly.

Inuyasha snorted. “It’s not like you did much. ‘Shikon no Tama, I want you to disappear,’” he mocked in a high tone.

“Osuwari,” she snapped over her shoulder, pleased at the expected groan he gave when he hit the dirt.

Miroku gave the other man a pitying look, even as he gave a laugh. “You have to learn to watch your mouth,” he advised.

Sango gave Miroku a skeptic look in return. She said, “You have to learn to watch your hands.”

Kagome snickered, and even unhappy, Inuyasha got up laughing at Sango’s quick tongue. Then he turned a burning glare on Kagome while Miroku tried somewhat desperately to get back on Sango’s good side.

Kagome gave Inuyasha the sweetest look she could, saying an innocent, “What?”

It worked the way she wanted it to. He blushed a little, mumbled something unintelligible, and folded his arms, now facing some other direction. It was perhaps cruel, but she knew just how to manipulate him. On the other hand, he did the same thing sometimes; maybe it was just fair play.

“Okay,” she said to Shippou and Kyou, “everything’s over and done with. You can let go now.”

Shippou frowned even as he released her leg. “You’re going back home again, aren’t you?”

Kyou did likewise, though she remained silent, only looking up at Kagome uncertainly.

Kagome felt her heart melt, though she nodded. “You can’t blame me for wanting to sleep in my own bed, Shippou-chan. Besides, you have Kyou-chan now, right?”

Kyou glanced over at Shippou, who immediately was blushing and shuffling his feet. “I-I guess,” he agreed. “But, it’s like you only just got here.”

“And before you know it, I’ll be back,” she promised. Kneeling down, she hugged both of them, swayed by how it felt to have their little arms around her neck. She was totally overcome, and she knew it. Even so, she let them go. “Just be good, and I’ll come back with sweets, how’s that?”

Instantly they both perked up, the bribe working well. All of a sudden they were happy to watch her go, knowing full well what she’d be returning with.

:End Chapter:

I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!

Well, mostly. :D

Now I need to finish this fic quick, cause I really have zero motivation to go on and on with it. I have, however, started a ton of new fics since my last update. . . .which was last year OMFG someone shoot me!

But really, don’t. I’ve had enough injuries because of this fic as it is.

On another note, I’ve been following the Inuyasha manga, and just this last chapter, they finally got around to killing Naraku and getting rid of the jewel. So yay, some inspiration. I figure I need to finish this fic before Rumiko Takahashi finishes the actual manga. XD I imagine there’ll only be a few more chapters coming, but I’ll be sure to add a sweet li’l lemon square since I believe it deserves one more happy time for Kagome and Inuyasha.

I’m also planning what to do about their baby, since I believe I shall include that as well. If only for a short while.

I shall now pimp myself. Please, go read and review my other fics! In particular, “Strange Existence,” it’s a Jak and Daxter fic. Pleeeeaaaase? It’s only just in the beginning stages, but I really like it and I would love some feedback, as it’s getting no love at all.

In return, I vow to keep trying resolutely to finish this fic. 100%

:TBC: