InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Don't know what you've got 'til it's gone ❯ Stolen Goods ( Chapter 25 )

A/N: Edited by SmallFlower

 

FFnet

Toya's Gurl, TaintedInuShemeeko, agent-doo, Inu'sAngelGurl, Soon to be world renown Gracie, sailorgirl16, kitty-inuyasha, Cresents Moon, MiniSparky, MagicV

 

Jon C - it's hard not to do something that's been done before. Just about everything has.

 

Inuyasha's2hotmiko and Sugar Baby - Akane is the name of the fox demon who merged with Kagome at the beginning of the story. She took over when Kagome's soul was pulled out. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Stardragon12 and StarDragon97 - did you get them?

 

 

MMorg

 

Black_rose28, flrsblue, Bladecutter1

 

Disclaimer - I do not own any character created by Rumiko Takahashi

 

Chapter 25 - Stolen Goods

 

Inuyasha leapt over the canopy of the forest, Shippo clinging to his shoulder, his senses strained for a sign of Kikyo. Sango, Miroku and Kirara flanked him on one side and Myoga on a large black crow were on the other, just barely in his line of sight. So far, they had caught no sight or scent of Kikyo and her soul collectors. She had always turned up at odd times: just when they needed her help or when her presence was most awkward and he'd never had trouble finding her before. Anger twisted in his gut as he wondered whether she'd always been close, timing her appearances and plotting the scenes in order to keep his trust and love. How many times had Kagome found them embracing in the forest? Kagome, who never hurt anyone and who had promised to stay by his side, despite his old feelings for Kikyo. She had played him as the fool and he had bought it.

 

They had decided to go north to the mountains. According to Miroku, if Kagome's soul had been pulled from her body, there was a chance that the fox soul that had merged with her had taken over. The kitsune may try to head back to her homeland. Inuyasha had wanted to start their search near the well, the last place he had seen her.

 

“Keh. Kagome wouldn't go to the mountains, not without me.”

 

Miroku rubbed his temples, tired of arguing the point with the distraught hanyou, “I've told you, she isn't Kagome anymore. She is the fox demon with whom she merged.”

 

Inuyasha glowered at him, refusing to accept that Kagome could be completely absent from her own body. To accept that would be to accept that she might never be back in her body and he wouldn't do that. “We're tracking Kikyo, anyway,” he finally bit out.

 

“Kikyo will follow Kagome in order to get the other pendant. If we find Kikyo, Kagome will be close by.”

 

They were going on a lot of assumptions, but since he'd already searched near the well and didn't have any better ideas, they had followed the monk's advice. He just hoped that they weren't too late. `Kagome, I'm sorry, please be OK.'

 

Myoga's crow squawked suddenly and Inuyasha hollered to Kirara as he veered off to meet the flea demon. He landed on ground and glared at Myoga, who was perched on the preening bird, waiting for the group to assemble. Kirara followed close behind.

 

“Why did we stop, Myoga?” Inuyasha growled and cracked his knuckles.

 

The flea winced. “My faithful steed,” he patted the bird's gleaming feathers, “has been listening to the forest creatures' gossip.” He ignored Inuyasha's rude snort. “He has informed me that the ogre of the mountain has been disturbed, which means someone has entered his territory.”

 

“Coincidence?” Sango asked and glanced at Miroku.

 

“I doubt it,” Miroku answered, tightening his grip on his staff. He knew that Inuyasha didn't buy his reasoning for heading north, but he was almost positive that that's where Kagome, or whoever she was now, had headed.

 

“Could it be reacting to us?”

 

“We've barely entered its territory,” he pointed out. “I don't think it knows we're here yet.”

 

“Then we follow the ogre?” she was glad that she had changed into her exterminator's uniform before they had left the village.

 

The monk nodded. “The ogre will be the easiest demon to track.”

 

“Will ya stop yapping already so we can get going?” Inuyasha's angry bark broke their conference. He hated planning and strategizing; he wanted to go kick some ass.

 

Myoga's crow squawked and took flight as the ground shuddered beneath their feet. “Lord Inuyasha, I see the ogre!”

 

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

 

Sifting through the rubble that had once been the entrance to her den, Akane's eyes burned with unshed tears. The soft earth had caved in, leaving a depression in the ground where the main chamber had been. None of the other dens were intact, either, and some stank of long-dead occupants. It was nothing more that she expected, but she had still hoped to find something. She hadn't even seen another youkai, let alone kitsune, on her path through the mountain. Except for that thing that was following her, she corrected herself. She hadn't been able to shake it, not that she'd really tried. She knew it was close by, watching her.

 

The village was relatively undisturbed; the bodies of those who had died in the open were gone but the scavengers of the forest had not dug up those who had been buried in their homes. No one had survived; she was all that remained in of her village and she was in a stolen body. Akane rested her head in her hands and sank down onto her haunches, finally letting the tears come.

 

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

 

Souls collectors twined around her, masking her presence, as she watched the object of her hatred. Why she had come to this burnt-out, empty village, Kikyo neither knew nor cared. However, she did know that an ogre now claimed the territory and that she should get the pendant and leave, as quickly as possible.

 

Still, she watched the woman with a morbid fascination. She hadn't expected another soul to claim the body after Kagome's soul, her soul, had been drawn into the charm. She should have guessed that events wouldn't go as planned because something had changed the girl. Kagome should have simply collapsed, an empty shell waiting for purification. She'd have forced Inuyasha to watch as she took the pendant and completed her soul, and then destroyed the body of his mate. It would have broken him, to know that he had betrayed Kagome and caused her death, just as he had done to her. `He didn't kill you, Naraku did,' the last shred of her conscious whispered in the back of her mind. She pushed it away impatiently. Regardless, he had betrayed her by mating that imposter.

 

Sensing the activation of the curse, she had rushed to claim her prize but had been startled when it began to move. She'd had hardly any time to enjoy Inuyasha's suffering as he combed the forest and surrounding areas for his bitch. Disappointed that some of her fun had been spoiled, she'd followed the pendant on its trail north and into the mountains.

 

A flock of birds erupted from a nearby tree, screeching in fear. Kikyo glanced at them, and then gradually let her body take its corporeal form. The ogre must be getting close.

 

Akane raised her head to stare at the apparition before her. Dressed in the white haori and red hakama of a priestess but exuding the menace of a demon, the woman was beautiful, cold and dead. `Her body is made of clay,' she realized with a shiver. She stared at Akane impassively, no hint of emotion in her brown eyes.

 

Akane stood and flexed her claws, bracing herself for a fight. “You've been following me. Why?”

 

The dead woman narrowed her eyes but made no move toward her. “You have something that belongs to me,” she said quietly but forcefully.

 

“This body…”

 

Kikyo laughed, short and devoid of humor, “No, the body you can keep. The jade pendant around your neck, however, is mine.”

 

Wrapping her fingers around the charm on the thong, Akane frowned at her. “How is that?”

 

“It was stolen by the previous owner of the body you now possess.”

 

“Really. And how was it stolen?” The woman's claim could be genuine, but there was something wholly untrustworthy about her. Even if the pendant did belong to her, Akane wasn't sure that she wanted her to have it.

 

“What does it matter to you, demon? It is mine and I want it back.” Kikyo was losing control of her temper. She was too close to completing her soul to be thwarted by an impudent demon in a stolen body. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and notched it in her bow. “Hand it over, unless you want to die a second time.”

 

Akane cocked her head and planted her hands on her hips, an eyebrow raised in surprise. Did this woman actually think that she could kill her with an arrow? Her amusement faded as the arrow began to glow pink. `Sacred arrow…she really is a priestess, or was at one time. She intends to purify me.'

 

“Kikyo, no!” Akane whirled toward the shout. The inu-hanyou who had been with her when she had awoken landed between her and her aggressor with a thump, drawing a rusty sword that flared with youkai power and transformed into an enormous fang-like blade. On his shoulder, a young kit stared at her with liquid emerald eyes, blinking tearfully.

 

“Are you alright, Kagome?” he asked, glancing back at her.

 

Akane shook her head and took several steps backward, his anxious yellow eyes piercing her soul. She stumbled as a pulse of heat emanated from the mark on her back, a mark she hadn't even noticed having. The kit wailed and flung himself at her, arms outstretched. She caught him and held him close, the memories of her own son flooding her mind. She choked out a sob; this was her son and mate, returned to her. Her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground, clutching the kit tightly to her breast. Under her body, the ground trembled and she cried harder. “Not again…”

 

Kirara touched down off to the side of the standoff and Miroku and Sango slid off her back. “Inuyasha, the ogre is hot on our heels!” Miroku shouted to the hanyou, who stood between Kagome and Kikyo. “Sango, see to Kagome.” She nodded and ran to the girl crumpled on the ground.

 

“I know that!” Inuyasha yelled back. He had been ready to tear into the priestess, but now that he faced her, he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. She was still the same Kikyo, proud and beautiful.

 

“Does she have the other pendant?”

 

Sango spoke from behind the hanyou, “No, Kagome still has it.” She was hesitant to touch the sobbing girl who held onto Shippo as if he were a lifeline. The kit clung to her, wailing her name and crying into her blouse. The jade pendant was barely visible under the kit's head.

 

“Stand aside, Inuyasha. I will pull her into my wind tunnel,” Miroku unwrapped the prayer beads from his hand, ready to free the curse in his hand and suck the priestess into the void.

 

“Wait, Miroku!” Inuyasha shouted at him.

 

Sango gasped, incredulous, “Inuyasha, surely you can't…”

 

“I have to do this myself,” he growled, staring his former love in the eye.