InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Quadrangle ❯ Restored ( Chapter 9 )

A/N: This chapter was a little difficult to write - I rewrote and rearranged it several times. I suppose I'm happy enough with it. Hope you guys are, too.

 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha et al are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.

 

Chapter 9 - Restored

 

Inuyasha scented the air as he smoothed the ruff of fur on his shoulder with his right hand, a gesture that had almost become second nature. If he'd realized it, he'd have been horrified, but he didn't, instead, letting the silky fur of the Mokomoko-sama unconsciously sooth him. Was he mistaken? Was he so lonely and desperate for her sunny smile that he was conjuring her scent out of thin air? Though accustomed to the pungent incense that burned in pots on the low alter, it hampered his keen nose.

 

He stole a furtive glance at Kikyou; still on her knees in front of alter. The jewel had begun to change, the depths of the crystal now smoky and dark instead of translucent. She hadn't moved for days now and he'd stopped keeping count, letting the hours drag on in a miserable fog. Several times, he'd considered leaving to check on his friends, but the knowledge that Kikyou would be left alone and helpless while in her trance stayed him.

 

There it was again, that mild scent of flowers that his mother had used to make tea…chamomile, the scent of home. Kagome. She was near?

 

Silently stepping out of the hut, he reflexively took a deep breath of clean air and moved toward the scent, tasting the wind for her companions. Three were missing: Sango, Miroku, and Kirara. `They must be approaching by air,' he decided, scanning the skies above for Kirara's telltale flame. Empty even of clouds, the blue sky stared back, refusing to explain their absence.

 

Leaping from shrine's steep perch, an enormous outcropping of rock that extended almost to the tops of the forest trees, he landed softly in the grass that ringed it. Ancient, spiraling steps had been carved into the rock, reaching from the ground to the entrance of the wooden hut and worn smooth in the center by the passage of time and human feet. Inuyasha could have remained at the door of the shrine, since it provided complete view of the surrounding forest, but he was reluctant to meet Kagome while standing guard over Kikyou. He may be dense, but he wasn't that dense.

 

With a last look over his shoulder, he darted into the thick woods, his hand resting on the hilt of Tokijin. Kikyou would be fine by herself for a few minutes while he found Kagome and explained the situation. She would understand; praise him, even, for taking matters into his own hand to fix his own mistake. He would take her into his arms, bathing him in the warmth of her eyes and the tenderness of her smile…

 

`Why is Kagome on Sesshomaru's back?' He stopped abruptly, his heart falling into his toes at the sight of her, arms wrapped around his neck, her skirt riding deliciously high on thighs that were squeezing his hips. Tokijin was unsheathed and in his hand before he could blink, and with speed he'd never before used, he charged his half-brother, fangs bared in a snarl.

 

“Inuyasha, no!” Kagome screamed as Sesshomaru wrenched her off his back, throwing her toward Ah-Un and drawing Tetsusaiga in one fluid movement. Landing in an undignified heap at the dragon's feet, she winced as the first ring of steel on steel broke the stuffy quiet of the forest.

 

“How dare you put your paws on Kagome, you bastard! And gimme back my sword!” Inuyasha roared, hacking at Sesshomaru with vicious swings of his blade. Sesshomaru parried easily, unsurprised that Inuyasha did not know how to use his advanced speed for anything but charging blindly.

 

“What are you going to do about it, brother?” Sesshomaru slid Tetsusaiga along the wicked edge of Tokijin, locking the hilts and disarming his brother with a quick flick of his wrist. Inuyasha leapt backwards, landing gracefully several yards away but not within reach of his sword, which had buried itself in the trunk of a tree and was humming quietly.

 

Inuyasha growled, cracking his knuckles as poison seeped into his claws. A cold gleam enter Sesshomaru's eye as he scented the windscar, readying the mighty fang for a killing blow.

 

Kagome saw her chance and took it, barreling between the brothers before they could clash again.

 

“Stop, both of you!” Sending them both franticly pleading looks, she stretched out her arms and hoped that they could stop their attacks before hitting her. Inuyasha twisted in midair, cursing as a splatter of poison narrowly missed the miko.

 

Sesshomaru swung the point of Tetsusaiga level with Inuyasha's chest, fighting against the snarl that pulled at his own lips. “Kagome, get behind me. It is time we finished this.”

 

“WHAT?” Inuyasha's eyes widened in disbelief as his mind tried to wrap around what he'd heard his brother say. “Like she'd ever turn to a fucking poodle like you for protection!”

 

“Miserable whelp, you have no inkling of how she's suffered under your so-called protection,” Sesshomaru's voice, usually controlled and measured, dripped with venom more potent that the fluid that leaked from his half-brother's claws.

 

“Guys, I'm still here,” Kagome warned as she waved her arms; she couldn't see this particular discussion heading anywhere productive. The brothers ignored her, continuing to trade insults over her head.

 

Spots of color appeared on Inuyasha's cheeks, almost obscene on the porcelain flesh, and he cracked his knuckles menacingly. “You ain't the one who's been saving her hide these last four years. Now watch as I hand you your ass on a platter!”

 

“Indeed, and how do you expect to hand me my `ass' when you cannot find your own?”

 

“Fucking bastard, I'm gonna-“

 

“HEY! I'll say it!” Kagome's harsh shout cut through their bickering and both demons cringed.

 

Belatedly realizing that he was no longer subject to the subduing spell, Inuyasha leered at his brother and made a grab for Kagome's arm, still outstretched to separate him from his brother.

 

All Kagome could see were his claws sweeping toward her and the memory of searing pain and burning flesh consumed her. Backpedaling, Kagome shrieked and covered her throat with her hand, trying to avoid the grasp of those claws and the torment that they promised. Her back hit something hard, shielding arms encircled her, defending her from the images of pain and fear that loomed in her mind. Kagome pressed her face into his shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut as she fought to regain her control.

 

“K-kagome?” Inuyasha's broken voice sliced through the haze in her mind and she heaved a shaking breath and pulled out of Sesshomaru's arms, still rubbing at the scars on her neck.

 

“Do you not know what you have done, half-breed?” Sesshomaru reluctantly let her leave the circle of his arms, though his hesitation did not show on his face.

 

Eyes fixed on the five purple lines that ran lengthwise on her throat, Inuyasha ignored Sesshomaru's question. “How did that happen?” a hint of dread belied his quiet question.

 

Her hand ran down her neck, resting at the collarbone where the jewel had once lain, and she regarded him resentfully. Hurtful words and recriminations piled up behind her tongue, but she stamped them down. `Let him explain himself, first.'

 

“Where have you been, Inuyasha?” Kagome asked softly.

 

“I've been trying to get my fucking body back; where do you think?” he groused but his voice lacked conviction and his eyes skittering away from her. `You didn't hurt her, you couldn't hurt her,' he repeated silently to himself.

 

“Let me rephrase the question. With whom have you been?” Kagome's expression blanked as she watched him fidget, the movement of his eyes, the slight cant of his head betraying him as surely as if he'd shouted it to the sky.

 

“I see.” The small hope she'd held in her heart shattered, fragments whirling and dancing as they cut her, leaving her bleeding on the inside. She'd known, she'd known all along, and yet…she'd dared believe that she could be wrong. She wanted to scream, cry, rant, rave, pound the ground with her fists, but she stood still, staring at a small patch of ground near her feet. No tears stung her eyes; she felt hollow, as dead as the woman he loved.

 

“What's that?” Inuyasha asked suddenly, sniffing at her as he eyed the bite on her neck. Something about it bothered him, the smell wasn't right…

 

Kagome covered with it her hand, turning her back to him, but Sesshomaru answered for her, “It is not your concern, Inuyasha.”

 

“The fuck it isn't,” Inuyasha retorted, regaining his wind when Kagome gasped, doubling over as power flooded her body, raw and not entirely pure. She felt her own spiritual power embrace it, cleansing it of taint, but the process felt like razors slicing through her veins. Just as the pain began to ebb, another pulse over took her, thrumming through her eagerly, searching for something.

 

“Sesshomaru,” she hissed as she hit the ground. Again and again, the energy invaded her. `In time to my heartbeat,' the afterthought drifted idly through her mind. Hands were touching her, muffled voices surrounding her, but she couldn't make sense of them. All she knew was the terrible power and the need to purify it.

 

A final pulse tore through her, stronger than the rest, and she felt it fully imbue her, then burst from her skin. For a moment, she felt no pain, floating weightlessly in a cool darkness that wrapped around her like the softest of down comforters. Far away, she heard someone chuckle and she smiled drowsily in response. Steadily, the quiet laughter grew closer, louder, more raucous and Kagome's grin faded as she tried to see who it was. The supporting darkness became constricting, the air suffocating as she gasped for breath.

 

Clean forest air rushed into her lungs as she blinked up at an azure sky through the treetops. Propping herself up on her forearms, she glanced around for her companions and found them lying on their backs on either side of her.

 

Hanyou ears twitched before their owner exploded with a sneeze, shaking his head vigorously. “Oi, wench, you okay?”

 

“Inu…yasha?” Kagome stared at the red-clad figure that glanced up at her, concern shining from golden eyes under an untidy fringe of silver bangs.

 

Inuyasha grunted a yes. It was then that he realized both of his arms were reaching for her. Shock turned to anger when a striped arm snaked over her shoulder, accompanied by a low growl. Though wordless, he understood the meaning behind that growl, having issued it to Kouga on many occasions.

 

Kagome froze, those claws were now touching her: the very claws that had cut her and left her dying in agony. Larger than life, they filled her vision, splayed over her chest. Intellectually, she knew that the intent behind them was different, the owner was different, but she couldn't help the terror that twisted in her gut.

 

Sesshomaru pulled away, alarmed by the scent of her fear and stiffness in her body. She'd never been afraid of him; why now? Her fear cut at him and he wanted nothing more than to bury his nose in her hair and rumble against her back until the tensions had seeped from her muscles. But he didn't; the urge to comfort her was as disturbing as her fear when he understood that he was himself again. He'd reacted on instinct when Inuyasha had moved to touch her; his scent in the mark calling to his beast to refuse this other male the right to touch what was his. Regardless of his internal war against a flurry of emotion he'd thought prompted only by hanyou blood, it didn't prevent him from pulling rank on his brother. “The miko belongs to me, now. Can you not smell that?”

 

Inuyasha opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it with a snap when Kagome did not refute his brother's claim. Glancing from the miko, who was studying her fingernails, to his brother and back, he took a whiff, his eyes straying to the bite on her neck. Her clothes and skin smelled strongly of himself, but that bite…it reeked of Sesshomaru.

 

“Inuyasha…I…” Kagome started forlornly, but didn't have the heart to finish. How could she explain the comfort she'd found in his brother's arms? She didn't understand it herself.

 

“I leave you alone for a week and this is what you do?” he asked, aghast, and reared back, trying to clear his sinuses of Kagome's scent combined with that of his brother in a loud snort. “What did you do?”

 

His accusing tone put her immediately on the defensive, even more so when he'd questioned her after she'd been kidnapped by Kouga, though she didn't have the self-righteous anger of the wrongly accused to back her up. Truth was, something had happened, and she'd enjoyed it. She twisted her fingers together, considering how to apologize, and then her head snapped up, eyes blazing. No, she had the self-righteous anger of the abandoned, the injured, the betrayed.

 

“Who do you think you are, questioning me when you poisoned me, stole the Shikon no Tama and ran off with…with her!” she spat, leaning forward with clenched fists. “You have no right!”

 

Inuyasha sputtered: poisoned? Poisoned? Not wanting come to terms with that word and the guilt that came with it, he ignored it, instead concentrating on the mark on her skin tainted by Sesshomaru's claim. `She promised me, she promised that she would always stay by my side.'

 

“Kagome,” Sesshomaru's rich voice caressed her, banking her anger as it commanded her attention. “The jewel?”

 

She nodded, twisting around to meet his eyes. “It's been restored.”

 

“Then come,” he said, and in a movement too quick for human eyes to follow, he wrapped his arm around her waist and hoisted them both to their feet. Kagome gasped, her eyes never leaving his molten pools of gold. It wasn't until after he'd ushered her to Ah-Un, settling her behind the children, that he realized she hadn't shown that spark of fear that she had earlier, but he had no time to dwell on it.

 

Inuyasha picked himself off the ground, casting a sullen glance at Kagome before racing off into the woods. With the jewel restored, Kikyou would be in more danger than ever; the burst of power would have been felt by demons for miles around. He would deal with his brother and his so-called claim afterwards. He knew it wasn't as it seemed; it couldn't be. Kagome would never leave him; she loved him.

 

XxxxxxxX

 

Kikyou stood at the top of the shrine steps, the deep purplish light of the restored jewel illuminating her haughty expression. Inuyasha skidded to an abrupt halt, his eyes fixed on the throbbing glow of the crystal cupped in the miko's hands, dimly registering the quiet rustle of Kagome sliding off of Ah-Un's back.

 

“Kikyou, you did it!”

 

“Did you have any doubts, Inuyasha?” she asked and then frowned, the triumph in her eyes darkening to anger and confusion. “You…you have returned to you own body. But how is this possible?”

 

“I don't know exactly. Kagome sort of…” his eyes slid toward the girl, who was pointedly staring everywhere but him. It didn't matter how, did it? He turned back to the undead miko. “Aren't you happy for me?”

 

Kikyou's soul collectors twined around her, lifting her and carrying her to him, their bodies stained purple by the jewel's tainted glow. “Consider it, Inuyasha. You were a full demon, and a Lord, no less. We could've led lives of leisure and power. Your hanyou body is a disgrace; why not leave it behind?”

 

Inuyasha stared open-mouthed at her. She'd wanted him to stay in his brother's body? An old memory of him and Kikyou, sitting together in the grass, drifted through his mind: We could use that wish to turn you into a mortal… what about you?… I could live life as an ordinary woman…

 

“But Kikyou, I thought you wanted to live as an ordinary woman.“ Wasn't he good enough for her as he was? `No,' he realized with a start, `that was Kagome.'

 

She laughed shortly, a mocking, grating sound that Inuyasha knew far too well. “Who would want to spend a life of toil and drudgery with a hanyou?” she spat out the last word as if it were spoiled meat. “I've suffered enough because of this jewel; now it will provide for me the life I deserve.”

 

Raising Tokijin, Sesshomaru had heard enough; the golem had as much as admitted her treachery. Once again, he underestimated his brother; in the past, he'd underestimated his determination, his perseverance, and his will to live. Now, he underestimated his hard-headedness. With a flare of brilliant power, Tetsusaiga transformed and blocked Tokijin's descent toward Kikyou.

 

“You are a fool, Inuyasha,” Sesshomaru stated calmly, as if he weren't sending a blast of wicked energy at his brother, who had stalwartly planted himself between Sesshomaru and Kikyou.

 

“Bastard, you don't understand anything!”

 

Kagome numbly watched the brothers clash, Inuyasha defending Kikyou despite her cruel, callous words, despite the fact that Kikyou had once tried to kill her and had given the mostly complete jewel to Naraku. “He'll always love her, always defend her.”

 

`Yes, he will,' her mind whispered back.

 

“Sesshomaru was right.”

 

`Yes, he was.'

 

“It's time to finish this,” she growled to herself, finally firm in her convictions. She didn't have to follow Inuyasha, didn't want to. Let him have Kikyou; she didn't belong in this time anyway. She had a duty to purify the jewel. Once that was fulfilled…she could do as she pleased.

 

Hunched and hiding herself behind the trees and brush circling the shrine, she crept around the brawling brothers to where Kikyou was standing off to the side. The miko was watching the fight with a cold, satisfied smiling, loosely cradling the jewel to her chest. `What is she waiting for?' Kagome wondered. Perhaps she was simply enjoying watching her hanyou defend her. Who knew? Kagome found that she didn't care.

 

Taking a deep, steadying breath, since she was not a physical fighter and was usually relegated to the fringe of the battle to fire arrows, she braced her self and then leapt out of hiding, bodily tackling Kikyou.

 

Both mikos hit the ground hard, Kagome grunting from the impact and Kikyou releasing a startled yelp. Dimly, she knew Inuyasha had turned, shouting Kikyou's name, and Kagome tangled her hand in Kikyou's hair, yanking with the force of years of pent up frustration and resentment. Kikyou shrieked, clawing at her face with one hand and flinging the other, still clutching tightly to the jewel, away from Kagome. Ignoring of the sting of nails on her face, Kagome thrust her elbow into the dead woman's solar plexus and grabbed her wrist as it involuntarily curled in.

 

After another sharp tug on her perfect, straight hair, Kagome was able to slam the woman's wrist to the ground, crying out as Kikyou's nails dug into her cheek. Baring her teeth in a feral snarl, Kagome again slammed her wrist into a sharp rock, almost laughing when her fingers uncurled and the jewel rolled out and onto the ground. Kagome snatched up the jewel, only to double over, breathless and in pain, as Kikyou managed to plant a knee in her stomach. Deep purple lightened to pink as the jewel purified in her hand.

 

Rolling away from the golem, Kagome frantically tried to come up with a place to put the jewel that allowed her to fight with both hands. Soul collectors dived at her, their wraithlike bodies and spindly legs cold and clammy against her skin. Kikyou staggered to her feet and struck out with a sandaled foot, landing a vicious kick in her lower back. Distantly, Kagome wondered if she bruised a kidney; the pain was excruciating. She rolled onto her side, flailing her legs and trying to trip the miko who stared down at her with an impious look of rage and hate. Out of options, Kagome popped the jewel into her mouth and grabbed a large rock, imbuing it with purification and chucking at the incensed miko.

 

She missed of course, but the second it took Kikyou to duck gave her the opening she needed to jump to her feet and slap her soundly across that pale, beautiful face. Kikyou touched the reddening flesh for a scant moment before lunging forward, her hands closing around Kagome's neck. Knocked off balance, both women tumbled to the ground, Kikyou's hands loosening as she landed on her incarnation, her face twisted and her eyes lit with an unholy light. Kagome choked as the breath was knocked out of her, swallowing reflexively as her hand came up to lock around the throat of her aggressor and roll her over, straddling her body and squeezing the breath out of her clay body.

 

“I'll give you the life you deserve,” Kagome growled between clenched teeth as throbbing red clouded her vision and permeated her brain.

 

A clawed hand grasped the back of Kagome's blouse, pulling her off the miko and tossing her away. Dazed, Kagome lay on her back, breathing hard. Inuyasha kneeled next to Kikyou, staring down at her still, slightly blue lips, then turned accusing eyes onto Kagome.

 

“The fuck you think you were doing?” he yelled at her.

 

“She was going to use the jewel to…” a coldness spread from the pit of her stomach. “Oops.”

 

Inuyasha glowered at her, clutching Kikyou's limp form to his chest. “Oops? What `oops'? Where's the fucking jewel, Kagome?”

 

“I, uh, swallowed it.”

 

“You WHAT? How stupid are you?”

 

“Silence, Inuyasha!” Sesshomaru snapped, stepping to stand next to Kagome's prone body.

 

Kagome sent the restored taiyoukai a grateful glance before she scowled at the hanyou. “It was an accident!” she protested, propping herself up on her elbows. “I didn't have anywhere else to put it, so I put it in my mouth! Then the she knocked me off my feet and…” she shrugged helplessly.

 

“Well puke it out!” he shouted, and then froze as the woman in his arms began to stir. Wonder dawned in his face as he bent to sniff her. No longer smelling of clay and bones, the woman blinked up at him, living and mortal. “Kikyou…” he breathed reverently. “You're alive.”

 

Feeling like an outsider, Kagome hung her head, hiding the saccharine scene with a curtain of dark hair, and pushed to her feet. Sesshomaru bent slightly, inhaling the fragrance of her hair and noting the slight shift in her scent. The pale under-scent of humanity and mortality was fading, to be replaced by the clean, sweet smell of ozone. “It is already absorbing.”

 

“Is it too late to get it out?” she asked, a hand pressed to her stomach as it gurgled and turned over, the coldness seeping into her bones and freezing the blood in her veins.

 

Raising an elegant eyebrow, Sesshomaru regarded her silently, and then nodded his head once.

 

“What am I going to do?” her eyes met his, pleading for something unnamed as the mahogany in her in irises darkened and swam.

 

Sesshomaru didn't understand the problem. He had his body back; the jewel was out of the hands of the undead miko. Kagome was…his. “You did well,” he stated indifferently though his gaze was sunlight warming her skin. Kagome blinked, startled by the praise, and slowly smiled.

 

XxxxxxxX

 

Dried grasses rustled in the wind, bending and waving their seeded heads, except where a large patch of scorched earth scarred the field, barren and black.

 

No one stood in the grass, weapons in hand and courage in their hearts, as the ground trembled and ash puffed into the air.

 

No one notched an arrow when a cracked opened in the spoiled earth, releasing curls of noxious miasma and the tips of grasping tentacles.

 

No one tightened tighten his grip on his sword as spiny spider legs burst out of the ground, raising a mutated, fleshy body out of the ground

 

No one heard the maniacal laughter or saw the red eyes that gleefully devoured sight of their freedom.