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Love\'s Consequences	By : Sylean Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Naraku/Kagome Views: 10437 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make any profit from this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Love's Consequences
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make any profit from this story.
Warning: Spoiler alerts! Just make sure you've seen the whole series, Final Act and Movies included, for I touch upon pretty much everything at one point or another.
Warning: There will be lemons in this story later on. Also, there will be character deaths in this story at a later time.
Chapter 16: Rough Patch
(A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed and worry not, I am well. Your concern and understanding is much appreciated. I am still very busy, but just couldn't cut out writing all together. I have about 7 chapters done as of now (minus editing), and will post weekly for this story only until I run out of material. I am preparing to move, started a new job, and primary caregiver to an overactive 4 year old among other things that I've been procrastinating for way too long; so I may go on another hiatus once these 7 are posted. That being said this story is my baby and I can't shake it from my mind. With any luck, reviews will get me working on it at a speed in which I can keep up under these reduced time allotments.)
"Don't worry, Gramps," Kagome reassured. "I caught up on most of my school work and Naraku is an excellent math tutor. My education is back on track now." The aging priest was not fond of her being on the other side with a demon for a mate, and was coming up with excuses to keep his eyes on her.
"But what about your illnesses, you need your rest, Young Lady," he shoved his finger in the air like he found the holy sutras himself with this reason.
"Gramps, those are fake, remember?" Kagome droned.
"You're the one who thought them up, Father," Mrs. Higurashi came to the rescue.
"Oh, are you sure?" his thoughts derailed.
"Why don't you go look for that artifact you were talking about earlier," Mrs. Higurashi suggested wisely. "Kagome will return in a few days and you can tell her its story when she does." The diversion worked and gramps shuffled off to rummage through his storage shed. "You have fun, Dear, but don't forget what I told you now."
"Mom!" Kagome blushed fiercely. Her mother had given her "the talk" only last night, focusing in on protection and even asked Naraku if there were demon versions of STD's. It was mortifying. "I know already. I'll be home in a few days." Naraku found amusement at her discomfort and gave her mother a brief nod before taking Kagome down the well. Finally, they would be going home, away from this unfamiliar landscape, away from Kagome's reasons to halt his advances. He had been anticipating this for quite some time now and couldn't wait to get her alone. Oh the things he would do to-
"What happened here?" she voiced his thoughts exactly as he leapt them both out of the well's depths. Even before his feet could touch ground, they both caught sight of the disaster lacing the land. Adamant spikes lay in clusters everywhere. Trees were toppled like dominoes, wooden splinters from the castle marked where the building had once stood tall, and the gardens were all but destroyed; it was a mess, and there was only one person they knew who could produce unlimited adamant spears: Inuyasha. The barrier was still intact, but it could not defend against physical intrusions. That meant he must have been hacking away at it for a significant amount of time in order to make this much chaos. "Did Inuyasha do this?" Kagome wandered around the devastation, touching the destroyed pieces of their home.
"It would seem so," Naraku trailed his gaze over what used to be the castle he built for Kagome, enchanted as it were, reduced to splinters by that intolerable dog. A growl built in his throat.
"Why would he do this? Was he able to get through your barrier?" she asked, trying to figure out how he managed to trash the place to begin with.
Inuyasha's scent was completely absent from the area, he had not stepped through the barrier, "No, only the physical spears from his adamant barrage can-" Naraku stopped talking when he felt a force on the exterior of his barrier. "Get down!" He jumped at her, knocking her flat to the ground and keeping her from hitting too hard via the use of tentacles, as more adamant spears soared over them.
Kagome only had a second to comprehend what was going on before her back was pressed against the hard ground with Naraku atop her. She heard him grunt in pain but couldn't see what the problem was with his thick, wavy hair blocking her view. "Naraku, are you okay?!" her hands were already searching him where her eyes couldn't. Her throat constricted tightly when her fingers sunk into something wet and warm. Her hand withdrew and she saw the dark red liquid dripping from her pale fingers. "You're bleeding!"
"I know," he ground out, not near as fazed by the large adamant shard in his side as the fact that it would have been Kagome impaled if he hadn't acted fast enough. Inuyasha nearly cut her down, and Naraku felt the anger pressing on his temples as he ground his teeth together in futile attempt not to erupt. He tentatively sat up, only once he was sure the barrage had ended. They needed to stop the idiot's actions before another attack came flying towards them. Kagome didn't seem to catch this urgency, and began fussing over a wound that would heal on its own. "We need to leave, then you may attempt to heal me faster than my own powers are capable of." He ripped the painful spike free, and his flesh already began to close up the gapping puncture. Kagome insisted on helping him to his feet, and he decided it better to let her than waste time arguing over its futility; he needed to get her out of there fast, first and foremost.
"Almost there," she pointed out, noting how Naraku's posture gave no clue to his still healing injury. She glanced down to see him basically stitching himself together. She wondered if it was pride or just not feeling pain as severely as she would that allowed him to move unhindered.
"There goes another Adamant Barrage," Shippo commented to Miroku from where they sat nearby. Inuyasha's mental state had been getting more and more unstable the longer he failed to get to Kagome and "save her era from Naraku." They each had their own theories on just what was happening on the other side, ranging from complete devastation to nothing permanently harmful. They were primarily here to keep Inuyasha from losing his mind, but he still attacked the barrier on occasion. This had been going on for a few days now, and they alternated keeping watch.
"Hey, did you see that?" Inuyasha asked his two friends.
"See what, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, voice full of boredom.
"The barrier, it flickered," he clarified, staring at it intently. "That attack must have weakened it. If I keep this up, it's sure to come down." He raised the fang over his head, letting the blade turn to diamond.
"I think you are starting to see things, Inuyasha," Shippo brushed it off.
"Shut it, Runt," the short-tempered hanyou snapped back. He wasn't going crazy; he knew he saw something.
"Wait! Has the barrier ever fluctuated before?" Miroku interrupted the immature spat.
"No, it must be just starting to weaken," Inuyasha smirked, proud that he was finally making progress. "I'll smash it to bits. Adamant," just as Inuyasha pulled his swing back, Miroku realized the only reason why the barrier would do anything different than it had these last few days. Naraku must have returned, and if he was in there, possibly struck by Tessaiga's last attack, there was a chance Kagome was with him! "Barrag-"
"Stop, Inuyasha!" the monk's words went unheard as the blade arched, the spears elongating from the sword as it neared its target.
A pale hand shot out of the cloaked barrier, clasping over Inuyasha's own on the hilt and halting the sword's progress a fraction of a second before it unleashed the devastating attack. "Inuyasha," the rest of the pale being followed, a pair of enraged, ruby eyes trained straight onto the reckless half-dog.
Inuyasha immediately picked up the scent of blood; a feeling of satisfaction was swiftly followed by dread as the realization that he broke their truce settled in his mind. His expressive ears twitched, torn between flattening at his failure and standing tall in the face of a renewed enemy. Neither stirred, waiting for the other to make a move.
"Naraku, slow down," a soft, concerned voice echoed around them. "You might reopen the wound." Kagome came running out behind him. He had been walking gently with her, but then dashed off faster than her eyes could follow.
Now Inuyasha's ears did flatten upon seeing the dark stain on Kagome's white shirt. Kagome had been in there too. Relief flooded him when he scented that the blood saturating her shirt was not hers, but Naraku's. "Lady Kagome, are you injured?" Miroku inquired worriedly, rushing to the scene before it escalated into a full-blown blood brawl.
"Huh?" she looked down and saw the sticky, dark red substance on her shirt. "No, I'm not hurt; Naraku got me out of the way. This is his blood."
'Naraku got her out of the way!' the words reverberated in Inuyasha's mind. She had been that close, how could he have been so stupid. Inuyasha's grip lessened and Naraku took the opportunity to separate the dangerous sword from its master. Tessaiga reverted to its harmless form before Inuyasha even registered what happened, "Hey, give it back!"
Miroku could easily pick up on the tension in the air, punctuated by the rumbling growls that both demons where emitting; one wrong word and an all out war would break out. Inuyasha had been unstable enough to begin with, and Naraku was just waiting for a reason to strike now. Kagome, she was the key. Despite her bloody ordeal, she appeared relatively calm; just worried over Naraku's wound, which would undoubtedly heal long before this confrontation settled. If he could get her talking, perhaps she could calm them both down. "Lady Kagome," Miroku broke the stifling silence, "how was your trip to your world?" Inuyasha was worried about this, so calming the rash one first may diffuse the situation.
"Uh, it was fine," she answered slowly, not sure why he'd bring that up now when the two demons were seconds away from ripping each other apart.
"How did your family take your news?" he continued, fishing for just the right piece of information.
"Decently..."
"So there were no lethal surprises?"
"Not really."
"He didn't try to take over your era and kill your family?" Inuyasha bluntly stepped into the conversation Miroku started for him.
"No! Why would you think that?" Kagome bit back, now focused on Inuyasha.
"Well, I couldn't get to you," the hanyou tried to spell it out, "to make sure-"
"Fool," Naraku interrupted darkly, now seeing what drove Inuyasha to such idiotic actions. "Paranoia; that's why you did this!" His voice boomed heatedly and with a wave of his hand, Naraku opened the barrier, allowing them to see the devastation. They hadn't seen what was inside before, and could only imagine its former grandeur. Letting his eyes close briefly and lowering the volume in which he spoke to a dark decibel, he locked eyes with the scolded dog. "Has your small mind realized yet that the cause of this wound," he stabbed Tessaiga into the ground next to him, "would have taken Kagome's life had I not intervened." His voice may have been quiet, but his scathing tone stung Inuyasha worse that a thousand Siamyosho.
"Whoa, Naraku," Kagome tried to calm him. Inuyasha had pushed him beyond yelling; this was the "plotting your death in the most painful way" demeanor. "It was an accident, I'm sure."
"You defend this cur; after he nearly killed you?" Naraku turned his distaste for the situation towards Kagome. Her insistence on finding good in everyone got on his nerves, but it was that same trait that led her to him to begin with.
She shrugged it off, "It's not the first time, and he feels bad about it." Inuyasha tried to stand tall, but when he looked at Kagome, his flattened ears gave him away. She was right; it was not the first time he nearly lost her to his own stupidity.
Naraku sent a withering glare toward Inuyasha paired with a disgusted grunt before turning and vanishing into his barrier. The unspoken message lingered in the air, 'I will deal with you later.' He was far too close to exploding to think clearly; he did not need another bad decision to complicate matters, Inuyasha had already contributed enough of those.
"So, Inuyasha," Kagome started in on her admonishment after Naraku departed, "mind telling me why you destroyed our home?"
His posture finally drooped, "I thought Naraku's plan was to get to your time and take over it or something." She pulled Tessaiga from the ground and gave it back to him. "I couldn't get through to make sure you were safe."
'He couldn't protect me,' she smiled at his concern. He really was just like a pet dog sometimes; driven beyond all reason to guard his pack. "I understand," he straightened up as she turned to follow after her mate, "but next time, exercise a little restraint, okay? Naraku has no intentions to hurt me." She turned and vanished back into the barrier. 'I would wager, that's the very reason he hasn't tried to kill any of my friends, even after being given sufficient reason to do so. If only Inuyasha could see that.'
Jogging around the grounds, avoiding clusters of adamant shards, Kagome searched for where Naraku had gone. She called for him but received no answer. 'Fine,' she decided, closing her eyes and focusing her powers. 'If he won't respond, I'll find his aura instead.' The pure pink of her aura was instantly assaulted by the prickly, harsh, angry purple of his. There was no way to mistake that as anyone else. 'There!' Her legs propelled her around the wreckage until she found him wandering among the splinters of what used to be their chambers. He seemed to be looking for something specific. "Naraku, there you are," she panted, nearly out of breath as she watched him retrieve a blue orb from the wreckage and slip it into his sleeve. "Are you alright?" Suddenly, she could no longer sense his presence.
"I'm fine," he cut, malice leaking into his clipped voice. How badly he wanted to see that useless whelp beg for death, but not after a significant deal of torture. Had he done so, however, he would have lost the very reason he wanted to kill him in the first place; Kagome's absolute trust and love. Inuyasha took him to find enjoyment in torturing others, and of course he did, but that was not his highest priority. He used this assumption to disguise a bluff. Really, from the time Kagome became a prominent part of his life, his mate, he never intended to kill any of them and only issued bluffs to keep them passive as well, for her sake. He would need a stronger incentive once this truth was uncovered.
Kagome enveloping him into an embrace from behind startled Naraku out of his circular thoughts. "He didn't mean to do this," she tried to give comfort. Inuyasha had only been trying to make sure she was all right. Even though she chose Naraku, her friends would still do anything in their power to keep her safe. Naraku took damage for her too, and even though the wound was already sealed, attesting to how little it actually hurt him, she was still so very grateful that he would protect her just as fiercely. Maybe that would work to connect them. "You know, you're both more alike than you realize," Kagome began her comment.
"What did you say?" Naraku tensed in her arms, pulling himself from her and turning his still aflame eyes onto her.
Kagome put her hand against her chest and swallowed loudly, "Well, I just mean-"
"I am nothing like that mongrel," Naraku fumed, too absorbed in his own thoughts to listen to her. He couldn't believe she had just compared them, especially right after Inuyasha had nearly killed her.
Holding her hands up in surrender, Kagome tried to get the words out, "I didn't mean it lik-"
Very well, if she were going to compare him, he would do the same; two could play that game, "How pathetic you must feel…"
Kagome stumbled back, dreading where this was going, "Naraku, please listen, I-"
"-being nothing more than a replica of the past with which to pass the time," his words stabbed her through.
Kagome stood frozen at his cruel, angry words, trying to hold herself together. A whimper slipped out at the glare he was giving her, and the tears she was trying desperately to hold back followed. She turned, and she ran, deep into what was left of the gardens. Her feet slammed into the ground over and over, but she could feel nothing over the claws in her heart. Her hearing had been rendered mute by the repeating scene in her head and she did not stop until she was thoroughly lost and exhausted. Collapsing next to one of the few remaining trees, the fragile girl bawled her eyes out; her sobbing echoed unnaturally through the barrier enclosed space and reverberated her sorrow back to its cause.
Naraku cursed his temper the second the words left his mouth. He had been so angry about her seeing him the same as Inuyasha, or even as Inuyasha himself, a replacement. Was that really all she saw him as, was that how she judged him; comparing his qualities with, with him at every turn? It sickened him. But he knew she wasn't like that, she had never said anything like that before; it must have been the anger clouding his thoughts. That was the very reason he separated himself from the situation, to avoid lashing out at her. Why did she have to come after him? 'Because she was concerned,' he answered his own question. She was always thinking about him, trying to help him through his own turbulent darkness. His feet carried him of their own accord in the direction she fled as he berated himself for once again hurting her. How many times was he going to do this to her; she did not deserve it.
The scene he walked into rendered his breath caught in his chest. Kagome curled in on herself and the scent of salt overpowered the pungent aroma of blood he had yet to cleanse from his own person. Her cries echoed, giving her sorrow an eerie, unnatural quality and only intensified his regret. She mumbled to herself between bouts of sobbing and all he wanted to do was get her to smile again. It was his fault she was like this now.
"I didn't mean- hurt you," Kagome sobbed, talking to herself, still unaware he was there, "please, don't- mad. I'm so- sorry." What he said, it hurt; he said it because he knew it would hurt, even though they both already knew it was false. She had seen in his heart, after all; she knew how he felt towards her, and her alone, but that he would intentionally try to hurt her out of anger… That she had said something that made him hurt enough to be pushed that far… The guilt of her own actions, of making him so mad as to go there, to compare her to Kikyo, it tore at her. Worse yet, she had no idea what so say to him. How badly she wanted to run back, to try and apologize, but the fear that he would only glare at her or yell at her again brought on a fresh set of emotional tremors. All she wanted now was for him not to be mad at her; she was trying to help him.
Kagome didn't even notice as he approached; the fuyoheki masked his presence and her anguish kept her locked in her own little world until she felt him wrap her up and lift her into his lap. The simple action caused the dam to break and her cries to renew, but this time, her cries were of relief that he came for her. She turned in his hold and clung tighter to him, her tears soaking into his dark purple attire. 'He came; he came for me,' her mind chanted frantically.
As Naraku held her quivering body to his own, he discovered just how little importance his pride had to him, in comparison to her. She made him feel; he never let himself feel like this before, but she routinely caused so many new outlooks. Despite the many years he had on her, he was like a child experiencing these mindsets for the first time. The fear of losing her overshadowed anything else. He would be nothing without her; life would not be worth living.
All of this to communicate, but words were cheap. If he recited that which was expected, it would hold little weight; she may question the sincerity. However, the action of laying his pride aside for her, that would register stronger. No matter what she had to say, no matter how infuriating, he would make himself listen calmly. "You were trying to make a point," Naraku reminded, opening the conversation in invitation for her to speak what she had been trying to. She did not answer, the words stuck in her throat as she tried to decide if she should tell him her thoughts or not. It was no surprise that she was reluctant, given his prior reaction. "I wish to hear what you had to say."
She looked up at him and saw his eyes had returned to their normal, muted red. He wasn't angry anymore, "I w-wasn't trying to com-compare you to him, I promise." Kagome sniffled between words, trying to steady her voice. If anyone knew how it felt to be compared to someone else, it was she. She would never do that to him.
"I should not have reacted so harshly," Naraku admitted quietly, his form of an admission of wrong-doing, of regret, and apology.
"I was trying to point out, that as mislead as Inuyasha's assumption was, he was only trying to protect me," she explained, careful to make sure he knew she was not defending Inuyahsa, but giving his actions a motive, a why, just as she had sought for Naraku so long ago. "That's what you two have in common; you would both do anything in your power to protect me."
Naraku didn't say anything, just sat there thinking and it made Kagome all the more nervous that he would take it negatively again. "Some are more efficient at it than others," when he finally did speak, she let the breath she was holding out.
"But of course," she smiled through her tears at his joke. "I just thought maybe you two would get along better if you had some common ground."
"I should have known not to doubt you," Naraku admitted his misjudgment as he tightened his grip on the woman he regarded as more important than any dispute between himself and that dog. He would need to be far more careful, lest he drive a wedge between them greater than Inuyasha ever could.
Kagome understood as well, Naraku had his own emotional scars, cuts that ran deep and were oh-so-tender to the touch. As much as he thought it his job to protect her, it was her job to show him he was completely safe with her; he guarded her body, and she sheltered his heart.
(A/N: I know I've been portraying Inuyasha a bit unfairly, as a brash, thoughtless idiot, but don't worry, that will turn around shortly. You didn't expect him to be all-accepting of Kagome mating his worst enemy, did you?
Oh, and the blue orb is the fuyoheki, the artifact that hides the aura of its owner. Naraku had it stowed away safely somewhere in the castle and just now retrieved it.
Oh, and the start/reason for Inuyasha attacking the barrier is discussed in chapter 13: School and Paranoia, in case you need a refresher.)
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Love\'s Consequences