Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

In a New Light	By : Sylean Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Naraku/Kagome Views: 17606 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make any profit from this story.

Chapter List
- 19
- 20
- 21
In a New Light
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make any profit from this story.

Chapter 19
(A/N: Warning! This chapter will have some VERY dark themes, graphic descriptions of rape, torture, murder, and the like. You have been warned! This is a fairly important chapter but for anyone not wanting to read such descriptive language, skip to the end for a summary in bold.)
Setting Kagome down, Naraku walked over to the edge of a ridge and settled down in his favorite reclined position, one knee raised with one hand resting on top, as if he hadn't a care in the world. He looked passively out over the encampment below waiting for Kagome to join him in his silent vigil.
She had a bad feeling about this, that if she did as he wordlessly requested, she would regret it later, but curiosity got the better of her. Crawling to his side, not wanting to be seen or heard by the loudly celebrating men below, she peered over a bush at the edge of the tree line. They were only about 20 feet away, looking down as the soldiers cheered, danced, drank, and feasted. She spotted the jewel shard instantly; the man housing its dark glow appeared to be the leader, a general of sorts, sitting in a prominent position around the roaring bonfire. He was sitting cross-legged, of burly stature, and held a jug of sake in one hand and a leg of some kind of meat in the other. He still had blood splatter adorning his chest armor and soaking the large axe-like blade at his side like it was a trophy. Kagome felt sick to think of the gore they must have left behind, "Why did they attack the village?" Her voice was meek, trying to hold back her disgust.
"Entertainment," Naraku commented dryly.
'Entertainment?!' she ranted in her mind, abhorred at the thought. Her stomach was turning in on itself and her heart ached. 'They slaughtered an entire village simply for entertainment? How horrible!'
"Speaking of which," Naraku drew her attention, gesturing back towards the camp, "it seems they are bringing out the 'goods' stolen from the village."
The way he said that had Kagome's skin crawling, the insinuation that this was the very reason he brought her here, had her hesitating to look. She slowly raised her head, and then was flooded with outrage at the sight. A small group of men were dragging two young women, that couldn't have been any older than herself, towards their boss. One was gripping desperately at the rough hand around her upper arm, begging for mercy, and the other screaming and kicking as she was literally dragged by her hair. Both were thrown to the ground before the sadistic ringleader. "Which one do you want, General?" she heard one of the soldiers ask as the general thought it over.
'Which one does he want?' Kagome nearly panicked. 'Don't tell me they are going to… going to…'
"The younger one," his coarse voice answered as he leered at the smaller female trembling in absolute fear. The soldiers hoisted up the other girl and tossed her towards a group of other men who whisked her away from sight, groping her as she futilely tried to fight back, begging them to stop. The more she fought, the more it seemed to encourage these cretins. It all happened so fast and Kagome was stunned at how grotesque these men were. She snapped out of her shock when the general rose from the ground.
"Please don't hurt me," the girl whimpered, groveling before the large man towering over her.
Kagome swiftly stood, prepared to run, "I have to help them."
"How do you propose to do that?" Naraku asked, his eyes sparkling at the situation he so carefully manipulated. She froze. "Will you run down there and scream at those humans, try to talk some reason into them? I can assure you, such efforts will only result in you being placed in a similar situation."
The general had wretched the girl into kneeling position in front of him as he now freed himself from his grimy armor, "If you bite me, I'll skewer you, understand wench?" She only whimpered louder, tears streaking down her face. Naraku glanced at the scene occasionally, but kept his gaze predominantly on Kagome, finding her reactions far more entertaining than the show below them.
Kagome looked to him pleadingly, tears beginning to fall for the girl being molested by the gruff brute. "Allow me to offer a solution," his smooth voice cooed as he began to swirl some miasma above his open palm. Glancing between the poor choking girl and Naraku languidly playing with his miasma, her tension rose, wanting him to hurry whatever he was doing; she didn't have time to stall. Before long, an obsidian bow and arrow materialized out of the purple haze of poison. Naraku handed it to her, saying, "You wanted to stop him, didn't you?"
She tentatively took the weapon, feeling its weight in her hand. It was both heavy with power, a sensation that thrummed through her whole body, attempting to entice her to use it against those she detested, and physically lighter than a feather. Feeling Naraku's power in the bow gave her a sudden clarity; she now understood how easy it would be for some people to give into its alluring pull. But she was not so weak; she didn't need power. All she wanted was to help those poor girls and easily ignored the power's influence.
Naraku watched transfixed as she marveled at the weapon he had loaned her, "That arrow contains my miasma as well as a number of lesser demons. If you fire it, both will spread and engulf the scum below us," he informed, a gleam in his eyes, waiting anxiously to see what she would decide. Either she shoots the arrow, killing the entire encampment, or refuses to slay anyone and the captives get raped and tortured to death. "I leave the decision up to you, Kagome"
She looked back down, trembling as the monstrosity of a man threw the woman down on the ground and jumped on top of her, tearing wildly at her clothes as she struggled to slow his abusive hands. The onlookers cheered him on, some of them stroking themselves to the sight. In sudden horror, she drew the bow, temporarily forgetting about the power it contained, aiming directly at the thug. She held that position, but stopped as a pulse of power vibrated through her body. "This arrow, it will kill the girl too, won't it?" she realized, letting the string slacken dejectedly. At his silence, she continued, "I want to save them, not kill them." Her whole body trembled as she looked at him. "Please, please help me save them."
He wasn't particularly happy with her realization, but had come to expect she would throw him one evasion or another. Thinking quickly, he answered her plea, "I shall grant you a privilege none before have been privy to," he was still speaking slowly, aggravating her because she wanted this ordeal over with now. "You may direct my actions this night, but think carefully before you come to a decision."
"I don't have to think on it, I want you to save them," she stated quickly.
"You do realize, if all I do is remove the women and children from the clutches of these men, they will simply slaughter another village and acquire new fodder," Naraku slowly stood, glancing down at her tormented face. "The only way to stop them for good, would be to obliterate each one of these twisted mortals." 'Let's see you try and find an alternative this time,' he smirked inwardly to himself.
She always tried to find a way to help people without hurting anyone, but she couldn't deny that Naraku was right. Even if he were to go down there and scare them half to death, they would recover from their fright and continue in their brutal ways. Changing their minds was not something she could do. She sobbed at her inability, wanting to not only save the captives, of which she now knew included children, but also the soldiers, save them from their evil ways.
"What say you?" Naraku pressed, noting the general had nearly finished with the woman and would surely dispose of her shortly. That's how he always finished off, with a katana through their bellies, reaching his end as they bled out. "Time runs short."
She hung her head and barely above a whisper, "Stop them, for good." It was the closest he would get to her asking him to kill, but the insinuation was clearly there. He grinned widely, having tolerated the existence of these humans long enough. With their use expired, he was enthusiastic to end them. Her voice speaking up surprised him once more, "Will your demons in this arrow obey me too?" She was staring closely at the arrow, obviously thinking something in relation to the weapon.
"Yes, for tonight only," he responded, curious what she had planned.
She nodded mutely then strung the bow, pulling the string back and taking a deep breath, "Go, distract these men, and don't give them a moment to turn their attention to the captives!" Her voice held uncharacteristic venom that Naraku found highly attractive. She turned slightly and fired, the arrow soared and embedded in the ground just outside the camp. Immediately the miasma began to spread and several thin-bodied demons sprouted from the cloud and slithered through the air into the camp. Screams began to echo as the alarm was sounded.
The general looked up from the girl as one of his soldiers interrupted him, "Sir, demons are attacking and there's a large poisonous cloud encroaching on the camp!" Kagome could vaguely hear him curse and order the wench be returned to the holding cart with the others. She was broken and bloodied, but alive.
"Clever girl," Naraku approved. It was not the plan he had laid, but it would do. "They will be kept busy for awhile now. I must return you to camp before your companions become suspicious."
She nodded, the trauma of the evening taking hold. There was no reaction when he picked her up and took off. The trip was mostly silent, but when Kagome realized they were getting close to her camp she spoke, "Why did you want to show me that?"
"It was not the sight that I wished to show you," she looked up confused, tears still leaking from her eyes. "It was the concept that sometimes killing is the greatest mercy and necessary for survival."
She understood, 'It was his way of helping me to understand him, understand his ways of doing things. Kill the few, for the benefit of many. Its logical, but that doesn't alleviate the pain. In a time where there is no organized law and the currency is power, force is all some people understand.'
"Upon the morrow," Naraku began, telling her what she needed to know, "your mutt will catch my scent. It will lead him to that army's (soon to be) decimated camp. The captives will be awaiting you to release them." She nodded numbly, she didn't think this day could have gotten any more exhausting than it already had, but this mental anguish topped everything.
Maneuvering down along the banks of the stream, Naraku gave Kagome one last thing to ponder, "Do you regret your decision?" He didn't give her time to answer, instead letting her slip from his grip to splash into the cool water. She squealed as the cold shot around her. By the time she shot up out of the water, gasping at its sudden coldness, Naraku, and the puppet of herself, were gone from sight.
She was about to yell until Inuyasha came barging in, "Everything okay? What's wrong? Where's the danger?"
Her mind snapped back to her reality, the one where she was carefree and traveling with her friends, not the one where the cruelty of this era was laid bare before her naïve eyes. A small smile graced her lips at Inuyasha's determination to protect her, "There's no danger. I just… slipped and fell."
"Keh," he scoffed, sheathing his sword, "Stupid, clumsy girl." He went rigid as soon as the words left his mouth, awaiting the 'sit' to come, but instead she just giggled. 'Did she hit her head or something?'
'Some things never change,' she thought relieved at the normality. Inuyasha slipped away before she could have a mood swing and suddenly decide to subjugate him. Happy for no reason was just as scary as anger when it came to Kagome. Once alone, she slipped out of her soaked clothes, she had intended to wash them anyways. Sitting on the bank, in the same spot her puppet had earlier, she recalled Naraku's last words, "Do you regret your decision?" 'No, I don't. It was the only way to save innocent lives.'

The demons never seemed to end; for each that was struck down, two more took its place. Even after moving away from their encampment site, they continued to be pursued. Suddenly the horde took to the sky and vanished into the forests.
"Are they gone? Did we win?" one exhausted soldier asked another.
"Set up a defense, just in case they return," the general ordered. His men were highly efficient, he tolerated nothing less, and in only a few short minutes they had a suitable defense established. Festivities did not begin anew this time, the men posted on lookout duty instead.
Disguised again as a foot soldier, Naraku walked around the encampment, scouting out locations. "Oh, there you are," a random soldier called out to him, "survived the demons, I see." Naraku couldn't help but chuckle at the irony, but his charade was over; it was time to reveal himself.
"Survived the demons," he repeated thoughtfully, "but of course. I am the one who spawned them after all." The whole time he spoke, his disguise disintegrated, first his red eyes, then his unnatural hair, until he no longer held any resemblance to the common foot soldier he had masqueraded as for several weeks now.
The soldier couldn't believe his eyes; this man he had spoken with for the past few weeks, was really a demon, the one who had just been attacking them. He opened his mouth to scream out the alarm, but only managed a gurgle as a tentacle was thrust through his throat. A murderous gleam took over Naraku's features as he watched with twisted fascination as the first victim of the night bled out on the ground, clutching desperately to his neck. He was soon noticed by more soldiers, some rushing to the fallen man's side and others barring Naraku's way. He started to laugh, a maniacal sound that echoed throughout the area. He was going to enjoy this; it had been far too long since his last massacre. This wasn't a normal massacre either, it would be committed with his own hands, a rarity in and of itself, but even more thrilling, it was commanded by the purest of priestesses. He would be sure to leave quite the mess behind; staged to invoke the maximum reaction.
Eight, claw-like tentacles sprouted from his back and Naraku slashed through the masses of flesh with ridiculous ease. He zipped through the camp, downing ever soldier he saw, whether attacking or fleeing. Snagging cowards trying to escape him, he'd crush their bodies and leave them to writhe in agony until death took them hours later. Disemboweled, lacerated, mutilated, dismembered, and crushed bodies whined pathetically in his wake, but there was one left: the general. Naraku had something special in store for the sniveling man hiding in the flimsy tent before him.

Summary: Naraku shows Kagome the army encampment he's been monitoring/manipulating as they assault the enslaved women from a recent destroyed village. He proposes that the only way to stop the soldiers from harming more people is to kill them and after much internal warring on Kagome's part, she agrees and basically gives Naraku 'permission' to kill them. As he returns her to her camp, he tells her that she will be able to rescue the hostages tomorrow morning. Then Naraku returns to the army camp and slaughters the soldiers brutally.

(A/N: I have about a months worth of updates left (and will continue to post them weekly), but my muse has gone AWOL for the time being. I have material written clear up to a workable chapter 24; its adequate, but the last scene feels like it could be better, which really bothers me, so I'm making myself walk away for a bit to clear my mind.
In response to one person thinking I was making Naraku grow soft or "so Naraku is good and the others were bad" I think is how they worded it, hopefully this chapter makes it clear that he's just putting on an act for Kagome in order to manipulate her further. Good and evil are subjective and based off ones own perspective and experiences, that is the point of this story; to not judge until you know both sides fully.)
- 19
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- 21
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In a New Light