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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
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In a New Light

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make any profit from this story.

Warning: There will be lemons in this story, some non-con as well.

(A/N: I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry! Life has been hella hectic with school drowning me in busy work and relationship issues all while keeping up a happy façade for my daughter. Sorry, but real life took precedence. To make it up to you, here is the two weeks I missed AND next weeks so that you still got the same amount of chapters you would have gotten had I not ghosted. Enjoy, if you're not too mad at me.)

Chapter 37: Understanding and Forced Hands

(A/N: Spoiler Alert! Episode 152/153. This chapter is following very close to the series and will assume the reader knows the events. If you get confused with how it jumps around and summarizes parts, rematch these episodes. It would have taken far too long and been repetitive to just write everything down.)

How quickly she forgot, if it wasn't for him, Princess Abi would be dead by now, but the prideful and paranoid demoness associated Naraku to her recent set-backs. She completely ignored the possibility that her actions were the cause of retaliation from the humans, as if they did not mind being harvested for their blood. That was the downfall of most full-demons; they lacked perspective. Abi's distrust was now causing her to openly turn against him, sending her birds after his Siamyosho and attacking his castle. This human castle was of great import. It housed his heart, in the form of a harmless infant, protected by the entire castle, including Kohaku and Kanna that he commanded to stay and live at the castle in order to protect the baby. Abi's assault would not go unpunished; he would thoroughly enjoy killing both her, and her mother. Standing on a cliff in sight of the nest, he focused his energy before dissolving the barrier erected around the bird demon's nest. His protection was no more.

(A/N: Spoiler Alert! Episode 154-157)

Roused from a half-sleep by the sudden smell of the bird demons, Inuyasha leapt up and sighted the shikigami that served Kikyo; she was calling him. He followed and soon found her reclined in a grove, surrounded by disembodied souls, still recovering, "It's Kikyo."

"Inuyasha," Kikyo slowly turned her head to face him.

"How are you feeling, Kikyo, are you alright now?" he asked.

"I'm sure you've heard what happened; Naraku's miasma was consuming my body, until it was purified by Kagome," she recapped.

"Yeah, I heard," Inuyasha noticed a definite change in her, she was speaking much softer towards him than before, with none of the prior accusations or jealousy towards Kagome. 'She looks like she's still in pain, though; she's not completely healed yet.'

She was in pain, but not from the reason he assumed. It was an emotional pain, as she thought about one of his allies being a traitor, and how she knew her words were going to hurt him. His life would be in danger if Kagome flipped sides in the middle of a battle. Struggling to form the words, she spoke shakily, "Inuyasha, you must have noticed this yourself..." 'Kagome is in alliance with Naraku,' she thought about telling him, but paused. 'I wonder what her goal is? There is still the chance that she can settle this without the need for a fight, what with being so close to him. I will, give her time; give her a chance to solve this in her own way. After all, I had my reasons for giving him their half of the jewel before, even though they did not understand.' Redirecting the second half of her sentence, she broke her near imperceptible pause, "The barrier around the nest has vanished."

"I get it, no wonder I could smell those bird demons," he understood why they were so hard to find too.

"Inuyasha, what do you think Naraku is trying to accomplish?" she asked for his view.

"He's trying to get to the border between this world and the afterlife, in order to get the last sacred jewel shard," he shared his knowledge, pooling their perspectives to come up with an answer.

She sighed at this news, realizing just how little time they had left to work with, how little time Kagome had to work with, "If that's the case, the path to the netherworld will soon open, and Naraku will get the jewel." 'If Kagome goes, she may help him find it.' "Inuyasha, you and your friends intend to go to the border between this world and the next?"

"Yeah, of course we're going there," he ranted. "We're not going to let someone like Naraku get his hands on the last sacred jewel shard."

'It is as I feared,' Kikyo thought. "Listen," she advised him, but without giving the girl away, "do not take Kagome with you."

"Why shouldn't I take her?" he didn't know how to find the shard without her.

'Because she may turn on you in favor of the demon she loves,' her real reason was not one she intended to speak, however. Kikyo instead gave a neutral response, and hoped he would heed her words, "Naraku removed the barrier around the nest for a reason; to lure you and all your friends into his trap."

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha pressed.

"Naraku is after Kagome's eyes," she responded purposely.

"You mean her power to see the jewel shard, right," he remembered the threat from that infant, that she would help whether she wanted to or not.

"I'm almost certain that Naraku wants to lure you to the border between the two worlds, and then use Kagome to find the last shard," she explained. Kikyo saw in her soul how strongly Kagome felt for Naraku, but that did not mean he felt the same. He was probably just using her for his own ends and the girl was blind to this.

"What are you doing?" he asked with an edge to his voice as the two Shikigami brought her bow and arrows.

"I will deal with Naraku," she moved to stand, but could only hobble. 'It is hard to say if Kagome is capable of such with the feelings she holds,' she thought distastefully.

"Kikyo, what are you thinking, be careful, you're not fully healed yet! You can't go in your condition. Naraku would kill you for certain. You know better than to try and handle this on your own. Naraku wants you dead; that hasn't changed," he lectured, turning her in his arms. "Listen Kikyo, I messed up big time. When you were attacked at Mount Hakurei, I wasn't able to protect you. I refuse to give Naraku a second chance to take your life. I never want to go through that again. Please, just stay here and wait for me. Please Kikyo!" His words moved her enough to concede, for his sake.

"The arrows," she addressed her servants and pulled out a single arrow. Kagome may not be able to slay Naraku, but maybe she would hold reason enough to keep the shard from him, for her own desires if nothing else; she wouldn't want him to lose himself. "Take this with you. Please, give this arrow to Kagome. Only Kagome herself can determine whether or not she will be able use it."

Soon after Inuyasha left after the shikigami, Miroku, who had seen him leave, told Kagome of what he saw. She recognized the description immediately and understood he went to go see Kikyo. She was not jealous, but unbearably worried that Kikyo would tell Inuyasha her secrets; it seemed she would never be comfortable with him going to see her. She could not go back to sleep, and sat up fretting until he finally returned, looking at peace. One look was all it took to tell Kikyo had not said anything.

"Hey, Kagome," his tone was gentle, as if he was only half present.

"Yeah? What do you want?" she asked, still a little concerned over what he had to say. The others looked on just as uncertain, praying that they didn't start fighting.

"I went to see Kikyo last night," he told them bluntly, shocking them all.

"So, what about it?" she prodded.

"She told me to give this to you," he held out the arrow.

"An arrow?" she took it in her hands and could feel Kikyo's power in it. "Hey, this is Kikyo's."

"It's been rubbed with dirt from Onigumo's cave. She said it should work on Naraku and help combat the influence, whatever that means," he repeated the instructions and noticed Kagome gasped audibly.

'Kikyo is actually trying to help me save him from himself?' she marveled at the arrow. 'But why would she do that?'

"Why Naraku, I never thought you'd come looking for a fight," Princess Abi mocked the half-demon before her, taking him for a coward, completely clueless just how powerful he really was. "Have you come to pay me back for destroying your castle?"

He gave them a chance, a very generous offer even, to do this civilly since they had the ability to open a path without the need for bloodshed, but just as predicted, he was judged on his human blood and turned against, "Princess Abi, I understand your birds sucked out every drop of human blood at the castle."

"They certainly did," she confirmed her attack against him, "and now my mother has been completely cured."

"Is that so?" he was not concerned with the threat her words hid. Tekkei's favored method of destroying foes, devouring them, would not work on him. Her exterior would be difficult to breach, yes, but her insides would be much easier. All he had to do was goad her into trying to eat him, and her death would be certain.

"Naraku, my mother is intrigued; she says she wants to meet you," a cackling laugh rumbled the mountain as the giant flaming bird burst from within. This was exactly what Naraku was waiting for.

"Naraku," Tekkei addressed, "I don't know what you're scheming using us like this, unfortunately for you though, we no longer need you." He floated unfazed as Tekkei's full form was revealed. "Naraku, it seems you have chosen the wrong people to manipulate." He effortlessly countered her wind and fire attacks, while drawing emphasis to his unbreakable barrier. His goading worked and the over-confident bird swallowed him barrier and all. Now all he had to do was wait.

"Inuyasha, look at that," Miroku pointed out as they rounded a corner.

"It's a huge bird," Shippo stated the obvious and a blast of fire was sent towards them.

"Inuyasha, have you all come to die as well?" Abi asked, still feeling confident from their recent "victory."

"What happened to Naraku?" Inuyasha demanded, his scent was still fresh, but he might have just left.

"Sorry you missed him," she laughed. "He's already dead."

She seemed so sure, but right as she said that, Kagome's amulet thrummed, and it was heated so intensely as if Naraku was nearby. It was the reminder she needed that things were not always as they appeared. Her companions were just as shocked and skeptical, Naraku had never been easy to strike down, and these demons were not that strong. "You killed Naraku?"

"Yes indeed," Tekkei laughed. "He's in my belly. Stay where you are and I will eat you up as well."

"Not happening," they drew their weapons and began cutting their way through the bird demons, but the Windscar was halted by that barrier-creating trident again. That was proof enough, if Naraku really was dead, it shouldn't have that power, right?

Their suspicions were confirmed when as Inuyasha sparred with Abi, Tekkei suddenly fell over dead, and crawling from her corpse, was Naraku, "What took you so long, Inuyasha?"

"Naraku, how dare you!" Abi screamed out in rage in response to her mother's death.

"Princess Abi," he used the title mockingly, "You did a fine job indeed."

"I'll tear you apart," she threatened and charged in, blinded by fury, but the trident she had come to rely on exploded in her hand, taking her arm with it.

"Had you forgotten," he spoke as cruelly as possible, hitting nerves that resonated the loudest, "that trident was originally part of my body." She had been relying on him more than she realized, but refused to admit it because he was a half-demon, a being she perceived as beneath her. "You have performed very well for me, Princess Abi. This is your reward; you shall not suffer when I kill you." Displaying a speed she had not been aware he was capable of, he skewered the demoness and obliterated her body instantly.

"How horrible," Miroku grit his teeth at the display.

"He takes every advantage of them and then does this," Sango agreed, the gang mentality taking over.

'But, it looked like they betrayed him first,' Kagome observed quietly.

"I knew you were evil Naraku but this is despicable," Inuyasha put his two-cents in.

Settling down onto the giant corpse, he bantered back, "Come now, weren't you planning to destroy Princess Abi as well?"

'We were, because it was her that was killing all those people,' Kagome agreed with him.

"The way I see it, you should be grateful, thanks to me, the path to the border is open. You are all now able to travel to the border of the afterlife," chuckling he raised his arm and sliced off Tekkei's head, letting a river of blood flow, leading straight to the border. 'The time has come.'

Falling for Naraku's goading, they hurried after him down the river of blood, which soon formed into a tunnel and deposited them high in the sky of the graveyard. Catching ahold of a skeleton bird, Kagome directed them towards the shard.

Meanwhile, Sesshomaru arrived just after the bloody gateway had closed. Kagura left on her own, still desperate to escape Naraku's hold, and told him of the other pathway, but if he could survive its test, she had no idea. She was not above sending him to his death for a chance at freedom.

Out of nowhere, spears of adamant began firing from the grave of InuTaisho, the same direction as the shard. After defending themselves and closing the distance, they found the culprit, Hosenki. He spoke of how the shard itself spoke to him, and expressed its own desire, its own influence about wanting to come here to escape the clutches of evil, to escape the one who holds the black jewel. 'The shard's desire?' Kagome repeated in her mind. The whole talk of influence had eluded Kagome's understanding up until this point. Kikyo had mentioned the influence was increasing, but she thought that she was only referring to Naraku's power. Now Kagome understood, it wasn't Naraku's influence that she was speaking of at all, it was the jewel's; the nearly complete and tainted jewel that Naraku had in his possession. It was that influence that she needed to battle if she wanted to save him.

"I have the power to hear the desire of gems, and when a sacred jewel shard came into my possession, it told me how the sacred jewel must never become whole again," Hosenki explained.

'Never become whole?' Kagome gasped, having been told her whole quest was something that must not be finished. 'But why? I know I can't let Naraku wish on it, but if I got it back and purified it, wouldn't it be okay then? Or would, or is there something else, some other reason why the jewel must remain shattered?'

"Master Inuyasha," Myoga advised, "it would be best to back away from here and leave the shard with Hosenki."

'That would be best,' Kagome agreed, 'it would ensure the jewel would not be completed, and Naraku would not be able to wish on it, but…'

"Are you half-asleep or just stupid?" Inuyasha barked. "Naraku got here before us and he's still here. If we leave, he will get the shard."

"No one will take the shard from me," Hosenki declared, and with the power from Naraku permeating the air, he was slowly losing his sense of calm as his shard grew darker and darker. They now had no choice but to fight him. Naraku was near, but his presence was coming from everywhere. Watching the fight from above, as Inuyasha was making no progress, Kagome began wondering if maybe Hosenki's shard was now trying to influence him, and if she could purify it, maybe he would stop fighting. 'My arrow will probably work,' she drew her bow and fired but it did not reach the shard. Being told she didn't have enough power by Myoga, she then tried for Kikyo's arrow, but it shocked her. It was not time yet. Hosenki covered the spot Kagome's arrow struck, and Inuyasha realized it did have an effect and combined his attack with hers to shatter the adamant armor.

"You imbeciles," Hosenki spoke angrily and sent Inuyasha flying into the unseen depths. "You and I, all of us were nothing but puppets manipulated by the black jewel." Hosenki spoke, not only to those he could see, but also to the one he could not yet see, Naraku.

Everything was going perfectly, Hosenki's armor was shattered, and Inuyasha was injured, all Naraku had left to do was take the shard and get himself and Kagome out of there.

"He's come at last," Hosenki raised his fatigued body, "the one who possesses the black jewel." Kagome and her friends stopped their frantic search for Inuyasha and turned their attention skyward as the black clouds swirled.

"So, has Inuyasha met his end?" Naraku taunted as his glowing barrier crashed about in grand entrance. "I witnessed the whole thing."

"Naraku, if you've been watching you should know better," Kagome challenged, not willing to think of her friend as dead. "Inuyasha's wasn't killed, not even close." She fired a mock arrow, knowing full well it would not harm him, he told her so himself, but tried to imbue in it the message she wanted him to understand, her worry for him; worry that the jewel would take over him.

'No matter if he isn't, for he will not be returning to the world of the living,' Naraku thought smugly.

"You are the one who possesses the black jewel," Hosenki stated tiredly as Naraku approached him.

"Poor Hosenki," Naraku chuckled, "It seems you are quite weakened." Despite the diamond bodied demon trembling and nearly falling apart at the effort, he still impaled Naraku within his barrier in rebuke. "I see, I understand you were a great demon when you were alive. I'm quite impressed, and surprised you still have the power to fight me off." Completely ignoring the adamant through his chest, he elongated his hand and began drilling away on the demon, trying to break away the last of his defenses.

"He's going to take the jewel shard," Kagome fretted.

"It would seem you have helped me out immensely. The sacred jewel shard was hidden deep in the armor of adamant and protected by his demonic powers, as corrupt as I am, it was even beyond my reach," Naraku removed the spire from his chest with ease.

"So the only reason you could get it was because we shattered Hosenki's body?" she asked back, feeling even worse that her attempts to save him only resulted in giving him access to the thing which would destroy him.

"You broke open Hosenki's armor, and Hosenki in turn wounded Inuyasha. The sacred jewel shard reacted to all that hatred and became even more tainted," he pointed out their failure to see the result before if happened.

"In other words, you had this whole thing planned in advance," Miroku deduced.

"Yes, my plan worked perfectly," Naraku bragged. 'And there is even more in store for you,' he smirked. "The sacred jewel shard wants to become whole," he told them as he broke through yet another spike.

'The jewel wants to become whole? But Hosenki said it mustn't, and that his shard didn't want to become whole. How can the jewel want two different things?' Kagome wondered worriedly. Just as Naraku was about to get the shard, a wind scar was sent up from the mists below and severed his extension. "Inuyasha!" Kagome cheered happily, relived he was okay. And the two half-demons faced off.

It was not that much of a set-back, Inuyasha was barely on his feet and hadn't the ability to breach his barrier, even his strongest attack, the Backlash Wave, could do nothing to him, "Inuyasha, your time has finally come. Your attacks were all useless against me; there is nothing more you can use. You have nothing left to destroy me." He reached again for the shard, retrieving it from the shattered remains of Hosenki. "Finally, I have it in my grasp; the last shard of the sacred jewel." Discarding Inuyasha, tossed inside his father's corpse, he retracted the extension and defended against the human's meek attacks. Miroku's wind tunnel was met with a Siamyosho hive, giving him the option of a quick death, or to live for all eternity in this graveyard. The path had already closed, and only he had the power to return. "The river of blood that you and I crossed has already ceased to flow; you cannot return to the world of men from whence you came."

"You say the path is closed but I doubt it; I'm sure you're going back," Miroku countered.

'Yes, I shall, Kagome and myself,' he smirked at this knowledge. 'It is the perfect way to remove all of you from her concern.'

Raising to his feet, Inuyasha barked out, "Naraku, don't think you're going to get away."

"Don't you understand, Inuyasha? Its all over," he held up the jewel shard, a reminder than he got what he came for already and was only sticking around to torture them before leaving them to this eternity of torment. Had he left sooner, he may have gotten out unscathed, but his penchant for dragging out his schemes allowed time for a most unexpected, and formidable, nuisance to arrive, announced by a swift blast of power. 'Sesshomaru, how did he get here?' "Sesshomaru, did you rush over to save your kid brother? Such a kind sibling coming to the rescue." He didn't have any leverage on the dog this time, nothing prepared to use against him; it had him a little nervous. That nervousness turned to scorn, as the intruding demon didn't even acknowledge him, but instead turned his temper on Inuyasha for, "defiling his father's final resting place." Such an odd demon. His plan, to leave the useless here, Sesshomaru had derailed that, for they could now follow him out. But at least he had the shard; he would just have to dispatch Kagome's companions at a different time.

While the two powerful beings outside exchanged blows, Hosenki, or what was left of him, spoke to those within the body of InuTaisho, "Unless something is done, the impure shard will soon be assimilated into the tainted sacred jewel and the influence within will escape. Slay me before that happens; you must slay me if you wish to break Naraku's barrier."

Watching between the two battles, Sesshomaru vs Naraku, and Inuyasha vs Hosenki, Kagome contemplated the information, 'The influence will escape? What does that mean, what is within the Sacred Jewel to begin with? The jewel is made from Midoriko's soul, to contain the demon Magatsuhi; so that means, it must have both their wills. Hosenki's shard, when it was pure, exhibited Midoriko's will, and Naraku's, being tainted, has Magatsuhi's will. The one that would want to escape, would be Magatsuhi. So is Magatsuhi the influence? I can't let that happen!'

When one battle intruded on another; when Naraku's miasma spilled over into the body in InuTaisho and towards Inuyasha, he abandoned his fight to dissipate the toxins, and having proven that his comrades lives mattered more than the greed of strengthening his sword, the wind scar also contained adamant shards that flew beyond the miasma to shatter Naraku's barrier. Things took a turn for the worst for Naraku, as both dogs ganged up on him and sliced his body to pieces.

'No! Naraku!' Kagome gasped, full of worry, until she saw he was still alive, the amulet never ceasing its steady thrumming. In response to her strong worry, Kikyo's arrow pulsed beckoningly in Kagome's quiver, 'She knows I won't hurt him, so why would she want me to shoot now?' Looking closer, she saw the black shard floating near Naraku, and understood the message. She had to keep that shard from him, at all costs. Naraku was disappearing, and he was going to take the shard with him, she had to do it now. Pulling the arrow, she gently strung it into her bow, feeling the power within; a power that was not her own, but that melded to her desires. Kikyo understood her feelings, understood that they were foolish, but strong; just as her own had been with Inuyasha. Kagome worried that this arrow would be taken the wrong way, that her attempts to save him, might make him believe she was betraying him, just as had happened between Tsukiyomi and Hoshiyomi, but in the end, she knew this was what she had to do. If she didn't, Magatsuhi would take over Naraku, he would take his very soul and she would never be able to get it back, even if this was taken poorly, she had to do it, 'This one arrow… it can put an end to the influence. I have to do it; this is it. Kikyo, please, help me out here,' Kagome pleaded with the arrow as it was fired. 'Don't hurt Naraku. Please, don't hurt him.' The time it took the arrow to fly, she felt like her chest would collapse as she waited, never quite sure if Kikyo had tricked her or not, but trusted her intuition, trusted that even if Kikyo powers attacked him, that hers would keep him safe, they had to. The glowing arrow struck, her purity warping around his aura, but the end result, was unknown, since the arrow disappeared along with Naraku's body. She would be left wondering. The only thing left behind, was the purified jewel fragment.

(A/N: Do note, that although I have been following the series thus far, I will divert shortly, so don't assume everything will turn out all blissful in the end. I have two possible endings in mind.)
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In a New Light