Ch. 114- Poison Imp

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Arashi © Me

Kikyo stood there, staring coldly at Kagome as she glared at the undead priestess with a look of defiance and righteous fury. As for Sango, she sat behind Kagome, blinking in disbelief...because in her eyes, she could've sworn that Kikyo was almost like Kagome's twin, but a little more mature-looking than her.

"Answer me, Kikyo!" Kagome spat. "What do you want with Inuyasha?!" She narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me...you're here to try to kill him, again!"

"What...?!" Sango whispered in surprise.

"...I see no reason to tell you why I'm here," Kikyo said. "In any case, I have something more urgent to attend to...so step aside." She attempted to step around the two girls...but before she could so much as blink, Kagome was already right in her path, her bow and arrow already notched.

"Don't you take one more step, Kikyo!" she shouted. "There's no way I'm going to let you hurt Inuyasha! Not again!"

"...You think you can protect him from me?" Kikyo asked with a glare in her eyes. "You're sadly mistaken, girl. After all...you are me, aren't you?"

Kagome gasped silently, her shoulders drooping and the arrow in the bowstring lowering slightly...but that was all Kikyo needed. In that split second, she slipped past the middle schooler and headed inside the cave, causing Kagome to gasp in horror as she realized that she had just dropped her guard.

"Kikyo!" she yelled. "Don't you dare!"

But it was too late: she had already gone inside.

"No..." Kagome whispered before she ran inside. "I won't let you hurt him!"

"Kagome, wait!" Sango cried. "I'll go with you!"

"No, Sango, you better stay here! The miasma's too strong for you!" Kagome answered. "Besides, I'm the only one who can stop her!"

"I can't let you go in there without some form of protection!" Sango argued before she looked to Kirara. "Kirara, go with Kagome!"

With a nod, the nekomata joined the young priestess's side.

"Shippo!" Kagome called. "Stay with Sango, do you understand?!"

"I will, Kagome!" Shippo answered. "Be careful!"

With that, Kagome and Kirara soon entered the cave, leaving Sango and Shippo behind.

"...That priestess," said Sango. "Who was that?"

"That was Kikyo," Shippo answered. "According to what I've heard...she was the woman that Inuyasha was once in love with."

Sango gasped silently in surprise. "That's Kikyo?! The woman who sealed Inuyasha to a tree, 50 years ago?!"

"Yeah..." Shippo said, "and something tells me that if she's here, then something really bad is gonna happen. The last time we saw her, she tried to drag Inuyasha and Kagome to hell with her, but they narrowly escaped with their lives!"

"...Oh, no," Sango whispered, worriedly. "So that's why Kagome acted so hostile toward her...but why does she look a bit like Kagome?"

"It's because Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation," said Shippo. "Through demon magic, Kagome's soul brought Kikyo back to life...but the soul that Kikyo possesses is full of bitterness and contempt." He then looked up at Sango with nervousness. "She believes that Inuyasha is responsible for her death in the first place when it was all a trap set by Naraku. She won't rest until Inuyasha's dead!"

XXX

Kagome panted as she rushed the cavern tunnels with Kirara at her heels...and yet, she found no sign of Kikyo, much to her growing agitation.

"I lost her," she said before she looked around, trying to figure out where she went, "and there are so many forks, I can't tell which one she went down!"

"You are me...aren't you?"

Kagome felt an uneasy chill going down her spine as she recalled those words...it was like they pierced through her like an ice-cold knife, chilling the very blood in her veins and paralyzing her entire being. It was that momentary distraction that gave Kikyo the chance to slip by her...and Kagome could've sworn that a wicked, mocking grin had formed on her face when she saw her out of the corner of her eye. She let those words get to her...and now, Inuyasha was in even more danger because she dropped her guard.

At that moment, she could only think of one thing.

"INUYASHA!" Kagome called. "INUYASHA, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! KIKYO'S HERE AND SHE'S COMING AFTER YOU!"

Her voice echoed through the tunnels...but she didn't know if her cries reached Inuyasha's ears.

XXX

"RAAAAAAARRGH!" Inuyasha roared as he swung his blade at the giant demon abomination, which knocked him back with a swing of its hand, but luckily, Arashi was there to catch him before he leaped up onto a rocky ledge, just as the demon attempted to grab the pair.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted with great urgency in his voice. "Withdraw the Tetsusaiga! We have to get out of here!"

"What?!" Inuyasha questioned. "Are you insane?! That thing's gonna kill us if we don't fight back!"

"You don't understand!" Miroku cried. "That monster fought all those other demons and absorbed them all once it's defeated them!"

"I will kill you and that canine...half-demon," said the ogre. "And then...I alone will leave this place, alive!"

"Don't you get it, Inuyasha?!" Miroku asked. "This place has a spell that could only be used by demon magic! Demon magic that creates a poison imp demon!"

"A...what?!" Inuyasha questioned. "Now you're talking crazy!"

"Let me put it to you this way!" Miroku shouted. "Inside a single vessel, you put things such as poisonous insects, frogs, or other creatures and let them kill each other! With the proper spell, the last one left alive becomes a poison imp!"

"And your point is?!" Inuyasha asked as he and Arashi dodged another attack from the ogre.

"This cave is one giant vessel for a poison imp!" Miroku shouted. "Even if you or Arashi defeat that demon, its body will merge with yours, whether you want it to or not! Do you understand?! As long as you fight here, no matter who wins, your bodies will become one!"

Soon after, the ogre-head on the abomination's stomach opened its mouth, preparing to release a blast of demonic energy, prompting Inuyasha to gasp as he held up the Tetsusaiga. As he did, Arashi charged with lightning bolts shooting out of his fur.

"Then it looks no matter how you look at it," Inuyasha began, "the only way out of this is to fight back!" He then slashed the monster's stomach open...or at least the head on the monster's stomach. Still, Miroku felt nervousness and trepidation roiling in the pit of his stomach as he watched the fight continue.

'We have to find a way out of here,' thought the monk. 'If there was some way to break the spell...but how?!'

Just then, Miroku gasped silently as he felt a presence somewhere behind him: it wasn't human, but it also wasn't demon, either. It felt...dead.

As he turned around, he soon gasped as he saw Kikyo standing behind him.

"K...Kikyo...?!" he stammered. "What are you-"

"Step aside, monk," said Kikyo. "I am here for Inuya-" She suddenly gasped as she felt her body stiffen, prompting Inuyasha to turn around, only to gasp in shock.

"Kikyo?!" he questioned. "What are you doing here?!"

Before she could answer, Kikyo let out a scream as the souls within her body began to fly out of her chest.

'No...the souls...!' she thought. 'Without them...I cannot move!'

Soon, the souls were absorbed into the body of the giant ogre demon, causing Kikyo to stagger.

'I see now...' she thought. 'This demon is the source of the evil aura...!'

Suddenly, she fell over, causing Inuyasha to gasp in horror as she plummeted towards the pit of blood and guts.

"NO!" Inuyasha cried as he ran to catch her, but in his attempt to do so, he was knocked away by the ogre!

"INUYASHA, NO!" Miroku cried as the half-demon hit the wall. Inuyasha groaned as Arashi soon came to his side, licking his face and whining in worry, but he soon gave him a reassuring pat on the head. However, as Inuyasha looked up, he saw the demon about to reach toward the unconscious Kikyo, prompting Inuyasha to jump in its path while holding his sword.

"Don't you dare touch her!" he shouted.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing?!" Miroku questioned. "Are you mad?! Kikyo tried to kill you the last time you encountered her, remember?!"

"Dammit, I know that!" Inuyasha cursed as he glanced back at her. "But...still..." He glared back at the ogre. "I can't leave her like this!"

XXX

"Inuyasha~!" Kagome called as she ran through the cavern. "Where are you?! Miroku! Arashi!"

No answer came, and Kagome whimpered as she tried her hardest not to break down.

"Where are they?!" she asked while Kirara tilted her head...but then, all of a sudden, Kagome gasped as she felt an all too familiar jolt.

'...This feeling...' she thought. 'I sense them...I sense shards of the Sacred Jewel! A whole lot of them...but...if that's the case...then that means...!'

"Oh, no..." she whispered. "Naraku's here, somewhere!"

XXX

Outside on the mountaintop...Naraku sat on the ledge, staring up at the blood-red moon as his Saimyōsho buzzed around him.

'It won't be much longer, now,' he thought. 'At any moment, it will emerge...of the countless demons I had sealed in this cave with my demon magic, only one among them...the last one standing will appear. Once that one does...that demon will become my new body.'

He then chuckled darkly as the wind howled, setting his hair aloft as his eyes glowed with malice.

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