Alright! So, fanfic number two! Woot! People seemed to like the last one, and I hope this goes as well. It's just an idea I've been tossing around, and I have a lot of free time over Christmas break. It should be finished soon! It's a big one this time!

No lemons, yet, if that's what you're here for… later, definitely, though! Just a little innuendo here and there to help you through to the citrusy filling.

Onwards!

Daughter of the Jewel

By: Weirdchick 43

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The jewel was complete, and Naraku was destroyed, but the group couldn't muster up the strength to be happy. Kagome, their mother and sister and best friend for as long as they had been together, lay motionless on the ground. Kagome was never motionless.

She was not dead, they knew that, but she was definitely not alive and awake and spreading joy as she would have been if she was alive. Sitting silently around her prone body, the group focused all their energy on protecting their fallen friend.

Inuyasha picked up the now completely pure jewel, which had rolled away from Kagome as she had fallen. He placed it tenderly under her hands folded calmly across her abdomen. He couldn't make his wish when she was like this. Even Kikyo was sad for her reincarnation, the burning hatred that usually consumed her life set aside by the great events of that afternoon, and she stood aside at a respectful distance.

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The battle had been fierce, and everyone who had heard of the battle had come to fight. Even Sesshoumaru had come to join them, and was now leaning against a tree, one of the few remaining, nearby. They had all fought well, but many had fallen. The tenseiga had revived all who fell at Naraku's hand, to everyone's surprise, but they had continued on.

It had been an epic battle, but finally Naraku stood alone. Having seen that they were either about to die or finally be set free, his incarnations and slaves had fled to the depths of the forest to watch the events unfold in a shard of Kanna's shattered mirror. Miroku had shattered the mirror, then fallen to the ground, as the poison from the saimyoushou he had destroyed to get to her had finally taken over his system. Sango now knelt over him, slashing Naraku's frantic tentacles away from the helpless houshi.

Kagome, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru remained, and all fights were set aside as they prepared to kill the hanyou that had made their lives miserable for so long. Kagome, wounded many times but still determined, batted away Naraku's tentacles with glowing palms, quickly clearing the area directly between them and their opponent. Taking their opportunity, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru slashed in together on either side of her, simultaneously cleaving Naraku's body in half and tearing him into thousands of tiny pieces. The jewel, now free, flew out of the bloody remains of its previous owner and straight to Kagome.

Immediately, the great impurity that had possessed the jewel surrounded her. Blackish blue likes, like poison, seeped up from her hands through her body, and she threw her head back in agony as the lines crept up her neck and into her face. Her eyes turned a sickly green and her body transformed into something completely horrific; dark and massive and completely evil. They heard the laugh of a thousand angry demons rumble up from inside of her, and they knew that this was no longer their Kagome.

Foam dripped out of the corners of her mouths, and she dropped onto all fours, prowling toward the group. She grinned, and her lips pulled back to reveal thousands of sharp, jagged teeth. Suddenly, she sniffed, and her pupils dilated as she turned in the direction of the hidden children. She began prowling towards them, her powerful youki sweeping out from her and crackling like lightning, stronger and more malicious than anything any of them had ever seen.

Then she stopped. Her eyes closed, and the pink energy of her purity swept out, soothing her friends as she shrank back down into her old self. She stood calmly in the middle of the charred clearing, her clothes in tatters and her many wounds seeping blood.

A look of intense concentration came over her, and her miko energy swept outwards once more, completely healing her friends and purifying the bodies of her enemies into dust, blowing away on a breeze and scattering itself across the lands. The jewel had glowed brightly, sending bright beams of light from inside of her hands, but she held on.

It stopped glowing, and she had smiled serenely, and then she fell to the ground, unconscious, landing on a bed of newly sprouted flowers and grass.

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Now, their ragtag group huddled around their friend, waiting for any sort of movement, any indication that would signal that she was still alive. Her hand twitched. They all held their breath. Was she alive?

It twitched again, and happy tears began rolling down Sango's face. 'Everyone will be alright!' she thought happily, still not daring to break the silence. 'We will all be happy! Finally!'

Miroku smiled too, and gave Sango a comforting pat on the rump.

Then, the jewel rolled out from under her hands, and the close knit crowd's hearts stopped beating, and froze Sango mid-slap. It moved slowly up her chest, a small black spot visible to everyone as it rolled. It stilled above her heart, then sunk in. No one knew what this meant, but there was a tingling in the air that kept them pretty sure that it wasn't. What was that spot?

In a flash, everyone was thrown away from the miko's still body. A white light crackled over her, pure, but still not kind. They stood, shielding their eyes as they stared. Her body rose into the air. Her mouth opened.

"I accept," she whispered, but everyone heard what she said and wondered at what its meaning.

She fell to the ground, and everyone rushed to her side.

Her eyes fluttered open, and everyone began talking at once, hugging her and checking he forehead and asking her if she was alright. And then she screamed. It was a terrible scream, a scream of immense pain, and they all stepped back reflexively, everyone except Sesshoumaru covering their ears. He stepped forward from his resting place, wincing delicately, and knocked her over the head, sending her crashing to the ground once again.

"Baka! What the hell did you do that for?!" shouted Inuyasha. "She just woke up!"

Sesshoumaru snorted. "Did you not notice the screams of pain, fool? This is mercy."

"Mercy my ass!" bellowed Inuyasha, irate. "No one manhandles Kagome while I'm around!"

The group winced collectively. Inuyasha was their friend, but he was often too dumb for his own good. Sesshoumaru had done the right thing.

"Inuyasha, my friend, perhaps we should figure out what caused Kagome-sama such pain, so we can help her once she wakes up? I have never heard a scream such as that," offered Miroku, even as his hentai mind mulled over ways to make a woman scream just like that.

Inuyasha looked sullen, but they all crowded around her once again. They all leaned in, looking carefully at her. They couldn't see any wounds, nor was she bruised or bleeding from anywhere they could see. Suddenly, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru leaned in abruptly, snuffling at her clothing. They leaned back quickly, seeming shocked.

"What?" demanded Sango. "What is wrong with her?"

"She is a demon," said Sesshoumaru.

"A full demon," choked Inuyasha.

They gasped and looked down on their friend, laying peacefully on the ground. How was she a demon?

Sesshoumaru leaned over and scooped her up.

"I will return you to her in a month's time. She will be very… unwell… for a while, and I will see to her," he said vaguely (and, even through the worry, Miroku gave a little chuckle to himself at the idea), then, "watch my ward and retainer. I will return."

And with that he was off, leaving a very unhappy and confused group of people in his wake.

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Ooh, read and review! New stuff soon!