Disclaimer: Neither Superforeigner nor AngelsFall own Inuyasha or any of his little friends, though we both rather wish that wasn't the case. Since we are both poor and unemployed, there really is no reason for anyone to sue. >.>
Chapter One: The Final Battle
It wasn't a new sensation; fear, like an iron thread constricting her heart. Fear so real that it was nearly tangible like a thick fog around her. Kagome's knuckles were white against the bow held in her trembling grasp. The bowstring was taut as she knocked an arrow and prepared to fire. But she dared not let the arrow fly, for fear that she would miss her mark because of the tremor running through her body.
This was an enemy she'd faced before. Though they'd never defeated him, she knew it was only a matter of time. One of them would win. Tonight, one of them would walk away from this confrontation, and the other would not.
Tetsusaiga was transformed, gleaming with power in Inuyasha's hands. He stood protectively in front of Kagome, blood staining his clothes and hair, as he watched Naraku and the vile creature's servants. The poison wasps were centralized around Miroku, harrying the monk so he couldn't use his wind tunnel, and Sango had already been batted aside like a child's toy.
"Damn you..." he muttered through clenched teeth. "What kind of coward lets puppets do all his fighting and then shows up at the last minute?"
Naraku's chilling voice echoed all around them, mocking them and their efforts. "You may think I'm a coward, but at least I'm not a fool like you, Inuyasha." His many barbed tentacles waved menacingly around the two, and Kagome shot at them with purifying arrows. But where one was taken down, two more appeared to replace it. "You think you can escape this time, but you're wrong. When this night is over, I'll have the Shikon no Tama, and then no one will be able to stop me or stand in my way."
The hanyou's grip tightened on his sword, claws scraping together. "I've had enough of this. You're finished, Naraku, you and all your little tricks." Inuyasha charged the thing he hated most in the world, raising his sword and seeking the windscar in his demon sight. Naraku had been expecting this, long familiar with his enemy's brash nature. A tentacle darted out, punching its way through Inuyasha's body before the hanyou could defend himself. He was flung away in a spray of blood, and landed heavily against a tree, Tetsusaiga shaken loose from his grasp.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice rang out in alarm, sounding foreign in her own ears. She ran to his side and picked up the Tetsusaiga, holding it up to the hanyou beside her. "We have to keep fighting, Inuyasha. Don't give up!"
Inuyasha staggered to his feet, taking Tetsusaiga from Kagome and using it to support himself. "Keep ... Naraku busy? I need a ... second," he panted.
Kagome nodded and took her own defensive stance in front of Inuyasha, knocking an arrow and drawing it back. Taking a step forward, she fired into the midst of the mass of tentacles, hoping that the glowing arrow would find it's mark.
Kagome felt a brief moment of elation when she heard the meaty thunk sound that meant an arrow had hit home. But her joy quickly faded to horror when she realized that the sound came from behind her, and not in front.
Inuyasha had sensed her too late. He hadn't even had time to turn and face her before the arrow struck home. Kikyou's magic flared through his body, the arrow itself barely more than an annoyance in the face of her burning power. The hanyou fell to his knees, barely catching himself with Tetsusaiga. "Ki--Kikyou..." His eyes were wide, startled, as if he couldn't imagine what would drive her to harm him again.
Kagome turned on her heel and gasped. Why? Why her, why now? In a heartbeat she was by Inuyasha's side again, wraping her arm around his shoulders and holding him close. She knew she couldn't protect him from both Naraku and Kikyou, but she'd be damned if she wouldn't try.
Kikyou's arm was still raised, statuesque, having just released the deadly arrow. Her face was like sculpted marble, cold and emotionless in the face of the scene unfolding before her. She'd come to force Inuyasha to fulfill his promise, whether he wanted to or not.
The wound might not be fatal. Inuyasha wasn't sure. He was certain, though, that this arrow had carried more power in it than the one Kikyou had used to seal him to Goshinboku fifty years ago. He reached for Kagome's hand, wrapping his fingers around hers. "Kagome," he whispered, his strength stolen by the magic invading his body. "You're strong ... don't ... let him ... beat you."
The younger miko's eyes were welling up with tears, but she didn't try to hide them or blink them away. "Inuyasha, don't leave me! I can't do this without you!" Her bow dropped to the ground and both of her hands wrapped pleadingly around his. "Please, you can't die!"
"Stop ... crying, wench," he said with a faint smile. "Nobody said I ... was dying." The blood still spilling onto the ground from his numerous wounds proclaimed otherwise, but Inuyasha didn't want his eyes to close on a weeping Kagome. "Pick up your bow ... stop him ..."
Kagome drew in a shaking breath and nodded, brushing a quick kiss against his rough knuckles before scooping up her bow and snatching an arrow from her quiver. She wouldn't let Inuyasha down. Arrow after glowing arrow was shot in rapid succession into the writhing mound of tentacles. She wouldn't let Naraku win! She couldn't. But the soft brush she felt against her leg caused her to pause and turn.
Kikyou's soul gatherers were coiled around Inuyasha. He hung limp in their grasp, eyes closed and face pale--lifeless. He offered no protest as they lifted his body, bearing it towards their waiting mistress. The smile on her face told Kagome everything she needed to know about the dead miko's intentions.
"No!" The bow once again clattered to the ground as Kagome sprang to give chase, arms extended towards the motionless hanyou. She stopped short, though, when she felt a sudden pain in her middle. The pain was quickly replaced by numbness, spreading through her whole body. She looked down, eyes wide, at the barbed tentacle protruding from her stomach, covered in her own blood. Swiftly, the appendage wrapped around her body like a snake, ready to squeeze the life from her. She looked up again to see Inuyasha's prone form dragged by Kikyou's serpentine insects into the fires of hell that were now engulfing them both. "Inuyasha... Inuyasha!" She couldn't believe that it could end this way. How could this be?
"Inuyasha!" Kagome sat bolt upright in bed, her face and body slick with persperation. She was trembling violently, looking wildly around her own darkened room. It had all been a dream. Not real. Just a dream. She tried to assuage her fear, but her heart was still clenched tightly in her chest. Without hesitation, she lept out of bed in her blue checked pajamas and bolted down the stairs and out the door. She briefly considered that perhaps she had woken her family, but the thought was quickly replaced with the more immediate fear of her dream.
Barefoot and bleary-eyed, she lept without hesitation down into the murky depths of the well. The familiar blue glow greeted her, and she knew she'd arrived in Sengoku Jidai when she looked up and saw a clear starry sky instead of the aged wood of the well house. Less than gracefully, she climbed up to the well's rim, scratching her feet against the rough-hewn stone.
A clawed hand darted into the dim interior, long fingers wrapping gently around her wrist. "Wha'd'you think you're doing? You don't even have any shoes on!"
Kagome's heart lept into her throat in surprise. She should have known he'd be close by. She looked up into his amber-gold eyes and felt her unease slowly melt away. "Pull me up, will you?"
"Keh." He lifted her easily, setting her down with her feet in the cool grass. He kept one arm behind her in case she stumbled. She looked awful. "What happened?" he asked, taking in her state of dress. "Even you're not dumb enough to think you can wander around the countryside in your nightclothes."
The instant her feet touched the soft grass, her arms were around him in a tight embrace. Her head rested against his chest, listening to the strong, steady rhythm of his beating heart. He was fine. It had all been a dream. "I'm so glad you're okay." The words were whispered, barely spoken, but enough for Inuyasha's keen senses to pick up with ease.
"Huh?" He has never been good at this--never with Kikyou, and certainly not with Kagome. The whole idea of comforting people was just strange to him. True, he was learning it from the girl clinging tightly to him, but a little preparation time would have been nice. "Uh ... I'm fine. Should I not be?"
She took in a deep breath and let it out it slowly, releasing him and taking a step back. "It was... nothing. Don't worry, okay? It was just a dream." She lowered her head to hide the blush that was blooming on her cheeks. She knew that her fear for his safety from dream phantoms was rather childish and irrational, but seeing him safe and whole had reassured her quailing heart. "I should probably go home, I might have woken up my family..."
Inuyasha didn't drop his arm, opting instead to carefully take hold of her. "Maybe I should go with you, just in case."
"Okay." She smiled softly and nodded. "Thank you."
"Eh. It's nothing." He swooped her up before she had a chance to protest, and jumped into the well. The blue energy surrounded them, and when it faded he could smell the busy early morning of Kagome's era. He leapt out of the well, but instead of setting Kagome down, he carried her to her window.
Kagome opened her window and allowed Inuyasha to jump through and set her back down on the floor. She was grateful for his presence there. Despite all the times he'd yelled at her or called her names, she knew that there was a softer side to the terse and often violent hanyou.
"Why don't you go back to sleep? Looks like you could use it, and I'd rather you got it here than on my back halfway to some no name village."
"I think that's a good idea. Thanks for bringing me back, Inuyasha. I just got so scared, I couldn't stop myself. I'm sorry if I disturbed you."
He shrugged one shoulder and sat across her room, his back against her closet door and Tetsusaiga in his arms. "Wasn't much going on anyway. Everyone else was asleep."
"I still appreciate it, though." She sat back down on her bed and yawned, stretching a little before hunkering down under the covers. Kagome smiled over at Inuyasha and settled into a comfortable sleeping position. "I always feel safe with you here."
The hanyou watched as Kagome settled into her bed. "Go to sleep," he admonished her. If she weren't watching him, he might have let just a tiny smile slip at her admission. Inuyasha liked being the protector. It made him feel strong and useful, but most of all it gave him a place to belong.
Kagome yawned again and within moments she was sleeping soundly, evidenced by her slow, steady breathing and heartbeat. No more nightmares could plague her, so long as he was there watching over her.