Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 104: Naraku Regains His Human Heart

Several days have passed since we visited with the Holy Demon Spirit. We came across a village that told us of a demon tree, Yomeiju, that has come back to life after a seal was placed on it 50 years ago. I remembered the name of the tree because I was pretty sure either my mother or Lady Kikyo had sealed it, but I couldn't remember which one. A villager informed us that a monk that had come a few days before had been absorbed by the tree, so no one else has gone near it since. Miroku and I had both sensed that the seal was still present, but I knew why it had come back after Kagome said she could sense the Sacred Jewel. Naraku had been giving out Sacred Jewel Shards to a lot of powerful demons lately, but I wasn't sure why. When InuYasha went to destroy the tree with his wind scar, the attack was blocked by a barrier. A barrier created by Naraku, who told us we wouldn't have a better opportunity to attack while the tree tried to consume him. The tree however never got the chance because Naraku consumed the demon tree and took off. We followed him, of course. The closer we got, the more his scent and aura became unbearable to those with sensitive noses. In my experience, when Naraku himself appeared there normally was a trap involved. When we finally caught up to him, we found a section of the forest several miles in diameter absolutely destroyed by miasma. It was stronger than anything I had ever smelled before. Naraku and Moryomaru were hovering over the devastation having a discussion about Moryomaru and the infant betraying him. Several minutes later, a short battle ensued with Moryomaru coming out on top. Kagome told us that the Jewel fragments were merging, and I could feel their aura getting darker. Something was happening to Naraku, but I don't think he was getting consumed as we thought; he's too smart for that. Even so, we couldn't let Moryomaru absorb the Jewel, so we had to come up with a plan. Lucky for us, bait was nearby.

Apparently, Koga had been waiting on a nearby hillside just out of range of the devastation. Moryomaru figured this out and attacked, missing Koga by a lot. Koga and Moryomaru exchanged words before Moryomaru attacked again. Koga tried to deflect the attack but couldn't, so he jumped out of the way just in time. A second later, InuYasha jumped into the air and used his adamant barrage to get Moryomaru's attention before landing next to Koga. They were discussing a plan to take care of Moryomaru, one that I knew they probably couldn't do alone, so I went to join Koga and InuYasha. Moryomaru attacked shortly after I landed next to them, but we managed to keep from getting caught. We led Moryomaru into a nearby canyon before splitting up, so InuYasha could cut through Moryomaru's demon vortex. That plan might have worked if not for the Fuyoheki, so the three of us did a joint attack and hit Moryomaru where InuYasha had struck with Tetsusaiga. That was after InuYasha and Koga argued for a minute. Moryomaru went to attack again, so InuYasha punched Koga off the ledge we were on to keep him from getting caught. When Koga landed on the ground he complained for a moment before taking off in a dead sprint, trying to avoid Moryomaru's tentacles. Before long, InuYasha and I had gotten caught up in the tentacles, but Koga was still running that is until the aura of his Jewel Shards changed. InuYasha had been quiet for a second, in between arguing with Koga, and he mentioned he had a plan. He had Koga use Goraishi on him and absorbed the attack using Dragon scale Tetsusaiga, before attacking at the weak point of Moryomaru's armor shell. It split open but Moryomaru released a miasma to protect himself from further attack. Kagome couldn't have had better timing. Her arrow purified the miasma allowing InuYasha to get free, but Koga and I had gotten caught together so we were still tangled up. When InuYasha landed on the ground, Moryomaru took to the sky and flew away. If I could reach my sword, I could get us both out of this but as of right now I couldn't. As we flew, Naraku's heart slightly emerged from its armored protection. Koga tried to attack it but was hit with another blast of miasma that I purified using my now free hand and an arrow. Once we stopped, Moryomaru used his adamant arm to grab Kirara's front leg and flung her into the side of a cliff, causing her, Kagome, and InuYasha to fall out of the sky. When InuYasha landed on the ground with Kagome in his arms he yelled up to Moryomaru only to have Naraku's voice reply. I felt the Sacred Jewel's aura for a split second before Naraku took complete control and caused Moryomaru to explode in a rain of adamant. It was then that I realized we were in a worse position than before, now Koga and I were caught in a wing of adamant. Naraku began trying to consume us, he wanted Koga's Shards and my ability to hide the Jewel from Kagome and Lady Kikyo. Everything had gone black, but all of a sudden a bright light shone, and I felt the pure aura of Kagome's spiritual power. I looked around to see what looked like liquid around us, the infant was there, as well. Koga and I went after the Infant after we broke free. Another miasma was released, but before I could purify it, a bright light shone, and the miasma avoided Koga all together. He struck the infant's barrier with Goraishi and burst through the adamant arm. As we did this, I finally knew what the strange light was; the ancestors of the wolf demon tribe had protected Koga. Koga landed on an incline on a cliff while I fell and landed hard on the ground in front of Naraku. Just after we landed, Miroku began using his wind tunnel against Naraku, sucking in all of the miasma and adamant shards that were still pouring from Naraku's body. Miroku was trying to finish this on his own, but not for himself. He was doing it for Sango, so Kohaku could live, and they wouldn't have to suffer anymore. I got up and started running toward the monk to try and close his wind tunnel. This victory was worth nothing if he killed himself in the process. Just after Miroku sucked in the Fuyoheki, InuYasha got to him and made him stop but not before he had poisoned himself to the brink of death. I reached the group at the same time as Sango, Kohaku, and Lady Kikyo. Miroku was in really bad shape, but I knew he would survive at least for a little bit longer; with Lady Kikyo's help, it would be a lot longer.

We set up camp in a nearby forest when the sun began to set. Koga stuck around even after Kagome patched up his wounds, much to InuYasha's annoyance. Kagome, Shippo, Kagome, and I were sitting around the fire making small talk until InuYasha walked up. He told Koga he should give us his Shards and return to his tribe. Koga replied by telling InuYasha he sounded like Lady Kikyo which didn't surprise him because the two had dated before. The night went from peaceful and quiet to annoying and violent in less than a second. It got worse after Koga told InuYasha he was going to travel with us for a little while. Sometime during the night after the others had fallen asleep, InuYasha left our camp presumably to go talk to Lady Kikyo. When he returned he just kind of stared off into space, but I sat with him anyway. He was worried. Not only was he worried about Miroku, but Kohaku's fate worried him as well because of Sango. To be honest, I was worried too. My worries weren't just of the monk and the boy, though. I could still smell the miasma in Lady Kikyo's body, a scent I was guessing InuYasha couldn't smell. Her fate worried me, as well. Everything was starting to be overwhelming again, but it got worse when Kagome woke up and told us about a giant spider web that only she could see. We took off in the direction she told us until we came across a woman and her daughter in a village. She told us that a priestess had saved her daughter before beginning to look ill and leaving. InuYasha and I both knew who the priestess was, so he took off in the direction the woman told us the priestess had gone. Koga was just as blunt as InuYasha at the exact worst times. I wish demons had filters like humans do. It wasn't long before we found the source of the webs and Kagome began purifying them. I could see distortions of parts of the hut we were at, so I purified the distortions. Kagome told us that the only webs she couldn't purify were the ones inside, but when she went to grab them Lady Kikyo called out to her and told her not to touch them. A second later, Kagome was grabbed by the webs and pulled into the hut. Koga and I were the first ones to run into the barrier that had been put up around the hut. At that moment, we knew Naraku had sprung his trap.