Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 105: Good-bye, Lady Kikyo

Several minutes passed before the barrier was slashed through and dissolved by an unknown force. When Kagome and InuYasha emerged from the hut, a pit formed in my stomach. I could tell something had happened between the three of them, but I wasn't going to pry. Kagome had stepped down out of the hut before telling InuYasha to stay with Lady Kikyo, which prompted Koga to offer to carry Kagome. When InuYasha tried to argue her tone made me flinch. She was really upset this time. This reminded me of when she saved Lady Kikyo at the waterfall and how upset she was at InuYasha afterward. Shortly after that, we took off under Kagome's instructions to get a bowstring from Mount Azusa.

It took us a while to get to Mount Azusa. This mountain was supposedly quite pure, but it was also mysterious. Not much was known about it and some didn't even know it existed. Shrouded with mystery, hard to get to and highly spiritual, that sounds like a place Lady Kikyo would know about. We began running up the mountain and it was as if we were running forever up the staircase. That is until a white mist appeared, and we appeared back at the bottom without Kagome. I knew Miroku was right about the Mountain accepting her, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. I don't know how long we stood there waiting, but Koga and I were getting anxious. It was taking her a long time and my feeling that something was wrong kept getting worse. Just as I was about to suggest I go after her Koga says that he's going after her. That is until InuYasha showed up with Lady Kikyo in his arms. Lady Kikyo had InuYasha put her down and he went up the stairs after Kagome. I went and sat down next to Lady Kikyo while the others stayed close to the staircase. We didn't speak, but I was glad to be with her again. I just hated seeing how fragile she looked; she looked nothing like the priestess I had known. Plus, the scent of the miasma in her body had grown stronger even from yesterday and it worried me. "You fear for my life." Lady Kikyo's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I nodded. As much I never would say it, I cared about Lady Kikyo for many reasons. She had helped me so much as a child that I can't bear to see her hurt or worse. Several minutes passed and I caught Naraku's scent out of nowhere. I growled and began looking around, the others had felt it too and were on guard. I stood up with my hand on my sword watching and waiting, something was here. A second later, Lady Kikyo began floating upward causing Miroku and me to grab her to keep her there. That was when we saw the spider webs, Naraku was after Lady Kikyo again. All of a sudden a lot of webs fell from the sky and wrapped up our group in a ball of webs.

No matter how much we struggled we couldn't get free. After flying a little ways, the webs became loose and we began to fall. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo were saved by Kirara while Koga and I landed on a nearby cliff that Koga had to save me from falling off of. We looked up and saw that Lady Kikyo was now in Naraku's arms. After threatening Naraku for a moment, Koga jumped up and began to attack Naraku. I followed him shortly after to make sure if Koga's Shards did happen to give him problems again I could help. If Naraku didn't have the adamant from Moryomaru, we would be faring much better against him. We could only evade Naraku for so long before Koga got caught after Naraku released a cloud of miasma. Before I could cut him free, there was an explosion of pure light and Koga began falling. Kirara caught him and I hit the cliffside and slid down quite a ways. Naraku had put a set of pincers around Lady Kikyo, a specifically sharp set near her throat. I drew my bow and fired a sacred arrow only to have it bounce off the adamant. A second later, I heard InuYasha's voice in the distance and began climbing up the cliffside at a rapid pace. I reached Kagome just after the others did and noticed Kagome was alright. InuYasha had Tetsusaiga lodged in Naraku's arm, so I decided to try and shoot Naraku again. The arrow struck just above Tetsusaiga but had little effect on Naraku, or so I thought. After InuYasha used the dragon scale Tetsusaiga, Naraku regenerated just in time for his adamant arm to explode and reveal the inside of his body. Naraku dropped Lady Kikyo, so InuYasha went after her and I shot an arrow at the Sacred Jewel, but it disappeared a second later. Koga was dangerously close to Naraku now, the Sacred Jewel had been an illusion to draw in Koga. Koga kept fighting until Naraku released a cloud of miasma that was so thick I couldn't see him anymore. I shot an arrow near the top of the cloud, but it didn't dissipate it completely, so Miroku decided to pick up what I had missed. That was when I figured out it wasn't just the miasma in Lady Kikyo's body I had been smelling, it had been what Miroku had absorbed in the wind tunnel as well. InuYasha finished cutting a path for Koga to escape but he was too entangled in Naraku's flesh. All of a sudden a spiritual arrow struck Naraku causing him to release Koga but take possession of his Shards. For several minutes, I could feel the literal battle of good and evil taking place inside Naraku, but soon the light lost to the dark. He tried to claim he had won but he hadn't yet, not if I had anything to say about it. I fired another arrow his way but again it didn't seem to faze him. Naraku then sent a large tendril towards Lady Kikyo and Kagome, one that caused Kagome to protect Lady Kikyo. InuYasha cut through it before it could reach them, but Naraku wanted the final word and informed us that Lady Kikyo was not long for this world before vanishing in a cloud of miasma. We all rushed to Lady Kikyo's side and found what Naraku had said to be true.

Our group traveled to a field far away from the cliffs where we had fought Naraku. The miasma in Lady Kikyo's body was continuing to spread second by second, so I was trying to think of something to stop it. Deep down, though, I knew Lady Kikyo was dying and she wasn't going to come back this time. Even with Kagome's help, the miasma hadn't been purified. I watched the sunset and noticed it was the color of blood, an ominous omen if there ever was one. Shortly after InuYasha walked away to be alone with Lady Kikyo, Kagome began crying out of guilt. This wasn't her fault, but I wasn't going to be able to convince her of that right now. My mind had been racing so much I hadn't felt my tears falling until I instinctively wiped them away. After it had gotten dark, we sat down on the grass and sat in silence. Right now, I would have given anything for some kind of conversation, even if it was insults. I couldn't bear it, so I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in them. Tears began to fall slowly down my face, but I didn't care anymore. All of this could have ended differently if I had just told Naraku to go away that day he came to me in the forest. It was my fault, all of it. Naraku wouldn't have gotten so strong so quickly and he would have been dead long before now. Lady Kikyo wouldn't be dying, again, and Kohaku wouldn't be in danger. Miroku was blaming himself, as well. He might take the truth from Sango better than he would me, it wasn't his fault either. Lady Kikyo had saved all of us in one way or another; me more than the rest. She had taught me most of what I know about being a priestess and even allowed me to live with her and her sister. I had betrayed her and her memory by working for Naraku to help him gain the Shikon Jewel. A Jewel I knew brought nothing but pain and suffering. My tears were falling faster now, and I felt soft sobs trying to form in my chest. I couldn't let myself breakdown, not until Naraku was dead by my hand and my hand alone. It was personal to me, even more than before. He had taken Lady Kikyo's life, again, and had tried to take the lives of everyone else here on many occasions. I couldn't let them risk any more than they had already. I was going to kill Naraku even if it cost my life. They were worth it, so they could have the lives that were taken from at least partially back. They all deserved to be happy after the hell they had gone through because of Naraku and me. All of a sudden there was a bright light, so I lifted my head and stood up. Lady Kikyo's soul was the cause of this intense bright light, and soon her soul collectors were there. They guided her soul in our direction, it was so warm, and I had a memory flash to mind of the two of us together when I was a child. She was giving us a final good-bye. I whispered a good-bye just before the soul collectors took her soul to the heavens. Kagome approached InuYasha and said his name. He told her that Lady Kikyo doesn't want us to mourn her and that she'll protect us forever. At that sentence, my tears began to flow again. Lady Kikyo's life had come to a final end.
We didn't leave the grassy field the next morning like I had expected, much to my relief. Ginta and Hakkaku showed up claiming to have followed Naraku's scent in search of Koga but considering how long it took them I didn't buy that. I had moved just far enough away from everyone that I could still hear what was going on, but they couldn't hear me if I began to cry again. I had been doing that on and off since last night and honestly, it made me think about going out on my own for a while. That is until I glanced at InuYasha who was worse off than I was. He hadn't moved from his position since Lady Kikyo died, but I knew better than to try and talk with him right now. I knew he needed a little time alone to sort out his emotions, something Koga didn't understand. He put his foot on the back of InuYasha's head, but instead of a fight ensuing InuYasha just asked if Koga was leaving. I couldn't believe it, then again InuYasha's not exactly himself right now. I closed my eyes and continued to listen to their conversation, which was surprisingly civil, even if Koga was talking about him losing his Jewel Shards and leaving Kagome behind. After Koga hit InuYasha on the head, InuYasha was back to normal, sort of. After we said our good-byes, Koga, Ginta, and Hakkaku took off. Shortly after that, we decided to leave as well but before we did, I caught Sesshomaru's scent along with that of an unknown demon above a cloud that looked surprisingly like a dog demon. We had been walking for a little while when Kagome spoke. She told us that Lady Kikyo had asked her to protect Kohaku's light, but we had no idea what it meant except for the part about protecting him. That meant we now had a different plan and that was to find Kohaku.