Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 114: The Final Battle Begins

Kagome went home for her graduation from junior high school after everyone returned. I was proud to hear that her, Yuka, Ayumi, and Eri were getting to graduate and go to high school together. I didn't get to do much celebrating, though, because Naraku decided to make his move. A huge demonic aura had formed several miles away from Lady Kaede's village, but even with the distance I could still feel it and see it. Naraku had used the, now whole, Sacred Jewel. When Kagome returned, we decided to make our move. "Shippo, you need to stay here," InuYasha stated. Shippo protested and questioned why he had to stay behind. I agreed with InuYasha that this battle would be no place for a kid. Sango and Miroku then added that this isn't going to be like their past battles because Naraku is using the power of a full Sacred Jewel. InuYasha also added that he would be busy protecting Kagome, so he couldn't protect Shippo too. Kagome apologized for it and Sango requested that Kohaku stay behind, as well. Shippo was continuing to protest and I honestly felt bad for the kid. InuYasha, though, began explaining that he was a valued member of the group and Shippo would have to take over if something happened to them. It was really nice until InuYasha knocked Shippo out. When InuYasha stood up he looked at me, "you need to stay here, too." "What? No! I'm not a kid, I can fight. I want to fight!" "You need to stay here in case something happens." "What is going to happen? Once you enter that thing, Naraku is going to have all of his enemies in one place, let me come with you." "Kaya, if you go in there you know you're not going to come out alive, right?" "Do I look like I care?" InuYasha went silent for a moment, "we'll come back." "You better," I grumbled. With that, they left to go fight Naraku.

I picked up Shippo and carried him to the supply shed where we had been earlier. It took Shippo a long time to wake up, InuYasha must have hit him harder than I thought. After Shippo woke up, he wanted to go after the others, but it was too late for that now. I hated sitting here doing nothing. Naraku was there within my reach and I can't even fight him. I still don't understand why I couldn't have joined them, Naraku is as much my enemy as he is theirs. InuYasha's words kept playing in my head, did he really know what was going on? Was he really that concerned about it? "What are you thinking about, Kaya?" Shippo asked. "I'm just worried about InuYasha and the others. I wish InuYasha would have let me go with them," I told him. We sat there in silence for a while and I finally got sick of it, "I'm going for walk." I hated just sitting there, that was never something I was good at; especially, if I was focused on something. Naraku had lured all of his enemies to him as a way to finally be rid of anyone who could oppose him. He wasn't counting on me, though, I was still determined to see Naraku die by my hands. Either he was going to die, or I was, that was the promise I made the day Lady Kikyo died. Dragon scar or no dragon scar, InuYasha was going to have to deal with some extra company. As I watched the sky, I noticed that Naraku had slowly been inching closer to Lady Kaede's village. He looked like a giant defiled Sacred Jewel, so I ran back to the village. On my way back, I ran into Shippo who was looking at Naraku sadly. He was just as worried as I was, then Jaken appeared seemingly out of thin air. They had a short argument before the two went silent, and unfortunately Jaken had the same idea I did. They began fighting, like physically fighting, until Kohaku showed up in full armor. He wanted to go up there as badly as the rest of us. Much to our relief, he had A-Un, Sesshomaru's dragon companion, with him. We were going to get to fight after all.

Even with the two small demons separated, they still argued. Eventually, Kohaku and I got pulled into it. I honestly thought about 'accidentally' knocking Jaken off A-Un but thought better of it. When we finally approached Naraku, I could tell he was much more powerful than his size and aura was letting on. We were within a few feet, when a huge Meido appeared and disappeared, giving us an entrance inside Naraku. So many scents hit me at once, I almost fell off A-Un. He had separated everyone to play with their emotions and make them do things they wouldn't when they were together. I felt like we were playing into his hands, as well. Kohaku and I both had personal experience with what Naraku was like, and I felt like this was a trap; especially after the shaking started. After several tremors, several spikes appeared. One picked up Jaken then another picked up Shippo, several others began to pierce the walls around Kohaku and I. What I did next was kind of stupid, I jumped off of A-Un and tried to get to Shippo. Unfortunately, that's not what happened, instead I fell into a small chasm between two sets of spikes and lost sight of everyone.

I landed on something that I'm hoping wasn't what I thought. Though considering we were inside Naraku's body, I'm fairly certain it was flesh. Anyway, the color of the ground and walls was a sickening green with veins running through it. No one seemed to be around, so I was totally and utterly lost now. They had all been separated and now I was separated from Shippo and Kohaku too. I was wandering around aimlessly when I began to try and find someone close by, even if they were far away. This way at least I might be able to keep them from getting tricked anymore by Naraku. I came up with nothing, not even a faint scent so I was back to square one. Or so I thought. All of a sudden, there was a pink light similar to that of the Sacred Jewel. The light wasn't connected to any kind of aura though, so I followed it to see where it would lead. As I traveled, the color changed from green to a dark blue and the light trail remained. "Well, I see you've finally arrived." "Naraku," I growled at the voice. Voice, I couldn't see him anywhere, but I had heard him speak. "You've lasted much longer than your friends." I could feel myself start to panic, "you're lying. This light is from the Jewel meaning Kagome's spiritual powers have returned." "Yes, that is true, but I wasn't referring to them." I started looking around, frantically, silently praying I wasn't yelling at nothing. "Miroku and Sango wouldn't be tricked by some stupid illusion. Especially, not one as pathetic as yours!" That was when I lost it and fired a sacred arrow at the nearest wall only to have it slowly spew miasma. From the moment the arrow struck, my body quit moving, it was like I was frozen in place. I felt pain explode in every inch of my body, like literal fire was rushing through my veins. It was a more intense pain than anything I had felt before. "Naraku, you coward! If you're going to kill me at least come out and fight me first!" It all came out as a pained snarl; my words weren't really even words. It felt like ages before the pain finally stopped, and when it did I realized I was on my hands and knees. As I stood up, I noticed why the pain had stopped. My demonic blood had taken over.