What the Darkness Brings

What the Darkness Brings
By: I Agree

Disclaimer: I own nothing

PART I: The Consequence of Recovery

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Chapter 1: Happy Birthday Kagome

Kagome’s 17th Birthday

It had been hell to get away from Inu-Yasha. Per usual the brash inu hanyou ranted and raved about her ‘necessity’ in going back to the future, telling her than she needed nothing from ‘that world’ except for ninja food, ramen, and tampons. All else was considered stupid and juvenile in the eyes of a very immature half demon. (He’d earned himself a nice fat ‘sitting’ session when he told her that tampons were useless, that they didn’t stop her from smelling like blood and a woman’s sex parts during her ‘female times’. Wisely, he’d never again questioned the importance of her sanitary items.)

For the past year of their journey to find the rest of the jewel shards, she had taken up the habit of just trying to let him yell his anger away when she told him that she was going home. It worked sometimes. In those occasions he would just huff and wave her off after his tirade, telling her he didn’t know where ‘that bastard Naraku’ was and he had most of the shards anyway was so it didn’t matter if she went home or not. Just bring him back some ninja food and those tasty treats shaped like pieces of meat and had a picture of a little dog thing on the front of the package (dogs are so easy). Most of the time though, he was a hell born jerk who would not willingly allow her to go to her family, friends and school, shouting at her that she had a duty to the Feudal Era and the Shikon Jewel that she so foolishly shattered.

Really she did understand where he was coming from. She probably understood more than he did what her duty to the past was. She had broken the Shikon no Tama, it was her responsibility to put it back together and to keep it out of the grasp of evil men and demons. She understood, really.

Today though, she hadn’t wanted to deal with it. She hadn’t wanted to go home to her family and go on a tirade to them on how unfair the first love of her life was and how he worked her to the bone, only appreciating her when someone took her away from him or when he thought she was dead. Today was her seventeenth birthday, and she wanted to remain happy for the entire day.

It didn’t stop her from feeling guilt for ‘sitting’ her best friend ten feet into the ground and yelling at him that she deserved to go home for her birthday.

Kagome sighed as she hefted her pack strap to a more comfortable position on her shoulder. It slightly alleviated the ache that had begun to develop after four days of carrying twenty pounds of food, textbooks, a bow and quiver, and clothes… damn ‘necessities’. Her eyes scanned the foliage surrounding her as she made her way to her portal home, searching for any demon or human who would threaten her.

It was a futile effort, she knew. Her ability to sense energies had gotten stronger in the two years that she had been in the past, so much so she always felt the Shikon no Tama around her. It had been a hassle when she’d first started always sensing them. Inu-Yasha had gotten angry with her many times, accusing her of purposefully misleading them so they wouldn’t want to hunt for the shards anymore. Admittedly, she’d thought of doing that before, but it had just seemed too underhanded to her. It had just been a coincidence it began to happen.

But her ability to sense things so strongly went only so far as the jewel shards. While it was true that she could sense more than what she used to, it didn’t help her against multiple youkai or youkai who knew how to suppress their youki. Not to mention none of her fighting skills (or lack thereof) had been honed. She would be no use in any sort of battle, defense or otherwise. Still, it gave her some piece of mind to at least search for anything threatening, at least then she could yell for some help.

A smile touched her lips when she spotted the clearing, the tension of being out in the open where various youkai could get her beginning to fade. Kagome giggled at the thought of being home for the first time in a month, needing to have her mother baby her again to counter all the death and evil she’d seen in the past (literally). Her mother was always so good at making her feel better about keeping her responsibility to the Jewel of Four Souls.

Quickening her pace at the promise of coddling (and of course the presents waiting for her at the shrine), Kagome hopped to the well and looked down at the dark depth of the ancient well. Inu-Yasha’s back would be healing soon, leaving her about five hours to spend with her family before he came to drag her back to the past. Unless she got him to join in with birthday festivities, which would get her either ten more minutes or the rest of the day and the next. A thoughtful frown touched her lips and she crouched down enough to rest her elbows on the well. It was an interesting concept, and no doubt it would produce some amusing scenes with her girlfriends there to question him about his ‘two-timing’ ways.

However, it had the potential for some bad situations too. The hanyou could hurt someone inadvertently, or perhaps he would somehow blow his cover and everyone would find out that he was only half-human. That would suck completely. She could just picture the commotion he would cause. Hysterical mothers and murderous fathers either trying to get their children away from ‘the thing’ or trying to kill it; newscasters and all other media flocking to the ‘story of life time’, and not only would every military force in the world come to play, but scientists (mad or otherwise) would flock over like it was a field day.

Eh, maybe it would be. After all, she hadn’t felt any sort of demon in her time so it was highly unlikely that any normal, non-holy person with a scientific mind was able to get a hold of any youkai. Finding some ‘never-before-seen’ creature would make any self-respecting science nerd wet his or her pants in excitement.

But still, she would really like to spend more than five hours with her family after she’d spent a good month in the past. Was a day or two really too much to ask? Was it so unreasonable that she want to spend some time with her family whom she had grown apart from because she’d spent too much time in the past? She certainly didn’t think so. In fact, it was Inu-Yasha who was asking entirely too much of her. A month without a proper shower was horrible and disgusting! And a real bed for a change really wasn’t too much to ask for after spending at least two weeks out under the stars. Honestly, why didn’t they believe her when she said that they could get sick doing that too much? (In reality, she wasn’t quite sure about that fact, but one could never be too safe now could they?)

Kagome sighed as she scanned the forest ahead of her, searching for anything of interest. ‘Normal-sick.’ She was ‘normal-sick.’ She was sick and tired of being the Shikon no Miko. She wanted to go home and live out the normal life that had been ripped from her those two years ago. She didn’t even care if it was more boring than this alter-life of hers. She didn’t care if she thought her friends in the future were shallow and self-centered. She didn’t care.

A rustle behind her jerked her roughly from her infuriating thoughts and her entire body tensed unpleasantly. Her entire being went on the defense, but she did not move a single muscle. She hadn’t heard anyone come upon her, she had sensed nothing and no one.

‘Powerful youkai,’ her mind screamed, ‘get down the well. Go go go!’

Her body refused to submit to the whim of her brain, and instead, slowly stood from where she crouched, dropping her backpack so she could access her bow more freely.

“I’ve been standing here for more than ten minutes, miko. What plague’s your thoughts?”

Kagome whirled around at the voice of her most hated enemy and almost cringed at the sight of the bamboo pelt. Without much thought, she had an arrow draw and pointed at the evil hanyou, wood glowing with holy energy. “What do you want, Naraku? If I were you I’d hurry up and leave before Inu-Yasha comes.”

The creature chuckled darkly at her bluff, sending a cold shiver up her spine. “I came for the jewel shards of course. I do know that you have them. As for the inu whelp coming to save you? I don’t think so, Kagome-san. Your precious Inu-Yasha is still trying to dig himself out of that handy little hole you put him in.”

This time, the young miko really did cringe. Damnit, she hated it when people called her bluffs, she always felt like a fool.

Or got scared shitless like at times like these.

“What’s more, your taijiya and houshi friends are currently engaged in very scandalous behaviors, a very vulnerable position.” Kagome gasped quietly and Naraku smirked. “Good for them I’m too interested in you and your few jewel shards to pay them any mind.”

Kagome forced herself not to sigh in relief (though she no idea why… she was the one in danger, not them). She wouldn’t let the bastard have that satisfaction. “I’m not giving you my jewel shards. They don’t belong to you!”

Naraku laughed darkly, “Oh? They don’t? Who do they belong to then, pray tell? You? I don’t think so.”

She blushed darkly and grimaced at him, “It was in my body until I turned fifteen. I think I’m much more entitled than you to the Shikon no Tama.”

A frown suddenly appeared on the hanyou’s face. “Hn.” He raised up a hand and snapped his fingers. Then, as if something met his satisfaction, he smirked snidely, “Then I suppose I will have to rid of you to make the Jewel mine, now won’t I?”

An unnatural flurry of movement behind her had her starting once more, causing her to jerk to the side to keep who ever it was from being behind her. She faltered a bit when she was met with bored grey eyes of a woman dressed in English western clothes of blue and green (her waist looking painfully cinched by a corset) standing on the lip of the well. Straight black hair obscured the features of her face slightly, however Kagome’s attention was not on her face all that long.

What stole her notice was a blood red skull in the woman’s hands, matching almost perfectly with the red paint of her nails and lips. The young miko shuddered at the wild aura of a something magical she felt coming from the strange woman, and moved her charged arrow to point at her. A movement from Naraku had her aiming right back at the hanyou as she backed up from the two. Her eyes and the arrow darted two and fro, unsure who she should really fear at the moment.

“I’d like you to meet a new friend of mine.” Naraku said blithely, gesturing to the woman with a clawed hand, “Her name is Charlotte and she hails from the Western countries. Isn’t that fascinating.”

Not really. It was horrifying. The west was English and France and crap like that. English was where wild magic and dragons and Merlin existed. Merlin was a scary bearded guy with a wand. Wands were not good news if those Harry Potter books were anything to go by. It wasn’t a very good resource, but damnit, she hadn’t thought there were demons before she was fifteen and laughing at all the ‘fairytales’ and ‘myths’ she’d read about when she was younger.

She wasn’t laughing anymore.

Her literature teachers and grandpapa were.

So was Naraku.

“I see you understand the implications of her being a foreigner.” The half-demon said slyly, waving a hand slightly at the English woman.

The woman moved immediately, dropping down to the grass and turning to face the well. Slowly she began to circle the well, gazing down into its depths until she reached a corner of the structure. She stopped there and bent to hold the brilliantly red skull just above the wood. After a single, unintelligible word, some of the red color of the skull literally dripped onto the wood and spread to form a symbol Kagome could not recognize.

Horrified, Kagome aimed her arrow at the woman, “What are you doing?! Stop it!”

Just as she loosed her arrow at the woman, an unpleasantly familiar tentacle shot out and intercepted it. Instantly the appendage was purified, but just as quickly it was replaced by another two. With lightening fast reflexes honed by years of battling youkai (and the bastard she was currently fighting), Kagome purified them and raced as far away as she could. Inu-Yasha. She had to get to Inu-Yasha and the others. They would help. They had to help.

But just as she reached the edge of the clearing, she heard Naraku’s maniacal laughter ring out and felt a strong barrier encase the field. She skidded to a halt before her body slammed into the barricade, whirling about to face her fast approaching enemy. She knocked another arrow and let it fly before taking off into a run, hoping that her aim was true. A hiss of pain behind her told her that she had gotten him but not well enough. She continued moving, knowing that a moving target was harder to kill, and not wanting to make this any easier for the hated hanyou. When she felt she was far enough away, Kagome turned and shot an arrow at the baboon clad one. To her satisfaction, she saw the holy arrow sink into the flesh of his stomach, and immediately he began to disintegrate. She threw him a cocky smile before turning to the well and taking aim of the sorceress dying a fourth symbol on the final corner of the well. Her smirk widened considerably as she let go of the arrow and watched it fly to the unsuspecting foreigner’s heart. “Welcome to Japan, lady!”

No sooner had the sarcastic words left her mouth than did a piercing agony split up her side. Eyes wide with pain and surprise, Kagome instinctively jerked away from harm and twisted about to see what had done it. Bile rose up in her throat at the sight of her attacker. Naraku glared at her from the ground, his only arm bracing his remaining body – just his torso and head – and just about twenty tentacles sprouting from his back.

Forcing her mind away from her revulsion and pain, Kagome reached for another arrow and sent it to his head. The many tentacles moved immediately, guarding what was left of him, allowing themselves to be purified instead of the main body part. Panicking, she fired arrow after arrow in a desperate attempt to kill the resilient hanyou, wishing that she hadn’t taken her eyes off him to attack the witch. Hell, she even wished she’d listened to Inu-Yasha for a change!

Sobbing hysterically, Kagome reached back for what she knew was her last arrow and let it fly at the monstrous demon. She nearly vomited with her terror when she saw that last arrow easily batted away from a lazily moving tentacle and the torso beginning to move forward with the aid of the appendages.

She laced her bow with holy energy while she backed up slowly to the well, basic instinct beginning to overwhelm her. In her mind, her world faded until only the partially disintegrated hanyou and herself remained battling. As the demonic tentacles came at her, she batted them away with her bow, purifying them into dust. Few of the appendages got through to her, only giving her a slight scratch or a hit that would severely bruise later before she purified them. Somewhere in the back of her mind, where she had the time to think, she was proud of herself for holding up so long.

It seemed like an eternity before she finally got an opening to strike at his head, and in some satisfaction and relief, she raised up her bow to bring down onto what was left of him. But suddenly he backed off, an eerily cocky smirk on his face that seemed reminiscent of the one she had bestowed upon him not too long ago. A cold feeling shuddered through her spine. Ignoring the sense of intuition like a fool, Kagome stepped forward and swung her bow down upon the hanyou’s head.

Something from behind her yanked the bow from her hand and momentum had her stumbling forward into the grasp of the conniving half-demon. He laughed darkly when his tentacles wrapped firmly around her waist and arms, raising her up some feet above the ground and forcing her into a sort of sitting position, pressing her knees against her chest. He moved her backwards until she was hovering over the Bone Eaters Well and removed just enough of the appendages around her to make her hopeful, yet nervous at the same time. The witch had been performing a spell on the well, probably somehow affecting how it worked. But Kagome hadn’t seen the witch after she’d shot her arrow after the woman, there was a chance that she’d killed or wounded the woman enough so the spell hadn’t been completed. So, if Naraku thought the spell was complete, and he dropped her down, she would escape!

That hope was dashed, though, when the witch walked into her peripheral vision, no skull, red or otherwise, in her hands. Kagome glared at the woman, her fear and anxiety rising even as she got a satisfaction out of seeing a large dark spot of something on the bodice of her dress. At least she got her. Hopefully the wench bled out.

“Your shards are mine, Miss Miko.”

The voice of her truest enemy made her snap back to attention, and she watched, horrified, as a disgusting tentacle seemed to slowly reach to where her vial of shards lay against her breast. Her heart beat wildly against her rib cage as she began to struggle violently, ignoring Naraku’s tentacles as they tightened around her painfully in an effort to still her wriggling. He began his trademark maniacal laughter once more as he touched the tip of his attachment touched the glass vial. “They are mine, priestess. They were mine even before you were born, before you were conceived. Even before your great-grandparents were conceived. They are mine.”

Kagome shuddered in fear at his menacing tone, her body long having frozen up during his declaration. Her lungs refused to work as she watched his body began to slowly piece itself together again with the stolen energy he received from the Shikon shards.

..::He feels wrong::..

The quiet utterance caught her off guard, startling her with their abrupt return. They startled the breath back into her lungs, and suddenly her holy energy and something else flared up protectively around the jewel shards. Surprised at the sudden appearance of purification energy, Naraku’s tentacles receded from around her body, dropping her down into the wells depths. The holy powers that had so miraculously made its appearance became much stronger before disappearing completely.

Almost immediately after, she impacted the dirt floor of the well violently, and pain tore through her body. Her mouth opened in a silent scream of agony as she grappled with the futile effort to quell the pain.

Mercifully, she slipped into the unconscious world.

AAAAAA

EARLY UPDATE!!!

Please Regard Me Kindly,
I Agree