Tangled Webs by Rae

The Beginning

Authors Rant:

Let’s start this off with saying, yes; I know how the story ends and how Naraku actually falls. I’ve seen and read it all but I’m not starting off with that ending. Instead, for the sake of this story, I’ve devised my own, some things will be the same, and some will be different.

 That’s the awesome of fan fiction, I can do whatever I want, even if that means making lord fluffy butt run around in nothing but an apron. Which I won’t, at least I don’t think I will… not yet?

Just to clarify a few things. Sess has both arms and Bakusaiga. How he got it and why, for the sake of this story, is actually part of the story, and will be explained in later chapters.

I don’t own the Inuyasha characters; I don’t own the concept or the main story. This is just a rambling of my little imagination.

Rating is for possible later Chapters.

The Beginning

She hated him.

Perhaps hate isn’t the most fitting word but there was none other to describe it, just the thought of him, just looking at him, here in this moment made her stomach twist in ways should there have been anything in it, it would have been promptly emptied onto those damned pointy boots of his.

Who even wore pointy boots anyway? The only time she’d seen the things in use was in horror movies and on the wicked witch of the west. That one thought, the great Lord of the West actually the wicked witch, smashed beneath a little country house was almost too much to bear and despite the situation, she couldn’t help but laugh, almost hysterically. Much to the surprise of everyone else in the area, including the Lord himself, still towering over the little Miko, who had taken it upon herself to fling her own body over the fallen Inuyasha, which was probably, though oddly, the only thing that stopped the blade, Bakusaiga, which now rested only centimeters from her head. 

She knew the Lords hesitation, his surprise as her action wouldn’t last much longer, though grateful it lasted this long and she could do little more at this point then close her eyes and wait. Sure her little lapse of laughter was only going to speed along the process. So instead she spent her last few moments, clinging to the hanyou and pondering the days that brought them here, to this moment in time.

The final shards had finally been found, the little odd gang only claiming a paltry five shards,  Kohaku had one though they weren’t sure where he was at the moment, and Naraku… he had the rest.

There were no more shards to find, wherever Naraku was, there would be Kohaku close by, which meant that it was time to focus on finding the spider hanyou and destroying him.

None of them were really sure they would survive the encounter, even Inuyasha seemed on the edge of breaking, but Kagome wasn’t sure if that was due to waiting for the final confrontation to finally come to pass or something else entirely.

“Inu?”

The dog eared Hanyou either didn’t hear… or simply wasn’t listening, not even bothering to turn his gaze from the horizon to glance down at the petite girl that called his name, standing at the base of the tree he’d settled in for the night.

The rest of the little group was half huddled around the small fire they’d made, watching with curious eyes. No one had been able to get him to say a word, not even Kagome, but at least she had been able to get him to look at her, which more than the rest of them received, so they watched and waited with baited breathe every time to see if she could manage to get through to the half-breed.

It’d been a week since he went silent, lost deep in his own thoughts, neither sleeping nor eating. Simply contemplating… something, something that started on the day they found Koga in that clearing.   

…….

One moment they had been walking, the next Kagome found herself flung onto Inu’s back as they flew towards the West.

Kagome had been expecting any number of things. Naraku or one of his puppets being at the top of the list or perhaps another shard… but when they broke into the clearing it was nothing she could have expected, what  was there was a scene that  froze her to the very core.

Blood, massive amounts of it, coated the small wooded clearing, a clearing that obviously had not been there that morning based on the amount of fallen trees and wreckage.

The wolf prince was little more than a lump of blood, dirt and gore, barely recognizable if not for the furs he wore, matted and destroyed as they were. It actually took her a few moments of staring before she put two and two together and actually realizes who that mangled body belonged to, who was laying there, almost unrecognizable. She didn’t dare turn away from the mess, both unable to and unwilling until she noticed that he was still moving, still breathing, though slightly, barely, and strained. Something he would not be doing for much longer without help.

It was only after those first few seconds, counting each shallow rise and fall of the wolfs chest, did she turn her eyes to the only other occupant in the area, the one unperturbed enough the shocked gangs entrance to actually take the time to clean the blood dripping from his blade, onto the grass.

Sesshomaru.

Lord of the West. Inuyasha’s half brother. A demon that, despite his obvious distaste for his younger brother and the group that traveled with them, had thus far not only spared their lives but in some instances actually saved a number of times, even if she was positive he’d never admit to it.

So then why? Why this? Why now? Why Koga? There had to be some underlying reason, some explanation for what had happened, what was happening.

She’d barely had her mouth open to speak, to ask, to find out why Sesshomaru was standing over the fallen Koga, coated in blood, none of which was his own, looking so blasted calm and at peace with everything.

She never got the chance to ask.

It seemed it took about the same amount of time for her to process things as it did Inuyasha, only instead of asking, he just assumed for whatever reason, exactly what happened. Sesshomaru killed or was in the process of killing Koga.

The vicious sound that tore though Inu’s chest shocked the entire group, even seemed to still the Lord for a moment. There was no love lost between the wolf and the hanyou yet here it was, Inuyasha swearing vengeance, fang transformed, leaping at his elder brother with every intent to avenge the fallen wolf.

The battle was short lived, as every fight between the siblings seemed to be. Inuyasha charged, Sesshomaru waited, Kagome screamed. In a blur of silver and red metal clashed and before Kagome could even draw an arrow into her bow, before the monk finished crossing the clearing to check on the wolf, Inuyasha was thrown with such force into the forest countless trees fell beneath his path.

She remembered it vividly, the way sharp, cold, golden eyes shifted from Inuyasha to her. Focusing on her with an unfamiliar something burning behind them before a corner of his mouth lifted, just the slightest of a smirk, but enough to chill her to the bone again… and that was it. He left, wrapping himself in his power and disappearing into a ball of light. One even Inuyasha, finally able to stumble up from his fall, didn’t have a chance of catching.

It wasn’t long after his departure that the rest of the trio of wolves showed up. Quickly taking the still breathing, but barely, Koga away. Ginta had promised, swore that he’d make sure to let Kagome know how it ended, either way, but insisted they had to get Koga back to the pack, to Ayame, that she could help him before it was too late. So they left, leaving a still awestruck gang behind them.

It was that very evening that Kagome felt it and simply knew, with a cold revelation, that besides the few pink shards hanging in the vial around her throat, Naraku had the rest, including Koga’s. Which could only mean one thing. At some point, the shards were taken from him and Kagome could only pray it wasn’t Sesshomaru that did it, but there was little evidence against that.

Something changed that day. Inuyasha stopped speaking, that wasn’t to say he stopped being Inuyasha completely, he still drove them forward, he still sought Naraku, just did so without a word. No more than a contemplative look when Kagome told him what she believed, that all the shards had been found.

Miroku and Sango seemed to lean on each other more, probably the only good thing to come out of this mess, perhaps due to the end at hand. Shippou spent most of his time practicing his tricks, trying to get his fox fire just right so he wouldn’t be completely useless in the oncoming battle, something Kagome had deemed D day, though none of them were sure exactly when that would be.

They still hadn’t found a solid lead to the spider hanyou, at least she assumed they hadn’t, Inuyasha hadn’t spoken to confirm nor deny it, but it was obvious they had been moving aimlessly, almost in circles. She figured if Inu had caught wind of the spider, they’d be in restless march in that direction, not this slow, almost calm pace they’d been keeping. Camping well before the sun even sank into the horizon and leaving long after it rose again.

…..

“Come on Inu, it’s been days, you need to at least eat something.”

She wasn’t sure exactly what was causing this change. It was obviously somehow tied to Koga, his brother, or both… but she wasn’t sure how, it just didn’t make sense. She couldn’t even hazard a guess so there was only one way that she was going to find out, and it would half to start with making the hanyou finally come off his tree and talk to her.

“I’ll make Ramen tonight…”

That  got an ear twitch, it wasn’t much but it was enough to motivate her to keep trying.

“Maybe I’ll even pull out the pocky… its chocolate flavored…..”

Those gold eyes finally flickered down to her, focusing on her for the first time that day. He still didn’t speak but it was enough to fuel her hope. She’d been trying so hard to be understanding, to try and figure out exactly what was bothering Inuyasha, to give him space and time to sort whatever it was out.

But he was looking at her and like it always had, it made her heart beat just a little faster, just a little harder, in her chest.

Then he looked away and Kagome had been trying to be patient, she’d tried to be understanding, she’d tried her very hardest to be supportive and wait but this was getting tiresome and she just couldn’t figure out why it was happening at all. So true to Kagome... that patience finally snapped and she erupted.

“SIT”

The crash was deafening as the wide eyed hanyou was ripped from his perch, taking the branch with him, and plummeted face first into the earth. When the dust finally settled all that was left was a shocked Miroku, Shippou, and Sango staring at a fuming Kagome, who at the moment was screaming down at the Inu shaped crater.

“YOU SELFISH-“

“…. Um… Ka… kagome?” Shippou was the first to speak, though it was completely drowned out by the tongue lashing Kagome was currently given the oddly shaped hole.

“…UNGRATEFL, RUDE, ARROGANT…”

“Kagome I understand you’re frustration but this really isn—“Miroku’s intervention was quickly stopped by Sango, who simply knocked the poor monk upside the head with her boomerang. Less for trying to stop Kagome and more for the hand on the slayers rear while he was trying to do so, always a hentai, even in the worst of times.

“… I WILL NOT BE TREATED LIKE SOME INVISABLE…”

The spell broke off and ears flat to his head Inuyasha finally leapt out of the hole, pointing an accusing finger at the still screaming miko.

“HEY! WHAT THE FUCK WAS TH---“, His first words in days cut off by a shrill miko.

“SIT!” Crash.

“DON’T YOU DARE CUSS AT ME NOW. NOT AFTER A WEEK OF NOTHING! You.. You… YOU STUPID-STUPID HEAD!”

Moments later she stormed out of camp, pausing only long enough to grab her backpack before heading towards the nearby spring, all the while still cursing the hanyou face down on the ground, surrounded by a still shell-shocked slayer, kit, and unconscious monk.