This is a sequel to One Month for Romance. It is complete in 27 chapters. It has a few plot twists that will shock you.I'm posting it here with the permission of the author. I found it at http://www.geocities.com/inuyashakarma . Enjoy. Tim Seltzer
Disclaimer: (Before the crazy disclaimer begins, the author would like you to know that, due to the EVIL CLIFFIE OF DOOM!!!!!!!, she cranked this chapter out early to give you some relief. If, however, 70% of her reviewers do not return from the Soul Sucking Dimension of No Return, she will think twice about relieving EVIL CLIFFIES OF DOOOOOOM!!!!! early. You got lucky. Be grateful...and ENJOY!!! ^_^)
Corisu Li: Mmff-mrm-mwrowrf!
Kunoichi: *giggles madly behind her gag*
Kagome: Sorry, you guys, but the fight's not over yet. We'll let
you go next chapter.
Corisu Li: *groans*
Aamalie: *pops up and looks around* Mirokuuuuuuuuuuu! *super
glomp*
Miroku: KYAAA! Get her off! *runs around with Aamalie firmly
attached*
Sango: *-__-
Aamalie: *suddenly hops off and stares at Corisu Li and Kunoichi*
Corisu Li and Kunoichi: *stare back*
Aamalie: *screams* WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? CHAPTER, NOW!!!!
C.Li and K.chi: *fall over backward*
Kagome: We tied 'em up so they wouldn't ruin the surprise.
Aamalie: Won't the surprise be ruined as soon as the chapter
starts, anyway?
Kagome: *^_^ Heh...oh, yeah...
Aamalie: *sweatdrop* Ah, well. They don't own, em, neither do I.
Do you get some sick pleasure out of hearing us say that?!?!
"Ninsei-san..." she whispered, raising a hand weakly as if planning to touch his cheek, then letting her arm fall as she realized that she didn't have the strength for even that.
Ninsei finally broke his angry stare at Inuyasha (who was gazing blankly at the ground) and looked down at her. "Kunoichi-san, you should keep silent. You must save your energy."
The girl shook her head defiantly, making herself instantly light-headed. "It doesn't matter. I...I won't-" She coughed, unable to move her hand to cover her mouth. Ninsei turned his head, feeling drops of the girl's blood hit the side of his face. 'Gods, she's badly hurt!' he thought. 'That hanyou will pay for what he's done!'
After Kunoichi's fit had passed, she tried speaking again. "Dark..." she muttered, blinking blearily up at him. Ninsei felt tears welling in his eyes. He'd never even gotten to tell her, but now... Now she had no time left...
"Kunoichi-san, I always wanted to tell you...weeks ago..."
Kagome's ears flattened to her head as she heard Ninsei's next words, and she began to wail even more loudly. Miroku, a few dozen yards away, held a quietly sobbing Sango. Shippou had his face buried in Kirara's fur and was screaming things like "Why?" and "I hate you, Inuyasha!"
Kunoichi's response was to smile serenely and whisper, "I love you as well." Ninsei leaned down and brushed a light kiss over her forehead, causing her to smile and close her eyes briefly. When he straightened up again, there was a look of slight worry on his face.
"Would you...would you still love me if you knew..." With a sigh of regret, he let his concealment spell fall, revealing his true self for the first time in almost two months.
Miroku gasped, having never seen Ninsei's true form before. Kunoichi did the same, but then she summoned up most of her remaining strength and raised her arm to lightly brush one of his ears. "I see no difference, Ninsei-san," she whispered. "You are still...you...." her arm fell back to her side, and with a content sigh, she closed her eyes for the final time.
No one moved for the longest time. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of a fierce battle, mourning for the girl was inevitable. Ninsei sat, holding Kunoichi's upper body in his lap for quite a few minutes.
That is, until her body began to grow warm. The panther stood and took a few steps backward. As the others watched, a glowing white orb rose from the girl's chest.
"Her...her soul..." Kagome whispered. 'But that would mean...' "NO!" she shouted aloud, leaping to her feet and raising the Sora-Ki.
But it was too late. The soul of the young miko darted off into the distance... where it sank into the chest of Ayako.
Everyone except Kagome and Ayako looked confused, unsure of what had just happened. Seeing their confusion, Ayako spoke. Her voice was confident and smug.
"Naraku denied me my soul for so long... I had to do something about it, something to realize my true power once again. And that hanyou there, Inuyasha, was the perfect one to help me carry out my plan."
Inuyasha flinched at the sound of his name but didn't move from his spot on the ground.
"What did you do to him?" Kagome shouted.
"Nothing permanent," Ayako answered. "The state he is in now is mainly one of shock and perhaps guilt. I think he feels that he has let you down." She put on a fake look of sadness, then chuckled. "All I did was...vary...what he saw. Late one night, I put a bit of sacred cinders...remains of my own youkai body... into his eyes. That was the first part of the procedure. My mist initiated the second, and I controlled his very vision. I just projected the form of Naraku over that of my late reincarnation..." She cast an indifferent look at Kunoichi's body.
"Bitch..." Ninsei hissed. "You've been planning this!"
Ayako nodded, seemingly bored with the conversation. "I had to regain my previous level of power. And now that I have..." She flexed the fingers of one hand. "You will all die here."
A cool voice spoke from behind the miko. "Ingenious, treacherous plan. One that is worthy of my very own mind." Naraku glided up behind Ayako and snaked an arm around her waist. "Seal them all...except the hanyou male. I wish to kill him myself."
Ayako grinned crookedly. "You are no longer my master. But...as I long to see them killed..." She gave an almost annoyed wave of her hand. From her fingertips flew five spheres of her energy. In a flash, Miroku, Sango, Ninsei, Kagome, Kirara, and Shippou were sealed in bubbles of aura, Kirara and Shippou in the same one. "Sit and watch, now..." she taunted. "I promise that you'll enjoy the show." She turned then and returned to Kohaku's side.
"Stand, Inuyasha." Naraku spat. "Stand and face your death."
Inuyasha turned a blank gaze to Naraku, then stood almost automatically. "Bastard. This is all traced back to you..." he said under his breath. With one fluid motion, he flung Tetsusaiga away from himself and watched as it became embedded into a tree. A mixture of sap and Kunoichi's blood ran down the trunk to pool on the forest floor. "I'll kill you with my bare hands."
"Kukukukuku...you'll never be able to touch me." With this, Naraku sprang forward, lightning quick. Inuyasha darted to the side and narrowly missed the blow, which dug a crater in the land under his feet. The climactic battle had begun.
Meanwhile, Kagome was beating frantically on the spell that sealed her inside. The shield was unyielding, however, and didn't so much as budge when she pounded on it. Everyone else was trying something along the same lines, but it wasn't helping. Then, something caught her eye. Miroku was using his wind power to push against the sides of the bubble, and it was bulging outward where his power hit it! 'Wind is obviously a weakness of Ayako's!' she thought. 'We have to get out of here! We can't let Inuyasha fight all by himself! If only there were some way to intensify Miroku's wind power... Wait a minute!'
"Miroku-san, the kazaana! Her weakness is wind, so use the kazaana!"
Miroku looked at Kagome as if she had lost her mind. "I gave a vow! I can't go back on my word. How do we know it will even work?"
"We don't! But it's worth a try!"
Miroku gazed at his right hand for a long time, then nodded his head resolutely. Wrapping the fingers of his left hand around the prayer beads on his right, he ripped them off and screamed, "Kazaana!"
As if it had been melted, a hole appeared in the sphere around Miroku. Sealing the kazaana quickly, he freed the others with brief bursts of his curse. Now, instead of the occasional jabbing pain, his entire right arm was aching severely. It must have shown on his face, because Sango approached him and asked, "What's the matter, Miroku-san?"
Kagome had been searching the battlefield for something, anything, that would aid in the fight. Just as she was about to give up, she saw a glimmer of something at the far end of the barrier, now distinctly weakened with two of its three casters dead. Her eyes widened when she realized what it was. If it had worked for Ayako...
"Kohaku. Kill them for me, if you would." Ayako patted the boy on the head.
"No. The girl is the only one that concerns me."
"How dare you defy me!" Ayako hissed, raising a hand to strike the boy. Before she could land the blow, however, a huge wolf tackled her and sent her sprawling to the ground. Kohaku wandered toward Sango, the blank look on his face set.
Ayako threw up a barrier and tossed the wolf from her body before it could do any damage. 'What the-' she thought, but got her answer as she spotted a certain hanyou miko standing a few yards away, her hair blowing about in the storm that was her angry aura. 'The girl! She must have found the other portion of her soul!'
And indeed she had. Kagome felt complete for the first time in a long while. The last time she had had her full soul, she didn't know how to control her powers, and could therefore not fully realize her strength. But now...
The wolf went up in flame and evaporated as Kagome stepped forward. "You will pay for what you've done!"
Ayako looked slightly taken aback, maybe even afraid, but quickly recovered as she said, "You may have reached your full potential, child, but you still cannot defeat me!"
"We'll see about that!" Kagome snarled, and leapt toward the green-eyed miko.
Beads of sweat were beginning to form on Miroku's forehead. His whole body suddenly seemed too hot, way too hot. Then, a terrified look took over his face as he felt his right hand begin to pulse. 'No, no, no...' he chanted in his mind. He steeled his will and forced himself not to look down, but eventually did so anyway.
The prayer beads on his right hand were vibrating madly.
His breath caught in his throat and he stepped backward, finally whirling to put as much distance between himself and his friends as possible. If he had to die, there was no reason to put his friends in the same situation.
Sango saw Miroku's flight and was inclined to follow, but a young boy's voice from behind her made her halt in her tracks.
"This time, no interruptions." Kohaku stepped forward, his sickle raised.
Sango turned back to face him, raising her katana reluctantly. "Kohaku, I don't want to have to fight you. But if I must..." Kohaku ran forward, weapon raised, and Sango did the same. As the two clashed in a cloud of white sparks, the sound of metal on metal ringing through the trees, the taijiya prayed for her brother's soul.
Kagome's strength was greater than Ayako's, true, but her spiritual energy was much less. Therefore, for every strong kick or punch she delivered, she recieved an equal jolt of miko power to block or dodge.
Then, as Kagome leaped forward for another attack, Ayako took the opportunity and whipped her hand out in an arcing motion three times.
For a second, Kagome was puzzled. Ayako had never taught her anything like this... Then, she understood as she was slammed back-first into a tree, rings of power circling her body at her knees, waist, and neck.
"Fool. I told you that you could never hope to defeat me! My power is much too great!" Ayako approached the girl slowly. With every step that she took, the rings around Kagome's body tightened, causing her to shriek with pain. Where they dug into her skin, blood was beginning to flow, but the one around her neck was the cause for the most alarm. She was being slowly, agonizingly, suffocated.
Kagome's shriek reached Inuyasha's ears and he turned to look at her situation. "Bad move, idiot!" Naraku cried, leaping towards him and sinking a fist into his gut, sending him flying backward, finally colliding with the ground and rolling a couple hundred of feet.
"Kukukukuku...I should have thought of torturing the bitch long ago. This will prove to be much easier than I- WHAT?"
Naraku's face showed signs of amazement and, for the first time, worry. Inuyasha had risen, no sign of injury apparent on his face. His eyes were locked on Naraku, and as they stayed there, never wavering, they began to bleed red. His pupils contracted into bluish-green slits. Crooked purplish streaks crept across his cheeks. His elongated fangs protruded from either side of his mouth as he gazed with mild interest at his claws, which had extended at least an inch longer.
"How can this be?" Naraku wondered aloud. "He's...full youkai?"
Inuyasha snarled and leapt straight toward Naraku, almost seeming to teleport with his unfathomable speed. Pulling an arm back, he connected squarely with Naraku's face, sending him straight downward, forming a crater in the hard earth.
Another of Kagome's screams redirected his attention. Ayako had nearly reached Kagome, and the weakened hanyou miko knew that once she got near enough to touch her, the spell would immediately kill her.
And then, somehow, Ayako was wearing a hand through her chest.
For a moment, she looked as though she meant to keep on walking, her expression staying the same for quite a while. Then, a pained scream burst from her mouth and she began to fall. Before she reached the earth, however, her body resumed the form of common ashes that piled on the ground, slowly being wafted away by the wind.
With her death, Kagome was dropped to the ground, free of the binding rings. Instantly, she rose the Sora-Ki and searched frantically for the escaped soul. After a second, she spotted it hovering about a dozen feet over the battlefield and leaped upward, seeking to destroy it and end the existence of the miko Ayako. As she ascended, however, it glowed a brilliant pearl color and Kagome could clearly feel Kunoichi's prescence. Pulling back from her attack, Kagome watched the soul as it glittered and faded slowly, dissipating without the slightest sound.
Landing softly, Kagome resheathed her weapon and turned to her savior. "Thanks, Inuyasha. I really-" She broke off as she got a good look at him. 'He's...he's lost control...' Swallowing hard, she stepped backward.
She needn't have worried. Inuyasha merely glanced at her before leaping back to the crater housing Naraku.
After staring for a moment, Kagome regained her senses and set off to find the others. Not very far away, she spotted Sango and her brother, engrossed in a duel. Sango was bleeding badly, but most of the wounds looked superficial. Kohaku, on the other hand, was untouched, Sango's love for her kin having saved him from harm.
Kagome leapt forward. "Sango! You have to fight!"
Sango half-heartedly blocked another of Kohaku's blows, her sword ringing from the impact. "I can't kill him, Kagome! I can't!" Though she was constantly moving, Kagome could see the tears that ran down her face.
"I have an idea, Sango! Just knock him out!"
"I...I..." Sango gasped and whipped her blade upward, just in time to prevent decapitation.
"Sango, you're strong. You know this. In order to save his soul, you have to do it!"
For a moment, it seemed as if Sango didn't hear. Then: "For you, Kohaku!" Moving quickly, Sango whirled so that Kohaku's attack severed the straps of Hiraikotsu, freeing it from her back. Reaching for it with her left hand, she used it to wrap up the chain of Kohaku's sickle, throwing it free of his hands. Then, with a cry that seemed half triumphant and half pained, she brought the flat side of her blade solidly to the back of Kohaku's head.
The boy's eyes widened and a choked sound escaped his mouth. He tottered for a moment before collapsing.
Sango's chest was heaving. "I didn't kill him...?"
Kagome firmly shook her head. "No. You did fine, Sango. I'm proud of you." She stepped forward, ignoring the protests of her bleeding legs, and pressed a hand to Kohaku's back. "He's fully healed. If we could just get the shard out..." Then, it was as if a lightbulb had lit up in her head.
She groped for the Sora-Ki and released its transformation. "Sango, trust me," Kagome muttered, before sinking the very tip into the flesh of Kohaku's back. Sango gasped, but said nothing. In a brief moment, Kagome had pried the shard from the boy. As the tip of the Sora-Ki left the boy's skin, the wound instantly sealed itself in a burst of green sparks. "Just as I thought," Kagome said happily, resheathing her sword. "Deadly to youkai, but to humans, it has no negative effect.... Shippou, Kirara!" she called, abandoning her explanation to make sure that the two were safe.
Kirara emerged from the trees, Shippou on her back, shaking madly. "Kagomeeeeee!" the kitsune cried, leaping into her arms.
"Shippou-chan, Kirara, I want you two to protect Kohaku."
Shippou looked at the boy and squealed, "Isn't he under Naraku's control?"
Kagome shook her head. "Not any more, Shippou. Stand still, okay?" She placed Shippou on the ground and put a small barrier up around the two youkai and the young boy. "You'll be safe in there. We'll be-"
A terrified scream cut off her words. "Didn't that sound like..." Kagome wondered aloud.
Sango was staring in the direction of the cry. "Miroku!" She took off, Kagome at her heels.
------------------------
Corisu Li: There was gonna be more, but I decided against it. I think I have enough to finish the battle in a whole other chapter. See, I'm gonna-
Inuyasha: *whacks her across the head with the hilt of Tetsusaiga* Oi, do you wanna be tied up again?
Aamalie: *pouts* Awww...let her tell....
Kagome: We can't! It'll spoil the surprise!
Aamalie: THERE ARE NO MORE SURPRISES!!!
Kunoichi: *huuuuuge grin* Surprises? Christmas!!!! *snaps fingers and it starts to snow*
Corisu Li: Oh, no...
Kunoichi: *forms a Christmas tree and slaps Santa hats on everybody*
Inuyasha: *blinks* Can I kill her yet?
Kunoichi: *loudly sings* Inu the red-clothed hanyou....had some very dog- like ears....and when evil Kikyou shot him....he was stuck to a tree for 50 years...
Everyone except Kunoichi and Aamalie: *anime fall*
Aamalie: I dunno...it kinda has a ring to it...
Kunoichi and Aamalie: We have inside information....that Inu's coming to a store near you....and we'll make sure you can't see him...unless you click the button and REVIEW!!!!!
Kunoichi: *sniff* We make Rudolph proud...NOW WHERE ARE MY CANDY CANES??? *goes a-hunting*
(AAAAUGH!! I just remembered! I get to see Inu-chan as full youkai tonight, for the very first time! FINALLY! EEEEE!!!! *smiles merrily, then runs to television, prepared to angrily glare at every single program on Cartoon Network until Inuyasha comes on at midnight*)
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