Slowly, painfully, Kagome peeled herself off from the wall as Naraku wrenched Kanna’s mirror up toward him. His red eyes narrowed viciously, Magatsuhi’s glinting behind him in wicked glee. Neither of them looked up as Kagome cautiously approached, circling around to Kanna’s other side.

Her breath stilled in her lungs at the image the mirror reflected. She saw Kohaku, his brown eyes clear and determined as he rode behind Jakken atop Ah-Un. Beside them, Sango and Miroku flew armed and silent astride Kirara–all three of their expressions fierce with resolve. They were flying to battle, that much was apparent, and as the mirror re-focused, she saw at last the one who was leading them on.

Kagome lifted a trembling had to her chest at the sight of Sesshoumaru. His features were haggard yet hard, his searing gaze fixed upon the path ahead–and blazing just as brightly beneath the neck of his haori was a shard of the Shikon Jewel.

The last shard, Kagome realized, her pulse quickening. Sesshoumaru has the last shard.

This realization was not lost on Naraku. With a seething curse, he cast Kanna and her mirror aside, Kagome tumbling with her to the floor.

“It seems your little creation has betrayed you, Naraku,” Magatsuhi taunted, his tone saturated with derision. “Yet again.”

Naraku’s furious gaze cut to him. “Fetch me that shard.”

With a mocking bow, the demon of the Jewel departed, his vast abominable youki still choking the air long after he had left the room. Apart from Sesshoumaru, Kagome had never sensed such a potent demonic aura before. For a moment, she stared after Magatsuhi with a furrowed brow, wondering what on earth could prompt such a powerful being to serve at Naraku’s beck and call.

Then, the image in Kanna’s mirror shifted again–showing the wind sorceress flying out over the open sea.

“So, Kagura, this is how desperately you wished to be rid of me,” the hanyou said with terrible softness, Kagome glancing up at him as a glowing round organ throbbed in the center of his palm. “Then I will grant you your freedom.” The heart flared in agony as his sharp nails sank into it, miasma wreathing around his hand. “Piece by piece.”

Kagome gasped in horror as Kagura’s heart slowly dissolved before her eyes, her hand rising to her own chest once more as she imagined the unspeakable suffering being inflicted upon Naraku’s traitorous incarnation. Her lids squeezed shut against the sorceress’s anguished reflection–her lashes parting damp and heavy only once the last of Naraku’s loathsome miasma had faded away.

In Kanna’s small white hands, the mirror displayed the ocean still. As she and Kagome looked on, with Naraku looming behind them, a lone feather drifted over the surface of the water, the faintest frown weighing at Kanna’s lips as the feather disappeared at last beneath the crash of the waves.

“Open the portal for Magatsuhi,” Naraku ordered her coldly. “You have delayed him long enough.”

Frowning still, Kanna cleared her mirror with an answering gleam.

“…Yes, master.”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi