The darkness swallowed up Kagome’s tried-and-true command of subjugation, its afterecho ringing hollow in her throat. Huge crimson eyes scintillated with derision. Black canine lips pulled back in a fiendish leer as the lights of her rosary beads dimmed and sputtered out.

Kagome’s features crumpled in defeat, but before she could dwell too long on her failure, black flames roared against her barrier with cataclysmic force. The shield shattered at the impact, dispersing in a shower of raining light. In a panic, Kagome raised another barrier to replace it— Sesshoumaru’s steely claws swatting through it like a soap bubble fit to burst.

It was clear to her now in her near-exhausted state that her shield could no longer hold against him. Adept as she had become in battling demons, her first offense had always been a virtually impregnable defense. Not in many years had Kagome felt so distinctly helpless. It was a despicable feeling—a feeling she refused to entertain. As Sesshoumaru had cruelly reminded her so many times tonight, Inuyasha was dead. Her friends and allies were far away. She was injured and alone in his domain. She had only herself to rely upon, and gods only knew where her bow was…

But it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t lose to this monster, and though the rational part of her mind screamed at her that this was madness, she strode forward toward the jaws of the Beast himself. Her spine was straight, her focused will diamond-bright in her mind. Looming above her, Sesshoumaru watched her approach with an expression of gloating satisfaction, the charred ground splitting open beneath the indolent thrash of his tail. Kagome’s eyes slid shut against him.

YES… Scythe-like claws gouged into the rocky earth as she felt him descend upon her. SUBMIT TO ME.

As his hot ravenous breath steamed over her, Kagome retreated inward, to a place of perfect calm and clarity. In the depths of her ancient soul, she settled, as though drifting to the bottom of an ageless sea. Here, she scarcely noted the chill of the night air, scarcely felt the rough, acidic grating of his tongue over the length of her body. Here, the collective wisdom of her holy predecessors flowed around her, within her, blending with her own mortal knowledge and experience. She felt the kinship, and the subtle distinction.

Both in herself, and in the demon before her.

Her eyes opened as the edge of his forked tongue grazed her lips. Without conscious thought or effort, she nullified the venom lingering there in its wake.

“You are not Inuyasha,” she said softly, an iron door seeming to close at last in her heart. “You are Sesshoumaru.”

He was different. The command was different.

Her whole being was alight with the knowledge—the power. Perhaps on instinct, the Beast reared back from her, resting low on his haunches. A timeless, primal tension gripped the air between them. Kagome smiled up at him, bitterly.

“Down,” she said.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi