As if suspended in some horror of slow-motion, Kagome watched the comprehension dawn on Kohaku’s face by degrees. In the subtle shifting and shadowing of his features, the progression of his thoughts displayed, as they passed from the vial of cursed earth to the shock of her advances, to each act of outrage and deceit which had followed after. Word by word. Turn by turn. Each twisted piece of the puzzle sliding forward and locking grimly into place.

She saw the revolution of his thoughts reflected in the dark, glinting mirror of his gaze—the focus of which drew murderously sharp before her own despairing eyes.

“Kirara!” he shouted as he turned from her.

From seemingly out of nowhere the firecat appeared. Fluid as liquid shadow, Kohaku slipped up behind her shoulders, and they shot like a flaming bullet into the sky. Before Kagome’s dazed mind could even fully process what was happening, they were fading fast over the treetops of the western woods.

Her shock broke coldly and abruptly, the pit of her stomach seeming to fall out through her toes.

“No!” she screamed, taking off after them. “Kohaku, no!”

Snagging the trailing end of her sleeve, Kanako cried out, “K-Kagome-sama—wait—wait for me!”

But the miko tore loose from her spindly grasp and started sprinting. Only Ikiryou could keep up with her as she dashed headlong through the muddy streets, shouldering her way breathlessly forward through lines whose wet heavy burdens smacked her full in the face, over splintery fences that ripped at her flesh and clothes alike, past people who stumbled back from her startled and scowling. Finding a warhorse grazing idly near the perimeter of the outpost, Kagome didn’t think—she calmed the beast with a wave of reiki as she seized hold of his knotted reins and hefted herself up into the saddle.

“Stay!” she called down to Ikiryou as she wrenched the knot loose and dug her heels into the horse’s ribs.

The stallion reared, taking off at a gallop. Racing down the rutted dirt road out of town, Kagome could scarcely hear the pounding of his hooves above the drumming of her heart in her ears. Kirara’s brilliant form was barely discernible to her now. Despite the breakneck pace she was setting, Kagome could only feel herself falling farther and farther behind.

It was hopeless, she knew. She could never catch up with them—the neko youkai was swifter than any mortal steed.

Gritting her teeth, Kagome kept after them anyway. Scenes of carnage played out in her mind’s eye, each one more terrible than the last. She had to stop them—she had to keep Kohaku out of the Western Lands.

Closing her eyes, Kagome focused in on Kirara’s youki signature, gauged the demon’s speed and distance in a frenzied rush. Adrenaline surged like wildfire through her veins. This was insanity, but she had to try. Reaching deeper into the well of her spirit than she ever had before, she breathed in and breathed out as if it were her last, releasing such an explosive projection of reiki that she feared she would fly apart herself in the bargain.

A gigantic barrier roared to life in the distance—a scintillating dome of pure spiritual energy. It was an unsteady thing, warped and nebulous. In mixed elation and dread, Kagome sensed Kirara reel from it at the last second, careening earthward as it lashed out at her with white, twisting tongues of flame.

Vertigo roiled through the exhausted miko, upending her from within. Why…why did it come to this, was her last coherent thought as she fell flat against the horse’s sweating neck, praying she wouldn’t be thrown off to her death. How many seconds she lost consciousness she couldn’t say. When she came to, her vision was tunneled, perilously dark at the edges.

Shakily, she breathed in. Her blood was boiling. Her lungs were on fire. Her pulse was thready at best.

But they were just ahead of her now. Biting sharply through her lower lip, Kagome pushed herself upright in the saddle and steered the horse off the road and into the wilderness. It was Kirara she saw first through the scraggly, budding trees—crouching small and singed by Kohaku’s side. To Kagome’s relief he was standing, clinging to a branch and his head at the same time, too stunned at the moment to notice her presence. Clearly they had both suffered a nasty fall.

Reining in her horse a short distance away, Kagome tumbled from the saddle, coughing blood. Her head spun so furiously that she collapsed to her hands and knees on the rocky ground. Thick burning tears filmed her vision. It was a good minute more before she could see clearly again, before she could do more than gasp past the blood frothing in her throat.

“Kohaku…” she said in a soft, strangled voice the moment she could speak.

The taijiya turned toward her, stiff with surprise. “Kagome,” he murmured, staggering over to her and sinking to the ground. “You’re bleeding…”

His gloved fingers smeared through the blood smudging her chin as she clung to him and sobbed.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi