No, Kagome thought as she curled her hands into fists. No.
Her eyes narrowed. Her features steeled in defiance—at the flames, at the drought, at the gods themselves.
Over her dead body would she let Edo—her Edo—be razed to the ground.
To Rin she said, “Stay here. The castle is upwind of the fire, and mostly stone besides. Barricade the doors and tend to Kanako-chan for me.”
“W-where are you going?” Rin burst out in alarm, clutching at Kagome’s sleeve. “Kagome-chan!”
“I’ll be back soon, I promise.”
“No! You cannot go out into that—that chaos. You can’t!”
“Do as I say, Rin-chan,” Kagome said as she walked over to a watchman’s eviscerated corpse. “Bring your barrier back up and keep it up. Extend it as broadly as you can—tell me that you will. I’m relying on you.”
“I—I will try.”
“Good,” Kagome said.
With a grimace she plucked up the dead man’s bow and quiver—and not a moment too soon. Behind them, Kanako shrieked as the servant’s door crunched aside like tinfoil, and a bat-winged scavenger swept in. Its eyeless white face split into a wide, chilling smile, its black fangs salivating as it descended upon Ren and tore at his bloodied throat.
“No!” Rin screamed, blasting the demon back. “Don’t you touch him!”
The creature howled at her in blind rage, lunging right as Kagome’s shot connected. In a bank of glittering ash, it fizzled and dissolved. Lowering her bow, the miko repeated sternly aside, “Keep that barrier up.”
“…Hai, Kagome-chan,” Rin murmured, casting a somber look over Ren’s defiled corpse.
Kagome nodded. As the barrier crackled afresh behind her, she turned and hastened down the steps, shouldering her salvaged weapons with a huff. Trying not to count the crumpled bodies she passed by, Kagome made her way unimpeded to the courtyard.
Outside, the muted sounds of battle rose abruptly in pitch. Up on the perimeter wall, she spied a group of cornered guards, fighting for their lives. Backed against the edge of a crumbling parapet, they struggled to fend off a grizzled red-eyed beast of a demon, whose youki-laced tails whipped out at them like a many-tongued lash.
Taking aim, Kagome brought the beast down from behind with a ear-splitting screech. “Get inside the castle!” she hollered at the stunned men. “Now!”
Their armor creaked and banged as they clambered down the ladder and rushed past her with breathless exclamations of thanks. Having fallen back to fight within the open court, other guards in the near distance soon retreated after them, hailing Kagome as they went.
“Kagome-sama! Gods be praised!”
“The Shikon Miko—at last we are saved!”
With a deep frown, Kagome advanced toward the gate, the radiant string of her bow zinging faintly above the din of demonic cries.
Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi
Kagome’s a badass through and through 👏🏻 Weird that Rin was geeking over Ren’s corpse, but I guess she’s still reeling from her first kill/maybe she did have some feelings for him. I mean, after all, she’s still a teenager (right? idr her age) it’s to be expected she probably felt some type of way towards him, a rough & tumble handsome guy (tho he was a piece of shit for sure)
“it’s to be expected she probably felt some type of way towards him, a rough & tumble handsome guy (tho he was a piece of shit for sure)” – XDD that he was…
Yep, Rin’s a teenager here 🙂 – I’ll list out some approximate ages I had in mind. Been wanting to do that for this story 😉
Rin – 15
Kanako – 16
Kohaku – 18
Kagome – 22
Sango – 23
Miroku – 26
Ren – 27
Uetsugi – 30
Sesshoumaru & Hirokin – 900+
<3
Thanks for listing that out, Char! For some reason, I was picturing Kanako older, actually, so that deff cleared stuff up ty!
<3 <3 <3
Hmm, interesting. It’s nice for the soldiers to finally remember the reason behind their prosperity and protection—this is what they’d be left to if Ren got his wish and Kagome was ousted. Still, feels a little self serving considering she brought all this violence upon them in the first place.
I still haven’t quite processed that Ren’s dead, but seeing as his entire presence in Edo was decided by Hirokin, perhaps he had outlasted his true purpose. His storyline still feels very unresolved though. Clearly, Rin is conflicted about his character and death and I have a feeling we’ll soon learn why. His death leaves a power vacuum though—and perhaps Kagome will finally see the value in ascending to rule over her Edo. Something tells me that was the ultimate goal of all of these machinations. And perhaps even Sesshoumaru’s ridiculously long absence 😒.
I know it is my own fault for reading these as excerpts rather than the finished chapter, but I am going into Sesshoumaru withdrawal here! Please bring him back! Kagome is going to forget his name at this rate 😂
Lol yeahhh, I’m sorry for Sess’s long absence XD Thanks for bearing with me! No doubt Kagome will have a few choice words to say to him about it! 😉
“Still, feels a little self serving considering she brought all this violence upon them in the first place.” – yeppp sure does!
Ahh love your insight about the “power vacuum” as well – spot on! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Alex!! Always appreciate the feedback <3
Rin wants to keep Ren’s corpse intact, I wonder if she plans on asking Sesshomaru to bring him back. It would remove her guilt and show him just what she’s capable of.
It would indeed 😉
<3
This is the Kagome we know and love. The one that doesn’t give up and whatever the price, she will protect and do what needs to be done.
<3 <3 <3