When Kanna’s shining mirror re-focused, Kagome saw her friends and Sesshoumaru yet again–the daiyoukai’s tall, statuesque figure faintly glowing against the dark backdrop of the surrounding canyon. A pensive frown creased her features at the sight. She recognized this place. This was the same burned-out valley where Inuyasha had fought and defeated the evil dragon Ryuukotsusei–the same valley where his father, and Sesshoumaru’s, had once attempted the same.

The former Inu no Taishou… she reflected, her frown deepening. This was where he met his end.

“What,” Naraku snapped suddenly, “are you thinking?”

Kagome turned toward him with a start, but she saw quickly that he hadn’t been addressing her.

Red, white-centered eyes glared down at Kanna, whose somber expression didn’t waver in the slightest at her master’s hostile tone. Neither did the image in her mirror. Only the subjects contained within it were shifting–flying swiftly and purposefully upward with Sesshoumaru at the helm.

“You fool…why would you open the portal so near to him?” the hanyou berated Kanna sharply. “Close it at once.”

And now Kanna’s expression did change–her onyx eyes narrowing defiantly up at her creator as her mirror continued to gleam.

Naraku’s own eyes widened slightly before a cold, mirthless smile stole over his face.

“I see,” he said, kicking her down brutally from behind. “You would betray me as well…”

As Kanna crashed to the floor, her mirror clattered just out of her reach, the light from it beginning to fade. Kagome scrambled for it, holding the looking glass close to her as Sesshoumaru’s reflection dimmed and obscured.

“A traitorous tool is of no use to me,” Naraku declared.

Kagome looked up in alarm as serrated, miasmic tentacles burst from his shoulders, impaling his first and last incarnation through the stomach and chest. Kanna’s dark eyes paled to lavender as his tentacles retracted, fissures spider-webbing from the gaping holes in her body.

“Sister…” she whispered as her wan expression cracked, crumbling at last to dust.

In Kagome’s shaking hands, the silver mirror splintered, fracturing jaggedly in two.

“Sister,” Naraku repeated in scorn, glaring down at Kanna’s glittering remains. “Even the brittle heart I gave you was too soft, in the end. When I create your replacement, I will not make the same mistake.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Naraku’s piercing stare shifted to Kagome. Clutching Kanna’s broken mirror to her chest, the miko glared heatedly back.

“You could never inspire loyalty in anyone or any thing,” she bit out. “You’re a wretched coward who hides himself away in his castle and forces others to carry out his dirty work for him.” Her eyes flashed brilliantly through the sheen of her tears. “But, like I said, it doesn’t matter anymore what you do–because Sesshoumaru has the last shard, and he’s coming for you, Naraku. Face it, you’re finished.”

Slowly, Naraku stalked toward her.

“Such blind trust you place in your lover,” he said, Kagome wincing as he hauled her up roughly from the floor by her arm. “Let us see, once more, how woefully he has repaid you.”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi