Kagome’s nails bit into her palms, these last words of Ren’s making her sight go red. In her ear, Kanako whispered, “Please, Kagome-sama, you mustn’t rush in now. You mustn’t.”

As Ren crushed his mouth to Rin’s neck, the girl grimaced away. “…A man who was good to me would wait.”

The samurai’s lips curved against her pulse. Drawing back from her slightly, he smoothed the mussed pink petals in her hair.

“Indeed he would,” Ren murmured, his eyes trailing leisurely over her white and wary face. “I’ve waited longer for you than any woman; I can wait a few hours yet, if my lady wife insists. Truth be told, I never thought to have you so soon as this, but fortune has smiled upon me. Best not to try my luck overmuch.” With an easy grin, he turned from her and stepped toward the door. “Rest well until then, my love.”

Rin sagged, seeming to wilt in his wake. The moment the screen clicked shut behind him, Kagome and Kanako darted in from the opposite end of the room.

“Rin-chan!”

The beleaguered girl turned with a start, her face going whiter still. “…Kagome-chan?—Kanako-chan?! What are you doing here?”

The miko shook her head. “No time for that—we’ll catch up later.” Clasping Rin’s cold fingers in her own, Kagome started back for the door, as dark spiritual pressure encroached on her senses. “…We have to get out of this place.”

Perhaps sensing the same, Rin froze, her expression torn. “Kagome-chan, I…”

Kagome tugged at her a little harder. “It’s okay—I mean, obviously it’s not: youkai have invaded Edo. But I can explain everything; I promise I will. For now, Rin-chan, you’ll just have to trust me.” When the young miko still remained fixed in place, Kagome’s voice grew stern: “Rin-chan, let’s go. Now.”

“Do as Kagome-sama tells you,” Kanako scolded, giving the other girl a shove.

Rin stumbled forward, glaring. “No! I am staying here.”

Kagome frowned deeply, exasperated beyond belief. “Gods, Rin-chan—what’s gotten into you?”

“Stupid, spoiled girl,” Kanako muttered—shrinking back behind Kagome with a whimper as the candles snuffed out and the stout castle shook, buffeted by demonic gales that rattled through it like a pile of old, hollow bones.

Rin gasped at the fell winds, retreating a step. From below, the shouts of soldiers rang out amidst a cacophony of demon snarls and black, blood-chilling laughter. As heavy bootfalls pounded up the stairs, Kagome grit her teeth, her fingers digging desperately into the dense crimson silk of Rin’s sleeves.

“Rin-chan, please—we have to go.”

The girl looked deathly faint. “I cannot leave him, Kagome-chan. I must marry him—I must!”

“She’s gone mad, Kagome-sama!” Kanako cried, gripping the miko around the waist. “Leave her to him then, and let us begone!”

“Shut up!” Kagome snapped, prising Kanako off as a loud splitting crash sounded from the room just beyond them.

Foul, potent youki permeated the air. Swords clanged. Fangs gnashed. Scaled limbs smashed and armored flesh thudded. Men’s shouts turned garbled, bloody—lost against a demonic roar that ended in a hellish shriek of pain. Kagome winced, her hands clapped to her ears, as the outer screen slammed open so violently it was thrown from its track, and Ren burst panting into the room, his drawn katana dripping green-black blood.

“Rin—” he began, going stock-still at the sight of the three of them standing there together.

A second of fraught silence passed, as Kagome and Ren locked gazes from across the room. Miasma rolled in from behind him like a deathly fog. Before Rin’s hasty barrier could prevent it, his exposed flesh reddened and singed. Hissing in pain, he stalked forward, his eyes narrowed in pure, seething murder.

“…You fucking witch,” he growled. Shouldering past Rin, he lunged for Kagome, forcing her up against the wall with one hand. “What have you done?”

Kagome’s feet scrabbled for purchase as he tightened his hold. Her eyes streamed. Her vision spotted silver. Panic-stricken, she pried at the steely fingers locked around her throat.

“Ren, no!” she heard her apprentice cry out. “Let her go!”

With a furious wail, Kanako threw herself at him, clawing at Ren’s face like an angry cat. Viciously he swore as she knocked him off balance, and Kagome staggered free of his broken hold. Choking and bleary-eyed, the miko doubled over in searing pain. For a second more, she heard Ren struggle with Kanako before he flung her off altogether, and she hit the wall opposite him with a terrible crack, her slight body landing in a crumpled heap.

“Kanako-chan!” Kagome cried hoarsely, rushing over.

Blood trickled from Kanako’s busted temple. Her great grey eyes stood half-closed. Though Kagome shook her, she didn’t respond—and Kagome didn’t have time to try again. Already Ren was advancing on her, his dark wicked blade raised to strike.

The miko tensed beneath the pierce of its shadow. He’s really going to kill me, she thought with the most absurd sense of calm. Her bloodless fingers curled around a pottery shard. Time seemed to slow as she glanced to his upper thigh, shielded only by the gray pleated silk of his wedding hakama. Femoral artery—but could she do it?

Could she raise her hand against her fellow man?

The shard trembled in her clammy grip. Then before her staring eyes Ren’s blood was rushing out of him—leaving him in a livid red torrent as his sword clattered grimly to the floor.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

This chapter was hell to write for some reason…may come back and clean it up some more. <3