The Balancing Act by Sin

Chapter 1

"Shit!" the inu-hanyou shouted, once again flying through the air via a tentacle to the face. I watched him, only vaguely worried as he crashed to the ground on his back, skid a few yards, and then jumped to his feet again as though it were nothing. Seeing as he was relatively unharmed for the moment, I took stock of my surroundings: Sango and Miroku were fighting next to each other as always and, considering we were finally fighting the real Naraku and all his minions, they didn't look too much the worse for wear. I did notice however, that they were beginning to tire from fighting one demon after another. Kirara, Shippo and I were a little way from them, farthest from the main conflict.

There had been two attempts to grab me, one by Hakudoshi and one by Naraku himself, but thankfully they had both been repelled. Though I certainly was not on the same level as a priestess with formal training, I had come a long way with my holy powers and aim with a bow and arrow. Holding off Hakudoshi and his sire was certainly difficult, but a good, strong barrier and a few well timed arrows can go a long way in keeping evil creatures away from you until someone with quite a bit more battle prowess can come save your butt.

Deciding that we were doing alright but this battle couldn't go much longer without losing someone, I brought my attention back to the two hanyou battling it out just in time to see Inuyasha get impaled through the abdomen. Time slowed down to a crawl as a I watched Inuyasha's expression change quite rapidly from anger to surprise and then to pain until I couldn't see his face anymore as he was flung away from Naraku, the sharp tentacle coming free with a sickening slurping sound. He landed a good distance away, skidding, rolling, finally coming to a bloody stop... and then didn't move.

I couldn't seem to breathe or move myself, my thoughts were frozen and hysterical disbelief seemed to be the only thing I could feel as I tried to process what I was seeing. That brief moment was broken though when the vile being that we all hated with our very souls started to cackle. Immediately, my mouth opened and the hysteria had an outlet with a watery "INUYASHAAAAA-!" tearing itself from my throat. I started to run for my best friend and love of my life; that however, caught Naraku's attention.

"HA! He's already dead, miko. But I'll let you join him soon enough!" Naraku shouted, glee lighting his inky black eyes. Using the same appendage he had just skewered our beloved dog-eared friend with, he slapped me out of the air, catching me across my middle with its broad side and flinging me like a rag doll several feet to my left, away from the rest of my group.

All the air in my lungs left me in a sudden "Woofffff!" and by the time I figured out which way was up again, I was only starting to be able to suck in a little oxygen at a time with tiny, audible gasps as I tried not to pass out. Looking up again, I instantly trained my eyes back on Inuyasha, hoping for a miracle; he was still face-down in the dirt that was quickly turning to mud from his own blood. Hearing a yelp, I looked over to see that Shippo had been scooped up by the back of his shirt by Kirara, barely dodging the attack of one of the many demons still left fighting. Air was coming a bit easier again as I slowly, painfully, leveraged myself up and off the ground again. As I rested my hand on my thigh, straightening to try to get my other leg under me, I realized that I was now covered in my beloved's blood, sticky and slimy. For a split second, I almost panicked again but I caught myself and instead hardened my resolve.

I saw my bow a short distance away; it had been torn from my hand as I flew through the air. As I made the agonizing journey of 10 or so feet to my bow, I belatedly realized that I probably had several borken ribs. Judging from the pulling sensation I could feel with every movement and the whistling sound that escaped me every time I breathed, I also assumed that I had probably punctured a lung. In my peripheral vision, I saw Sango and Miroku take just a moment to share a look full of meaning. The taijia then called to her ever faithful companion, the fire cat swiftly diving out of the sky, Shippo still hanging from her fangs, looking terrified. Sango gave her fiance one last look, full of love and knowing before hopping onto Kirara's back, the monk taking a wide stance and planting his feet.

Realization quickly hit me: He was going to sacrifice himself by opening his Kazaana and pulling in as many demons as he could in order to give the rest of us a fighting chance, knowing that the Saimyosho were just waiting with their poison ready. He caught my eye for just a moment, gave a quick nod, checked that his future, would-be wife had gotten far enough away, and ripped the holy beads from his hand, roaring his battle cry, "Wind tunnel!" in defiance. Demons were immediately swept off their feet and sent spinning, screaming and clawing into the void along with dozens of saimyosho, who flew willingly to him, releasing their toxins. In mere moments, I could see the toll it took on him, teeth clenching, sweat breaking out and every muscle in his body seemed to lock into place.

Meanwhile, Sango had flown straight at Naraku, knowing he would not be pulled into his own curse, and threw her giant boomerang bone at the vile creature. I could hear the agony in her voice, knowing her beloved was killing himself as she cried "Hiraikotsu!" the fire cat giving a mighty roar at the same time. I knew, without a doubt, that this was my one and only chance to kill him. Sango had been trained all her life to fight and kill demons, so was much better than I in a fight. My gut told me that even though that was true, this was no ordinary demon. My holy powers were the only thing capable of erradicating the evil in front of us.

I quickly blocked out everything except the vileness in front of me. He was turned away, focused on knocking the flying trio out of the air. Probably assuming that I was unconscious or dead and high on Inuyasha's defeat, Naraku seemed to have momentarily forgotten that I existed. This was great for me so that I had time to gather my power. Centering myself and ignoring the way my entire body screamed as I knocked and readied my arrow, I let my power start seeping into the projectile. 'More,' I thought to myself and started actually pulling at my holy energy. Normally, I just let the power flow into my weapon, but this wasn't going to be just another holy infused arrow; this was going to be Naraku's destruction and I wasn't going to leave this to chance. The possibility of not using enough power was not acceptable and so I pulled, heaved and yanked more energy than I had ever used before. A nuclear explosion came to mind and I couldn't help but find a moment's satisfaction in imagining the hanyou in the center of a holy bomb.

'That seems like a good goal...' I mused and pulled still more power from my core. The arrow could hardly be seen anymore because of the light my holy powers created. It looked more like I was holding a tiny, pink sun in my hand and still I added more and more. I was running out of steam though and as I searched myself for more power, I couldn't find any. But there had to be! There needed to be! I wanted there to be absolutely no question, not the smallest flicker of doubt that this would blast Naraku into another universe. If he ended up in Never Never Land, it would be too close. In fact, being blown to Kingdom Come would be far too good for him. My focus was brought out of myself and my eyes focused momentarily when I heard a high-pitched yelp from above me. The bastard had managed to snatch Shippo from Kirara's jaws and was now crushing him! Seeing the little boy I had saved and then raised, even considered him as my own, in peril pushed me over a precipice I hadn't known was there.

Suddenly there was a flood of holy energy that I doubt I could have stopped if I wanted to... and I didn't. With renewed vigor I welcomed the rush, directing it to my hand and into the instrument of this evil creature's death. It began pulsing, soft pink warmth washing over my hands and arms in waves. I heard a soft puff of air come from the middle of the light and saw dust fall from my bow. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that my arrow had just disintegrated. I couldn't believe I had this much power within me all this time but I also didn't have time to dwell on it. Not questioning how I was still holding all this energy between my fingers as if I still had my arrow, I heaved from the very center of myself and packed as much energy as I possibly could into the missile of demonic doom. The pulsing came quicker now and stronger, the hair in my face being gently brushed back every second or so, but I couldn't focus on that. I narrowed my eyes as Shippo gave another pained howl, this was it. This ended now.

Letting go, I watched as what looked like a light pink shooting star streaked across the distance between myself and the being who had ruined all our lives. He must have sensed his death coming for him because Naraku whipped around with wide eyes. Flicking Shippo through the air, forgotten, as he faced his demise, the wicked hanyou howled in outrage and tried to bring up his barrier, but my arrow was far too close and fast for that. It hit him right in the center of his chest. As if someone was showing me a video frame by frame, I watched as my arrow never actually touched him but the simple aura of pure holy energy started disintegrating him where he stood. It finally reached the nearly black Shikon no Tama where his heart should be. As the last of the hanyou was vaporized, the Jewel seemed to absorb my energy, quickly turning purple, then pink and then very nearly white from purity.

A half second elapsed wherein everyone was frozen where they were: Miroku having collapsed, Sango with the tiny fox kit in her arms. They were still on the neko's back in the air, apparently she had caught him before he could impact the earth. Myself, just standing in place. Inuyasha was still laying where he had landed and the Shikon, almost white, suspended in the air with glittering dust particles, all that was left of our nemesis, slowly drifting to the ground around it.

Then, an enormous pulse of power erupted from the jewel. It rocketed outward in an expanding ripple, so fast I didn't have time to be afraid. It rushed over and though me, blowing my hair back over my shoulders and cleansing the demonic blood from me. My wounds didn't hurt anymore for some reason, but I suddenly felt so very tired. My eyelids drooped and my legs had apparently been turned to wet noodles because I couldn't seem to stand straight. I wobbled, my arms sluggish and heavy as I tried to correct myself.

I could do nothing to keep from finally collapsing to my knees. Barely able to keep my eyes open, I saw Miroku suddenly look up, the pain from just a moment ago gone from his face. Sango, Shippo and Kirara were quickly descending, from what I could make out through my quickly blurring vision, their wounds seemed to be gone and I can see them smiling. As I start to fall backwards, I cast one last glance around and see Inuyasha getting to his feet. 'Thank the Kami...' Then, blackness.

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