Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inuyasha Basket ❯ Chapter Seventeen: Invincible ( Chapter 17 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter Seventeen

Invincible

The first thing Kyou did when he returned to the village was tell Haru and Yuki what he had discovered. The idea of how crucial Akito was to their daily lives was profound, and they had to do one of two things now.

They had to forcefully bring Akito back to their world, or kill him here so that a new god could be born. The second wasn't something that any of them would ever want to do, or be a part of, and the first sounded impossible.

Little did they know how impossible, though.

Naraku scowled. He got rid of Sesshomaru, only to have to face a dragon. He glanced upwards. Or he could be wrong, seeing as the youkai was in the air and headed toward him. This was growing to be a dangerous situation, and it would be best to leave as soon as possible. He reached out to Kanna. A dead end. Someone had ended her life. Very well. How far was Kagura? Too far to wait for her. She had ran, and she had not stopped. Hakudoshi was wandering around as well, and even with his youkai horse, he wouldn't make it in time. That left Kohaku.

He reached out to him through the jewel shard, trying to “see” where he was. Apparently, he had gone down to take the infant before. Kohaku... Take the infant and get up here now. He noticed his sister in the background. He was tempted to tell him to kill her too, but that would take more time, and with Kikyou, Inuyasha, and Sesshomaru all together in one place, the dragon in addition, he really didn't have much of a chance, even with Akito there—as had been proven by the arrows he had plucked out. And he also didn't want to put Akito at risk again.

Kohaku's eyes clouded over. He tried to fight it, but in vain. And this had probably been his only chance too. Finally, he relaxed his conscience and let body react on its own. He picked up the child.

Sango raised hiraikotsu, preparing to have to fight Kohaku. “Kohaku, don't do this!” He looked at her, then ran past her. “Kohaku!”

Naraku brought his barrier up. Sesshomaru slammed against it, pushing the other backwards, but not piercing it. He flipped backwards, landing primly on what was left of the roof of the building.

Hatori unwound himself from the three he was protecting and looked at Akito. “Akito, you must return with me.”

Akito sneered. “No. You think I'll go back to being your `god'? Do you think I liked being sick all the time! Well, I don't! Go back without me.” He sort of flinched. The outburst had caused the bleeding wounds in his back to tear a little more. He was supposed to be a god! Should he even possess physical form like this? He looked back at Naraku. “I'm hurt. Let's get away from here and kill them later.”

He was a bit relieved. Arguing with Akito over leaving would have been tiresome. “Hm.” Where was Kohaku? He couldn't stall forever. Kikyou was aiming again. Hatori rose into the air, Kikyou standing right behind his head and Kagome in one of his paws.

“Kaze no Kizu!” Inuyasha swung his sword. Sesshomaru flipped his sword to the side, sending out its power. Kikyou and Kagome released their arrows. Akito turned around. There was no time to try to dodge. Naraku lost his hold on Kohaku. Was this the end?

A blinding white light consumed the arrows and drained the demonic attacks. All anyone could see was the white light, as if nothing else existed. Kikyou reached out to steady herself on one of Hatori's horns, to be certain he was still there. It was a relief to know that he was. Inuyasha kept a firm grip on Tessaiga. It was a comfort thing. Sesshomaru looked around. He could still hear the others (Kagome was freaking out), so he knew they were still around, and he could still feel the false castle under him, so it wasn't like everything had vanished…

Slowly, the light degenerated, the power crawling back into Akito. Fortunately, Akito seemed to be completely drained from this. He slumped back against Naraku, eyes at half mast. He was totally exhausted from dissipating all of the attacks at once.

Miroku had seen the flash of blinding white light. He glanced at Shigure and Ayame. Should he leave them and investigate? Well, Sesshomaru had promised to kill Miroku if he anything happened to Ayame. He also didn't want to leave Shigure unprotected. Damn, he had to stay here. Where was Sango, anyway?

Sango couldn't understand Kohaku. One second, he had been running with the infant, likely toward Naraku. Now, however, he had frozen in place and was staring at the child, his hand slowly edging toward his scythe and chain. Now's my chance, he thought.

“Kohaku… You don't have to be with Naraku. Stay with me,” Sango pleaded.

She didn't understand. That was what he wanted—to be with his older sister. But first, he had to get close enough to destroy Naraku—destroy this child. If he could manage to do that, then he could be with her. Get outside now! Naraku seemed on the verge of panic.

Good, Kohaku thought. If they corner him again, then he'll… His eyes clouded once more and he broke out in a sprint for the nearest exit.

“Kohaku, no!”

“Forgive me,” he whispered and leaped at a paper door. He broke it down and ran outside. Once Naraku saw him, he floated toward him, holding a now unconscious Akito in his arms. His barrier expanded to include Kohaku. Inuyasha hesitated. Now, if he attacked, he'd kill Kohaku too. However, this did not deter Kikyou or Sesshomaru. And, because of this, he could not simply place Kohaku in front of him as a human shield either.

It was best to leave now and take care of Akito. Naraku glanced back at them, then took off. His pursuers were close behind him. He'd have to lose them, and fast. He summoned his demons. That should slow them down. Akito opened his eyes. The dragon and Sesshomaru hadn't slowed for the demons, but it had slowed down Inuyasha. That was something anyway. However, Kikyou and Kagome had to be running out of arrows, so soon at least Kagome would be useless. In fact… there went her last one.

Kikyou was wisely conserving her own arrows (as she is far wiser than Kagome) and put up a barrier around Hatori, which was difficult, considering that he was a demon, but she managed. Any demon that came too close, she purified. Sesshomaru just blasted his way through them, a bit insulted that they would dare to attack him.

However, it did slow them down, which had been the intention anyway. He didn't expect such lowly creatures to so much as injure them, but he knew it would definitely slow them.

Once Sesshomaru was clear of the literal storm of demons, he paused. Hatori stopped beside him. “He's gone,” Kagome murmured. Sesshomaru sniffed the air. Not a single trace of him. He may have changed directions, and he might have stayed in this direction. It was impossible to tell.

Sesshomaru turned around and flew back toward the already vanished castle, where Ayame was waiting for him. Hatori hesitated. “Let's go back,” she said. He turned and flew after the dog.

The castle hadn't just vanished, unfortunately. It had collapsed, then the pieces vanished—which Naraku probably did in the hopes of killing whoever might still be inside. Luckily, however, everyone was outside and thus safe, except for Shigure.

Shigure had been leaning against the castle, in the shade as they filled in Tohru about what was going on. That was when the castle had collapsed. Miroku, acting quickly, pulled Shigure away before he was crushed underneath the rubble. The force of his pull knocked Shigure off-balance and he fell on top of Miroku. Miroku landed on his rear end, and Shigure fell on his knees, leaning against the monk in a slightly provocative position.

“Shigure-san, are you all right?” Tohru asked, rushing immediately to his side.

He smiled, sitting up straight. “Of course, Tohru-kun.” He winked at Miroku. “I always have someone who will protect me, right?”

Miroku looked away, blushing furiously.

Ayame giggled. Tohru didn't quite get it, then decided to brush it off. Shigure and Miroku climbed to their feet.

Sango had been on the other side of the castle, and walked towards them over the space the castle had previously resided on. “Kohaku is still under Naraku's control,” she whispered unnecessarily. She missed Yuki. He was so understanding, and so sweet. She knew that she would feel better once she talked to him. She picked up Kirara, who had been walking beside her the entire time.

Inuyasha bounded in to sight and landed beside them. “The bastard got away,” he muttered. Shigure made hasty introductions.

“Well, at least we got Kagome's cousin back,” Inuyasha muttered. “But now we gotta get that Akito bastard.”

Shigure looked annoyed. “Look, Inuyasha, Akito may be a jerk, but his parents were married,” he said. Inuyasha glared at him. Shigure either didn't notice, or didn't care—more likely, the latter.

Ayame looked at the rugged dog hanyou. “Please don't hurt Aki-san. He can be really mean and uncaring most of the time… But…”

Tohru looked off at the approaching Hatori. The others had warned her about Hatori's dragon form, so she wasn't alarmed, but it was still frightening to see, especially compared to his seahorse form. “Akito is an important part of the Sohma family,” Tohru said, knowing full well just how important. “And… It would be so sad… if he died here, all alone.”

Sesshomaru landed gracefully and looked at Ayame to be sure that he was all right. He cast Miroku a dangerous look, then resumed fretting over Ayame's pale condition. AhUn approached him. He lifted Ayame onto him.

“Where are we going now?” Kagome wondered, hopping off of Hatori's paw.

“Kagome-chan!” Tohru said.

The other smiled. “Tohru-chan! It's been so long!” They began to try to catch up to each other verbally in as few words as possible.

Kikyou looked at the group. Ayame looked ill, and would probably need several days of care. Sango was emotionally wounded. Tohru needed recuperation as well, and they needed to get her to safety. Kagome needed to get more arrows, and so did Kikyou. A soul fell into her body. They should head back to the village.

“Back to the village,” Kikyou decided. Sesshomaru started off, obviously with no intent on going with them. “Wait. You should stay with us. Ayame needs treatment.”

Sesshomaru hesitated, then gave a nod of consent. He mounted AhUn and started off. Kirara transformed. Sango climbed on with a heavy heart, looking off the in the direction she had last seen her younger sibling. At least now Tohru was safe, though.

Sango almost let Miroku on, then looked at Tohru. Best not to leave her with either pervert. “Tohru.” Sango held out her hand. “Climb on.”

Tohru hesitated, then took Sango's helping hand. She gave a yelp of surprise when Kirara took off, but the ride was fairly smooth, so she discovered that there was nothing to be too frightened about. Besides, seeing Ayame and Shigure was encouraging.

Kagome climbed onto Inuyasha's back. Inuyasha was pouting. The others were already ahead of them.

“What's wrong, Inuyasha?” Kagome wondered.

He scowled at the group ahead. “I just don't like us all together like this,” he muttered.

“Why?” Kagome wondered.

Inuyasha started off. “I just don't like Sesshomaru being around.”

His ex-almost-girlfriend rolled her eyes. She smiled. They were going back to the village—back to Haru. Well, at least they had accomplished what they had set out to do. Now all was left was subduing Akito.

And, if they were all together, how hard could that be? It was almost as if they were invincible when they were united like this. Naraku had ran for his life, after all!

Why hadn't they done this sooner?