InuYasha Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ In Pursuit of the Green Dragon ❯ Casualties and Prisoners ( Chapter 23 )

Musashi's Domain, 16th-century Japan

"—don't think so, Al-kun." Kagome was back, her long legs gilded by firelight as she emerged from the trees on the far side of their campsite.

"Please, won't you consider it?" begged the too-tall bastard at her side, making puppy eyes at her. "What can I do to convince you, Kagome-ch—I mean, Kagome-san?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry." Her glance flicked over to where Inuyasha was sitting, and he saw mingled guilt and concern in her eyes. "Besides, even if I wanted to, where would we go?"

Inuyasha gritted his teeth. At least Alphonse was making himself useful, lugging the full bucket.

But did he have to stand so close to Kagome? And what, exactly, was he trying to convince her to do?

Kagome was still speaking. "I mean, there aren't any cafes in this time--"

Then Inuyasha's head snapped up as a wave of a musky, all-too-familiar reek washed over him.

Despite his crushing fatigue, he found himself instantly on his feet, and running towards Kagome. "Oi! Drago-"

Then something very large and very heavy crashed into him, sending him flying into the shadows beyond the firelight.

Inuyasha landed on his ass with an undignified thump, the force of the blow sending him tumbling along the ground in a welter of decaying leaves and pine needles until he fetched up, hard, against the side of a boulder.

He managed to hang on to Tetsusaiga, just barely, then lay curled on the ground for far too long, trying just to breathe around the shock of pain in his middle.

Not as bad as Sesshoumaru's hand plunging into his gut, and leaving behind a liberal smear of burning poison, but bad enough.

Inuyasha gasped and retched, damning his weakness. If he had been at his full strength, the blow wouldn't have done more than put a few grass stains on his clothes. Now it felt like he'd never be able to draw a full breath again, and had a couple of his ribs actually cracked? Fuck.

Still wheezing, he clawed himself up to hands and knees. Dragon. Danger! Gotta get up. Gotta--

The smell of blood--Alphonse's, not Kagome--hit him, and he was up and running before he realized that he could even stand.

Gotta save Kagome!

He skidded into the middle of the conflict. The shimmering, pale-green coils of the dragon had scattered the fire and sent sleeping bags, bits of equipment, and shiny food-cylinders flying in all directions, but all of his friends were still on their feet and doing their best to defend themselves against the huge beast.

Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Kagome accounted for, Inuyasha looked around for the newcomers to the group. Souta was backed against the trunk of a tree, wide-eyed and reeking of terror, but unharmed. Ed was still gone.

And Alphonse--

Edward's brother lay sprawled on one side of the clearing, dark stains soaking his clothing over his chest and belly. The breeze shifted, and Inuyasha could smell Alphonse's blood thick in the air.

As Inuyasha spotted him, Kagome ran to stand protectively over Alphonse. With a smooth motion she drew her bow, arrow nocked and blazing with spiritual energy, taking aim at the huge, writhing coils.

Kagome, no! Inuyasha didn't dare shout the warning, lest the dragon be alerted to its danger.

She released the arrow, and it sped, blazing, towards its goal.

And skittered off the scaly hide, the fires of purification sputtering out as the arrow fell to the ground.

"You bitch!" snarled the dragon, his head whipping around to glare at Kagome.

Inuyasha, in one of those frozen moments of clarity that preceded disaster, noticed he spoke Japanese with the same accent as Edward and Alphonse.

Then the dragon's forefoot, his claws already stained dark with Alphonse's blood, shot out, reaching for Kagome.

Inuyasha gave a wordless howl and threw himself forward. He drew Tetsusaiga--transform, damn you!--and swung the blade against the dragon's wrist with all his might.

Tetsusaiga, still uselessly rusty and blunted, left no mark on those pale-green scales, but the force of Inuyasha's blow was enough to knock aside those deadly, scimitar-shaped claws.

Instead of disemboweling Kagome, one claw tore down the front of her blouse, shredding it and leaving a long, ugly cut from collarbone to hip.

She stumbled back with a cry, and Inuyasha saw the brief sparkle of her necklace as the chain broke and the container went flying into the darkness.

"You little half-breed shit!" snarled the dragon, his head whipping around to glare at Inuyasha.

He brought his foreleg up again for another scything blow.

He was too close for Inuyasha to dodge. But at least Kagome was out of range for now.

The scent of her blood tormented his senses, reminding him that he had been too slow, too weak to completely protect her.

Inuyasha brought his sword up, feeling the hilt thrum uselessly in his hands.

Still too fucking weak to wield my own sword, he thought, bracing himself for the impact of those wicked claws.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" Sango's voice shouted out from behind him, and Inuyasha heard the deep whoosh of her giant bone boomerang, and felt the wind of its passing.

Her aim was good--Hiraikotsu hit the dragon's jaw with a heavy thud, sending the beast staggering. The foreleg came down with a thump, its deadly swing aborted, and Inuyasha raised his sword, looking frantically for any vulnerable spot. Maybe the eye...?

Miroku appeared on the dragon's other side, his metal-headed staff jingling as it swept down in a mighty right-handed blow, ofuda fanned between the fingers of his left hand. He hit the dragon in the elbow of the nearest foreleg, probably hoping to strike a nerve, and swooped in close enough to paste the youkai-repellent charms against a patch of that scaled, invulnerable hide.

The charms flared briefly, then sputtered out and floated to the ground. Just like Kagome's arrow had.

Inuyasha blinked in appalled astonishment. This thing ain't a real dragon. It's not even a youkai. How do we take it down?

ooOoo

Thump.

Envy blinked as the giant boomerang hit him again. Its honed edge couldn't penetrate his scales, but it was heavy enough to be...annoying. He whipped his head around, but the wielder, a slender Japanese girl dressed in close-fitting leathers, was standing outside his reach.

Behind her, looking satisfyingly terrified and just as frantic and disheveled as the last time Envy had seen him, cowered Souta Higurashi.

What the hell was the priest doing here?

The Fullmetal Shrimp wasn't anywhere to be seen, but Envy was reasonably satisfied nonetheless. Feeling the flesh of Hohenheim's youngest son rend beneath his claws had filled Envy with triumph.

And even if he couldn't kill Edward Elric at this moment, he knew how close the brothers were. Maybe it would be even more painful for the older brother to see his younger brother's shredded corpse.

Another uselessly glowing arrow sailed out of the darkness, hitting him on the breastbone, near where the jewel was embedded.

Envy felt only a tap as the arrow bounced off his tough hide, but the Jewel...

The Jewel screamed, its myriad of voices blending into a deafening chorus of terror and anger. Then it flared briefly, sending a shock down all of Envy's nerves.

Startled, he looked down, and saw that the dark tint had faded noticeably.

Kill her! Kill that girl! She's dangerous! the voices shrieked.

Oh yeah? Envy looked around, and located her, standing over Alphonse's body. She was young, dressed in a priestess's garb, and her blood-stained blouse hung open to reveal pale flesh and the dark, ragged line of a wound where she had dodged his earlier attempt to kill her.

As he watched, she drew another arrow from the quiver slung over her left shoulder and took aim.

The Jewel screamed again, and Envy felt it trying to seize control of his body.

Not this time, you fucking piece of junk, he thought, managing to push back the invisible hands that were trying to seize his limbs and manipulate them.

The jewel felt...weakened...somehow, the youkai souls that powered it thrown into a chaos of terror and confusion, unable to marshal their usual overwhelming strength to impose their will upon him.

Very interesting. Envy watched calmly as another arrow headed his way.

He ignored the feeble attacks of the half-breed and his human friends, and focused his attention to the jewel's reaction.

The arrow struck him, and again bounced away. The jewel gave another wordless shriek, and produced another flare of energy that made the dark tint fade even further.

Yeah, whatever that girl was doing, it was definitely weakening the Jewel's independent streak. Its power still throbbed, undiminished, but its malign will was fading.

Another annoying thump from the giant boomerang reminded him that his work here was nearly done. With Alphonse Elric down and busily bleeding out, and no sign of the Fullmetal Shrimp, it was time to go. Envy had a taiyoukai to find and a soul to collect, after all.

He unfolded his wings, and crouched, preparatory to launching himself into flight.

But that girl...Envy hesitated. Whatever it was that she was doing to the jewel, it made her worth having. She had power.

Why not take her with him—a nice little souvenir--and make her tell him how to control the jewel instead of having it control him?

He uncoiled, reaching the girl in a breath, and closed his forefoot around her waist. She was spunkier than he expected—she screamed of course, but then reached into her quiver, tried to stab him with one of her glowing arrows.

It broke in half from the force of her downward thrust, and he laughed.

She was going to be fun, he could tell already.

Then he leapt upwards, his wings giving a powerful downstroke.

The half-breed's howl of rage and despair followed him up into the night sky.

ooOoo

Ed had wandered quite some distance from camp, the shadows under the trees growing more impenetrable, trying to quell the sick dread that had filled him when he saw how his brother looked at Kagome.

And how Inuyasha had been looking at Alphonse.

The hanyou's expression hadn't been angry, Ed decided, but rather, an emotion that Ed knew all-too-well: hopelessness and despair.

Inuyasha could be a real asshole when he put his mind to it, but the past week had shown Ed that he was also courageous and utterly loyal to his friends. And that he had given himself to Kagome, body and soul.

And then there was Kagome. It was obvious that she liked Al, with that shy, uncomfortable reserve that spoke of unacknowledged attraction. But then there was the steadfast devotion with which Kagome had nursed Inuyasha in his post-transmutation weakened state. Maybe she thought of the hanyou as just a good friend, but maybe there was more.

Ed ran a hand through his tangled bangs with a snort of frustration, and paused to pick out a twig or two that had gotten tangled in the long strands. These Japanese people were just so damned undemonstrative, it was hard to tell what they were feeling. Hell, he would have never guessed Sango and Miroku to be an engaged couple!

What a mess.

Damn. Damn. Damn!

In the years since their mother's death, he and Alphonse had sacrificed so much for each other. Hell, the reason they were tromping around medieval Japan was because Alphonse wanted to go home.

Had wanted to go home. Ed didn't know what his brother wanted, now.

Alphonse had said he wouldn't leave Ed behind, but surely, he wouldn't want or need a third wheel in his relationship.

Would Al really be willing to give up the hope of going home, to a place where he could once more practice alchemy? For a girl? For Kagome?

And what would happen if she really did choose Alphonse over Inuyasha?

Ed honestly didn't know. And the uncertainty was making him irritable.

A series of sounds, coming from the direction of the camp a quarter-mile away, broke into his gloomy train of thought.

"Alphonse-kun!" That shout was Kagome's voice, rough with fear.

Her tone sent Ed charging back in the direction he had come from, stumbling over rocks and branches only half-illuminated by the weak, bouncing beam of his flashlight.

As he drew closer to the camp, sounds of a violent struggle, punctuated by Inuyasha's loud cursing, mingled with shouts from Miroku and Sango, gave wings to Ed's feet.

"Kagome!" roared Inuyasha. "Give her back, you bastard!"

There was a dark chuckle, and then silence.

What the hell was happening?

Ed ran faster.

Author's Note

Thanks to my lovely beta-reader, kokoronagomu!