InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A New Sibling ❯ Naraku's Castle...The Big Battle...! ( Chapter 9 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Ok…I'm on a roll!!! I just updated and I'm writing again already!!! Wow, that's amazing, you say? Yes, I know it is, says I!

One thing different this time around:

It will be `Sesshoumaru'.

Um…quote…riiiight…um…how about….

"No matter how much cats fight, there always seems to be plenty of kittens."-Abraham Lincoln

I like that one…Personally, I'm a dog AND cat person…sort of a half-breed lover…or something like that…anyways…on with story…!!!

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*Somewhere over Northwestern Japan*

"Lord Sesshoumaru, is that the castle we are searching for?"

"Indeed, it is, Kuzume."

Sesshoumaru steered Ah-Un to glide directly above InuYasha and Choto.

"InuYasha," Sesshoumaru called beneath him to get the hanyou's attention. "We are nearing Naraku's castle. Keep your eyes open for anything and everything."

He rose into the air once more to continue towards their destination.

*~*

*Inside Naraku's castle*

<Hurry, Sesshoumaru. I don't know how much longer I shall amuse him. My time could be almost up…please, hurry.>

Ayumu spun around to face Naraku as he entered the room for the second time that day. She walked back into the room and closed the double doors to the balcony behind her.

Naraku stepped up to her, leaned down to eye level and said, "As I am sure you already know, your brothers and their company are coming. It is almost time to put on another show, such as the first with InuYasha."

He turned around and froze in his tracks. Ayumu smirked as she lowered her hand, releasing Naraku from her power that was holding him back. She whispered to him, "You know, this place could really use a new look…" She flicked her wrist and the drapes that hung over the wall gave a giant wave. When they settled back down, Naraku could see that she had changed them from black to white with red hexagons and flowers. "Congratulations on such detail. I almost believed that I was at the shrine again…"

Naraku turned to face her and found her sitting on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chin, arms wrapped around her legs, staring unseeingly at him, a slight smirk on her face.

"Hmph…" He did not find it amusing; she was playing mind games with him. Him, Naraku the mind trickster! The nerve!

A strong wind blew around the room from an unseen force and blew Ayumu's hair to block her from Naraku's view. When the small storm stopped, Ayumu's hair settled back into place to reveal her face and body once more. She had changed; her eyes were two endless black abysses, her shirt had changed to a white tube top with white mesh long sleeves that allowed Naraku to see her slender arms. Ayumu's overall appearance had changed drastically eerie.

Naraku turned and left the room at a brisk pace to plan a new evil scheme to kill InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. He would return to Ayumu's room soon enough to take control of her once more before he killed her.

*~*

*Just outside of Naraku's castle*

"So," InuYasha was tired of the uncomfortable silence they were in as they stared at Naraku's castle leering evilly over them. "We're going in there."

"No, InuYasha, we just came here for no reason whatsoever." Sesshoumaru's voice practically dripped with sarcasm; he glared at InuYasha from the corner of his eye.

"I know that we're going in; I just didn't like this silence."

"Hn…"

"Shall we go then?"

Everyone became silent once more at Miroku's mention of going inside of the castle. No one really wanted to go, but they had to save Ayumu.

"Yes…I admit, though, I'm more than a little nervous."

"It's okay, Kagome-Chan. We'll all be there with you. We're all in this together. Besides, Sesshoumaru's weapons are a great help. We'll definitely do a lot better with these."

"Thanks, Sango-Chan."

Sesshoumaru took a few steps forward then leapt at the door. He shouldered it into splinters to get through the lock. `Now is not the time for stealth. We need speed. Naraku most likely already knows we're here.'

No one questioned Sesshoumaru's actions; they just followed him through the corridors, trusting his keen senses to get them to Ayumu quickly.

*~*

Sesshoumaru stopped when he came to a dark shoji door that held the scent of forests and Ayumu behind it. He could tell she was not herself at the moment, so he took extra caution in approaching and opening the door. When he did, though, he was immediately thrust into the wall opposite the door, sinking half-way through it. His eyes widened in shock and pain as the claws that shoved him back drove through his armor and into his chest.

"Sesshoumaru!"

Kuzume ran over to try and pry Ayumu off of Sesshoumaru as soon as she realized what had happened, but when she got near her, Ayumu spun about, showing her deep voids. She launched herself at Kuzume, bloodied claws extended, ready to rip apart anything they touched.

Before Ayumu reach Kuzume, InuYasha bolted forward and hit her away with the side of Tetsusaiga, slinging her into a wall down the hall and cutting deeply into her right shoulder. Kagome, in the meantime, was busy helping Sesshoumaru out of the chasm in the wall.

"How is he, Kagome-sama?"

Kagome put her arm around Sesshoumaru, pulled his around her shoulders, and helped him up. When she was finally able to stand under Sesshoumaru's weight, she turned to Miroku.

"Not good, Miroku. He's been stabbed very deeply."

"I'll live. Let go."

Sesshoumaru lightly shoved Kagome away from him to try and stand on his own, barely avoiding falling to his knees. Kuzume ran over to him as Kagome readied an arrow and Sango, Miroku, and InuYasha prepared to battle with Ayumu.

"Kuzume, don't let them kill her. I know how to find out how to fix this."

"Okay, but I won't leave you."

"I'll be fine, just go." Sesshoumaru firmly stated and pushed her toward the others. She stumbled forward and relayed his request to not murder his sister.

`I came as fast as I could; you try traveling with humans…'

`Indeed…'

Sesshoumaru did as instructed but took in a sharp intake of breath as he felt Ayumu's consciousness against his own, letting it out in a short exhalation when she stepped into his body.

`I hate it when you do that…'

`Hn…'

<Don't "Hn…" me!>

Ayumu suddenly felt a red-hot pain shoot through her as Sesshoumaru put his hand over the wound in his chest.

`If you wouldn't mind, I need to be healed before battling…you…'

<Right…Here we go…>

Sesshoumaru stared at the battle raging before him, falling backward into a wall as an unseen force threw him.

<Sorry, I haven't quite gotten the hang of this yet…>

`Indeed…Just tell me how to stop your body without killing you…'

Sesshoumaru stood up and walked to the battle, examining everything that was currently going on. The battle had moved into the courtyard, into the open. Kagome was struggling to keep her arrow on Ayumu, but was too slow. InuYasha was swinging Tetsusaiga, but was off by about a foot every time. Sango and Miroku were flying above the battle on Kelala, diving at Ayumu and trying to strike her with their weapons occasionally. But, Shippo was nowhere to be seen.

`What do we d…'

He was cut off as Ayumu came hurtling toward him, missing as Sesshoumaru sidestepped to his left, causing her to go cascading into the wall behind him; when she hit, there was a thunderous crack as the wall-sending shards of splintered wood to slice at her-shattered as well as the right side of her collar bone.

When Ayumu stood, her right arm fell limp against her side; took a few moments to observe the damage. Sesshoumaru took advantage of this time to tell the rest of the group about what they had to do.

"But, how are we supposed to pin her down without touching her?!"

"I don't know, InuYasha. Try using the broad side of Tetsusaiga."

InuYasha ran forward, turning Tetsusaiga just as he came to Ayumu. Miroku and Sango were off to her left, blocking her escape in that direction. Sesshoumaru was prepared behind her with Toukijin in hand, Kuzume standing behind him. Kagome was to her right, arrow cocked and ready to fly, standing next to Kelala and Shippo. Ayumu was stuck between a rock and a hard place. (A/N: Or, between Tetsusaiga and Toukijin, or InuYasha and Sesshoumaru…^__________^…I am such a dork…^___________^…)

InuYasha ran into her and a loud `thwok' resounded as Ayumu hit the blade, also making a crackling noise because of shattered bone fragments moving around in her shoulder.

He placed a leg on either side of her hips, pinning her legs to the ground; Tetsusaiga holding down her torso as she struggled to get up. The rest of the party joined him, crowding around InuYasha to see what they could do to help.

Sesshoumaru glanced at the struggling pair on the ground, and then sat, retreating to the recesses of his mind to consult with Ayumu's consciousness. He passed on Ayumu's instructions to the others, keeping his eyes closed to see her in his mind.

"Houshi, help InuYasha hold Ayumu's body down, and you, miko," Sesshoumaru raised his hand lazily and motioned towards Kagome, "keep your arrow on her."

"So, now that she's down, what do we do to get rid of this spell, Sesshoumaru?"

`Ahem, Ayumu, how do we get you back into your own body?'

Everyone stared, very confused, at Sesshoumaru as he simply sat with his eyes closed, not moving a muscle. Suddenly, he stood to his full height.

"Brace yourself, Ayumu…"

"Who're you tal…What the hell?!"

InuYasha screamed as Sesshoumaru drove his claws into Ayumu's chest, spraying himself, InuYasha, and Ayumu with blood as he dug farther. He finally made it close to all the way through when he withdrew his claws, spraying everyone with blood this time. When the bloody mist settled, Sesshoumaru stood with a dark colored jewel covered in blood in his hand. Blood-Ayumu's and his own from being cut by her ribs-dripped from his knuckles and ran down his arm, staining his long, billowing sleeves. In that instance, he crushed the cursed gem that had caused the entire ordeal. The shards flew from his hand to the ground, sending out a terrible shriek from the body of Ayumu underneath InuYasha. A bright flash of white light blinded the group and another unseen force flung everyone in all directions.

When they recovered, they all stood, looking around to see if they were going to be attacked again. The dust flying around the courtyard settled, showing Ayumu lying on her side in the center of the circle that the group formed, unconscious.

Every single person-save for Ayumu-moved forward to stand staring at the lifeless, unmoving body.

InuYasha looked up at Sesshoumaru with raging emotions swimming through his eyes. "What the hell happened, bastard!?" In shear rage, InuYasha launched himself into Sesshoumaru's chest, unknowing of Sesshoumaru's current inner conflicts. Both men tumbled to the ground, trying to be the person to come out on top so they could beat the other. Sesshoumaru's senses had been slowed by his contact with Ayumu during the battle and lost this small war. InuYasha gripped the front of Sesshoumaru's shirt and pulled him up, slightly closer to him. "You said it would work! You told us exactly what to do! But, now look! She's dead!" InuYasha ended each word with a punch directed at Sesshoumaru's nose and mouth.

He took the beating until his mind began to work again. Sesshoumaru grabbed hold of InuYasha's fist, but did not make a move to stand up.

"InuYasha," Sesshoumaru spoke to him calmly, but was speaking with a dual tone. "Get off."

He pushed InuYasha to the ground, standing up afterwards.

"What happened to your voice, Lord Sesshoumaru?"

Kuzume took a step toward Sesshoumaru, hand outstretched. He turned to look at her then back at InuYasha. "It did work, little brother. Ayumu failed to elaborate all of the effects that would come from destroying the gem."

"What do you mean `Ayumu failed to elaborate'?"

Sesshoumaru glanced at Kagome, gave a bemused `heh', and answered, "She must have also failed to explain our exact relation to one another."

"You are sister and brother, right?"

Miroku stepped forward, both Sango and he were cautious of the strangely acting taiyoukai.

"I will wait for her to come to consciousness once more, and let her explain. I believe that she may have deceived you." Sesshoumaru gave a slight smile and stepped up to Ayumu's body, lifting her into his arms and walking away, down the completely destroyed hallways.

InuYasha and the others jogged to catch up to him. "What was that sarcastic looking smile about?"

Sesshoumaru glanced at him from the corner of his eye as he continued at his brisk pace. "It was not me. It was her." He motioned toward Ayumu with a jerk of his head and snorted.

"Okay…" InuYasha fell back to join the others with a slightly confused expression on his face, having difficulty-like everyone else-keeping up with Sesshoumaru's longer strides.

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Ok…another chapter done, only about another billion to go…*sigh*…

Email me and review guys! My head seriously hurts, but I must go on! Thank goodness, it's spring break. So, I'll have another chapter up possibly tomorrow or in a few days…depends on how I'm feeling!

Byes! *huggles*

Happy Reading,

Taiyoukai Ayumu of the Northern Lands