InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Passing Cloud ❯ Execution ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Author's note: I hope there aren't too many spelling mistakes in this chapter, right now I'm using a borrowed computer that doesnt have Word xp but I'm doing everything I can to keep my spelling correct without it. This chapter...well it isn't my best, but once this is out of the way things will go smoothly from there. Haha...TT;. Flames are definately welcome on this chapter...

Guide: italic means thinking, unless it's obvious it means emphasis. bold is Kano talking...I don't know why, I just thought that would make him look more powerful...hmm...

Warnings: Language...there's action but not really any violence so ner.

Chapter two

Inuyasha didn't waste any time the following morning setting out towards the next town; in fact, he was so insistant on getting an early start that he only began to explain the fact that Naraku might be up ahead after they had begun traveling.

"Myoga is absolutely positive that it is Naraku?"

"You don't see him hanging around with us, do ya?"

"True, but that doesn't mean he's correct."

"Well it's certainly worth my time to find out. But he's gotta be, everything he told me last night makes perfect sense..."

"What, exactly, did he tell you other than that this demon Kano is sealed away within the cliff?"

"Well for one thing, if we don't stop Naraku from unsealing him he's going to join with Kano...if we think he's difficult to defeat now, just think of what he'll become with that kind of power on his side..."

"And what if we don't get there in time to stop him? Or even if we do, did he give you any advice whatsoever about what we might be able to do to destroy Naraku?"

"Yeah, he did for once! And I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner..." he mused.

"...Well? What did he say?" Kagome prodded, after Inuyasha decided not to elaborate on his own.

"He said that if we aren't able to kill Naraku ourselves, then perhaps creating a portal to hell would be our only hope of defeating him." he explained, purposefully forgetting to mention that Myoga suggested he drag Naraku to hell himself. He had been up half the night thinking over what had been suggested...that's all it had been, of course, just a suggestion, and Inuyasha initially brushed it aside as being ridiculous and completely defeated his purpose of wanting to destroy Naraku in the first place; however, the more he thought about it, the more it began to seem like the only logical solution. If he truly wanted to defeat his great adversary, would it be worth it to sacrifice himself to achieve it?

"A portal to hell? How are we going to create something like that?"

"O-fuda."

"O-fuda! Don't tell me you're planning on having me be the one to create the portal!" Kagome shouted, terrified of Inuyasha's coming answer .

"You're the only miko we've got with us, aren't you?"

"But I hardly possess legendary spiritual power! I don't even know how I would go about creating something like that!"

"Well you can at least try before you doom yourself to failure! You've never let us down before, and I trust in you, Kagome, and you need to trust in yourself. It's not as if we'll blame you if it doesn't work, but for now you're our only hope."

Kagome slowed down, her face softening with Inuyasha's encouraging words. Even Miroku, Sango, and Shippo exchanged glances, wondering why in the world Inuyasha was being so supportive today.

"Well?" he continued, "Are you going to give it a try?"

She nodded. "I've give it my best effort." She ended with a weak smile, which Inuyasha briefly returned.

'How is Kagome going to take it when she finds out I'm planning to take Naraku through the portal myself? Would it be worth it, for her to...'

"Look!" Sango called out, halting everyone in their tracks. "Up there, above the treetops."

"The cliffs...Naraku must be close by."

"But why wasn't there a barrier? Do you think it could be a trap?"

"Of course it's a trap! He's probably expecting us! Don't let your guard down for a second..."

Not a second after the words left Inuyasha's lips the earth beneath then began to tremble.

"What in the hell-!" he shouted over a deafening rumble in the distance, as he looked up to see the side of the cliff start to split open.

"No! We're too late aren't we? He's already begun to unseal Kano!"

"No, we can still stop him! I'll go on ahead and see what I can do to slow him down, you stay here and try to work on getting the portal open!"

"Wait Inuyasha, it's too dangerous for you to go by yourself, I'll come with you!" Sango offered as she lifted the Hiraikotsu from her back in preperation.

"No Sango, I'll go with him, you should stay here and protect Kagome." Miroku argued, but Sango refused.

"I'll, uh, stay here with her too! To protect her!" Shippo added, even though he was clinging on to Kagome's legs for dear life.

"You should stay here with Kagome, Miroku, you would be of more use to her than I would. It'll be okay, really."

Miroku reluctantly accepted her request and she jumped onto Kirara and went after Inuyasha towards the crumbling cliffside. Miroku turned back towards Kagome, who was clenching on to an O-fuda with all her might, waiting for her great spiritual awakening to take over.

"Oh man, what I wouldn't give to have Grampa with me right now...not that he'd be much help, but at least he's had some experience with these things!"

Inuyasha and Sango reached the middle of the forest before they encountered the thick cloud of miasma. That coupled with the rocks raining down from the cliffside required all of their concentration just to make it out of the forest in one piece.

"I've been expecting you, Inuyasha." a voice spoke to them as they emerged from the trees, and Inuyasha looked up to find Naraku perched upon the cliffside, looking down upon them with his permanent devious smirk. Though that normally would have been quite enough of a challenge, what caught Inuyasha's eye this time was the giant split in the rock next to him, or rather the gruesome demon that was stirring within. It was...gargantuan. The putrid smell of decaying flesh and old blood was enough to bring even the strongest man to his knees, not to mention someone with Inuyasha's keen senses. The hideous creature cracked open one red eye, then the other, and slowly stood up straight, and emitted an equally hideous roar that was enough to make one's eyes water.

"Inuyasha, what should we do? We can't possibly handle that thing by ourselves, not to mention with Naraku here as well!" Sango exclaimed as Inuyasha formed a plan of action in his head.

"Join with me, Kano." Naraku spoke, stepping closer to the beast. "Make me even stronger than I already am!"

Kano gave a sickening laugh, and looked down upon Naraku as if he were scum. "Join with you! Whatever would I want to do that for? You look so tiny and weak, I could squash you like an overripe grape." he spoke as he drew his rusted sword and moved to bring it down upon Naraku.

A flash of light reflected from the barrier around Naraku, and he smirked. "I possess the Shikon Jewel. Become part of me, and you'll be even more powerful than you are now."

"The Shikon Jewel? Aha! To think I would join with you for that when I could just as easily take it for myself!" Kano exclaimed and once again attempted to bring down his sword to break through Naraku's barrier. But Naraku isn't one to give up so easily, as Kano was about to find out.

Inuyasha drew his Tessaiga and instructed Sango to attack from the air as he charged forward to attack Kano while he was distracted with Naraku. After a moment of observing him before taking action he saw that while Kano was indeed powerful, he moved slowly and he was certain he would easily be able to get a direct hit. As he moved to make a hard blow on Kano's leg he was swept to the side by a tentacle from Naraku's transformed body.

"Die Inuyasha!" Naraku hissed as he fought off both Inuyasha's interferance and Kano's sword.

Kano once again roared as he tried to squash Inuyasha beneath his foot like a worm. "Sango!" he cried out as she hurled forth the Hiraikotsu from above, freeing Inuyasha from Naraku's grasp.

"Inuyasha we need help! We can't handle the both of them alone!"

"Can you see Kagome from up there? Has she opened up a portal yet?" he yelled as he once again got to his feet and jumped into the action.

"I can't see anything! What if it doesn't work Inuyasha? If she can't open the portal...how are we going to get out of here alive?"

"She'll do it!" he insisted as he took another blow to an approaching tentacle, avoiding Kano's clumsy footsteps as he emerged from his holding spot within the rocks.

"Pathetic demons! Whether you possess the Shikon Jewel or not you are still no match for me! Even if you were the most powerful demon in the world, now that you have awaken me you are nothing more than the maggots that will infest your dead bodies once I am through with you!" Kano screeched as he continued to slash his sword around, knocking trees down in his wake.

"Sango! Get behind him!" Inuyasha ordered as he kept a step behind both of the egocentric demons. Even Naraku had his hands full just dealing with this Kano creature now, he didn't have time to deal with insignificant half-breeds at the moment.

Sango once again threw her attack, going for the back of Kano's head, which was unsurprisingly hard as a rock and unaffected, thought it did manage to annoy him.

"Stupid wench!" he growled and turned to swat an enormous claw at her as if he was swatting away a tiny fly.

"Sango, look out!" Inuyasha cried out in vain. Just as she moved to avoid the impact a blinding light flashed from the distance, causing her to lose her balance. Inuyasha heard her scream but could see nothing but white light.

"Sango! Are you okay?" he shouted as the light faded away, but he saw no trace of her or Kirara.

"Don't let your guard down, Inuyasha!" Naraku mocked as he reached out to grab him once again, barely missing him.

"Bastard! I'm going to win! Don't you ever doubt that for a second!" he screamed, hitting a group of tentacles with the Wind Scar.

Naraku chuckled obnoxiously. "If nothing else, you certainly are entertaining." he taunted even as Kano chased him deeper within the trees.

"Inuyasha! She did it, the portal is open! Hurry before she loses her strength to keep it open!" Inuyasha's ears picked up Miroku calling out from the other side of the forest. With a newfound hope Inuyasha's energy came back full-force and he jumped back into the fight.

"Stop acting so cocky! If you're so great then how come this ancient behemuth is after your ass? The both of us too much for you to handle?"

"Silence!" Naraku bellowed as he caught hold of Kano's feet and wrapped his tentacles around his ankles. Kano growled and moaned as he hacked away at Naraku, still attempting to step forward and rip Naraku to shreds to get to the Shikon Jewel.

"I see them! They're coming this way!" Shippo announced nervously as they saw the top of Kano's head approaching them quickly from over the treetops.

"Just hold it for a little bit longer Kagome, we're going to make it this time!" Miroku encouraged her as he warded off a swarm of poisonous insects with his staff.

"It hurts...it hurts..." Kagome whispered while trying to maintain her concentration. If they didn't show up soon, she wasn't sure what would happen to them, or to herself.

"Just a couple more minutes, they're getting closer!"

Trees were uprooted and tossed aside as Kano and Naraku barrelled through the forest, with Inuyasha trailing after them. Inuyasha could only hope that Kagome was strong enough to hold out for another couple of minutes.

'Hang in there...I'm coming...' he mentally spoke to her as they sped closer and closer.

"Die you insolent fool! You think I can be overtaken so easily!" Kano screamed angrily, even as Naraku wrapped himself around his legs, growing at a rate Kano was unable to keep up with.

"You have severaly underestimated me, 'great' demon Kano." he spoke as he began to devour the large body into his own. "To think that you might actually be more powerful than I...how ignorant." he said calmly as Kano still tried to get free of his grasp.

"They're coming, they're coming!" Shippo cried out as he ran to hide behind Miroku. The three demons emerged from the dark branches surrounding them and Naraku laughed.

"What have we here? Your backup plan, Inuyasha? Haven't you realized that there's nothing in the world that can stop me now?"

"Maybe nothing in this world..." Inuyasha yelled as he cut himself free of the tentacle creeping around his waist. "Miroku! Can you create a barrier so they can't escape?"

"I...I'll try." Miroku replied as he brought up his staff and cast a barrier around the area as Naraku was still busy drawing the struggling Kano into his body.

"How dare you even try to do this to me! Never, NEVER will I let something like you take control of me!" Kano still protested as his only free arm thrashed about, coming down dangerously close to both Kagome and Miroku.

"Oh no! Watch out!" Shippo hollered, jumping down to try to protect Miroku from an impending blow. He threw the sword off of its course, gasping as the blade sliced through his own flesh in place of Miroku's.

"Shippo!" Kagome cried out, but Inuyasha stopped her.

"Don't lose your concentration Kagome!" he reminded her as jumped up to grab hold of Kano's defenseless hand, which was the only part of him left that had not already been drawn inside of Naraku. "I've got him!" he declared, using every last bit of strength he had to drag the pulsating mass closer to the weakening portal.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing! You're getting to close...stop!" she pleaded as she saw him heading towards the pull of the gateway along with their enemies.

"This is the only way Kagome! I have to do this!"

"No! Stop, Inuyasha, don't!" she called out, as he flew toward it dragging a resistant Naraku along behind him.

"I'm sorry!" was the last thing he had time to say before he and Naraku were pulled through the blinding light and disappeared.

"INUYASHA!"

Miroku released the barrier and shouted out towards her. "Close the portal!"

"No! We have to get Inuyasha back! We can't let him sacrifice himself like this!"

"If you don't close it now you'll die!"

Tears spilled from her eyes as she continued her hold on the spell. "No...no...we can't let him do this..." she whimpered, feeling weaker and weaker by the second.

The last thing she heard was Miroku calling out her name as everything around her faded to black.

More author's notes: (cough) Um...ha. Well the next chapter will be good okay? I'm trying to improve as quickly as I can ;;