InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Weekend Interlude ❯ The Battle Scene ( Chapter 3 )

Red Falcon

red_falcon0001[at]yahoo.com

 

Chapter 3:

 

 

Near dawn, Sango found herself jerked awake by a pair of glowing eyes. With her heart in her throat she frowned at the neko youkai staring at her.

 

“Kirara, what is it?” the girl whispered. The neko mewed piteously pawing at her mistress. Slightly alarmed by the fire-cat's strange behavior, Sango looked around for Miroku. “Houshi-sama!” she hissed.

 

“Sango?” she heard from the hut's wall. “What is it?”

 

“I don't know. Kirara is acting strange,” Sango said softly. The cat pawed around the floor mewing in distress.

 

“Let her outside,” Miroku suggested. A rustle in the pre-dawn darkness signaled his standing. Sango stood while Miroku stoked the fire for light. Kirara continued to pace restlessly. The two exchanged looks and moved to the door. Sango blushed slightly as Miroku's movements caused his loosened robes to slip open to his waist. Miroku did not seem to notice as he adjusted them back into their proper place.

 

“Kirara, what could be wrong at this time of night?” Sango asked, irritated at ogling the houshi.

 

“I do believe it is near dawn,” Miroku said as he pushed the door open and looked up at the sky. Kirara sprang out into the clearing outside the hut. Transforming in a fiery blaze, the cat looked back at the two humans. Whining as softly as only a giant cat can, she stepped forward and looked back in the patented `follow me' gesture.

 

“Alright we'll come,” Miroku frowned. Sango walked to the cat's side and crouched slightly to leap onto Kirara's back. Just as she felt Miroku settle in behind her, Sango's head snapped back into the monk's shoulder as Kirara wasted no time in springing airborne.

 

“Are you alright, Sango?” Miroku asked. His hands reached around her to settle at the exterminator's waist. She, in turn, reached behind her and rubbed her abused head.

 

“Yeah, that was just sudden,” Sango said, raising her voice to be heard over the air rushing past.

 

“Is she moving faster than usual?” Miroku leaned down to ask in Sango's ear.

 

“I think something is wrong,” Sango said turning slightly.

 

“I think you are right. This is the direction Kagome and Inuyasha left in yesterday.” Miroku said slowly. Sango felt the cold tendrils of fear snake through her at the thought Miroku's words invoked.

 

A feeling of fear slivered down Miroku's spine at the thought of what could have happened to their companions. Unknowingly, his arms tightened around the girl in front of him.

 

“Miroku?”

 

“Why Sango, I did not know you knew my name,” he teased, but the humor fell flat in the early light. He sighed when she continued to look over her shoulder at him. “I'm just worried. A lot can happen in one night.”

 

“I'm sure Kagome and Inuyasha are alright.” Sango turned back to the front. If she was going to convince the monk behind her, she had to convince herself first.

 

The forest below them flew by faster than it had ever been before. Sango felt herself begin to tremble as her youkai companion pushed her to her limits. She knew Kirara would move at such speeds if it was nothing.

 

Miroku jerked himself out a stupor. The rolling motion of the youkai beneath him coupled with the warmth of Sango in front of him was lulling him back to sleep. He might have tried to snatch a few more moments if a foreboding feeling had not descended upon him. He could feel Sango shaking slightly. Be it cold or fear, he could not tell.

 

Just as the sun broke over the horizon, Kirara's reason for haste revealed itself. A scene of destruction lay beneath them. Sango gasped and felt Miroku tense behind her. Trees were knocked over and destroyed. Blood was everywhere. The scent of it was overwhelming, even to human noses.

 

“Oh, gods,” Sango moaned.

 

“What,” Miroku said following her line of sight. He hissed at the sight that greeted him. A bloody pile of silver hair and tattered red met his eyes.

 

Kirara descended quickly and Miroku was off her back before the cat had finished settling. Sango followed almost as quickly. The monk reached Inuyasha first. He skidded to a halt and slowly reached for the hanyou's shoulder. Gently rolling him over, Miroku looked on as impassively as he could. Sango's breath hitched in her throat as she willed tears not to fall.

 

The familiar sight of Inuyasha's red fire-rat clothing was almost unrecognizable as Inuyasha's nearly bare chest was torn up into ribbons. Deep slashes across his middle almost exposed the internal organs. His right arm and all the fingers therein were twisted at sharp and unnatural angles.

 

“Is he…” Sango whispered. Miroku pressed a finger to Inuyasha's neck and leaned down to listen for breathing. Kirara mewed and dropped something next to Sango. She spared a glance from her torn up friend to look down. Tetsusaiga.

 

“He's breathing. We need to get his wounds bound.” Miroku said tensely.

 

“What do you need me to do?”

 

“Water.” Sango looked around quickly and spotted a familiar yellow backpack. Running quickly to it, she upended its entire contents to the ground. Grabbing Kagome's water bottles and a towel, she jogged swiftly back to Miroku.

 

The monk had removed what was left of Inuyasha's tattered shirt. He gently wiped away the worst of the blood with the towel and water. Inuyasha groaned as he struggled to regain consciousness.

 

“What about Kagome?” Sango whispered.

 

“I suppose we'll find out when he manages to wake.” Miroku said as he continued to clean Inuyasha's wounds. Sango sighed and took up a washcloth that fell out of the towel and cleaned up Inuyasha's face. The exterminator looked up as Miroku rose to his feet.

 

When Miroku realized they had nothing to use as descent bandages, he got to his feet and untied his outer robe. Removing it, he attempted to rip it in half. Blinking at the katana under his nose. He looked up and Sango who had pulled the concealed weapon from under her yukata. Holding his robe up, Sango slit it down the center.

 

“I'm going to lift him up and I need you to tie this around his middle.” Miroku said handing the makeshift bandage to the girl. She nodded.

 

Miroku moved around to kneel behind Inuyasha's head. He hooked his hands under the hanyou's arms and looked at Sango. “Are you ready?”

 

“Yes.” Sango knelt back down and waited. Miroku lifted Inuyasha's limp body up as high as he could. Sango slipped the cloth under his torso and wrapped it around as quickly as she could. When she ran out of cloth, she neatly tied it off and helped the monk ease Inuyasha's body back to the ground. Kirara's menacing growl alerted them to the approach of several youkai. The humans exchanged looks. Sango felt her stomach knot.

 

“Get Inuyasha on Kirara's back. I'll hold them off,” Sango said, her mouth thinning into a determined line.

 

“No, I'll hold them. You only have a katana for a weapon right now,” Miroku interrupted.

 

“No, houshi-sama. I am a youkai exterminator. This is what I was trained for.” Sango fluidly shrugged out of her yukata and draped it over Inuyasha's prone form as a blanket. Bending down to retrieve her katana, Sango flashed a tense grin at Miroku. “Just do me a favor. Hurry.”

 

Sango moved away to meet the youkai at the edge of the clearing. She knew they were attracted by the smell of blood. They would not get anywhere near her friends. As the last of her once powerful clan, she would not allow it.

 

Miroku spared Sango a last look as she glided off. He wanted to argue, but he knew they did not have time and she was perfectly capable of handling herself. Miroku turned back to his friend and quickly tucked his shoulder down into Inuyasha's stomach. He grabbed Inuyasha's arm and hefted him up across his back just as the first youkai burst through the clearing.

 

He did not look up as he heard Sango's battle cry and the youkai's shriek as it met its demise. Kirara pawed the ground and lay down as low as she could. Miroku tried to maneuver as close as he could. He tossed Inuyasha's limp form onto the neko. He looked up as three more youkai began an attack on Sango.

 

Shit! He swore crudely to himself and hurriedly rolled Inuyasha face down so that he would not slip off. He quickly tucked Tetsusaiga under his arm and jumped on to Kirara as she rose up.

 

“Sango!” He shouted, throwing the only ofuda he still had on his person. The youkai bearing down on the exterminator howled in anguish. Kirara leapt into the air and aimed for Sango. Miroku gripped the cat's back as tight as he could with his knees and extended his one free arm as he was using the other to hold Inuyasha.

 

Sango jumped back away from the attacking youkai and leaped at Miroku's outstretched hand. Catching hold of the girl, Miroku used an adrenalin-enhanced strength to yank Sango up behind him. Kirara yowled and took higher into the air as the youkai below them destroyed what was left of the campsite.

 

Sango breathed a sigh of relief and leaned her forehead on Miroku's shoulder. She could feel his heavy breaths as he calmed his pounding heart back down. Kirara turned and headed back towards the relative safety of the village.

 

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