InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ All Things Come Full Circle ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

Finally got around to updating! I’m sorry it took so long, but there was studying for finals, then writing the finals, then getting my stuff together to move home for the summer, then moving home…let’s just say it was a hectic few weeks. Anyways, right now I have nothing else to do, so updating my story shouldn’t be much of a problem for awhile (at least until I start working…)

So here’s chapter 12, and the long awaited (for at least some of you, I suppose, lol) confrontation between Inukigo and Sesshoumaru! Enjoy!

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Chapter 12

It wasn’t long after that Inukigo and Shippou returned, with five skinned and gutted rabbits in tow. Inukigo handed off the rabbits to Sango to cook over the campfire, while Shippou ran to Kagome and Inuyasha and began enthusiastically telling the story of his first training session.

“I couldn’t catch the rabbits, but Inukigo said that I did really good for a first try. Right, Inukigo?”

Inukigo nodded and smiled as she sat down beside Inuyasha.

“Yes, you did very well Shippou. A few more tracking lessons like that and you’ll be ready for hunting in no time.”

“Heh, not bad runt,” Inuyasha said, ruffling the kit’s hair.

Shippou beamed at Inuyasha’s praise.

Inuyasha turned back to Inukigo, only she wasn’t paying attention to them anymore. She was staring off at the horizon, a thoughtful frown on her face.

“Oi? Something wrong?” he asked, laying a hand on her shoulder to catch her attention.

Inukigo turned towards him.

“Huh? Oh, no, nothing’s wrong.”

Inuyasha wasn’t particularly convinced.

“What was that look for then?”

Inukigo’s brows furrowed. He wasn’t giving up easily, was he?

“I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“Well whatever it was it seemed to be bothering you an awful lot,” he paused, then his eyes narrowed in suspicion, “It’s about that scrawny wolf, isn’t it? I know you’ve snuck off to see him, if he’s done anything-”

“NO!” Inukigo yelled, then paused, realizing her outburst, “No, it has nothing to do with Kouga,” she sighed, then looked off towards the horizon.

“Then what?” Inuyasha asked, not taking his eyes off her. They had now drawn the attention of the rest of their companions.

Inukigo’s brow furrowed in concentration.

“I’m not sure,” she answered truthfully, “When I was out with Shippou I got this really weird feeling, like a shiver running up my spine,” she paused before looking back at him, “It almost feels like…someone is coming.”

One of Inuyasha’s eyebrows arched in confusion.

“Someone’s coming?”

“If that is the case, do you have any idea of who it could be that you’re sensing, Inukigo?” Miroku asked, kneeling down close to the two siblings.

Inukigo looked at him and shook her head.

“I don’t know who it is,” she replied, “But I know that it can’t be anyone good, that feeling was giving me the chills.”

“Do you think it could be Naraku?” Kagome wondered out loud.

“It’s a possibility,” Sango offered, “But, then again, it’s not often that Naraku himself comes to us. So who else could we be dealing with?”

“Hard to say,” Inuyasha said, “We’ll probably have to just wait and see. At least if anything does come, we have a heads up now.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Kagome and Sango went back to preparing their meal while Inuyasha and Miroku kept discussing their previous topic, and Shippou and Kirara stuck close to Kagome and Sango. This left Inukigo to think by herself and she once again gazed off at the horizon.

‘Just wait and see, huh? I guess that’s all that can be done. This feeling really bothers me though. I also have a hunch that we’re going to meet up with whoever is causing it, really soon.’

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‘She’s close.’

Sesshoumaru tested the air again as he walked through the near pitch black forest.

‘She is with Inuyasha and his group. I wonder, how long has it been since she returned to him? And where is it that she has been all these years that I have been unable to locate her?’

He continued walking, not in any particular hurry to reach his destination. It gave him more time to think on the situation. The thoughtful look on his face, coupled with his immense youki did wonders in ensuring that any youkai in the area gave him a very wide berth.

‘What will your reaction be to meeting with me again, Inukigo? Have you improved, since our last encounter?’

As these and other thoughts went through Sesshoumaru’s mind, a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. He had a feeling that this meeting would prove to be interesting.

Silently, he continued walking, drawing ever closer to the girl, whose happy smile still haunted his memories.

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Inukigo sat in one of the low branches of a tree, distractedly watching as her human companions readied themselves for bed. Though she appeared to be looking over them intently, in reality her mind was wandering, unable to banish the thoughts that had been plaguing her all day.

‘Why am I so on edge? I don’t think a simple feeling has ever bothered me so much before.’

She was so lost in thought that she never noticed Inuyasha join her on the tree branch.

“Hey,” he called, catching her attention, “Go on and get some sleep like the others. It’s my turn to be on watch.”

Inukigo shook her head.

“No, I might as well keep watch. I won’t be sleeping tonight anyway.”

“That feeling you had earlier is still bothering you?” he asked, concern seeping into his voice.

“Yeah,” she answered with a nod, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t shake it, and it’s putting me on edge. You go ahead and sleep, I wouldn’t be able to even if I tried.”

Inuyasha nodded.

“Okay. Try to get some rest though, alright?”

“Okay,” she answered.

Inuyasha jumped down from the tree and made his way over to Kagome’s sleeping bag. The girl was halfway asleep when she heard the rustle of Inuyasha’s fire-rat haori as he took it off and laid it on the ground. She rolled slightly, looking up at him.

“Inuyasha? I thought you were keeping watch tonight,” as she was saying this, she was already lifting the side of the sleeping bag to let him crawl in. He slid in and spooned himself against her back, wrapping his arms and one of his legs around her.

“I was going to,” he whispered in reply, “But Inukigo wanted to. She said that she wouldn’t be able to get any sleep tonight anyway.”

“Is she still worrying about that feeling she had earlier?” Kagome asked, turning her head towards him slightly.

“Yeah,” Inuyasha replied, burying his face in her hair, “She’s really edgy right now. It’s bothering her a lot.”

“I wonder if there really is someone coming, and who it could be to be bothering her so much.”

Inuyasha could smell worry seeping into Kagome’s scent. He didn’t like it, and decided to make it go away.

“There’s nothing to do but wait and see,” he whispered, then slowly slipped a hand under the hem of her nightshirt and began trailing it up her stomach.

“Inuyasha…” sighed out quietly, when she realized that his had wasn’t stopping it’s upward movement.

“What, Kagome?” he asked, puffing air against the side of her neck and back of her ear.

“Y-you shouldn’t be doing that,” she tried to protest.

“Shouldn’t be doing what?” he asked innocently as his hand came in contact with the underside of one of her breasts.

Kagome gasped and Inuyasha smiled against her neck.

“Y-you know exactly what I’m talking about,” she said lowly, trying to make it sound threatening but failing.

“I’m not sure that I do,” he teased, moving his hand to completely palm her breast. Kagome gasped again and Inuyasha smirked when her heard her suppress a moan.

“Inuyasha, stop. Someone might notice…” she whispered, but Inuyasha could tell that she didn’t really want him to stop. He flicked his ears before replying.

“Everyone’s sleeping, so no one will notice. And Inukigo isn’t paying any attention to us,” he said, and began moving his hand, alternating between running his thumb over her nipple and squeezing her breast gently.

Kagome began squirming slightly, moving to press herself into his hand. Inuyasha’s actions didn’t surprise her anymore. Over the last two days, the sly, playful touches had not been few and far between. Ever since their last encounter in her room, he seemed to have grown bolder and more sure of himself, and had no problems with touching her as he was now, or experimenting to find out what she liked. Truthfully, Kagome didn’t mind either, and was all to happy to let him explore…when they were alone. The thought of someone catching them had her utterly mortified.

Inuyasha could tell from Kagome’s scent that she was feeling uneasy, despite how her body was reacting to his touches. While he was no longer shy about touching her, the prospect of someone catching them in the act didn’t sit well with him either, and he conceded to her point. He removed his hand from her breast, but kept it under her shirt, resting it high on her abdomen. He heard Kagome sigh, and snuggled closer to her, pinning her against his body tightly. He kissed her lightly on the side of her neck, and Kagome turned her head enough to kiss his lips.

“Oyasumi, Inuyasha. Aishiteru,” she whispered as she settled down to go to sleep.

Inuyasha smiled from behind her.

“Oyasumi.”

‘I love you too, Kagome.’

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The next day, Inuyasha found that Inukigo really had been unable to sleep at all the night before and was still feeling uneasy. By the time mid-day came around he had determined that she was way beyond uneasy, going straight to extremely paranoid.

Right now, she was running a little ways ahead of the rest of the group, and Inuyasha watched her with concern. She had gotten absolutely no rest the night before, and as he studied her he could see her ears twitching madly and her head darting from side to side as she scanned the forest around her. He guessed that her nose was working overtime as well. If this kept up he would have to force her to stop, or she would drive herself insane.

Kagome must have noticed his worry.

“Inuyasha? What’s wrong?”

“Inukigo,” he replied, not taking his eyes off his sister, “Something’s really wrong with her. I’ve never seen her this wound up before. She’s going to drive herself crazy if she doesn’t calm down soon.”

“Is that feeling she got yesterday really bothering her that much?” Kagome asked with concern.

“Yeah, and she didn’t sleep at all last night, I can tell. That’s just making it worse. Normally we can go for days without any sleep, but she’s worn herself out with worry. Her exhaustion is just feeding her paranoia.”

Kagome was about to respond when Miroku, Sango, and Shippou drifted down on Kirara.

“Inuyasha, is it just me, or does Inukigo seem to be…a little on edge?” Miroku asked.

“Keh, it’s not just you,” Inuyasha replied, “That feeling she got yesterday is making her paranoid.”

“It was affecting her that badly?” Sango wondered.

“Yeah,” Inuyasha replied. Seeing that Inukigo had yet to calm down, he made his decision, “That’s it. We’re stopping before she drives herself nuts.”

Up ahead of them, Inukigo’s thoughts were far from the rest of the group, all her senses trained to the forest surrounding her.

‘I know that you’re coming, and getting closer…I can feel you. But who the hell are you and why can’t I smell you yet? Why don’t you just show yourself already?! I know that you’re close!’

Suddenly, a chill hit Inukigo and she froze in her tracks, staring off into the forest on her right. The rest of her companions hadn’t anticipated it and continued on past her in their surprise before stopping a short distance away. They turned just as Inukigo caught the scent of her mystery person and he came rushing out of the trees straight at her.

“Sesshoumaru…”

Inuyasha’s eyes widened and his face paled visibly at the sight of Sesshoumaru flying towards Inukigo, claws outstretched. Inukigo managed to avoid the strike, jumping of backwards into the trees on the opposite side of the trail with Sesshoumaru right behind her. It took a moment for Inuyasha to process what he had just seen.

“Oh, no…” he almost whispered as his brain finally kicked in and he took off in pursuit. Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara weren’t far behind.

Kagome grew very worried as she sensed Inuyasha’s panic. They had all learned of Sesshoumaru’s dislike of Inukigo, and now they could very well witness it. She knew that was upsetting Inuyasha. She also knew that if this turned out to be like the last encounter Inukigo and Sesshoumaru had, he could end up killing her.

‘Kami, please don’t let that happen. Even if Sesshoumaru’s heart is bitter and cold, he couldn’t possibly kill one of his siblings, could he?’

Even as she was thinking this, she knew that he most likely could.

Inuyasha knew this as well, and that Sesshoumaru probably wouldn’t hesitate to do so.

‘Hold on, Inukigo. Just don’t die. Don’t let him kill you.’

It seemed as though Inukigo had run from Sesshoumaru for quite a distance. Inuyasha was also relieved to find that she had dodged a number of his attacks. Scattered around were trees that had been completely sliced through, and others that were partially melted from Sesshoumaru’s poison claws, but nowhere did Inuyasha smell Inukigo’s blood. They broke into a large field moments later, where it appeared that Inukigo had decided to stop running and face Sesshoumaru head on.

Inuyasha paused and let Kagome down off his back, and Kirara landed so Sango, Miroku, and Shippou could get off beside them. Inuyasha was perfectly still as he watched Inukigo and Sesshoumaru battle.

Sesshoumaru had taken to using his youki whip to keep Inukigo at a distance, but she dodged most of them and managed to block the rest with her fire-rat covered arms, so she had yet to be injured. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever, and Sesshoumaru was waiting for just one strike to hit so he could close in on her while she was down.

‘Well, I’ll just have to go at him first,’ she thought with a smirk.

She allowed him to strike at her a few more times as she came up with a plan. After studying his movements for a few minutes, she spotted her opening.

‘His left side. Without his arm, he won’t be able to stop me if I attack from there at close range.’

With that thought in mind, she darted forward, dodging left and right as the whip came faster. She was forced to divert a few times, but Sesshoumaru never moved from his spot, so she didn’t have to chase after him. This should have been her warning.

Just before she was in range, she darted right, towards Sesshoumaru’s left side, confident that he wouldn’t be able to counter if she was so close. She was wrong. As soon as she moved, so did Sesshoumaru. Her eyes widened for a split second as he drew his arm back and prepared to hit her. Inukigo yelped as Sesshoumaru backhanded her across the face and sent her skidding along the ground back the way she came. When she stopped, Sesshoumaru began to slowly walked towards her.

Inuyasha wasn’t about to stand for this, and there was no way he was going to let Sesshoumaru do this to Inukigo. He had seen the results of this before, and he was determined to never see them again. Just as he was about to leap at Sesshoumaru, the stoic inu-youkai stopped and turned to look at him.

“You will not interfere Inuyasha. This fight is between she and I alone. It is not your place to be involved.”

Inuyasha growled and clenched his fists as he glared at Sesshoumaru.

“Like Hell it’s not! I will not stand by and watch this!”

“Make one move to interfere with this battle, and this Sesshoumaru will kill the half breed wench before you can take a breath.”

“You bastard! I won’t let you do this to her! You’ve done-”

“Inuyasha.”

Inuyasha turned to look at Inukigo, who was now sitting up and wiping blood from her chin. She had bitten her lip when Sesshoumaru struck her, and was sporting a large red welt on her right cheek.

“Do as he says,” she said in an emotionless voice as she stood up.

Inuyasha gaped at her for a moment before voicing his disagreement.

“You can’t be serious!”

She levelled him with a cold glare.

“I am dead serious.”

Inuyasha drew back slightly at her tone.

“But, Inukigo…”

“Dammit, Inuyasha, if you dare interfere with this fight, I swear to the gods that I will never forgive you. Do you understand me?”

Inuyasha suppressed a whimper just for the sake of not making the sound in front of Sesshoumaru, and stepped back as he nodded.

Inukigo seemed satisfied before turning to glare at Sesshoumaru.

“Now, who the Hell were you calling a ‘half breed wench’?” she hissed.

The look on Sesshoumaru’s face could have passed for a smirk.

“I would have thought that would be clear, even for a worthless hanyou like you.”

Inukigo’s eyes narrowed as she bared her fangs and snarled at him.

“Have you come to taunt me or fight with me, you arrogant bastard?”

“That should be obvious as well,” he stated before he disappeared.

He appeared again in a flash just a few feet from Inukigo and dove at her. She managed to sidestep the strike, but Sesshoumaru was not deterred and kept coming at her. Inukigo was able to dodge him, but it was becoming harder. She was watching desperately for an opening to occur, but knew it would be unlikely. This was Sesshoumaru, not Inuyasha. He wouldn’t get frustrated or overconfident and mess up. She knew this better than anyone, he had been the one to teach her how to fight in the first place, after all. When Sesshoumaru got too close for comfort and managed to nick her shoulder, Inukigo decided to make her own opening and lunged forward. She went for his left side again, but like before he anticipated it, and all she ended up doing was taking out his armour and leaving herself open. This was something Sesshoumaru took advantage of and delivered a swift kick to her middle, which sent her flying.

When she landed hard on her back she looked up at the sky for a moment.

‘Kouga kicks harder,’ she mused.

“I’m disappointed,” she heard Sesshoumaru say and she sat up quickly only to find him standing over her, “I would have thought you would realize the flaw in that approach after the first try.”

Inukigo glared up at him, wondering what he was trying to get at.

“You attempted to attack from my left, thinking that because I have no left arm that I would be open on that side, am I right?”

Inukigo didn’t answer and he took it as confirmation.

“I have been without a left arm for nearly two years. Do you think that in that time, I would not have adapted? I knew that you would attack that side first, with the assumption that I would be defenceless from that direction. So I was able to compensate for it ahead of time. That you tried a second time truly astounds me. You are a bigger fool then I remember.”

Inukigo felt stupid that she had not anticipated this, but she wasn’t letting Sesshoumaru know that. Instead she just growled lowly before springing up and swiping at him with her claws. Sesshoumaru moved back a step and avoided the brunt of the hit, but she had managed to cleanly slice the front of his kimono and there was a nearly vertical gash running up his cheek. It didn’t even faze him, and he had grabbed Inukigo around the throat before she could move. Her hand immediately went to his wrist, but his grip tightened and she flinched.

At the edge of the field, the rest of her companions watched on with concern, Shippou being close to tears. Kagome was trying to keep him calm, but beside her she could feel Inuyasha fidgeting. As she watched he would take a hesitant step forward then force himself to back up again. He never took his eyes off Inukigo and Sesshoumaru, and she didn’t think she had ever seen him so distraught before.

She turned back to the fight again when she heard Inukigo yelp and saw the greenish glow around Sesshoumaru’s hand and Inukigo’s neck, signalling that he had begun using his poison claws. Inukigo punched at his arm before he could get too deep of a hold, and Sesshoumaru let go, but pulled back and punched her, on the left cheek this time, and Inukigo went sailing across the field again. As Sesshoumaru strode towards her slowly, Kagome turned back to Inuyasha with concern.

“Inuyasha, this has to stop! Inukigo can’t beat him on her own. We have to do something!”

“Kagome-sama is right, Inuyasha. If we let this continue, Sesshoumaru will surely kill Inukigo. We should put a stop to this at once.”

Sango nodded in agreement.

All eyes were on Inuyasha as he dropped his head, his bangs hiding his eyes from view. His hands were clenched so tightly that he had pierced the skin of his palms.

“No…we can’t,” he said, almost too quietly for anyone to hear.

“What? Are you out of your mind?!” Sango yelled at him, “Sesshoumaru is going to seriously injure her, or worse if we don’t do something!”

Inuyasha lifted his head and glared at her.

“Do you think that I don’t know that? If we interfere it won’t make any difference. Sesshoumaru will do as he said and kill her before we can even get close. Besides…she doesn’t want the help.”

“Be reasonable, Inuyasha. You would really let this fight continue and risk Inukigo’s life because of that?” Miroku said.

“You don’t understand!” Inuyasha yelled before turning away, “You don’t understand. I want to help her, I want this to stop. I wanted to stop it before it ever began. But the way she looked at me when she told me not to interfere…Inukigo has never looked at me like that before. I have never seen her so serious or determined about something. She’s trying to prove something, and as much as I don’t want her fighting like this with Sesshoumaru, I won’t stop her.”

The group quieted and turned back to the fight, this time, Kagome grabbed onto Inuyasha’s hand to comfort him, and she felt him squeeze back immediately.

Inukigo felt herself beginning to tire. She knew she should have more stamina than this, so something had to be wrong. She had thought that she prevented Sesshoumaru from injecting her with more than just a negligible amount of poison, but it appeared that she was wrong about that.

‘This is really not good. If this fight doesn’t end soon, he really will kill me. Not that my odds were all that good to begin with, but they’ve just been getting worse the longer this has dragged on. But what can I do? Sesshoumaru doesn’t leave any openings. He doesn’t have any weak spots. I’m sorry, Inuyasha, but with the way things are going, I may not get out of this one.’

Her breath was coming in ragged pants, and she just managed to react in time when Sesshoumaru drew Tokijin, pulling Touitsaiga from it’s sheath and transforming it to block the attack.

For a moment, Sesshoumaru looked mildly surprised.

“That sword, where did it come from?”

Inukigo smirked and kept her guard up.

“Heh, wouldn’t you like to know.”

Sesshoumaru frowned before forcing her away and striking at her with the sword’s air pressure. Inukigo wasn’t expecting an attack like that and barely defended her vital areas, but ended up with numerous gashes all along her arms and legs. Sesshoumaru didn’t give her the opportunity to recover, and pushed her to the ground, leaning over her with Tokijin pressed against her throat.

“I will say it again, half breed. Where did that sword come from?”

The smirk was still firmly planted on Inukigo’s face.

“It was hidden, within the Tessaiga,” the grin on her face grew wider, “Why don’t I show you what it can do?”

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Inukigo coiled her legs up against her body and kicked Sesshoumaru away, then rolled herself to her feet.

“Kaze no Kizu!”

The blades of energy rushed along the ground towards Sesshoumaru, but the inu-youkai easily stepped out of the way.

“How pitiful,” he remarked, once the attack had dissipated, “You have the ability to unleash the power of the sword, but you are highly unskilled. The blast was slow and weak. Even Inuyasha wields the Tessaiga with more effectiveness than you do your own sword. What a waste of a good weapon. Then again, you always were a waste.”

Inukigo growled and sheathed the Touitsaiga.

“I’ll show you, who’s the waste here, you bastard!”

Without really giving too much thought to what she was doing, Inukigo charged at Sesshoumaru head on with teeth and claws bared. Sesshoumaru stood there calmly, and sheathed his own sword as he waited for her to reach him. When she did she aimed straight for his face.

“Hikari shou Tessou!”

Sesshoumaru leaned back just enough to completely avoid the blow, then pressed forward quickly and delivered a powerful fist to Inukigo’s unguarded stomach. Inukigo doubled over as the wind was knocked out of her, and cried out when Sesshoumaru promptly brought his elbow down against her back and sent her to the ground. He remained motionless while standing over her, and Inukigo lay there, waiting for whatever would come, because she knew now that there was no way she would be able to defeat him. When Sesshoumaru still hadn’t moved after a few moments, Inukigo did something very stupid - she decided to goad him.

“What’s the matter? I would have thought with me here, lying at your feet that you would take the opportunity to finish me off,” she paused for a moment, then added with a smirk, “Aniue.”

Sesshoumaru frowned, and without warning, delivered a swift, hard kick to Inukigo’s side. She cried out and was sent flying across the field once again. When she landed, she sat up and winced as she put her hand to her injured side.

‘Oh, that definitely broke something.’

Inuyasha and the others watched worriedly as Sesshoumaru walked purposefully towards Inukigo. After that last hit, Inuyasha had realized something.

‘Inukigo knows that she can’t win. Has she given up?’

Inuyasha felt Kagome squeeze his hand, and looked down at her briefly. She wasn’t looking at him, but the fight before her. Shippou was in her arms, and the kit was becoming more and more distraught as the fight wore on.

‘Inukigo, I don’t know if I can keep my promise to not interfere. It’s not just me that would be affected if you die here. I’d rather you be alive and hate my guts then dead.’

He turned his attention back to the fight just as Sesshoumaru reached Inukigo and lifted her off the ground by her neck. Inukigo winced slightly, since her neck was injured from the last time he grabbed her there.

Sesshoumaru looked Inukigo directly in the eye, his frown still in place.

“You have been told, to never refer to me in such a way. I have no sister, therefore you have no right to use that word when you speak to me.”

Inukigo just smiled at him and answered in an annoyingly sweet voice.

“But Aniue, I’m right here in front of you. Don’t you see me?”

Sesshoumaru’s frown turned into a snarl and he threw Inukigo to the ground.

“All I see is a stubborn, worthless half breed whelp, whom I have had to deal with for far too long. I should have killed you long ago.”

Inukigo stood up and wiped her mouth with a smirk on her face.

“Then why haven’t you?” she taunted, “Is it because you can’t bear to kill your own dear imouto?”

Sesshoumaru growled and backhanded her, sending her stumbling backwards but she didn’t fall over. The smirk never wavered.

“I’m right aren’t I? You just can’t kill me, can you Aniue?”

She was silenced when Sesshoumaru’s youki whip connected with her face, and this time did fall to the ground. But still the smirk remained in place.

“Did I strike a nerve, Aniue? Am I bringing up bad memories for you?”

Sesshoumaru didn’t say a word, instead answering her with a strike from his whip, then another, and another…

Inuyasha forced himself to watch as Inukigo was beaten by Sesshoumaru’s whip. She wasn’t given the opportunity to get up, and it was all she could do to shield her head from the blows. Sango, Miroku, and Kagome were still watching as well, though Kagome was near tears. Shippou had given in to his and was now crying silently. Kagome had forced him to turn his face into his shoulder so he could no long see what was happening.

As Inuyasha watched the fight before him, the last time he found Inukigo after she had been attacked by Sesshoumaru came to mind. He realized that the wounds he had found on her at that time were the same as the one’s that she was receiving from his whip right now.

‘Inukigo never did tell me exactly what happened with Sesshoumaru that time. This must have been it. She taunted him and Sesshoumaru beat her for it.’

Then the strikes stopped. Sesshoumaru stood perfectly still, staring at the bloody form of Inukigo lying on the ground. She didn’t appear to be conscious, but Sesshoumaru could tell that she was.

“Do you yield, half breed?”

He heard a pained chuckle come from Inukigo’s direction, and watched as she rose up onto her knees with shaky arms. Her head and face were the only places the she had managed to protect. Her clothes were in tatters and she was covered with gashes that were all bleeding steadily. She stared at him defiantly with a half smile on her face.

“I’ll never yield to you, Sesshoumaru.”

Sesshoumaru began walking towards her slowly.

“You accept your fate then, do you?”

Inukigo tried to laugh, but coughed and brought one arm to wrap around ribs as she stood up on wobbly legs.

“I accept whatever fate that you deal out to me, Sesshoumaru. But, that doesn’t mean that I will ever give up!”

With one last burst of energy she charged at him, claws outstretched. Just as she was nearing him, she saw him pull his arm back to prepare to strike, only this time his hand wasn’t clenched in a fist.

‘He’s going to go straight through me,’ she realized.

Inukigo attempted to slow down so that she would be able to get out of the way, but found that she wouldn’t be able to move in time. As she saw Sesshoumaru’s claws fly towards her, she closed her eyes and braced herself for the hit, but it never came. She opened her eyes and saw that Sesshoumaru was directly in front of her, and a quick glance down revealed that his claws were just millimetres from her stomach.

‘What?’

Sesshoumaru leaned towards her slightly before speaking.

“You, half breed, are not even worth dirtying this Sesshoumaru’s claws.”

Inukigo, looked at him in confusion, but never got the chance to ask him what he was talking about. Sesshoumaru flexed his hand, and before Inukigo could react he had blasted her stomach with his poison claws.

Inukigo’s eyes widened and she screamed as she felt the poison and acid burn away at the flesh of her lower abdomen. Sesshoumaru backed away a few steps and Inukigo fell to the ground on her hands and knees. Blood, turned dark black from the poison, flowed freely from the wound, which was slowly getting bigger, and gathered in a large puddle on the ground beneath her. Inukigo took deep breaths in an attempt to steady herself to the pain, but she started coughing, then threw up a mouthful of blood.

Inuyasha looked on in horror, and the rest of the group mirrored his look. The tears had started flowing down Kagome’s face, and she had brought one hand to cover her mouth in shock. Inuyasha had had enough. He didn’t care if it would be a blow to Inukigo’s pride, and he didn’t care if she hated him for the rest of her life. He was not going to let her die. He looked to Kagome, Sango, and Miroku and gave them a nod. They understood and nodded back. Kagome left Shippou with Kirara, thinking that he probably wouldn’t be able to handle seeing her right now.

Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku ran off first, and stopped between Sesshoumaru and Inukigo. Inuyasha was in front with the Tessaiga drawn and level with Sesshoumaru’s chest, while Sango and Miroku stood just behind him. Kagome went for Inukigo, and knelt beside her, trying to calm the injured half demon.

“Inuyasha, I believe that you were told to not interfere with our battle,” Sesshoumaru remarked coldly.

“Fuck that,” Inuyasha hissed, “There’s no way in Hell that I’m going to let you kill her.”

“She has accepted her fate,” Sesshoumaru answered, “She has no problem with me killing her.”

“She might not, but I do! For me to just stand back and watch as you kill her…that makes me no better than you. I should have never let this go so far as it did.”

Sesshoumaru took a step towards them.

“Do you really think that you can stop me? You will move or you shall share her fate.”

Inuyasha never moved, and Sesshoumaru took another step forward, his hand on Tokijin.

“Stop it!”

Sesshoumaru looked past Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku, to the miko that had called out to him.

“You dare order this Sesshoumaru?”

Kagome shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

“How could you do this to her?” she asked softly, almost too quietly for anyone to hear, “What did she ever do, to deserve this treatment from you?”

The expression on Sesshoumaru’s face never changed.

“She is a half breed wench who refuses to learn her place. That is reason enough.”

Kagome glared at him.

“Her place? You mean that she continues to call you her brother? How is she wrong in that? As much as you don’t want to see it and deny it, you ARE her brother. She loved you when she was little, and despite everything you’ve done to her, she still loves you. You would punish her because of her feelings for you?!”

Neither Sesshoumaru or Inukigo spoke at Kagome’s words, but Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at her.

“Don’t bother with him Kagome.”

“But, Inuyasha…”

“It won’t do any good. The bastard is too cold hearted to understand. He could never comprehend why Inukigo tries so hard to gain his acceptance,” he turned back to Sesshoumaru, “I don’t care what she thinks of me after this. I’ll protect her from you no matter what.”

Sesshoumaru showed no expression, but then surprised everyone. He turned and began walking away. Inuyasha’s brows furrowed in confusion, and the Tessaiga dropped slightly.

“I will return in one week,” he said without stopping or turning around.

Inuyasha was about to say something, but was interrupted by Kagome’s cry.

“Inukigo-chan!”

Inuyasha whipped around and saw that his sister had begun shaking. Miroku, Sango, and Kagome were kneeling around her now and they all looked panicked. She started coughing and threw up blood again before collapsing onto her side. Inuyasha forgot all about Sesshoumaru and ran back to her side while sheathing the Tessaiga.

Inukigo was a horrible sight. She was covered in blood, and was very pale. She was shaking and hugging herself as though she were freezing, but Kagome put a hand to her forehead and said that she was burning up.

‘Sesshoumaru’s poison,’ Inuyasha thought as he put a hand on Inukigo’s face. He growled and looked up at Sesshoumaru, who had yet to disappear.

“Sesshoumaru!”

Said youkai stopped but did not turn around.

“I swear Sesshoumaru, if she dies, I’ll be coming for your head!”

Sesshoumaru didn’t answer, but continued on walking until he disappeared into the forest.

Inuyasha watched the spot where Sesshoumaru had been for a moment longer before turning his attention back to Inukigo. Her breathing was heavy and laboured, and when Inuyasha brushed her bangs back to feel her forehead, he was alarmed to find that her temperature was rising. He listened carefully and he grew even more worried when he found that her heartbeat wasn’t as strong as it should be.

“This is really bad.”

“Inuyasha?” Kagome said.

“Sesshoumaru’s poison is spreading through her body,” he looked down and saw that the wound that Sesshoumaru had inflicted was still expanding. It was a very slow process, but it was still getting bigger nonetheless, “That wound needs to be cleaned out first, or nothing else will matter.”

Inuyasha took a few sniffs and when he found what he was looking for, he carefully hefted Inukigo into his arms.

“I’m gonna go on ahead with her,” he then looked to Kagome, “You go on Kirara with Miroku and Sango. I can go faster if I don’t have you with me.”

Kagome nodded in understanding.

“Here,” she said, digging the first aid kit out of her bag, “In case you need bandages and other things before we get there.”

“Thanks,” Inuyasha replied, then took off towards the smell of water.

Inukigo whimpered and squirmed in his arms, and he whispered his apologies to her before trying to smooth out his gait so she wouldn’t be in so much pain.

“Inu-yasha.”

Inuyasha looked down at his sister. He hadn’t thought that she was conscious enough to speak.

“What is it?” he asked softly.

“I…I’m sorry…” she rasped out.

“Baka, what are you sorry for?” he asked affectionately.

“I-I didn’t mean…that I wouldn’t forgive you…if you interfered. Now you’re worried about me. I’m sorry,” she whined as she turned her face into his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” Inuyasha whispered.

‘Just hold on, Inukigo. Just don’t die.’

******************************************************** ****************

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. I’ll try really hard to update a little faster next time!

-- FF . NET --

archerist

Skitzo - you’re welcome, and I’m glad you like the pairing (next to Inuyasha/Kagome it’s my favourite too. I can’t wait to develop it more).

Pyrinsomniac - I’m glad you liked it. Hope you like this one too!

Patriot1776 - well, as you can see, here’s the Inukigo and Sesshoumaru confrontation. Don’t worry, Naraku will die in this fic, and it will be very much deserved (I actually hope that I can get to that as soon as possible, I hate writing scenes with him in it. I guess I’m bored with him or something. I’ll probably have a few more scenes like that for him so we don’t forget that he is the villain in this story, but nothing big until the final battle.

-- MM . ORG --

SilverShadowKitsune - haha, don’t worry I’ll have more limes later (and a lemon or two sometime in the future, lol). I’m not sure if the picture you’re referring to is the one that goes with the last chapter, since I can’t remember when I put it up, but it is on my site. It’s the one where both Inukigo and Kouga are kneeling, and her hair is in all those little braids.

ninja-of-the-night - only one word this time…tsk, tsk, I expected more from you Karla…(lol, j/k)

Oh yeah, there was one more thing. I almost got nominated for the best action/adventure fic of the first quarter by the iy fan guild (technically I was nominated, but you need to be seconded in order to be eligible for voting, and I didn’t get seconded). I was very surprised and very happy to even get this far, and I thank whoever it was who nominated me (unfortunately, I can’t remember, but I’m gonna say thank you anyway!). I didn’t get in this time, but oh well, there’s always the next quarter!

Ja Ne!