InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Buffy the Youkai Slayer ❯ The Feeding Habits of the Common Youkai ( Chapter 17 )

17. The Feeding Habits of the Common Youkai

in Naraku's castle, late 16th-century Japan

"Are you sure it's okay to leave Kouga-kun to fight that...woman...by himself?" Kagome threw an anxious glance over her shoulder as she followed Inuyasha to the nearest building.

He grunted. "Eh, worry about yourself, Kagome. Kouga's youkai. They're hard to kill--even if Kagura does kick his wimpy ass."

Inuyasha's tone sounded like he was actually hoping that might happen.

He inserted his bare toes into the slit between the nearest doors, and slid them open with a violent kick. The screech of warped wood moving along the track sounded like a scream, and Kagome flinched.

Inuyasha noticed, and gave her a disgusted look. But he said only: "Sense anything?"

Kagome gripped her bow more tightly. Taking a deep breath, she listened for traces of the Shikon-no-Tama. It wasn't exactly listening, since her ears weren't involved, but that was how she thought of her sensitivity to the jewel's presence.

Sure enough, she felt the familiar crawling sensation, like beetles moving over the surface of her mind.

"It's strong," she told Inuyasha. "Like there are a lot of shards somewhere ahead...or maybe just one big shard."

Like the one Kikyou stole from me, she thought, but did not say out loud.

Kagome still couldn't understand why the undead priestess had given it to Naraku--those shards of the shattered jewel had taken months to collect, and at frequent risk to all of their lives. Losing them--ironically enough, to the jewel's former guardian--had been a serious blow to Kagome's hopes.

In more ways than one.

Kagome still didn't know if she hated or pitied the pathetic remnant of the woman who had been her former incarnation. She certainly wished for everyone's sake--especially, Inuyasha's--that Kikyou had not been resurrected. Wandering the earth in a body made of bones and earth from her grave, forced to devour the souls of dead girls, animated only by her hatred and a small portion of the soul she shared with Kagome...Kikyou had truly suffered a fate worse than death.

You may have laid claim Inuyasha's life for your own, thought Kagome. But I will make him happy, if I can. Because he is my friend...and because I love him.

As if sensing her train of thought, Inuyasha's ears twitched. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Nothing."

Trying to distract herself from her thoughts of Kikyou, Kagome looked back at the courtyard. She saw Kouga-kun jump nimbly out of the way of Kagura's blows, and noticed that his legs were bleeding. Her own arm twinged in sympathy.

It wasn't a deep cut, but it stung, and her sleeve was pasted to her skin with her stiffening blood. I'll never get that stain out, she thought. Mama will have to buy a new blouse. Again.

Kagura was definitely moving more slowly now, and her formerly cool demeanor had been replaced by something more frantic. She was fighting for her life, and she seemed to know it.

Inuyasha's ears twitched again. His profile looked irritated. Kagome tore her eyes from the fight, and hastily followed him inside.

A couple of steps into the dim corridor, and she bumped into him. He had come to a halt, and was sniffing the air suspiciously.

She stayed close behind him, using his robes as a shield. "What is it?" she whispered.

"Miasma--don't breathe too deeply."

"Mmm," she managed, taking the shallowest possible breath. Now what?

It was youkai miasma...did that mean could she purify it?

It's worth a try. She reached back to her quiver, and nocked an arrow to her bow. She moved around Inuyasha, drew, aimed down the corridor, and called on her power.

The arrow blazed brightly as it sped through the dimness, and she saw the thick, dark clouds of poisonous gas ignite briefly and dissipate.

Inuyasha looked sideways at her, and gave her a half-smile. It was the closest he ever came to praising her. "Which direction?"

Kagome concentrated again. "It's--it's hard to say. I feel shards all around, but the strongest feeling is coming from over there." She pointed down the corridor.

He strode forward, holding the transformed Tetsusaiga at the ready. In the shadow of the huge, crescent blade, Kagome drew another arrow from her quiver, and placed against her bowstring. Her heart was pounding, as it always did just before a fight.

As she trotted along in Inuyasha's wake, she noticed that the chambers and corridors were littered with skeletal and, worse yet, partially-decayed human remains. They were all men, their skulls still wearing helmets, pieces of armor and discarded weapons strewn around their bodies. Most of the corpses had been dismembered, and many looked...gnawed upon.

Kagome swallowed, hard, trying to keep from throwing up. It wasn't just the sight of death. In her travels with Inuyasha, she had seen a lot of horrible things--battlefields, plundered villages, and all sorts of monsters. But the smell in this place was indescribable, like the worst kind of outhouse mingled with rotting meat.

She came to a halt, cold sweat prickling her face, hands, and underarms. Dizzy, her hand clamped over her mouth, she stared at the floor in front of her.

There was something really disturbing about seeing just a single human arm, still partly clothed and clutching a katana...with large, ragged bites taken out of it.

She lost her battle with her nausea. Turning to the wall--which was, mercifully, corpse-free--she retched and brought up the contents of her stomach. When she finally finished heaving, her throat was burning, and tears were running down her face.

Kagome took deep, sobbing breaths, trying to get herself under control again. She was deep in enemy territory--she couldn't afford to fall apart now. Gradually, she became aware that Inuyasha was patting her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, trying to wipe at her eyes. She desperately wanted to rinse her mouth out with water, but all of their supplies were back at the edge of the forest with the bicycles.

She was glad she had sent Shippou to guard their gear--she had been scared to death for him after the near-miss with Kagura. At least he had something to do that would allow him to save face while keeping him away from danger.

"Keh." Inuyasha looked away, but he slipped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a brief, one-armed hug. "You ready to go on?"

Kagome nodded, and started walking again. This time, she tried breathing through her mouth, hoping to filter out most of the stink.

They passed more bodies. "Do you think an army attacked this castle? That they were trying to defeat Naraku?" she asked.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Those guys all died at different times," he muttered. "Naraku--or that bitch Kagura--probably lured them here in small groups as food for the youkai."

"Youkai eat...people? All youkai?" Kagome felt like throwing up again. Even Kouga?

Inuyasha grimaced. "Eh, well, it's not exactly cannibalism, you know. And humans are weak. Easy prey."

A shadow crossed his face, and Kagome longed to ask him what he was remembering. But she kept silent, uncertain whether she wanted to spare his feelings...or hers.

He caught her questioning look, anyway, and her face grew hot.

"I never did," he said, roughly, answering her unasked question. His gaze was fixed on the corridor ahead, and his mouth was pulled into a grim line. "I stole food from humans, and I robbed a few, but I never got...hungry enough."

"Oh." Not for the first time, Kagome wondered what his life had been like after his mother died. It was not something he had ever discussed directly with her-- she had gleaned hints from other hanyou, but he had never offered details. She reached up, and laid a hand on his shoulder.

He kept walking, and she kept pace with him. After a few more paces, a new awareness registered in her mind. "Up ahead. It's moving."

He stopped.

"Which side?" There were doors to the right and left of them. Kagome concentrated.

"Left." She pointed.

This time, Inuyasha didn't bother to slide open the door. He simply destroyed it with a single blow from Tetsusaiga, and stormed into the chamber.

Cautiously, Kagome followed him in.

It was dim, but she caught a glimpse of the white baboon-skin cloak favored by Naraku's puppets. A blur of something dark and thick, then Inuyasha went hurtling backwards in a flash of silver hair, taking what remained of the door with him as he flew into the corridor and smashed into the opposite wall.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome raised her bow, but it was too late. She didn't see the huge, oily tentacle until it had already whipped itself around her waist.

She felt herself swept up into the air. She had time for one startled shriek before something hard smashed into her back.

She lost the next few moments.

Her next awareness was that she was still being held captive by the tentacle. And that her back and chest hurt. A lot.

Kagome took a deep breath--or tried to--and heard herself moan. She had a salty, coppery taste in her mouth, and her vision was blurry.

Am I dying? Nothing else could possibly hurt this much.

Mama, I'm sorry.

But she was still clutching her bow, and the arrow she had nocked. And she could still feel the precious vial of Shikon shards around her neck.

"Kagome!" She heard Inuyasha's anguished howl an instant before she saw Tetsusaiga's flame-wreathed blade flash in the gloom ahead of her.

"Inu...yasha," she whispered.

Or tried to. It really hurt too much to do anything but take the shallowest breaths, and the appendage squeezing her waist felt like it was going to crush her in another minute.

She wriggled her fingers, moving the arrow out of the way, and let the bow drop. Then, clutching the shaft of the arrow, she closed her eyes, and tried to call on her power.

It was difficult--the radiating pain in her chest and side raised a barrier to the cool fire. But she had to reach it.

Please, she prayed, though to what she didn't know. Please--I need to reach you!

The fire responded, sluggishly at first. Then it poured into her, dissipating the pain just like it had dissipated the miasma earlier.

With a yell, Kagome raised her arrow, and stabbed it into the dark, shining skin of the thing wrapped around her waist.

A bright flare, the stink of burning flesh, and then, a shriek. She fell, but only for a moment.

Then, abruptly, another tentacle caught her, this time squarely around her ribs.

The agony this time tore a scream from Kagome's throat. Her grasp on her power slackened, driven back by the bright-speckled pain clouding her head.

Now she saw Inuyasha.

He was on the far side of the room from her, hacking away at the creatures tentacles in an enraged frenzy, yelling obscenities all the while. And the youkai that held her hostage was laughing.

It was enormous, reeking of the power bestowed by a tainted shard of the Shikon-no-Tama, and as quickly as it lost limbs, they regenerated.

Kagome marshaled the remaining feeble trickle of her power, and stabbed the creature again with her arrow.

This time, it allowed her to fall all the way to the cold, hard, stone floor before it took her captive again.

* * *

Kagome was bleeding.

Shit.

Inuyasha could smell her injury--and the metallic scent of her pain--even over the foul stench of the thing Naraku had sent to ambush them.

She hung, limply, in the grasp of the huge youkai. The baboon-skin cloak that concealed the bastard's...head, for a lack of better term...had fallen away, revealing a dark, bulbous mass, split by an opening lined with rows upon rows of sharp, triangular teeth.

And Inuyasha, try as he might, wasn't getting any closer to her. He hacked at everything within reach, using all of his strength, and still, the tentacles kept coming, keeping him pinned down near the doorway.

On the opposite side of the room from her.

He growled his frustration, and swung harder. If only he could use Kaze-no-Kizu! That would finish off this piece-of-shit youkai in one blow.

And probably collapse the castle's walls. Inuyasha glanced up at the thick beams that supported the tile roof, and growled again. Fuck. I'd probably kill Kagome, too.

His inattention cost him.

In an instant, Tetsusaiga was ripped from his grasp, and sent flying across the room.

Inuyasha cursed, as much at himself as at the creature he was fighting, and flexed his fingers.

No sword? Fine. He'd just have to rescue Kagome the old-fashioned way.

"SANKONTESSOU!" he yelled, gathering his legs beneath him, and leapt upwards, outwards.

He felt the deeply satisfying sensation of his claws ripping through his opponent's cold flesh before he landed. Behind him, the tentacles regenerated, thanks to the powers of the fucking jewel shard, but he was closer to Kagome now.

Close enough to see that there was fresh blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Maybe she'd just bitten her tongue. Maybe.

Or maybe...

"SANKONTESSOU!"

This time, he nearly made to her side before the tentacles whipped around his arms and his legs, immobilizing him.

The thing chuckled, Naraku's voice oddly distorted by the creature's bulk--and that mouth. "She has the shards. I'll eat her first, hanyou. And then I'll eat you. I hear dog meat tastes good--almost as good as a miko's."

"You pathetic son of a whore!" Inuyasha drew on all this strength, trying to toss off the creature's grip on him, but he could barely move his limbs.

The tentacles holding Kagome began to move her briskly towards those gleaming teeth.

And Tetsusaiga lay in the far corner of the chamber, its power gone for now. Just an old, rusty sword.

She was going to die. They were both going to die, devoured by one of Naraku's loathsome avatars.

"NO!" Unbound by Testusaiga's absence, he felt his youkai blood rising.

His transformation hurt as his demon half took over his body, warping its fabric to serve its purposes. But this time, he welcomed it. He was going to save himself.

He was going to save Kagome.

If he didn't kill her, first.

Her blood suddenly smelled delicious to him. Injured prey. Fresh meat.

No! Inuyasha struggled to control his transformation, to keep his hanyou self in control of his demon body. I can't! Not Kagome!

"Inuyasha!" Her eyes were finally open, though dull. "Inuyasha, don't!" She braced her hands against the tentacle holding her captive, and looked at him.

The part of his mind that was still the hanyou Inuyasha felt ashamed that she saw him like this, all scarlet eyes and teeth...a monster.

He had been able to control himself before, but it seemed as though the beast within grew stronger every time he released it.

And she hadn't been bleeding last time. Hadn't smelled quite so much like food.

But what choice did he have? If he didn't allow the inu-youkai free rein, neither of them would survive.

Kagome was still looking at him. Not fear but...worry? About to be eaten by something with more teeth than anything needed, and she was worried about him?

He felt the ghostly imprint of her lips pressed against his, a memory from the last time that the inu-youkai had tried to take over.

The tide of transformation ripping through him faltered. Hesitated.

"Kagome." It was partly a plea for understanding, partly a plea for forgiveness.

She turned her glance at the monster. They were very close now to that gaping maw. Her expression shifted from worry to sudden determination...and anger.

"Kagome!" He had never felt so helpless. He managed to wrench one arm free from the tentacles holding him captive, and used his claws to slash at every bit of flesh within reach.

"I am not going to be your lunch!" she shouted at the creature as she reached into her blouse and fished up the vial of Shikon shards.

Her hands closed around the vial, cupping it, She closed her eyes.

And then, she was glowing, pulsing with the same power that infused her arrows.

The tentacle holding her torso rippled uneasily.

"Get away from me!" she shrieked, and a bubble of power expanded outward from her, purifying everything it touched.

The tentacles holding her captive withered instantly, dissolving into slimy black puddles. Then the ring of light touched the creature's main body, and it began to bubble, steaming and sizzling as it vaporized.

An instant later, only its Shikon-no-Tama shard remained, the sharp edges glittering in the midst of a sticky dark pool on the floor..

Kagome's power reached Inuyasha, washing over him like cool water. He felt the inu-youkai retreat, and the burning sensation of its transformation vanished, along with the pain of his injuries. At the same moment, the tentacles holding his limbs captive vanished, and he fell to the flagstones with a thump.

It hurt a lot more than it usually did. And his senses felt strangely dulled. Almost as if...

He looked down, at his hand. It looked wrong...the claws replaced by short nails. No!

His gut twisting, he ran his tongue over his fangs, only to encounter the dull, even edge of human teeth. Oh, no.

He grabbed at his hair, and saw the long, dark strands in his fist. Oh, shit, no!

Human. He was human. She had purified him, too.

Shitshitshitshit. How was he going to find and kill Naraku if he was a fucking human?

A wave of frustrated anger moved through him. All these weeks of searching, and they'd finally found Naraku's hiding place. And now he was helpless...or just as good as helpless. With no way of knowing when--or even whether--it would wear off, the way that his New Moon transformation from hanyou to human wore off at dawn.

Dammit, Kagome! How could you do this to me?

He sat up, rubbing his bruised back, and glared over at her, ready to give her a piece of his mind.

And felt his stomach drop as he saw her sprawled gracelessly on the floor of the chamber, surrounded by puddles of black goo. His anger vanished, replaced by panic.

Oh, gods, Kagome, please don't be dead!

Oblivious to everything else, Inuyasha rose and staggered over to her. He had just enough presence of mind to grab the tainted shard from its sticky surroundings as he passed the large, darkened patch that had been its head.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha sank to the floor and frantically gathered her in his arms, cradling her in his lap. He felt so...weak. And he hated it.

It's my fault she got hurt. I wasn't fast enough. Or strong enough. Or good enough. Not fucking good enough.

He hadn't been fast enough, or strong enough to save his mother, either. Or Kikyou.

His dulled human senses couldn't smell how badly Kagome was injured, but he saw the blood soaking her sleeve, and felt how cool and clammy her face and hands were. Maybe it was just the lack of light in this damned gloomy place, but she looked...grayish. Not good.

But--all the gods be thanked!--he could see her pulse at the base of her throat. He let out his breath in a long whoosh.

Alive. Thank the gods. Alive.

Overcome with emotion, he bent his head and allowed himself to touch his mouth to the tender space just above her collarbone, assuring himself that her pulse was real, and not just his wishful thinking.

Relief flooded through him as her heartbeat, strong and steady, fluttered against his lips.

Maybe he wouldn't be able to kill Naraku this time, but she was still alive.

And so was he. Even if he was human now.