InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Buffy the Youkai Slayer ❯ Making a Desert, and Calling It Peace ( Chapter 26 )

26. Making a Desert, and Calling It Peace

Higurashi Shrine, Tokyo, the present day

Buffy watched Faith lope across the terrace with long, swinging strides, and rejoin the fight. She stood for a long moment, observing the other Slayer intently. Not that I don't trust her...well, because I don't.

But it looked like Buffy didn't have anything to worry about. Faith was enthusiastically swinging her sword, lopping off segments of Naraku's tentacles, and leaving Kouga, Shippou, and Inuyasha strictly alone.

Buffy frowned, noticing that the large dark bloodstain on the back of Inuyasha's red kimono-thingy had grown larger in the last few minutes. It looked like Faith had run him clean through with her sword--it was a wonder he could still stand, much less fight.

"Help me up, Summers-san," said Grandpa Higurashi, in a raspy voice. "I have to help them." He braced his arm against the ground, gasped, and fell back with a groan.

"I think you should stay put, Higurashi-san," Buffy said, examining him with a trained eye. "I think your arm may be broken. We'll take you to the hospital, along with Kagome, when this is over." She bent, extending her hand to him. "Can you stand?"

"Of course!" He scrabbled for some of the scattered paper rectangles with his uninjured arm. "I can still fight! It's my duty to protect this shrine!"

"Ojii-san," Buffy said, politely but firmly. "Kagome will be very angry with all of us, but especially me, if you are injured further. Please let us fight on your behalf--we're trained professionals, after all."

"I'm a professional, too." Grandpa's face set in a stubborn frown. "And these spells have been passed on for gener--"

"I'm sure they're very powerful. But--" and Buffy was hit with sudden inspiration. "You asked Koji-san for help, didn't you? He's a Watcher, and you'll make him lose face if you don't allow his Slayers to defend this shrine. "

She saw her logic hit home. Score one for a week in the Sengoku-jidai! Some things just haven't changed in five hundred years!

"It's our sacred duty to fight demons, after all," she added. "Faith came all the way from Los Angeles do it. And Sango came five hundred years...please permit us to help you, Ojii-san."

He tucked in his chin, glaring at her from beneath his bushy eyebrows, but she saw he was sweating. Probably in a lot of pain.

"Very well," he grumbled. "But just this once. I wouldn't want to...insult Minamide-sensei. Or Kagome-chan's friends."

"Thank you," Buffy said, relieved. "Please wait here until we are finished."

She turned back to the fight, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he stayed put. He still held the crumpled papers in his hand, but he was half-slumped against one of the balustrades lining the edge of the terrace, and she didn't think he was going anywhere.

* * *

"HIRAIKOTSU!"

Sango's battle cry distracted the wolf-youkai's attention just long enough for Naraku to send a pincer-tipped limb slicing into his opponent's leg, where a shard of the Shikon jewel gleamed.

Naraku did not quite manage to extract the shard, but his attempt deeply scored the wolf-youkai's leg. That should slow him down a little, thought Naraku, as the smell of wolf's blood mingled with the hanyou's.

Then Naraku heard the heavy thrum of the youkai-taijya's boomerang. The wolf-youkai threw himself flat on the ground, and the weapon skimmed over his prone form.

Naraku hastily raised a barrier, and--barely--deflected the gleaming, deadly arc of youkai-bone.

But in doing so, he discovered something dismaying: only the barest thread of youki existed in this place for him to draw upon.

Naraku looked closely at his enemies. Inuyasha's sword had transformed, but the great steel fang was wreathed with only the faint ghosts of its usual blazing demon energies. And, most telling, the hanyou had not yet tried to use the sword's devastating Kaze-no-Kizu attack.

Accustomed to dipping into the great, swirling sea of power in his own realm, Naraku felt the dismay of a desert traveler stumbling on a wide, dry riverbed, and finding only a small, sluggish trickle of life-giving water.

It was the latest disappointment in a day filled with setbacks.

And how had his opponents arrived here so quickly?

His castle had been situated at least a four-day journey away from the Bone-eater's Well, and with the exception of the firecat youkai, none of his enemies could fly.

And yet, here they were, the dog-hanyou and his companions, and their steady attacks, weak as they were, were extracting a toll.

Naraku snarled, and dropped his barrier long enough to lash out at Inuyasha, sending him skidding across the courtyard in a thick shower of gravel, and crashing against the steps leading up to the shrine's main building. The hanyou crawled shakily to his feet, still holding his sword, but Naraku noted the dark smear of blood left behind on the gray stone.

A half-century ago, Inuyasha had interfered with Naraku's plans for Kikyo, and had been sealed for his presumption. Yet, here he was again, bound to Kikyo's reincarnation, and still interfering with Naraku's schemes.

The dark-haired foreigner taijya charged him, and Naraku hastily raised his barrier again.

She was either ignorant or foolish, for she simply ignored it, and swung her sword with all her strength. Her expression was one of comical astonishment as the barrier repelled her, tossing her backwards nearly as far as Inuyasha had been thrown only moments earlier.

Then he noticed that the yellow-haired youkai-taijya was suddenly blazing with powerful youki. It outshone the weak youki of the other two taijya, like sunlight overpowering the flickering light of two oil lamps. A human girl should not possess youki at all, yet at this moment, it swirled around her in a brilliant whirlwind, stronger even than the energies swirling around the wolf-youkai.

How is she able to summon such power in this barren wasteland?

She had not possessed this aura when she and Sango attacked him in his castle, Naraku thought, watching her closely, letting his barrier fend off the renewed attacks of the other taijya, the wolf-youkai, and Inuyasha.

If he absorbed her, he would gain her strength. His stomach clenched in revulsion at the thought of allowing a human to pollute him, and yet, in this realm, she was powerful. He needed that power.

He took the chance, and dropped his barrier again, sending his limbs flowing toward her.

"Buffy--watch out!" A red blur snatched her around the waist and suddenly, she was beyond Naraku's grasp.

Inuyasha had interfered, yet again, but the sudden movement cost him.

He stood panting, a blood-stained hand held over his stomach. The yellow-haired girl's clothing was blotched scarlet where she had pressed against him. At this rate, hanyou or not, he wouldn't last much longer before he passed out.

The others took the opportunity to renew their attacks, and Naraku felt more of his precious essence hacked away by the taijyas' swords, that damned bone boomerang, and the wolf-youkai's brute-force blows.

He raised his barrier once more, desperately sucking up the meager threads of youki, and feeding all his strength into shielding himself.

Why had he come here? A realm without youki was useless to him. He could establish no dominion over a wasteland filled only with the stink of teeming humanity!

* * *

"What the hell is that?" Faith yelled, as she came too close to one of the dismembered Naraku-bits, and it grabbed her, digging dark talons into her jeans-clad leg. "Ow--get off me, you gross piece of shit!"

"It's the Big Bad of the sixteenth century!" Buffy replied, deftly swinging her naginata.

The clawed thing abruptly released its hold on Faith as Buffy's blade sliced through tendon and muscle, and it fell to the ground.

"Big bad Naraku-bit, meet Faith. Faith, meet big bad Naraku-bit."

It lay there, twitching convulsively, until Faith stomped on it viciously with her thick-soled army boots. "Thanks a lot, B."

"Don't mention it," Buffy said dryly, fending off yet another swiftly flowing pseudopod.

Naraku seemed to be targeting her, all of a sudden, and she couldn't figure out why. But she used the opportunity to chop off as many parts as came within reach of her weapon.

Sooner or later, she thought grimly, she'd carve enough away to reach his Portal Key, wherever he'd tucked it.

* * *

Kagome struggled up the last set of stairs, and saw the battle at long last.

"Kagome-sama, are you sure you're all right?" Miroku touched her shoulder, his expressive dark eyes concerned.

She shook off his hand. "I'm fine," she lied, as she clutched her side and tried to catch her breath.

Each lungful felt like she was being punched with sharp slivers of glass. Why, oh why, had her ancestors built this shrine on a hill? Before today, she had never stopped to count how many steps she had to climb to get from the street to her house.

But she had made it at last, and the fight was still raging. With satisfaction, she noticed that Naraku seemed to be getting the worst of it.

Kagome felt Miroku's sudden stillness, and followed his glance.

Sango looked magnificent in her leather armor, swinging her boomerang so rapidly that it was little more than an ivory streak scattering flesh and bone before it. Miroku's expression softened, as it always did when he looked at the taijya.

"Go," said Kagome, forcing a smile. "I know you want to fight. And I'll be fine. Really."

"If you're sure..." Miroku said, politely, but his gaze was glued to Sango as Kouga barrelled into her, pushing her out of the way of a swinging tentacle.

The two of them rolled over and over in the gravel like two lovers. Then, like a dancer, Kouga regained his feet, effortlessly swinging Sango to hers as well. She dipped, gracefully, grabbed Hiraikotsu by one of its handles, and brought her weapon up and over her head once more.

She shared a fierce grin with the wolf-youkai, and Kagome heard Miroku sigh. His fingers tightened around his staff.

"Go," repeated Kagome, firmly.

"Stay here," he commanded as he strode forward, unwrapping the rosary that sealed his cursed palm.

Then she saw Inuyasha--and her breath caught in her throat. His fire-rat armor was soaked with blood, and he was moving with unaccustomed slowness.

And if Inuyasha was injured...Kagome looked desperately around for her grandfather.

And saw him slumped some distance away. His eyes were closed and his face was contorted in pain.

Her first thought was, Thank the gods, he's alive!

Her second thought swept in on a powerful tide of rage. I'm going to kill Naraku for this.

* * *

Naraku finally spotted the girl Kagome. And, more troublesome, the monk Miroku, looking fresh and uninjured.

The monk hurried to join the fray. Predictably, as he approached, he began to unseal the wind-void in his hand.

Fool! I placed that curse on his bloodline. And he thinks to defeat me with it?

Naraku reached into what remained of his long robes, and pulled out the hive of poison bees. He had brought them along to help scout out this new realm, but they would serve another purpose just as well.

At his command, the huge insects poured out of the hive, and hovered, awaiting further instruction.

With a curl of amusement, Naraku saw Miroku's face contort in frustrated rage for a moment. Then, with a visible effort, the monk got his emotions under control. He swiftly resealed his cursed hand.

Naraku saw pure blue energy swell around Miroku as he gripped his staff. With sharp, precise motions, he began to swing the jangling, metal-tipped length, each blow purifying--and vaporizing--the various dismembered parts that still strove to rejoin with Naraku's essence.

* * *

He came to my HOME and hurt my grandfather!

Forgetting Miroku's orders, Kagome stepped forward. She felt energized with rage, the pain of her injuries only a distant echo now.

"Kaze-no-Kizu!" Inuyasha swung Testusaiga, and Kagome saw the red wave of power break Naraku's barrier.

But the sword's force was considerably reduced, and Naraku emerged from the blaze looking a little singed but otherwise whole.

As if using the Wound of the Wind had drained the last of his strength, Inuyasha fell to his knees. Only his hold on his sword, now firmly planted in the earth, kept him from sprawling full-length.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted.

Naraku, weakened as he was, lost no time in sending a thick mass of tentacles in the hanyou's direction. If they reached Inuyasha, he would be absorbed.

Inuyasha! Without thinking, she reached into her shirt, and grabbed the vial of Shikon shards.

She screamed with fury, feeling power rush out of her like the shriek issuing from her throat. A great bolt of rose-colored light raced across the terrace like an arrow, engulfing Naraku.

Splintered impressions: Kouga diving at Inuyasha, dragging him out of the path of the purifying light. Minamide-sensei, his crossbow still raised to his shoulder, gaping at her. Naraku exploding, disintegrating into a mass of demons, leaving only his human body behind.

And then the pain came crashing in, and the world disappeared.

* * *

Every hair on Buffy's body prickled and stood up as the edge of the great surge of mystical energy brushed her. Then Kagome folded over, like a marionette whose strings had just been cut, and collapsed.

"Kagome!" came the hoarse cry, ripped from Inuyasha's throat.

He stumbled to her side, sank to the ground beside her, and gathered her up in a desperate embrace. She disappeared behind a curtain of silver hair and wide, red sleeves. Only her long, slender legs remained in view.

"Shit! They're getting away!" shouted Faith, in English.

Buffy tore her attention away from Inuyasha and Kagome, to find that Naraku had been reduced to human proportions. He was now surrounded by a jostling crowd of youkai in various shapes and sizes, all of them scattering to the four corners of the shrine.

"Don't let any of them escape," called Miroku in Japanese, swinging his staff and purifying one of the slower youkai.

The weary team swung into action, easily countering the half-hearted attacks by the bewildered youkai, dispatching them with staff, naginata, sword, boomerang, and in Kouga's case, powerful blows that literally ripped his opponents to shreds.

Buffy decapitated something that looked like a really big lizard with glowing red eyes, then came face to face with a cringing, warty, humaoid demon.

"Don't kill me, please!" it begged. "I am Arashthoth the Gatekeeper, a poor captive of that thing!"

Buffy stopped the downward swing of her naginata. Gatekeeper? Now, why did that sound familiar? Then memory supplied the rest.

"You're the one who gave Naraku that Portal Key," she said, angrily, and Arashthoth cringed.

"He took it, my lady! Stole it from me," whined the demon.

Buffy hesitated. Should she believe him, or just kill him, along with the other youkai?

"Oi, bitch!" she heard Inuyasha yell. "What the hell are you waiting for? Naraku's getting away!"

Buffy looked up, and saw that Naraku was heading straight for the Bone-eater's Well, his tattered kimono and long, unbound hair streaming behind him.

And he still had his Portal Key.

She turned on her heel and sprinted after his fleeing figure. She couldn't let him reach the well-house, and make his getaway. Not this time.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the silver flash of Faith's sword as the other Slayer sliced through Arashthoth. She felt a moment of pity for the demon, then focused on the immediate crisis.

Disdaining the stairs as too slow, Buffy vaulted over the balustrade, and landed lightly on the terrace below. Instantly she began running again.

Up ahead, she saw the tall bulk of the Sacred Tree, silhouetted against the blood-red twilight.

She was gaining on him. But he was getting dangerously close to the well.

Buffy forced her legs to go faster, cursing as she saw the fluttering hem of his kimono disappear into what remained of the well-house.

"Buffy!" she heard Shippou shout as she raced by the Sacred Tree. She saw a fox-shape on one of the lower branches, but didn't have the breath to answer him.

She skidded around the corner, and flung herself through the doorway of the well-house, just in time to see the blue brilliance of an activating portal filling the gloomy interior.

Naraku was standing on the sunken floor almost directly below her, the Portal Key glowing in his hand, an answering light pulsing from the shaft of the well.

Nonononononono...

"Oh. No. You. Don't!" She flung herself into space from the top of the stairs, diving down on top of him.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

She swung her naginata as she fell through the air, and felt it strike flesh--and bone.

The Portal Key's sphere flew out of Naraku's grasp. It hit the ground and bounced, its light abruptly extinguished.

Buffy hit him squarely between the shoulders, and the impact of her landing sent him face down into the dirt, as neatly as any of Kagome's "osuwari!" commands.

Something pink and glowing landed just out of reach, on the other side of the well from the Portal Key: his hoard of the Shikon no Tama shards.

Buffy rolled off him immediately, wary of being absorbed, and scrambled to her feet, snatching up the naginata.

Naraku screamed, a hoarse, inhuman sound of rage. His eyes glowed deep violet as he glared at her, and Buffy found herself stepping back, involuntarily.

* * *

She had cut off his hand. That human bitch had cut off his hand, and taken both the shards and the Key from him!

Now, she stood, her youki blazing in the darkness, and lifted her weapon. Thinking to finish him off, no doubt.

He knew that he was still faster than she was, even in his present injured and reduced state.

The problem was that the Portal Key and his Shikon shards lay on opposite sides of the well-house. To retrieve one, he would have to sacrifice the other.

He wanted the Portal Key. But Arashthoth had escaped, taking his knowledge with him, and Naraku had greater need of the Shikon-no-Tama. With the jewel shards, he would heal himself, and continue to wield power in his own realm.

With a snarl, he made his decision, just as the kitsune cub came charging into the well-house. "Buffy! Buffy!"

"Get the Key!" yelled the taijya, and the kitsune dove for the sphere.

Using the last reserves of his strength, Naraku lunged for his precious jewel shards, and felt the chain tangle in the fingers of his remaining hand as the naginata sliced through the muscles of his leg.

He dove over the lip of the well. As Naraku fell into the darkness, he hoped against hope that Arashthoth had been right about the well's properties, and that could return him to his own realm even without a Key.

With profound relief, he felt the portal open and swallow him.

As he drifted though the star-speckled darkness, Naraku vowed he would build himself a better, stronger body.

And then he would make sure that Kikyou's reincarnation troubled him no more.

* * *

Panting, Buffy let herself sink down on to the wooden steps. Shippo, holding the Key close to his chest, came trotting proudly back to her.

"Here you go!" he chirped, reaching up, apparently oblivious to the fact that Naraku's severed hand was still clenched tightly around the key.

Guess I'll just have to pry his cold, dead, fingers off it, Buffy thought with a shudder as he accepted it.

"Great job, Shippou-chan," she said, sincerely. "You saved the day."

His entire body lit up with the force of his incandescant, fanged smile.

To be continued...