InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles ❯ Resurgence ( Chapter 70 )

~~Chapter 70~~

~Resurgence~

 

Norimitsu threw his head back and laughed as the exterminators rushed at him. “You killed him!” Sango shrieked, hurling Hiraikotsu at the youkai.

 

With a blurred flash of his claws, Norimitsu sent Hiraikotsu crashing into the ground, split down the middle.

 

Miroku grabbed her arm, pulled her back. “Check on him!” he demanded as he steered her toward the fallen child. Sango looked like she wanted to argue but she nodded. Miroku heaved the sickle. Whizzing through the air, the blade circled in a broad arc.

 

Norimitsu retreated in time to avoid the oncoming weapon. Miroku jerked it back as Norimitsu laughed again. “No mortal can kill me!” he scoffed. “Not with your barbaric toys. You wish to be next?” He lunged at Miroku.

 

Miroku barely had time to react. Diving to the side and rolling back to his feet, he faced the youkai once more. “I won't lose to the likes of you!” Miroku promised as he held the sickle in one hand and the metal ball in the other. The two stalked each other, side-stepping in a small circle, one waiting for the other to attack.

 

Norimitsu lunged forward as Miroku unleashed the scythe. The blade whipped past the youkai, nicking his ear. Norimitsu's claws ripped into Miroku's arm as the monk-exterminator tried to spin to the side. With a sharp hiss of pain, he fell to the ground and rolled onto his back just in time to block Norimitsu with the chain, stretched taut between his hands. Gritting his teeth, grimacing in his effort to hold off the powerful youkai, he heard Sango scream his name in a tear-choked voice just before the tremendous crack, like a bolt of lightning touching down, split the earth behind them, showering them with dirt and grass.

 

Norimitsu suddenly leaped away as Miroku used his feet to push himself up, gasping for air as he held onto his injured arm. Unable to believe what his eyes saw, he blinked once, twice, before he could manage an incredulous laugh. “Good timing,” he remarked weakly.

 

“Keh, monk. I'm here now, ain't I?”

 

Kagome choked back a sob as she tore away from InuYasha and sprinted to Sango and Shippou.

 

InuYasha stared at Norimitsu, expression unreadable, absolute rage unmistakable despite the strangely controlled demeanor. What had happened to the hanyou? Miroku shook his head, staving off a wave of dizziness. “Good thing there's a monk here, Norimitsu. You're going to die.”

 

Kagome's wail told the story, as far as InuYasha was concerned. InuYasha growled low, ears flattening, lips drawn back in a vicious snarl as Miroku felt Sango's hands, trying to help him stand. “Shippou?”

 

Sango's eyes filled with more tears as she slowly shook her head and helped him out of the way.

 

InuYasha didn't move, didn't turn his head, didn't blink. The only signs that he had heard the exchange were the flicking of his ears, the blazing fire that burned brighter behind his amber gaze.

 

“You'll be next to join him, InuYasha . . . did you love the kit as your own?”

 

“Damn you,” InuYasha growled, raising Tetsusaiga level with Norimitsu's chest.

 

“Tetsusaiga,” Miroku mumbled as he stared at InuYasha, awash in the same blue aura as the sword—and as Kagome. Then he noticed that Sango and he were also glowing, though not as brightly as the others.

 

Sango looked back and gasped. The sapphire blade crackled with power, with energy. As though the sword had a mind of its own, it pulsed and shook as InuYasha held it.

 

“Shippou, I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry! No, you can't . . . no . . . . No!” Kagome wailed, cradling the kit's body against her chest. Shoulders shaking, the miko buried her face in Shippou's hair.

 

Miroku pulled away from Sango and stumbled over to the miko. He hugged her as best as he could. Kagome didn't seem to notice.

 

“Why him? I'm the one you're after. Why Shippou?” InuYasha demanded, his voice rough, ragged.

 

Norimitsu scoffed. “You sent the kit to steal the diary? You thought I wouldn't know? You are more of a fool than I thought you were. Prepare to die!”

 

“I'm not going to die, bastard, but you are!” InuYasha ran forward, slamming Tetsusaiga into the earth. The flames shot out in the Kaze no Kizu.

 

Norimitsu jumped out of the way. Shaking his head slowly, he straightened up and stared at InuYasha, loathing etched into his features. “And all that waste was for nothing.”

 

“What?” InuYasha demanded in a hushed growl.

 

Norimitsu grinned. “That diary . . . you didn't look at it?” His smile grew even smugger, nastier. “It was a fake. Your little kitsune died for nothing.”

 

“Damn you!” InuYasha snarled, charging forward blindly, furiously. Norimitsu's twisted laughter filled the air as the sword hummed and crackled, pulsed and whined. Swinging Tetsusaiga in a wide arc, InuYasha bellowed, “Mamorikoi!” at the top of his lungs as the sizzling wave of sapphire light exploded from the blade and coursed toward Norimitsu.

 

The youkai jumped back to avoid the blast but caught the force against his right thigh. With a grunt of pain as the blast hit hard, Norimitsu took flight, vanishing again like he had on the night he tried to attack Kagome.

 

InuYasha didn't wait to see where Norimitsu had gone. `I'll hunt him down . . . but for now, I have to . . . Shippou! You can't . . . .' Turning toward the sounds of his friends' distress, toward the kit . . . he had been too late? Too late . . . . `Damn it! Damn it, you runt! You can't be . . . .' Sheathing Tetsusaiga, he turned and sprinted to Kagome. She cradled the broken body of the young kit to her breast, sobbing, wailing, crying as though her heart was broken.

 

Sango sobbed without making a sound. Miroku looked as though he was going to be sick. InuYasha shook his head, slowly backing away. Throwing his head back, bellowing at the top of his lungs, he wasn't sure what he was trying to say. His heart just told him that it couldn't end, not like this, not for Shippou . . . . “Sesshoumaru! Damn it, Sesshoumaru! Where are you?”

 

“InuYasha?” Miroku said, struggling to his feet. He swayed just a little, weakened by his blood-loss. “Sesshoumaru isn't here . . . .”

 

InuYasha glared at the monk. Anger was easier to deal with. Anger didn't hurt . . . . “I fucking know that! I don't care where the hell he is! I want his fucking sword!”

 

“Tenseiga?” Sango whispered.

 

Miroku shook his head slowly. “It'll take days, InuYasha, days to get to him . . . It'll be too late.” Clearing his throat before he could finish, Miroku blinked furiously, staving back tears of his own. “Let him go, InuYasha . . . you tried to save him. We all did.”

 

“No, damn it!” InuYasha snarled. “Fuck, no! You can give up if you want to, but I'm not!”

 

InuYasha turned on his heel, started away, pacing through the grass as he scanned the horizon. `The bastard always shows up at the worst times . . . why can't he just show up now?' Clutching the fang necklace—the one Kagome had coerced him into wearing, InuYasha grimaced. “ . . . Sesshoumaru!” he called again.

 

“No,” Kagome rasped out, drawing InuYasha's attention. Turning back to face the others, InuYasha's gaze narrowed as irrational fury welled up in his chest.

 

Miroku was praying over Shippou's body, performing the rites to send on the child's spirit to the next life. `Not even Tenseiga can save him . . . not if Miroku . . .' Streaking across the field, InuYasha barreled into the monk, slamming him against the ground with InuYasha's claws around his neck. “Save your rites, damn you! What the hell do you think you're doing?”

 

“It has to be done, InuYasha!” Miroku yelled back. “You know it does!”

 

Eyes pulsing from golden to red then back with the beat of his heart, InuYasha struggled to control his need, his desire to tear into the monk. “The hell it does! I'm not letting him go like that! Shippou can't die like this!”

 

“InuYasha, he's already gone! You can't save him! He's already—”

 

“Shut up!” InuYasha snarled, drawing back his hand, cracking his knuckles. “Shut up or I'll—”

 

“Kagome!” Sango called out suddenly.

 

InuYasha stopped with his hand drawn back, staring in shock as Kagome darted across the field with Shippou cradled in her arms. She didn't wait, and she didn't look back as she dropped into the gaping maw. Her sobs drifted back to him, and he leapt to his feet as the hole in the ground filled with sapphire light.

 

Sango ran to the hole, stared down in shock, in disbelief. “I can't believe it,” she whispered, as she wiped her cheeks. Turning her face slowly to stare at both InuYasha as well as Miroku, who had managed to sit up.

 

InuYasha ran to the hole, afraid to look inside, afraid of what he'd see. In the darkness, in the half-light of the newly reopened well pit, InuYasha was shocked.

 

Kagome had made it through the time slip.

 

Shippou had, too.

 

 

:::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8:::

 

 

Kagome stared at the steep walls with rising panic surging in her chest. Her one thought was that they knew where to find Sesshoumaru on this side of the timeslip. Now that she was here, though, she didn't know how she'd get out of the well. The stone walls were now just earth, and there wasn't a thing Kagome could use to climb out.

 

“Hold on, Shippou . . . I . . .” she whispered, fighting back her overwhelming grief, fighting to stay in control. He looked so peaceful, like he was asleep. The warmth of his blood saturated her blouse. Kagome held him tighter, unwilling to let the little body grow cold.

 

With a gasp, she stepped back as InuYasha appeared through the slip beside her.

 

With a dark frown, he glared at her before sweeping her into his arms and pushing off the bottom of the well. “You should have waited for me, wench,” he mumbled as they landed outside the hole. He didn't set her back on her feet as he sprinted out of the well-house and onto the top of the shrine.

 

“Hurry,” she begged as she hugged Shippou tighter. “Do you think Sesshoumaru—?”

 

“Keh! He will or I'll kill him,” InuYasha snarled as he leapt from building to building. “He's got to.”

 

Turning her face against him, Kagome's sobs were muffled. Tightening his hold on her as he pushed himself faster, InuYasha sped along the buildings, no more than a whisper of movement against the hazy grayish sky.

 

He dropped to the ground in an alley and sighed. “Here,” he said, yanking off his haori. “Wrap the kit up in that.”

 

Kagome did, absently realizing what InuYasha wasn't telling her. They had reached the area of town where they had no choice but to walk the rest of the way to Sesshoumaru's home, and while he was hidden by the fang necklace Leikizu had given him, Shippou was not . . . .

 

Leading her down the alley and onto the sidewalk, InuYasha moved as quickly as he dared without drawing undue attention from other pedestrians. A few turned to stare—probably because of his silver hair—but no one bothered them as they pushed through the wrought iron gates and ran up the sidewalk to Sesshoumaru's door. `No one notices that I'm covered with blood?' she wondered in a distracted sort of way as the daze of merciful shock cushioned her from the reality of her loss.

 

As before, InuYasha didn't knock as he threw his body against the door. It slammed open as he started bellowing for his brother despite the scolding that came from Sesshoumaru's butler. InuYasha pushed the butler aside and yelled louder.

 

Nibori stepped out of the living room with a concerned frown. He stopped short, gaping at Kagome. “Blood?” he questioned.

 

“Where's Sesshoumaru?” InuYasha demanded.

 

Nibori led the way to the study and lifted his hand to knock. InuYasha shoved him aside and pummeled that door, too.

 

“I see I'm going to have to give you lessons on etiquette,” Sesshoumaru remarked dryly but frowned as he glanced up from the computer. “You reek of death . . . .”

 

Before InuYasha could say anything, Kagome brushed past him and ran over to the tai-youkai. “Please,” she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes again as she held out Shippou's tiny body. “Please . . . .”

 

Sesshoumaru's gaze narrowed as he slowly stood and rounded his desk. Lifting the haori that wrapped the kitsune, he stared without changing his expression. Golden eyes flicked coolly to stare at his half-brother. “Did you not receive my warning?”

 

“I got it,” InuYasha growled. “By the time we got through the well . . . .” He drew a deep breath, looking away as he swallowed hard. His eyes locked with Sesshoumaru's again, and he straightened his back proudly. “Would you save him?”

 

Sesshoumaru grew pensive as he dropped the edge of the haori and wandered to the windows behind the desk. He stared outside for long moments before turning back to face them once more, stuffing his hand into his pocket, his gaze contemplating, ironic. “Some lives aren't meant to be saved, InuYasha. Surely you know this better than anyone.”

 

InuYasha stepped up beside Kagome as she choked back a sob. She turned to him, burying her face against his chest as InuYasha gritted his teeth in an effort to keep from losing what was left of his temper. “Shippou wasn't supposed to die or you wouldn't have sent Katosan.” Sesshoumaru didn't confirm or deny his brother's assessment. InuYasha sighed. “Please, Sesshoumaru.”

 

Sesshoumaru shrugged. “Why should I do this?” he asked simply.

 

InuYasha clenched his teeth together so tightly his jaw hurt. “Because,” he ground out, “our old man would have done it. You know he would have.”

 

A wry smile, a vague stare, a moment of pain that was no more than a fleeting thought passed over Sesshoumaru's features. As though he knew something that he never wanted to divulge, he stared at the room beyond Kagome and InuYasha, as though he was seeing something distant, something past.

 

“I'm not asking you for me,” InuYasha rasped out, locking eyes with his stoic half-brother. “I'm asking for Shippou because you're the only one who can. Please save him.”

 

He shook his head slowly as he stared at InuYasha. “I could,” he agreed slowly. “The question is if I will.”

 

 

 

 

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A/N:

 

You know there's something wrong when people are more upset at the idea of Shippou being off-ed than they are at the idea that InuYasha was kissing the wrong girl… LoL!

 

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Chronicles): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~