InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Double Vision ❯ Chapter 43 ( Chapter 42 )

Miroku could not find Rin anywhere in the village. He knew she had been seeking out the solitude of Onigumo’s cave when caring for his and Mayuki’s children became too overwhelming for her. He would let her be, for a while at least. Miroku knew what it was like to need time alone. Maybe some quiet and meditation would help her deal with the hand fate had dealt for her. Rin did not return in time for dinner, and still had not turned up when it was time for breakfast in the morning. Miroku made the trek to Onigumo’s cave, but she was not there and snow had obscured any tracks she might have left.

Inutaisho felt a prickling of awareness rush over him, a sensation he had not felt in over a fortnight. Kagome! Not being able to detect her whereabouts had made him very uneasy. He knew she could not have passed from the earth in any conventional way without him being told about it. His servants in hell were well aware of his interest in the little priestess. He had begun to worry that she had been claimed by the kami. It would not be the first time they had thwarted him in such a manner. He raised his nose to the breeze, feeling as if he should be able to catch her warm scent on the cold, snowy air. He scoffed at his flight of fancy. He knew she was far away, but she would be by his side soon, very soon. He glanced over at Sango. They had continued to travel east, and were a day away from Fudo. He considered his options. He could not assume that Sango would be loyal to him, not yet. If he took her with him when he went to retrieve Kagome, she would be an unpredictable wild card. If he left her behind in Fudo, well cared for and pampered, he could persuade Kagome to accompany him to be reunited with the slayer, whom he knew she regarded as a sister. He assumed Inuyasha and Miroku had already been dealt with. He had known Amaya for what seemed like a thousand years, and though he had never met Bankotsu or Jakotsu, the two mercenaries had come highly recommended by their comrade, Renkotsu. The innkeeper had proven his reliability as his agent and go-between. “Sango, I have some business that needs to be taken care of. There is a good-sized town up ahead, with a comfortable inn and hot spring.” He handed her a purse, heavy with coin. “Take a few days to relax and regain your strength. I will seek out information about Kagome while I am gone, and when I return, we will find her together.” Sango accepted the purse, and continued eastward toward Fudo. Inutaisho regretted that he could no longer change into his true form, he missed running wild across the countryside as a giant, white dog. But he could summon an energy orb. With a crack like thunder, he shot away westward in a blazing ball of red light.

Rin lay on a sleeping mat, covered with blankets. She was cold to the bone and shaking. She felt terrible. Master Ungai’s female servant knelt by her side, chaffing her hands, trying to warm them. “Lady Kagome, my master says you must have had some of the demon’s blood inside you. You are suffering the effects of his purification. But you should be better soon.” Rin gritted her teeth, and nodded her head. At least the baby was gone.

Three days later, she did feel better, though she was weak. Ungai had been avoiding her, but now that the blood had ceased to seep from between her legs, he came to her room and knelt by the side of her pallet. “I know you feel weak now. The demon blood running through your veins gave you a false sense of strength and well-being, but you are better off without it.” Rin nodded bravely. “You will once again be the pure priestess you were always meant to be, before that animal led you astray.” He picked up Rin’s hand and held it to his lips. “It is my hope that you will choose to stay with us, my dear Kagome, and aid us in our fight against monsters such as the one who misused you.” Rin was relieved when a loud crash and shouting from outside interrupted his speech. Ungai ran out of the room to investigate the uproar. Rin quickly got up and gathered her belongings. She would make good use of the disturbance to escape from the temple. She had no intentions of staying with Master Ungai.

Inutaisho was refused entrance at the front gates of the town. Ungai’s acolytes formed a well-trained militia which guarded the town well, and demons were most definitely not welcome.

The demon lord smelled Kagome’s blood coming from inside the fortified walls of the town. There was no way he would lose her now! He rushed the gate, holding his great sword to the side as he used his shoulder as a battering ram. The town was uncommonly well defended. The guards at the gate were dressed in the brown and saffron robes of an order of monks dedicated to the eradication of demons, so he felt no regret when he decapitated two, and cut off the arm of another. Archers and warrior monks armed with pikes had been alerted, and arrows rained on Inutaisho from battlements built into the walls of the town. Arrows protruded from his body. He had incurred what would otherwise have been mortal wounds from pikes and swords wielded by the town’s defenders, but they had no effect on him as he slashed his way toward a large temple, the source of the scent of Kagome’s blood. The weapons of man could have no effect on Inutaisho in his present form.

Inutaisho stormed his way into the temple, severing limbs and decapitating more of the fighting monks at every turn, and fought his way into a ceremonial room containing a raised dais and basin carved from stone. Here the scent of Kagome’s blood mixed with the remnants of purifying magic were strong. Though his sense of smell was nowhere near as good as it had been when he was alive, he could tell that she had lost a hanyou pup, which he knew must have been Inuyasha’s. The little priestess was not present. He continued on to a sleeping chamber, where she had obviously lay for several days, bleeding. The monks had stopped coming. The few who had not been felled by his sword had no doubt fled. He was alone in the temple. Kagome was nowhere to be found. He concluded that either she had been led away or she had managed to escape on her own when he attacked the temple.