InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fireside Chats ❯ Part Thirteen: Fire and Ice ( Chapter 13 )

Update: A few clarifications added, adjusted some grammatical inconsistencies and streamlined the punctuation.

Kiniromaru wasted no time attacking Inuyasha. She didn't even bother to be amazed by her new body. Fully transformed as he was, Inuyasha wasn't able to strategize a bit, and fell victim to her feints and dodge. So far the great golden mare was just using brute strength. But Kagome noticed that where the horse stepped, the grass covering the ground seemed to wither or grow brittle.

"Sweet Buddha, if we don't do something, he's going to get his ass handed to him on a platter, sufficiently violated!" Miroku ground his jaws in frustration.

Sango and Kagome looked at him askance. "Say what?"

"Nevermind that! We've got to do something!"

"Get down, everyone," Shippo said, pulling out a few little firecrackers from his vest. "I'll throw some fire at the bugs."

"Great idea, Shippo! Kagome, you get Tetsusaiga to Inuyasha. If he stays like this, she'll kill him!" Sango grabbed a hank of Kirara's fur. "I'll try to distract the horse if we can just get away from these bugs."

Shippo hopped a bit to gain some height. Kagome ducked down, holding Tetsusaiga over her shoulders.

"FOX FIRE!" the kitsune screamed, throwing his firecrackers simultaneously and lighting them. The saimyosho scattered quickly. Kagome bolted forward, focused on Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Listen to me!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she hurtled toward the battling youkai. She saw Inuyasha's right ear twitch in response to her shouts. Good, he could hear her. Maybe the Sit command would still work.

"INUYASHA! SIT, BOY!"

WHAM! he went face first into the trail dirt. The spirit-horse snorted and shied in surprise.

Inuyasha pushed himself up out of the dirt and turned to her. The red eyes and purple stripes had gone away. He was back to normal.

"Inuyasha! Here!" she tossed Tetsusaiga through the air to him. He reached up and caught the sheath of the sword, his other hand grasping Tetsusaiga's hilt and drawing it forth.

"Kiniromaru, our deal is off. I can't compete with you when you're ten times my size. Kagome, take cover. This could get damned ugly."

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango, aboard Kirara, hurled the battered boomerang through the air, striking Kiniromaru in the flank. The mare screamed in outrage and launched skyward. As she arched through the air, her eyes became a cold red shade.

The mare opened her mouth, a pair of wicked serpent-like fangs swinging forth.

"What the fuck!" Inuyasha leaped away as the fangs spurted forth a blue liquid that quickly turned silver and solidified. "Ice! She's spitting ice! Everyone get clear of her!"

"She's been freezing the ground wherever she steps ever since she transformed," Miroku said as he pulled a few sutras from within his robes, swatting wasps away with his staff as he aimed the sutras at Kiniromaru.

"Those aren't going to work," Sango said desperately. "Sutras don't work on taiyoukai!"

"They'll slow her down, I think."

"I don't think she's going to feel it!"

"Do I have any other options, Sango?! I can't exactly open the Wind Tunnel!"

Shippo was just barely holding off the saimyosho with his Fox-fire, when a blaze of fire scored in from the left. Shippo just barely got out of the way of the red-hot jettison of fire blazing forward and cutting a huge swath through the saimyosho. In response, the mare reared and slammed her front hooves onto the earth. The ground began to buckle and turn black.

"So this is the source of the taint," a voice said from just beyond sight. "What is she doing still alive?"

Inuyasha snatched Kagome up as Kiniromaru pawed through the air and nearly flattened her. "Oh, fuck, I'm so sick of meeting up with him!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I just heard Sesshomaru."

The demon lord emerged from the forest with Tokijin in his hand. He looked calm from a distance, but his eyes betrayed his irritation. Next to him, Jaken stood holding up the Staff of Two Heads, which was emitting a fine arc of fire.

"What the hell are you doing here, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha growled

"I was following a demonic taint in the land that seems to be bringing winter too quickly. I see that it is that mare that's causing it, but she smells like Kiniromaru, who should be dead."

"You missed," Inuyasha snarled. "You poisoned her but you didn't bother to finish her off."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. "I pierced her heart with venomous claws. If that is not 'finishing her off' then I don't need to do that under any other circumstance."

"Naraku got his claws into her," Miroku interrupted before the brothers could start fighting each other. "She's now got two tainted Jewel shards."

"I see. That must be what's causing the taint. She's got a familiarity with ice and now that she's got Shikon fragments, she's turning it all against the land. Well, I shall remedy that. Jaken, I suggest you move." The demon lord's eyes widened slightly and he drew forth a swirl of wind from the earth at his feet. His eyes grew red and a red aura engulfed him.

"What's going on?" Miroku turned to Inuyasha.

The hanyou didn't mince words, giving the monk a violent shove. "Run, you fucking idiot! He's transforming!"

Kiniromaru visibly quailed when Sesshomaru emerged from the cloud of transformation.

"Holy Buddha, he's enormous!" Miroku breathed as the white taiyoukai dog stepped forward with a lumpy three-legged gait. The golden mare, who was actually smaller than the white dog, backed away, her posture that of fear.

"The lack of a front leg isn't hindering him at all," Sango observed. "Unbelievable. The loss of a limb hasn't slowed him down a bit!"

"What do you expect? He is related to me," Inuyasha scoffed. "Not that I care about that..."

Sesshomaru reared back on his hind legs and swiped at Kiniromaru with his right paw. The mare ducked and dodged, but crashed into the trees. She wasn't used to her size, unlike Sesshomaru, who was perfectly aware of his limitations when in this form.

Suddenly, a flash of magenta streaked across the area, grazing Kiniromaru in the chest. The mare screamed in pain and collapsed with a mighty crash. Sesshomaru backed away, looking perplexed. He illuminated and contracted, returning to his humanoid form.

"That was a purifying arrow," Sango said. "And if Kagome didn't shoot it..."

"Don't kill her, Inuyasha," Kikyo called from where she'd emerged from the forest. "I fired that arrow deliberately to miss, to graze her with its aura only, to knock her back and reverse her transformation."

"I'm not the one you should be telling this to anyway," Inuyasha snapped. "Try commanding Sesshomaru."

The demon lord ignored Inuyasha's taunts and knelt where he stood, brushing his hand across the tainted earth. "Damn her, poisoning my land." His voice was calm, but his words were angry.

"What are you talking about?" Inuyasha's left ear twitched in confusion.

"Kiniromaru has been tainting the land with her hatred. Perhaps not deliberately, but she has done so nonetheless." Sesshomaru stood up. "Well, she is no longer doing it. I am finished here. We are leaving, Jaken."

"Hold it, Sesshomaru! Why are you here? Why do you keep showing up, and then not finishing off your opponents?"

"I am the ruler of this land; I am its protector. Think of it this way, Inuyasha. Why did our esteemed father battle a dragon like Ryukotsusei? It has to do with protecting what is entrusted to you. Stopping the taint is the goal, not destroying the enemy." With that, Sesshomaru left.

Kagome knelt by the unconscious Kiniromaru, who had reverted to her human-like form as well. Her chest was burned from the aura of Kikyo's sacred arrow, but the Jewel shards remained within her heart.

"Don't kill her," Kikyo instructed. "Leave the Jewel shards in her, too. Take her somewhere and let her recover."

"Are you insane? Have you finally gone mad? She's already mostly dead."

Kikyo gave Inuyasha a disgusted look. "Don't ask questions. I have my reasons."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't put her out of her misery!"

"Because there is something strange about the larger shard. It is behaving strangely. Listen to me, Inuyasha. Shikon shards shouldn't possess healing powers, but one of those shards is indeed trying to heal the damage. I want Kagome to observe Kiniromaru as she recovers. If there is something about that larger Shard that can heal its host, I need to know about it. I can use that against Naraku. I will now go back into hiding. Naraku is still after me. I will return in a month's time."

"Kikyo!" The priestess had vanished before Inuyasha could grab her and restrain her. "Damn her! Damn her for interfering!"

"We've got to try to help Kiniromaru," Kagome said. "She's kind of right about one thing - had you not interfered with her battle with Sesshomaru, she wouldn't be where she is now. And if Kikyo's right and the Jewel shard is behaving weirdly, it could be a clue to destroying Naraku. We're right here outside Sango's village. What's the harm of trying to help her?"

"She hasn't exactly been charitable towards us," Miroku pointed out. "She won't thank us for our help."

"He's right," Sango agreed.

Inuyasha sheathed Tetsusaiga. "If Sesshomaru wanted her dead, she'd be dead. He must have an agenda with her too." He crouched down beside Kiniromaru, who was still unconscious. "Well, okay, but if she's suffering, you guys have to let me put her out of it. It's not fair to make an animal -- or demon -- suffer when they want nothing more than to die and get it over with." He hoisted Kiniromaru up onto his back. "Let's go, Sango. I'm hungry and this damned hole in my gut is starting to itch."

last updated: August 28, 2005