InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ My Ice ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the anime/manga series “Inuyasha”. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.

 

More graphic violence. Lots of deaths including murder of children.

 

550 years Before the Search for the Jewel Shards

 

Chapter Seven: My Ice

 

If ever there was day that haunts me, this is it. Not only did I lose my mother and little sister, I lost Kaiyoshinju and myself. I now regret what I became and the gulf that formed between her and me. I have always been left wondering “what if” ever since that fateful, horrific day. I don't think we were ever able to bridge that gap completely.

-Sesshomaru

 

“Good grief. If you fuss anymore, people are going to start thinking you're the father,” said Kaiyoshinju while dragging the baffled Sesshomaru down the hall. She didn't even pause when she called over her shoulder, “Lady Ginhana, I'm taking big-brother-to-be out for some fresh air, is that alright?”

 

Ginhana chuckled into her wrist and waved her hand at the pair. “Please do. I can't stand fussy men, why do you think Kenhoshi found urgent business elsewhere. Just keep it cool and I'll see you later.” Some of the handmaidens began to chuckle and Sesshomaru went rigid in shock. Kaiyoshinju's overzealous pulling almost dragged the dog demon off his feet.

 

“Will do!” chimed Kaiyoshinju with a sly smile and a wave. Then she pulled Sesshomaru closer to her and whispered, “Of course she knows about us, she's your mother after all.”

 

“I thought we were careful,” muttered Sesshomaru, still embarrassed by Ginhana's veiled order. The maids could have just been laughing at her comment about his father, but his mother's statement was clear.

 

“We were, that's the only reason why the court's tongues haven't starting wagging with their tails,” said Kaiyoshinju. The two stepped onto the ramparts, many of the more experienced warriors were with his father battling the panther tribe. The guards of the castle were the younger, inexperienced warriors, many of them Sesshomaru's friends. Everyone knew the castle, deep within the sheltered lands of the tenko, would never come under serious attack. Not if those powerful enough to cause harm were dealt with long before they reached it.

 

The guards glanced over when the pair came out, but one look from Kaiyoshinju made them completely forget they were there. The dragon hanyou turned toward the forest beyond the no-man zone around the outside of the castle. “Come on, let's go!” she said as she stepped toward the edge.

 

“Go? Go where?” asked Sesshomaru, eyeing her. Groaning in disgust, she shoved the dog demon over the edge then jumped after him, the sounds of strangled laughter following them.

 

**********************

 

Ginhana stared after Sesshomaru and Kaiyoshinju until they vanished around a corner, then her smile turned to a grimace. Her hand ran across her swollen form when another painful contraction occurred. She hissed then moaned as the pain subsided.

 

“My lady, are you alright?” asked one of her handmaidens. All five gazed at her in concern.

 

“It would seem we no longer need to wait,” she said then gasped as another contraction took hold. The women leapt into action and escorted the laboring Lady of the West to the birthing room.

 

***********************

 

Outside the castle several men stood, weapons ready. “The guard seems light,” said Hiroshi as he gazed upon the huge castle.

 

“Good, that will make it easier to exterminate this nest of demons,” said Einishi. He grinned then looked back at his comrades. He saw fear but also determination in their eyes and felt pride welling up in him. They were all true demon slayers, ready to fight demons and even ready die should that be their fate. “We will attack at full force and break through their defenses. Let none escape the death they've earned!” His men cheered and he grinned again then turned back to the castle.

 

Hiroshi could only stare straight ahead. `Earned? How so? Why do I have this feeling that what we are doing is wrong?'

 

He didn't have much more time to ponder before Einishi gave the order to charge then everything was chaos. The guards on the ramparts never knew what hit them when a pair of haraikotsu smashed through them sending their bodies crashing the courtyard within. A man with a great mace destroyed the gate and the group of slayers rushed the building, finishing off any guard who were not already dead.

 

Hiroshi, less enthusiastic, trailed behind as Einishi led the charge. Inside was even more chaotic. Some of the men rushed upstairs to cut off escape over the ramparts while others pushed forward. More surprised guards fell beneath the speed of the slayers and their weapons.

 

Further in they came across women, some tried to fight but a blast of the slayers' poisonous powder forced them back. Hiroshi, who was guarding the hallway leading to the courtyard entrance, could still hear the screams of women and children. Screams that were steadily becoming fewer.

 

He felt sick and could barely hold his chain scythe. “This is all wrong!” he whispered then he saw movement before him. A small girl wearing a pale blue kimono with cherry blossoms patterned all over it was running toward him. The stripes on her face and her long pale hair marked her as a demon resident. Hiroshi raised his scythe just as she spotted him and froze. Her blood red eyes were wide and her body trembled. The young demon slayer froze, the girl reminded him of his little sister back home.

 

Unable to bear it anymore, he dropped his scythe and said, “Go!” The girl stared at him in disbelief. Growling, he motioned her by and said, “Go!” The girl fled past him.

 

Decision made, for better or for worse, Hiroshi kicked the chain scythe further down the hall, sat down against the wall, crossed his arms and pretended to be asleep. He heard more footsteps approach him, heard their hesitation, then their rapid passing as the person ran by. People, however, were still screaming and dying somewhere within the castle and Hiroshi shed tears for those who could not be saved.

 

********************

 

A handmaiden burst into the room and cried, “We are being attacked, Lady Ginhana, slaughtered!”

 

Ginhana sat up panting, the birth having taken its toll. Two young girls looked up from where they were drying the newborn, fear painted across their faces. “What of the guards?” one of them asked.

 

“Dead! All of them!” replied the handmaiden.

 

Ginhana struggled to her feet and said in a soft voice, “Take the infant and escape while you can.”

 

“My lady!”

 

“I'll hold them here.”

 

The women looked horrified and gasped, “You can't fight as you are. You're too weak from the birth!”

 

“Take as many as you can. There is an exit further up, behind the wall painting.” She looked up and saw none were moving and snapped, “The more time you waste, the less people there are to save!”

 

One of the girls and two of the handmaidens raced out of the hall while the other wrapped the baby in a blanket. They heard people running by the entryway. The girl got up with the baby and the handmaiden who had entered took up her glaive and hurried to the shoji to escort the girl and newborn out.

 

Just as she touched the screen, a spear tore through it and impaled her. She fell to the floor lifeless, blood pooling around her. The girl retreated behind the two remaining handmaidens and Lady Ginhana, the baby beginning to cry.

 

Einishi stood in the entryway and looked upon the small group and grinned. He was soaked in the blood of his victims and his eyes were filled with madness. He stepped in and the two handmaidens attacked, slashing at him with their claws. He sidestepped one struck the other, gutting her with his knife. He ducked the second's next attack and sliced upward, cutting her from right hip to left shoulder. Blood gushed from the wound and the woman staggered back.

 

Einishi was about to finish her off, when Ginhana jumped him driving her poisonous claws into his back. He whipped around and smashed his elbow into her face. She fell back stunned then the surviving handmaiden attacked, but her claws slid off his armor. He turned and jabbed the knife between her ribs. Spinning to face the weakened Ginhana, he drew his sword. As she struggled to regain her feet his sword came around and sliced through her neck. Her head fell to the ground followed by her body.

 

The girl stared in horror. If the battle had not been taking place in front of the entrance she would have fled then. Einishi turned his attention to the girl and the crying infant. She backed up to the wall and looked directly into his mad eyes.

 

“Don't do this, please!” she begged as he approached her. “Don't kill us!” He raised his sword as she held the infant tighter to her. “Have mercy!” she screamed then the sword descended and silence reigned.

 

Staggering back, Einishi grabbed his urn from his belt and drank the antidote to the poison Ginhana had injected him with. One of his comrades ran into the room, looked around at the carnage then said, “There is no one left in the castle. You're injured!” The man stared at the bleeding hole in Einishi's back.

 

“That bitch was a tough one,” said Einishi gesturing toward the headless corpse. “I'll be taking her head as a trophy. Now gather the men, it is time we cleaned ourselves up and celebrate our victory at a town.”

 

“Yes, Lord Einishi, but there is a problem,” the man said and hesitated. Einishi nodded for him to continue. Gulping, the man finished, “Hiroshi has disappeared. Nobody has seen him since the beginning of the battle. We can't even find a body.”

 

“Coward. His loss,” said Einishi. “Gather the head and let's go.” The man nodded as Einishi limped out of the room.

 

*********************

 

Hiroshi had abandoned his chain scythe at the castle and now that he had reclaimed his ordinary clothes, he was burning his demon slayer outfit. He stared at the fire as the fabric and scales turned black and shriveled in the fire's heat.

 

`I will never return to the village. I can't ever be a demon slayer again,' he thought and cried. He cried not for himself and his lost way of life. He cried for what his cowardice had allowed to happen.

 

After hearing all the screams and the footfall of the people running by him he had decided to abandon his comrades. He would never be able to face them without seeing that girl's terrified eyes and knowing there were several more that had not escaped their swords. He knew in his heart that he could never be with them again. His soul couldn't stomach it.

 

When the fire burned down to smoldering ashes, he got up and, without looking back, walked deeper into the forest to forge his new life, alone.

 

*********************

 

Kaiyoshinju and Sesshomaru were sitting quietly by a forest stream enjoying the dappled shading of the trees when the wind carried to them a terrifying scent. “Blood, dog blood,” whispered Kaiyoshinju. “A lot of blood.”

 

“The castle!” cried Sesshomaru and both of them raced back toward the castle. The scent grew stronger with each passing moment, until the air itself seemed to bleed.

 

The pair broke through the trees and saw the ruined gates and the bodies within. Sesshomaru ran up to his friend, Yoshiro, and turned him over. Wide, sightless eyes and blue lips proved his death. Kaiyoshinju found the same to be true with the others; they were all dead.

 

Horrified, they ran inside and found the carnage to be worse. The smell of death nearly overwhelmed the two demons. Blood covered every hall. It stained the walls, pooled on the floor; they were even splatters on the ceiling. Worse still were the bodies; some looked like they had been running away. Peering into rooms produced a greater horror. Children, some partly concealed behind decoration, lay motionless in crimson pools.

 

“Mother,” gasped Sesshomaru and ran upstairs.

 

“Wait, Sesshomaru!” called Kaiyoshinju, running after him, fearing what he would find if he investigated any further.

 

Clearing another flight he smelled his mother's blood and ran down the hall shouting for her; Kaiyoshinju a step behind. He saw the smashed shoji and stopped at the entrance. All he could do was stare at the scene beyond. The dragon hanyou couldn't see over him, but she could tell it was bad.

 

“Sesshomaru,” she whispered and touched his shoulder. The touch compelled him to move and he stepped forward then knelt beside his mother's headless body. He held her to his chest, oblivious to the blood soaking his kimono and hakama.

 

“Why?” he whispered. Kaiyoshinju now looked upon the carnage and spotted another nightmare made real. She walked toward the body of the girl and the bundled form that lay next to her. The girl's eyes were wide open and it didn't take the dragon hanyou even a moment to realize she had been staring into her killer's eyes. As she knelt next to the girl, she saw a tiny fist peeking out of the bundle. Heart pounding but needing to know, Kaiyoshinju turned the tiny form over. A small face peered back and on its forehead was a purple, waning crescent moon. Pulling open the fabric revealed the fatal wound.

 

`They were killed at the same time… the girl and the infant,' she thought, her mind numb. She pulled the cloth back further and saw the child was a girl.

 

“Is nothing sacred to these fiends?” she whispered, her voice dead.

 

“I have the scent of the one who killed her,” said Sesshomaru in a soft voice that even she had a hard time hearing. Kaiyoshinju turned toward him. He was standing and had his back to her and his mother's body. “Mother injured him before she died; his blood is on her claws.” Kaiyoshinju put down the infant and stood up staring at him, waiting on his next move.

 

Sesshomaru still didn't turn around and he continued to speak in that nearly impossible to hear voice. “That bastard took her head as a trophy, no doubt. I'm going to kill him… him and every one of those bastards who did this.”

 

He finally turned toward her and she saw his eyes glowed red. The shock of the tragedy had left her numb and she had yet to feel anything including alarm at Sesshomaru's demonic display. The rational part of her mind, however, knew they needed to take revenge for the dead. They had to find and kill those who had massacred the castle residents.

 

Sesshomaru began walking and Kaiyoshinju followed. Part way down the stairs they began to jog and when they hit the gates they were running. They raced through the forest, pausing only at a clearing where the murderers had stopped to clean up before continuing. They soon found themselves on the edge of a prosperous town. They stopped at the forest edge and stared at it.

 

“So they thought to hide themselves among other humans,” said Sesshomaru, once more speaking in the quiet tone. “With the man's injury and my mother's head, though, there is no place to hide.”

 

They both ran forward and jumped across roof tops as they searched for the elusive scent. They found them at a large brothel. Kaiyoshinju and Sesshomaru could smell the sake even from outside. Sesshomaru could also smell both Ginhana and her killer.

 

Blood burning, he gave a feral howl then charged into the complex; Kaiyoshinju a step behind him. The slayers who had won by surprise were now the ones surprised. Sesshomaru slashed through several on his entrance. Prostitutes screamed and fled the room.

 

“Where are you?” growled Sesshomaru as he scanned the room with blood eyes and turquoise irises. Einishi stared in disbelief at the enraged dog demon. Then Sesshomaru caught his scent and whirled. “You! You did it!” He charged forward as Einishi struggled to get to his spear. The demon slayer kicked a table up and Sesshomaru smashed it to pieces. In the small delay it provided, Einishi ran to the front where their weapons were held.

 

Other demon slayers rushed to aid their leader but the expressionless Kaiyoshinju struck them down with her staff. Einishi grabbed his weapons then jumped outside to avoid Sesshomaru's next assault. The dog demon's fury tore the entrance apart. Samurai of the town raced forward then stopped short when they saw what they were facing.

 

“What are you waiting for?” shouted Einishi when he saw the samurai's hesitation. “Kill him!” He then jumped to the side to avoid Sesshomaru's energy whip then backward to escape his poisonous claws.

 

“Why is one of the dog tribe attacking?” one samurai asked as he stared at the battle.

 

“Has he gone mad? Should we help the slayer or not?” questioned another.

 

“Aid at your own peril,” said Kaiyoshinju from the entrance, in her arms she held a round bundle. “This is vengeance.” The samurai backed away rather than interfere.

 

Einishi stared at what appeared to him to be a priestess and he saw she was holding the head of the demon bitch he had slain. “What are you woman that you would let a demon kill a human?” Einishi demanded.

 

“You were the one who massacred an entire castle,” she said, her expression still neutral, her heart still numb. “You chose your fate.”

 

“Damn you!” Einishi shouted, but his distraction cost him. Sesshomaru sliced off his head as he screamed at Kaiyoshinju. With the other slayers dead or incapacitated and Einishi slain, the dragon hanyou thought it was over.

 

She was wrong. Sesshomaru was mad with grief and Einishi's death did nothing to quell the fire burning within him. He turned his attention on the surrounding samurai. The samurai backed away in fear when his demonic gaze fell on them. Growling, he charged.

 

Men scattered before him and Kaiyoshinju gasped in surprise. Placing the head on the ground she ran forward. As Sesshomaru bore down on one hapless man who had tripped, Kaiyoshinju jumped between him and the samurai. His claws collided with her staff and they stared at each other.

 

“Stay your hand, these men are not responsible,” she said in a calm voice.

 

“Be silent you half human wretch,” he yelled, his eyes filled with hatred. She blinked but that was the only reaction she could muster at that moment. “You are as guilty as they are for this,” he roared and slashed at her with his other hand. Poisonous claws sliced her shoulder open.

 

Grimacing, she realized Sesshomaru was beyond words. “So be it,” she said and jumped at him. She danced underneath his claws and pinned him to her body with her staff, his back pressing against her front. She then struck him with all the purification power she possessed.

 

Her demon power retreated in the face of her spiritual power, her violet eyes turned black and her ears rounded, otherwise she remained unaffected. Sesshomaru, however, screamed as the purifying energy flooded his body. She held on and continued until she felt him slipping away then released him.

 

Sesshomaru staggered forward and fell to his knees, gasping for air. His eyes were their normal color again but when he looked back they were still filled with hatred. He stood up and stumbled forward, leaving the town and Kaiyoshinju behind.

 

“My lady, you are injured,” said one of the samurai.

 

“It's nothing I can't survive. Please go inside and tie up those men who were not killed. They have much to answer for. Also send a message bird to the tenko and tell them of this incident and that they are needed here,” said Kaiyoshinju without looking away from the place where Sesshomaru had disappeared into the forest.

 

******************

 

In the morning, the first of the tenko arrived. He was an older dog hanyou and, judging by the color of his kimono, one of the fire discipline. Wrinkles lined the sides of his emerald eyes and he kept his long brown hair tied back in a samurai ponytail. He looked at the damaged brothel and took in the sight of the tied up demon slayers lining the wall before approaching her.

 

“What happened here?” he asked.

 

“These men attacked and massacred Lord Kenhoshi's castle. They even killed Lady Ginhana and her newborn daughter,” she replied, her voice still devoid of emotion. She then felt a comforting hand on her shoulder and she turned to face him. His eyes were filled with worry and concern for her. “They took her head, I have it right here,” she said and picked up the bundle.

 

“We'll make sure she returns to the castle and Lord Kenhoshi. Lord Rei will be arriving shortly. He can handle everything from here; you need to rest and to sort out your own feelings.” The sound of many horses approaching filled the still air and the two hanyou looked back. “Speak of the devil.”

 

The old hanyou turned away from Kaiyoshinju and headed toward the riders. The lord had gray streaking through his black hair and was dressed in a blue outfit, a water tenko. He stepped forward and greeted the old hanyou, Kakiboufuu. The fire tenko quickly explained the situation to his lord. Rei's face twisted with rage and lightning crawled up his arms and legs. He stormed over to the restrained men, glared at them then looked down at their confiscated weapons.

 

“Demon slayers!” he barked, appalled. “We let you wander our lands and this is what you do? You massacre an entire castle? You murder children? Newborns?” The men shifted uncomfortably under his burning gaze. They had enough brains to realize that telling him the castle occupants were demons wouldn't change his opinion on the matter; it would only make the situation worse.

 

“No more will you be given such freedom,” the tenko lord said then turned to his vassals. “Spread the word, the demon slayers have just forfeited their rights to roam within our borders. Find every slayer within our realm and drive them out, exile them! Any who dare to enter these realms after this day, shall be killed!” He turned back to the slayers and said with sneer, “You will have your fates determined by Kenhoshi when he returns.” He looked up at his vassals and the townsmen. “Make sure they stay alive until he passes judgment on them. Now go!”

 

As Kaiyoshinju watched the tenko and samurai race to do Lord Rei's bidding she saw again the headless body of Ginhana, the lifeless form of the unnamed infant, and the hate-filled eyes of Sesshomaru. Then she felt something slide down her cheek and a great weight began to crush her heart. Grief filled her with despair and she collapsed into a sobbing heap on the ground.

 

`Nothing will ever be right again!'

 

****************

 

Chapter Eight: Death of a Legend

 

Inuyasha, confused and frightened, flees his grandfather. Meanwhile Jounochi realizes Sagara's intentions, but is he enough to destroy him?

 

****************

 

I felt Hiroshi needed closure as well as this whole terrible mess. I don't know where Hiroshi came from. He just sort of appeared as began to write the slayer's assault on the castle. If you find Hiroshi and Kohaku both possessing chain scythe too much of a coincidence. Well… *bats eyes innocently*

 

I warned you of chapter imbalance. Next one won't be quite as long but it will be longer than the previous chapter as we rush forward to Inuyasha's time again.

 

Again if you find that this story may be underrated due to the graphic nature of these scenes please tell me and I'll correct the rating and the description.