InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ Sayonara Kakiboufuu ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimer:  I don’t own Inuyasha, Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga Inuyasha.  Rumiko Takahashi does.  I do own all OC’s in this story and there are quite a few of them.   Chapter Sixteen:  Sayonara Kakiboufuu   179 years Before the Search for the Jewel Shards   I’d lost so much already.  He may not have been the man who sired me, but in all matters but blood he was my father.  And perhaps, if he hadn’t been my teacher, I would have called him that.  I wish I had… just once. -Inuyasha   Blazing white light filled the path, the forest and the sky.  Everywhere villagers stopped, crying in distress and covering their eyes in a vain attempt to protect them; the light passed through eyelids and fingers to slash at sensitive retinas.  Blinking star spots from his vision, Inuyasha froze as a curious sensation passed over him.  His ears twitched to a sound just beneath comprehension; a chill racing down his spine.   ‘What was that?’ the hanyou wondered.   “Inuyasha!”  He turned toward the voice of his mentor.  Kakiboufuu gazed at his student, his emerald eyes grim and sorrowful.  “Lead the people to Sanshaku no Hinansho.”   “The Sanctuary?  That place hasn’t been used in more than a thousand years,” said the young hanyou, puzzled.   “The enchantments should still exist.  It was created by our ancestors to be a haven in times of trouble,” said Kakiboufuu, turning to look down the path, longing filling his eyes.  “Their power will not have failed.  It will still protect those within.”  He turned back to the young hanyou.  “You will lead them there while I hold the enemy back here.”   “That’s crazy!” cried Inuyasha.  “You can’t win!  You’ve seen it!  There’s something back there that-”   “I know!” snapped Kakiboufuu.  “This isn’t about winning.  It’s about saving as many as possible.  I will die, but if that’s what it means to save you and all these people then so be it.  That is what it means to be tenko!”   “There has to be another solution,” started the young hanyou.  Kakiboufuu leapt forward and backhanded him hard enough to cause Inuyasha to stagger.  Inuyasha stared at his mentor in shock.  Kakiboufuu never resorted to physical violence like this.   “Haven’t you figured it out yet?” demanded the old hanyou, green eyes flashing.  He gripped his student’s arms and stared into Inuyasha’s terrified golden eyes.  “We’re at war!  And in war no matter what decision you make people are going to die.  A decision may cost many their lives now, but if it saves more people in the future it may be the right decision.  Right now, we can only save as many as we can.  You who have your whole life ahead of you, you can offer far more than me.  I have lived many centuries.  My life is over.  I’m the one who should stay behind.”   Inuyasha shook his head in denial, but the words would not come.  He couldn’t argue emotions against logic.  Kakiboufuu smiled, his eyes glittering with unspoken understanding.  The young hanyou pulled away and ran toward the staring villagers.  He didn’t dare look back as he herded the people further up the path.   888888888888   “What on earth did that bitch do?” hissed the female hanyou as she rubbed her eyes.  The samurai and tenko around her were similarly trying to clear their vision.  Once most of the group could see again they started forward.  ‘That fool, Noriko!  What is she doing over there?’   The men at the point yelled then vanished in a ball of flames.  Several more fireballs exploded engulfing the lead samurai.  Warriors scrambled back, falling behind the hanyou.  Tenko ran forward, but she raised her hand to stop them.   “Don’t race forward to your deaths,” she said staring into the smoke before them.  “He’s waiting for us.”  She blew and the smoke parted revealing the path and the old hanyou beyond.  He stood clad in red, his gray hair pulled high into a ponytail, but strands had escaped the twine’s grip and hung down by his cheeks.  Ash and dirt stained his kimono and face, accenting the wrinkles across his brow and beneath his emerald eyes; only they remained bright.  He panted heavily and sweat dripped off his chin.  Glancing beyond the old hanyou, she noticed the road was empty.   “Buying time to save the villagers,” she said, a smile of contempt marring her beautiful features.  She tossed her waist-length raven hair and met his emerald gaze with her scarlet one.  “You’re too old for such games, now, Kakiboufuu.  You’re at your limit.  Your heroism will only cost you your life and it won’t save them.”   “I’m not surprised to find you out of your hole, Yamibi,” said Kakiboufuu, raising his hands to launch another spell.  “You’re the true devil, rearing your head every time some upstart causes trouble and turning it into a generation long war for your own amusement.”   “It’s hardly just for entertainment.  This time I might actually achieve my true aim.  Then what comes will come, and I won’t look back,” she said, her body dropping into a fighting crouch.   “I’ve chased you for the better part of my life.  To end it today would make it all worth while,” whispered the old hanyou.   “I’ll be happy to end this, though, you will go unrewarded to the other side,” Yamibi said with a laugh.   “Hmphf.”  He smiled.  ‘You think so, Yamibi.  I’ve already passed on my duties to another.  I place all my hopes in him.  Spirits of this ancient world look after him and guide his course to victory against these devils!’  He slashed the air sending wheels of blue fire spinning toward the dark, smiling woman before him.   ‘Old warrior, you would never have been worth my time if you had been the type to surrender when defeat was inevitable,’ she thought, batting away the rings of azure flame.  ‘I will ensure that you feel no pain when you pass from this life.’   888888888888   On the ridge above and well away from Kakiboufuu’s last stand, Inuyasha paused as the wind shifted bringing with it the scent of death and his mentor.  He glanced back at the burning woods.   “Lord Inuyasha, what’s wrong?” one of the villagers asked, the group hesitating.   “Nothing,” he replied in a whisper.  “We must keep moving, the enemy is not far away.”  As the villagers started walking again, he placed his fingertips on his forehead, drew them down his face then curved the hand out until it was palm up, parallel to his heart.  “Sayonara… Kakiboufuu.”  He turned away and followed the retreating villagers to Sanshaku no Hinansho.   8888888888   On a steep, narrow switch-back leading to the abandoned sanctuary a group of children staggered upward.   “Are they following us?” asked a boy, bleeding from a cut on his cheek and an arrow in his shoulder.   “I think they are,” replied a girl as she peered over the edge of the switch-back.  “They want these treasures badly.”   “Why did we take them with us then?” asked another boy between sobs.   “Baka!  That’s why we had to take them,” snapped an older girl.  Blood dripped from a gash on her leg; she was forced to lean against the cliff to walk or even stand.  “We have to guard these treasures.  Who knows what they will do with them once they have them.”   “The scared treasures can bring great harm in the wrong hands, that’s why the temple exists.  Even if it means our lives we can’t let them be used for evil,” said the oldest of the group, a young man.  His white kimono stained scarlet from three broken arrows in his back. Using his bow as a cane, he hobbled along; a young girl held his quiver.  Only two arrows remained.   “Worse is the fact that some of them were created by evil to do evil,” added a young woman.  She leaned on a bow; her left arm and leg were useless, arrows having pierced her shoulder, elbow, knee, and heel.   “Sanshaku no Hinansho isn’t too much further,” said another girl.  She carried a blood-stained wakizashi.  “We can make it!”   “Will we really be safe there, Keiko?” asked a girl, blood dripping down her arm.  Blazing white light filled the area and the children screamed in pain.   “What happened?  I can’t see!”   “Don’t move until you can!” cried the young man.  The children huddled against the cliff until the light diminished.   “What happened?  Was it them?” asked a child.   “I don’t think so,” said the young woman.  “It seemed to come from far away.”   “Something bad is happening elsewhere?!” squeaked another child.   Keiko glanced out toward the land beyond.  ‘It felt like… death?  I felt people die?  No, I felt someone cry… a heart shattering?  What was it I felt?’   “Keiko, hurry and start moving, the enemy would have been equally hindered,” said the young woman.  Keiko nodded.  “Everyone keep one hand on the cliff beside you and watch the back of the person before you,” the woman said to the others.   “Hai!” they replied.   ‘Hate?  Sorrow?  What rode the light just now?’ she wondered as she climbed faster up the trail.   88888888888888   Preview Chapter Seventeen:  On Wings of Starlight   Alone, Sesshomaru stands little chance against the equally classed Noriko and her five brothers until Naomi and Kenmaru arrive to the fight to outer space.   888888888888   Inuyokai no Shiro: Dog Demon Castle
Hanyou: Half-demon
Sanshaku no Hiransho: Mountain Stone Sanctuary
Sayonara: Farewell
Baka: Stupid, fool, idiot
Hai: Yes, right

I chose to use "baka" and "hai" because they sound more natural in those moments than the english translation. Though, I will not use them constantly.

I've also decided to refrain from naming characters unless 1) I have no choice or 2) they have some importance to the story whether that be in living or dying. I'm having to come up with too many authentic names as it is.   Daiymono Taisho here is your update!   ShortPoet, where are you?!   For that matter, where are the rest of you?!