InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ How Do We Learn to Love the Ones We Hate? ❯ Fire to Ice, Sword to Fang, Blade to Claw, Heart to Hate ( Chapter 17 )

Disclaimer: I own absolutely no characters created by Rumiko Takahashi; as much as I wish I was brilliant enough to come up with these characters, but I did not. This goes for everything but the ideas. A lot are spin-offs of different ideas in the story, but others are completely off the charts for weirdness and/or are not related to Takahashi's work at all.

 

Fire to Ice, Sword to Fang, Blade to Claw, Heart to Hate

 

Kagome gritted her teeth as her power began to swell, almost out of her control, but she managed to keep it in the `O' circling around her spinning naginata.

 

Kikyo snarled again, throwing her arms out, swords pointed away from her. She began spinning them both in her hands as Kagome was doing, a ring of fire forming around each as she spun the twin blades.

 

How is she so advanced?! Kikyo growled. She's barely had her powers a few days! I'm going to have to put an end to this now.

 

Kikyo spun her twin swords as fast as they could go without shattering, and immediately slashed at Kagome, the rings of fire shooting off of her blades and rocketing as balls of fire at Kagome.

 

Kagome growled with the force of the attack, but turned her blades to ice and slashed through the fireballs. Kikyo shrieked in rage and charged her.

 

Kagome lifted her naginata over her head, not letting it slow. She grabbed one end of her naginata abruptly and spun herself, swings the ice around her, and as she had hoped, it crystallized the ground around her and swept across the charred grass, freezing the ground Kikyo had burned into small sparkling, ice-blue grass and rocks.

 

Kikyo barred her teeth and spun herself again, the fire tornado whirling and mixing with the already powerful storm of flames.

 

“You're through.” Kikyo hissed and dug her feet into the ground, whirling herself in a spin the opposite direction as fast as she had before. The fire tornado and firestorm collided as they tried to halt to spin the other way with Kikyo. Kagome's eyes went wide and she found herself stumbling back at the raging storm before her, that had smashed and merged to create a whirling, burning hurricane of flame, brimstone and smoke that burned Kagome's eyes and choked her.

 

“Kagome!” Inuyasha yelled, charging into the clearing with Ranma right behind him, in his hands, a sword in the shape of an enormous fang.

 

“Inuyasha!” she called back, halting the icing-over of the ground that she had caused, only realizing now that she had almost incased all of her friends and family in ice as she wasn't paying attention to how far or fast it traveled.

 

Kikyo swore. She couldn't win now, not with Kagome, and Inuyasha and that boy. They were nothing one on one to her, but all together…

 

“Kagome! We will have to finish this now!” she yelled, the swords morphing into a bow and arrow faster than she could blink. She aimed it straight for Kagome's heart and released he arrow burning with spiritual fire. Kagome screamed and slashed, managing to catch the tail end of the arrow and freezing it, the ice shattering it as it was a half an inch from piercing her chest..

 

That was too close. She breathed. If she had been a millisecond later, she would've received an arrow through a lung, not to mention her early death.

 

“Kagome!” Inuyasha yelled, slashing through the fire and ice with the new sword.

 

Bankotsu appeared out of nowhere in front of Inuyasha, and Inuyasha was forced to slam his heels into the ground to stop, or be sliced in half by the enormous blade that Bankotsu was wielding one-handed. He swung with the Tetsusaiga and the two blades connected in a shower of sparks.

 

Bankotsu tsked. “Seems like I'll have to get involved, I was hoping that you wouldn't interfere long enough for my sister to kill Kagome, but it seems like I'll get to have my fun now.” He grinned wickedly and whistled.

 

At first there was nothing, but then, Inuyasha heard it, the sound of clanking metal. And then voices, and then human breathing.

 

“Inuyasha, run!” Sango screamed, finally catching up to them with Miroku. “It's the Band of Seven! Bankotsu's their leader!”

 

“The Band of Seven?” Inuyasha repeated, having heard nothing of this so-called Band of Seven.

 

“No.” Lady Higurashi moaned, staggering back.

 

“Lady Higurashi!” Ayame lunged and caught her as she passed out, meanwhile, Shippo was the only thing keeping the shikigami from crushing Koga's neck. He had his claws in it and was able to pull it back enough that Koga could barely breathe.

 

Meanwhile, the Nerima wrecking crew was freaked out of their fool minds, most of them being unable to move from the shock of the battle. They had all been through battles this rough before, but not battles where people were actually trying to wipe their opponent off the face of the earth.

 

“Listen Pigtails!” Inuyasha barked at Ranma, who was standing by his side, not the least bit shocked by the huge weapons because of other people's stupidly huge fighting instruments. *Cough* Ukyo's spatula *cough* Shampoo's bonbori *cough* Akane's mallet.

 

“Scram, I don't know who you are and I don't care, but this is no place for any human, so get lost!” he ordered, trying to get the upper hand in the matched grappling with Bankotsu.

 

“But---!” Ranma began, worried about everyone's lives.

 

“I said move!” Inuyasha roared, and Ranma reluctantly nodded, racing back to his friends and fiancés.

 

“Let's go!” he yelled, grabbing Akane's hand and running. The untouched part of the palace, or that creepy place where Inuyasha or whatever his name was found the sword, we can hide there!

 

“Ranma-honey!”

“Airen!”

“Shampoo!”

“Akane!”

 

Needless to say, Ranma's bold move of trying to save Akane over the others started an uproar, and soon every human was charging to the castle, whether running or running to kill.

 

Rin ran up to Shippo's side and began yanking on the snake too, worried that he and Koga would be purified if they didn't get out of there in time.

 

“Rin, run!” Shippo yelled, yanking harder on the snake.

 

“Not until you do!” she screamed back.

 

“Move!” Miroku yelled, running up to the two and pulling six sutras from his robes.

 

“Be careful!” Ayame pressed her hand over her mouth, trying to hold up Lady Higurashi while she did. Purifying sutras could kill a demon if they were vulnerable enough, and Koga was on the line of death as it was.

 

“Demon be gone!” Miroku yelled, pressing the sutras to the snake's head as soon as Shippo had moved his hands.

 

Tsubaki screamed with rage as the snake writhed and suddenly melted into white, papery glue. Naraku's eyes narrowed, but he smirked as he was finally able to hear Ginkotsu, finally,

close enough to taste.

 

Kagome ducked under another arrow. Good, the humans are gone, but the Band of Seven are coming here, now! I have to help Inuyasha! She turned to run, but screamed in pain as an arrow went right through her shoulder, reminding her that she would be killed if she went anywhere.

 

“Turn and face me Kagome! Midoriko would be ashamed if she knew that one of her heirs was a coward who ran from fights! Midoriko didn't run from anything!” Kikyo roared. By now, her fires were barely remaining because of Kagome's ice, and she was pissed off.

 

Kagome morphed her naginata into a bow and aimed, her eyes training to the right as something exploded in the distance, and whatever exploded was flying right at her.

 

Kagome screamed and disintegrated her bow in time to raise a shield before a… cannonball knocked her flying back, still in her shield, at least a hundred feet.

 

“Kagome!” Inuyasha yelled, but Bankotsu was in his way again.

 

“You aren't going anywhere!” Bankotsu laughed menacingly.

 

“Ginkotsu!” Kikyo screamed in rage, his hand clenched into a fist as she faced where the attack had come from. “I don't give a damn what you do to the others, but she's mine!”

 

Everyone looked up at the metal monster, the living metal monster that was clanking towards them, one enormous ogre demon walking behind him, and four other humans on its back.

 

“Temper is high Kikyo, as always.” The one with the scarf on his head mocked, and swiveled the cannon on the metal monster's back toward the group over by the edge of the demolished half of the castle, where Koga was coming out of his unconsciousness after being choked for who knows how long. He laughed and yanked on the cord, firing another cannonball at them.

 

“Look out!” Rin screamed, calling the attack to everyone's attention. Shippo grabbed Rin and Miroku, leaping over the attack while Koga managed to get his footing in time to grab Sango and dive out of the way.

 

Koga coughed and forced himself to his feet while Miroku ran to Sango's side. “And who the hell are you?” Koga spat, he voice sounding like it was being dragged over sandpaper.

 

“Tsk. These times are terrible if they haven't even heard of the Band of Seven.” The one with the scarf shook his head, pulling a small gourd off of his belt and uncorking it. “I am Renkotsu, and these are my brothers, Suikotsu, Jakotsu, Mukotsu, Ginkotsu and Kyokotsu.”

 

Kagome moaned and pushed herself up on her elbows, her head spinning from the force of her landing. She would've been sent back another eighty feet if she hadn't hit that tree, but the collision on her spin made her more dizzy than she had been when waking up from the drug that Kikyo had put her under. She tried to see, to find the faces of the Band of Seven, but the world was spinning so much, that when she tried to push herself to her feet, she ended up seeing that she was walking on the sky, and then the tree next to her, the ground, the tree, the sky, ground, tree, sky and fell backwards, her head cracking on a rock as she collided with the earth.

 

Inuyasha swore. Kagome was not doing good in the slightest, and he was stuck over here with this damn Bankotsu while Kikyo advanced on her.

 

Kagome felt the steady flow of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, not dripping, flowing, and she could feel that her arms were spread out from her body, because the strain it put on her upper arm was almost painful enough to make her move to end the pain. She could also tell that her leg was seriously messed up, because she couldn't feel it, and that was never a good sign.

 

Kagome tried to shriek as Kikyo's face appeared above her, but she couldn't find her voice, and her eyes were spinning in her sockets, so she was unable to find the ground even though she was laying flat on her back on the cold dirt.

 

Kikyo humphed, leaping out of Kagome's line of view as Ayame jumped in. Kagome saw them grappling above her, and Ayame's blood spatter all over the ground and Kagome as Kikyo formed her twin blades out of nowhere and came very close to slicing off Ayame's arm.

 

Kagome closed her eyes as her hearing went, hoping to save her energy for her sight for as long as she could. She forced open her eyes and forced herself to watch whatever she was lucky to see because it was right above her.

 

Ayame was right above her face, saying something that Kagome couldn't hear, and Koga had recovered and was fighting off that… what was his name? … that Renkotsu, while trying to keep Kikyo from getting to Kagome.

 

Kagome wanted to scream for them to stop, she wanted to run, and draw Kikyo off, so that no demon would have to take the risk of fighting her she was too dangerous.

 

No, please run! You'll be purified and she won't even bat an eyelash! You… have to run. Please… you… have to… not for me…… don't wait…… don't…………… stay.

 

XXX

 

“I think she's going to be fine.”

 

Kagome groaned at how loud the voice was, despite the fact that it was barely above a whisper.

 

“Kagome?”

 

“Can you hear us?”

 

“Are you awake?”

 

“I hope we don't have to pay for anything medical.”

 

Kagome's brow furrowed. That last bit sounded like something that… Nabiki would say.

 

“Kagome?”

 

That was Ukyo, touching her forehead, which hurt like the devil had kissed her there.

 

“Ouch.” She croaked out, her eyes cracking open.

 

Kasumi was hovering above her, along with Akane, and Ukyo. Shampoo, Ranma, Mousse, and Ryoga were standing out of the way in the background.

 

“Kagome, thank god.” Lady Higurashi pushed through the people crowded around her, managing to sit in a chair by Kagome's head.

 

“How are you feeling?” She continued, setting a bowl of water down and talking a wet towel of it. She squeezed it to get rid of any excess water, and then draped it over Kagome's forehead.

 

“My head.” Kagome moaned, raising her hand to cover her eyes from the blinding light.

 

“You'll be fine dear.” Lady Higurashi leaned forward and kissed Kagome's cheek.

 

“What happened?” Kagome demanded, her voice jagged, letting her eyes stay closed.

 

Lady Higurashi paused. “Well, after you passed out---”

 

“I passed out?” Kagome shrieked, shooting up in what she realized was her bed. She doubled over in pain as her head whirled, and let whoever's hand they were on her shoulders lie her back down.

 

“It's ok honey, you took a very hard hit and rolled straight through a tree and into another one. The second one you hit is just barely still standing.” Lady Higurashi soothed.

 

“What about Kikyo? And Inuyasha?!” Kagome yelled, forcing her eyes open, doing her best to ignore the searing pain that was bursting behind them.

 

“Well sugar, after Ayame and Koga showed up to cover you, and you passed out, Kikyo split, saying something about waiting until you were awake to fight again.” Ukyo filled in, as Lady Higurashi had fainted from the scare of the Band of Seven returning.

 

“And Inuyasha?!” Kagome pressed harshly, not wanting them to spare her feelings by telling her slowly. “And what about Fukuhon---the um, copy of me.” she shook her head, realizing that she was probably the only one there who knew Fukuhon's name.

 

“The two wolf people took her down before protecting you from Kikyo, and Kikyo… sort of… created an explosion when she disappeared.” Akane said gently, trying not to work Kagome up.

 

“Blew everyone to the four corners of the map.” Nabiki clarified. “It was on purpose, but, we don't know where they are or if they survived.”

 

“So…” Kagome tried to breathe slowly, looking around for the one person she really needed to talk to. That… wasn't…… there.

 

“Um… where's Rin?” she looked around, craning to see above the heads of the Nerima wrecking crew.

 

“Who?” Shampoo asked, leaning forward.

 

“A girl, um, a side ponytail, hugely pregnant.” Kagome waved her hands around in an effort to show what she was talking about.

 

“Shampoo no see anyone pregnant, at all.” Shampoo shook her head, everyone else nodded in agreement, except Akane, who just looked at the ground.

 

“Then… where is she?” Kagome looked at each of them individually, but received only shrugs back.

 

Meanwhile, Takashi Forest

 

Rin heaved another huge breath and continued to pull herself forward. She had seriously hurt her knee and was unable to hop on one foot because of the weight of the baby, so was forced to drag herself on her side along the ground by her hands.

 

She knew. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew that Shippo was this way, and that was where she was going. He would be furious, but she had a good alibi, she didn't know where the hell she was, let alone how to get back to the castle.

 

She moaned. Good god her knee hurt, it hurt like it was being eaten slowly by something with acid saliva.

 

“Ignore it.” She ordered herself and dragged her nails in the dirt, pulling herself just a little bit closer to Shippo.

 

Meanwhile, One Mile Away

 

Shippo lunged, weaving around the claws to slash at Suikotsu's chest, but his armor kept him from getting injured at all. Suikotsu laughed and took advantage of how close Shippo had placed himself to attack again, slicing through Shippo's collar bone as he did.

 

Shippo tried to keep his breathing regular as he jumped away, but that was a big gash, and was bleeding very freely. His vision was starting to go.

 

“You aren't giving up already, I hope?” Suikotsu taunted, tightening the strings on his claws.

 

“Not at all.” Shippo smiled back, slashing out again with his talons. “Fox fire!” he yelled, charging forward.

 

Suikotsu growled and raised his hands to his eyes, charging with Shippo. All that anyone would have seen would be a blur of metal and claws surrounded in blue fire, with snarling and curses echoing throughout the forest.

 

Shippo braced his feet against Suikotsu's chest the second he saw an opening and kicked hard. He flipped himself back and landed in a crouch, watching Suikotsu as he smashed though a tree, to see how much damage he had issued.

 

Shippo struggled for breath and wiped away the blood dripping into his eyes from the large cut on his forehead that wouldn't stop bleeding. His eyes popped as Suikotsu stood again, not even injured by the blow, only his breathing was labored aside from the previous cuts Shippo had given him.

 

“You…” Shippo snarled, engulfing his claws in foxfire again.

 

“Coming at me again?” Suikotsu taunted. “You look like you're going to faint any second.”

 

“Shut up!” Shippo roared, lunging for him.

 

Meanwhile, Other End of the Takashi Forests

 

“Just us now.” Renkotsu laughed, holding the gourd up to his lips. Beside him, Jakotsu was scanning up and down Koga's form.

 

Jakotsu finally tsked. “I still think Inuyasha's cuter.” He sighed regretfully.

 

“Well Bankotsu's taking Inuyasha, so you better be happy with the wolf.” Renkotsu looked over his shoulder at his brother, tipping some of the contents into his mouth. He whipped his head to Koga and spit it out, fire spewing from his mouth.

 

“Whoops!” Koga yelped, jumping over the flames. He gasped as something slashed out of nowhere and sliced both of his legs. He grunted and landed, forcing himself to stay upright, so it wouldn't look like he was injured.

 

What's with that sword? He snarled. It moves and strikes like a snake!

 

“Don't turn your attention away from me!” Renkotsu laughed, strings shooting out from his fingertips and binding Koga's arms by his side. Koga dove to the side as Renkotsu blew more fire at him, but his movements were limited because he could only go so far from Renkotsu with the iron cords holding him there.

 

“Take that!” Jakotsu yelled, swinging his sword. It writhed and twisted on the ground, coming out of nowhere and nicking Koga's cheek, winding back around in half a second to slash at his shoulder.

 

“Whoa!” Koga yelled, jumping over and under it, weaving himself purposefully around the blade so that when it wove back, it would cut the wires on him.

 

You're mine---huh? He started and tripped as the blades that the wires had been wrapped around several times, wove back through the wires, and didn't even tip them.

 

“It wont be as easy as that!” Renkotsu laughed, pulling a hand cannon off his back and aiming it at Koga's head. He used his other hand to yank Koga forward the second he pulled the trigger and Jakotsu lashed out with his snake sword again.

 

Meanwhile, Another Edge of the Takashi Forest (As There are as Many as Needed for This Chapter)

 

“Monk, get behind the Hiraikotsu!” Sango screamed as steel bolts and spiked metal disks came shooting through the trees, slicing and dicing everything in their paths until they met with Sango's boomerang bone. Sango roared with the effort of keeping them back, but soon they spun away, mincing another pathway and returning to Ginkotsu back.

 

“GGGGGRRRRRHHHHHH!” he yelled, clanking forward like a tank. He aimed the twin cannons mounted on his shoulders and fires.

 

Miroku dove out from behind the Hiraikotsu and yanked the beads off of the cloth wrapped around his wrist.

 

“Monk!” Sango screamed. “Don't get out from behind my---!”

 

“Wind tunnel!” he yelled, throwing open his hand and aiming it right for Ginkotsu.

 

Sango screamed and thrust her Hiraikotsu into the ground, clinging to it for her life, the force of the… wind tunnel… being strong enough to tear a palace apart in seconds. Miroku closed it again the second the cannonballs had been sucked into the oblivion and pulled Sango into a thick grove of trees.

 

“What was that?!” she screamed, gasping when his hand covered her mouth, her being a little edgy from the power being so close to her and only blocked off by a thin piece of purple cloth and some beads.

 

Miroku removed his hand the second she had stopped screaming and looked at it, in a painful way that made Sango really worry. “That was my wind tunnel.” He said quietly. “It's a passage way to a fourth dimension, where nothing can return, or survive, once sucked there. It was give to my grandfather by Naraku, an was passed to my father, and now to me.”

 

“Naraku?! Why didn't you get rid of him earlier?!”

 

“When Kikyo kidnapped us. Kikyo knew just a little too much about it, and when I questioned her about it, she revealed that her father was the one who cursed my family. It really is a curse, it is directly connected to me, if it's fire, it will burn me to death, if it's poison, I'll most likely be poisoned to death if the poison is strong enough.”

 

“Directly connected?” Sango repeated, looking around as Ginkotsu's clanking grew closer.

 

“It killed my grandfather,” Miroku continued, “and father by sucking them into their own wind tunnel when it grew to big, and broke free of their hands. It will take me next, that's why I asked you to bear my child when I first met you. If I am killed before I can kill Naraku, then my son can continue the battle.”

 

“Don't say that!” Sango wailed, clutching his shocked shoulders.

 

“We will kill him, because if you can't, then I will die with you to save Kohaku!” she yelled, leaving no room for negotiation.

 

That's right, her brother. Miroku thought grimly. “Then we must kill him, because I cannot let you die.” He old her firmly, grasping the hand on his shoulder.

 

“Monk…” Sango said quietly, mostly in shock.

 

“Look out!” he yelled suddenly, throwing her back out of the way before ripping open his wind tunnel again. He managed to drag the cannonballs into the wind tunnel before closing it again. Sango prepared her boomerang bone as Ginkotsu smashed through the trees.

 

“Let me finish him!” Miroku called. “Wind tunnel!” he yelled again, tearing off the beads around the cloth.

 

Ginkotsu released a few more arms from beneath metal plates of armor and lodged them in the ground, but the wind was going to be too strong.

 

Sango almost cried in happiness. This monster was one step closer to killing Naraku.

 

“GGH, HEH, HEH!” Ginkotsu laughed suddenly, firing something red, and fiery hot, with smoke that made it almost impossible for Sango to see.

 

Poisoned fire! She realized in horror. He heard Miroku saying his weaknesses and… oh no.

 

“Monk! Close your wind tunnel!” she screamed, but he was unable to hear her over the roar of the cannons and the wind tunnel, and was unable to see the fire because of the endless wall of trees being sucked into his hand that were creating a barrier for Ginkotsu.

 

“MIROKU!” she screamed, lunging for him.

 

 

 

 

 

A Special Thanks To Quicksilver1142! I Hope This Ending Is Better, Thank You For Your Help!

 

Sorry for the wait! I hurt my wrist playing softball and haven't been typing my normal rate.

(That's an understatement, I've been typing at a pace that drives me up the god damn freaking wall every night!)

Sorry again!