InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kikyo's lonely journey ❯ Battles ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: Most of the characters in this story are the actual work of Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own them in any way.

 

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Chapter 14: Battles

 

"So tell me Inuyasha, now that your heart is finally settled, do you have any definite plans concerning Kagome-sama?" questioned Miroku conversationally.

 

"What the fuck are you talking about at a time like this?" snapped back the hanyou, shooting a disbelieving look at the monk.

 

"I just thought it would be a nice way to pass the time while waiting for the enemy to arrive," replied Miroku, unperturbed.

 

Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha let out a long sigh of discouragement before answering. "Well no, Kagome and I don't have any definite plans for the future. There. Happy now?" he growled irritably.

 

"That's really a shame. You two have wasted so much time already," sighed the monk.

 

"Look you pervert..." he began but never finished as Sango cut him in.

 

"Knock it off you two... they're here," she said, pointing to the woods in front of them.

 

And indeed, countless youkai began emerging from the forest and started lining up neatly, just out of range of their archers. The process continued on for several minutes until the army's four rows that were easily three times as wide as theirs were completely filled. Out of these four rows, a company of around forty detached itself and settled a little in the back. Even from here, it was easy to see that they were all armed with bows.

 

"Miroku. I hope your barrier holds because if these archers decide to start shooting, we'll be dead meat before the fight's even begun," mumbled the hanyou tensely.

 

"Do not concern yourself Inuyasha. It will deflect any projectile thrown at it without fail," replied the monk, though a bead of sweat trickled down his face.

 

Just then, a familiar shape emerged from the enemy ranks and advanced a few steps. "THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!" yelled Masahiro loudly. "HAND OVER KIKYO AND THE SENSOR KNOWN AS SUSUNE AND WE'LL SPARE YOUR PITIFUL VILLAGE!"

 

"GO TO HELL!" answered Inuyasha angrily while drawing the Tessaiga.

 

"THEN DIE!" he replied before motioning to his archers.

 

The archers promptly got into position and fired the first volley. The arrows flew up but, just as they were about to start their deathly descent, a blue wall sprung up and they all fell harmlessly to the ground. A series of relieved sigh could be heard from the men when they saw this. On the youkai side though, it was dumbfounded silence for a few seconds before Masahiro recovered and drew his weapon. He then launched himself forward with a piercing scream, signaling the beginning of the charge.

 

As soon as they were within range, the human archers began their work and youkai began falling under the humans' deadly rain. Inuyasha noted with satisfaction that Kagome's and Kikyo's purification arrows did a remarkable job in dispatching their enemies, though it was far from sufficient to stop them completely. Not wasting anymore time, he raised his sword high and with a loud "Kaze no kizu" he let loose an enormous wave of destructive energy that tore into their enemy's ranks.

 

Not waiting for them to recover, the hanyou launched himself into the opening, followed closely by Sango, Miroku and the other fifty villagers. Ignoring the army around him, the hanyou went straight for Masahiro who met his furious charge head on with a blade of his own.

 

"This is foolishness you know?" grunted the youkai while pushing the hanyou back. "You're both weaker and outnumbered, what do you hope to accomplish?"

 

"Shut up!" snapped Inuyasha while throwing back his opponent."We're not so weak as to be beaten by pathetic youkai like you!"

 

"We're all trained soldiers and you're mostly peasants," observed Masahiro while charging again. "You have absolutely no chance of winning this!"

 

"Then you obviously don't know humans as well as I do!" replied the hanyou while parrying yet another blow. "They may look weak to you, but when they have something to protect, their power increases tenfold!"

 

"Senseless talk," answered the youkai in a bored tone of voice. "I have better things to do than chat with you half-breed," he said before kicking Inuyasha in the stomach and hurrying past him.

 

"MASAHIRO YOU BASTARD! GET BACK HERE!" yelled Inuyasha, but before he could take off after him, his path was blocked by dozens of other youkais.

 

"Damn him, I'll get him for sure!" he growled before throwing himself at the nearest opponent.

 

Meanwhile, Sango and Miroku were fighting back to back, trying desperately to avoid being overrun by the mass of enemies rushing at them. Close to half of the villagers had already fallen prey to the youkai's ruthless attack and what remained was very gradually being swept away by the tide. Needless to say that the situation looked very grim indeed.

 

"Looks like your barrier wasn't enough to make us win, houshi-sama," said the demon slayer while slicing an opponent with her hiraikotsu.

 

"Do not be so pessimistic Sango my dear," replied the monk while beheading an enemy of his own. "We have not lost yet.

 

"Well, we haven't won either... not by a long shot," she answered back.

 

Out of the fray, Inuyasha suddenly emerged, his normally shiny hair was now matted with blood and gore and his sword was redder than it had ever been before. From another direction, Kirara showed up too, a youkai's head dangling from her mouth. Without realizing it, the four friends had ended up at the very same place and were now completely surrounded by their enemies.

 

"Pessimistic eh, houshi-sama?" hissed the demon slayer grimly.

 

"The situation is indeed rather dire," admitted the monk tensely.

 

"Shut the fuck up you two. We're not dead yet!" snarled the hanyou before raising his blood-stained Tessaiga high above his head. "Kaze no..." but he did not have time to finish because a movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

 

Hastily shifting his weight, he barely managed to deflect a dagger that would have ended up in his throat otherwise. Growling in anger, he lowered his weapon once more, though his whole body trembled in anticipation. "This isn't good, without the kaze no kizu, we have no chance of making our escape," he mused as the wall of opponents grew increasingly close to them.

 

But then, something strange happened, the advancing youkai started hovering. Puzzled as to what could have caused such a behavior, Inuyasha got his answer when one of the enemy surrounding them suddenly fell, impaled in the back by an arrow. Immediately, everyone turned around to see where the blow had come from and their jaws fell to the ground at what they saw.

 

Up the hill where the youkai archers had stood, there was now a group of about twenty villagers who were currently pummeling the back ranks with their arrows... and at the very front, urging everyone forward stood none other than...

 

"Susune?!" they all exclaimed at once.

 

There was no time for idle contemplation though because the youkai army was starting to recover from their surprise and part of the wave of enemies had broken from the main group in order to face this new threat.

 

"Oh no you don't! Kaze no kizu!" screamed Inuyasha when he saw the new motion.

 

At point-blank range like this, the blow was devastating for the enemy ranks. It tore into them and traveled all the length of their row, creating an enormous gap and quite effectively separating them into two distinct groups. Using this little lapse, Sango, Miroku and Kirara quickly dispatched what remained of their assailants before turning to the hanyou.

 

"Quickly Inuyasha, we have to prevent the front group from merging with the back group!" launched the demon slayer urgently.

 

"Right!" agreed the hanyou before launching himself forward.

 

He wasn't alone for long. Miroku and Sango along with Kirara and the remainder of the fifty humans that had stood before the wave were quickly running toward the enemy with him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Susune's group had also abandoned their bows and were rushing toward the rear enemy formation. And then, as if that wasn't enough, the last thing he spotted was a purification arrow coming from the village - the human archers had somehow survived the onslaught and were now using this opportunity to keep the army off balance.

 

And off balance the enemy was. Attacked both by the archers and Inuyasha's group, the front formation found itself quickly overwhelmed and unable to cope with the double-sided attacks. As for the rear group, it quickly learned what the term "ferocity" meant as the twenty humans led by a girl no older than ten was tearing into their ranks mercilessly, pushing them back despite their smaller numbers.

 

The final blow came when Susune's voice suddenly resounded on the battlefield, overpowering the noise of battle. "NOW! FORWARD! DON'T LET THEM REACH THE VILLAGE!" she screamed before launching herself at what remained of the front formation.

 

Inuyasha could hardly believe it. The group of around twenty humans or so had completely shattered the rear guard of the youkai army, nothing remained of it. And, despite their number having been cut easily in half, they were now rushing in the main battle with mighty yell that shook the very ground.

 

Already off balance, what remained of the youkai army finally buckled under the small but powerful human wave. Their advance stopped, their ranks broken, their numbers dwindling, their morale shattered, what was left of the enemy did the only logical thing it could do: they turned tail and ran for their lives.

 

An enormous clamor of victory then rose from the village. Panting and looking definitively the worst for wear, Inuyasha sheathed his Tessaiga and surveyed their handiwork.

 

"We... won," he said simply.

 

"It... sure looks... that way," commented Sango, popping up beside him, equally tired.

 

"This is... somehow... hard to believe," added Miroku.

 

"Inuyasha!" said a voice the hanyou recognized all too well.

 

Turning his head, he saw Kagome hurrying toward him, bow in hand. Her clothing was thorned in numerous places and she sported many cuts and bruises but otherwise, she looked okay... if maybe a little distressed.

 

"Kagome, what's..." he asked but trailed off.

 

"We have to hurry! It's Kikyo... she went off to duel Masahiro!" cut in the schoolgirl and suddenly, the sweet taste of victory turned sour in his mouth.

 

******

 

As the attack was launched and the enormous youkai army got within range, Kikyo started letting loose her first arrows. Though everyone hit the mark, it hardly made any difference due to the sheer number of enemies they were facing. At a point, she thought she could see Inuyasha and Masahiro battling each other, but she quickly put it out of her mind to focus instead on more pressing matters.

 

"Keep firing, don't let up!" she snapped firmly when she saw some of the villagers had begun to waver.

 

"That's right! We can't afford to let them reach our homes!" added the schoolgirl beside her. "If they pass through us, it's all over! So fire damnit! Fire away!"

 

"I didn't know you had developed a foul mouth Kagome," joked Kikyo while offing a nameless enemy with one of her arrows.

 

"I suppose Inuyasha's rubbing off on me," replied the schoolgirl with a grim smile as she too killed a youkai that had ventured a little too close for comfort.

 

And then, completely unexpectedly, Masahiro suddenly burst through the fray and jumped over their ranks, landing straight behind them. He was immediately met with two purification arrows, which he nimbly dodged by moving to the side.

 

"As fiery as ever I see," snidely retorted the youkai as lowered himself into a crouch, ready to attack.

 

"Stop!" ordered Kikyo abruptly.

 

"Kagome, you and the rest of the villagers handle the coming army... I'll handle him alone," she said.

 

"But Kikyo..." objected the schoolgirl.

 

"Kagome, please... understand," answered the miko before turning her attention to the waiting Masahiro.

 

"The village's square, that's where we'll fight," she spoke sharply.

 

"Have it your way, miko," answered the youkai before heading to the designated spot.

 

"So tell me Kikyo... why did you decide to face me alone?" asked Masahiro when they had taken their position.

 

"You could have decimated our archer group easily when you burst through, but you did not. That means that you're here for me and no one else," she explained.

 

"So you decided to give yourself to me willingly?" asked the youkai a bit puzzled.

 

"Giving myself up willingly? I merely brought us here so we could battle it out without being distracted," chuckled the miko while drawing an arrow from her quiver.

 

"You have me relieved," smiled her opponent darkly. "It's not very satisfying to have an opponent hand himself over without so much as a fight."

 

"By the way, I've found out about your little undead secret. I've doused my blade with a little side-product of our fuyouheki factory. If I so much as scratch you, it'll temporarily disrupt the magical field that keep the dead souls inside your body," he warned while leveling his sword at his opponent.

 

"So you can actually hurt me... interesting," complimented the miko while she took aim.

 

"Very interesting indeed," replied Masahiro right before he launched himself at Kikyo with inhuman speed.

 

Not having time to release her arrow, the miko did the only thing she could, she threw herself to the side and narrowly avoided getting impaled by her opponent's blade. Even though there was no direct contact, she felt the magic around her waver slightly before settling once again.

 

"He wasn't kidding," she mused as she came to a stop on her knees, her arrow poised to strike.

 

However, by the time she regained her bearing, her target had already moved to a different location, namely behind her. Hastily, she summoned up her powers and sent them bursting backward. She heard a satisfying yelp of both surprise and pain followed closely by a loud crashing sound, telling her in no uncertain term that her attack had connected. Standing back up, she turned around in time to see Masahiro emerge from a pile of rubble, coughing slightly from the dust.

 

"Not bad Kikyo, you have pretty sharp reflexes," complimented the youkai.

 

"You didn't really think it would be easy, did you?" she replied sardonically while letting loose her purification arrow.

 

Not really surprisingly, her opponent dodged it nimbly and rushed straight back at her. However, Kikyo had anticipated such an action and her bow was crackling with purification energy by the time she moved to the side to avoid being impaled. What she hadn't anticipated though was the youkai suddenly changing his course in response to her motion. As a result, the blade tore into her clothing and scratched her skin slightly just as she slammed her bow in his back, thus discharging her accumulated energy.

 

There was a double scream of pain from both Kikyo and Masahiro as the purification energy burned the youkai and the miko's dead souls began to escape from her body. The process lasted no more than a few seconds before they both collapsed on the ground, panting.

 

"You're... good... miko," complimented the youkai even as smoke billowed from his clothing.

 

"You're... not bad... yourself," shot back Kikyo as she tried to get back to her feet.

 

She hadn't really lost that many souls, only about a dozen or so. But it was enough to make her feel a difference. Her limbs felt both stiffer and heavier than before. Though it wasn't exactly by much, in a fight like this, where life and death was measured by a paper-thin margin, it could very well mark her demise.

 

Finally managing to right themselves, the two began circling each other wearily, looking for an opening. That's when something clicked in Kikyo's mind. Masahiro was obviously very skilled with his blade, but the two times he had attacked her, he had rushed forward in a clumsy, impaling strike.

 

"He wants to capture me alive, that's why he's trying to avoid damaging my body too much," she realized grimly. "He knows that if he lowers my supply of souls enough, I'll be rendered completely helpless."

 

Though it didn't change much of anything to the current situation, it did make the pattern of attack slightly easier to predict because she knew now how he would hit. Sure enough, after a complete circle, the youkai charged straight at her in the very same technique he had used before.

 

"You're getting predictable," she taunted as she jumped to the side, easily avoiding the attack.

 

Then, something impossible happened. The Masahiro she had just dodged suddenly disappeared into thin air. Her eyes widened in surprise and she turned, just in time to see her real opponent materialize before her.

 

"And you're getting over-confident," replied the youkai before bringing his sword down across her chest.

 

The blade bit shallowly into her skin as Masahiro, just as she had originally thought, merely wanted to capture her, not kill her. It was more than enough though to shatter her magical field. Within seconds, she felt the dead souls contained within her body escape one after the other in a huge flash of light. When her barrier finally did spring up again, she found herself to her knees and completely unable to move.

 

"H... how did you..." she whispered, feeling her vision go blurry.

 

"A shadow technique I learned a while back. It confuses the enemy with an image of myself," explained Masahiro with a satisfied smirk.

 

At that moment, a loud clamor resounded from the battlefield. "Well, looks like the battle's over Kikyo. I'm afraid that all your efforts were in vain after all," commented Masahiro almost regretfully.

 

Jumping on a nearby rooftop to admire his handiwork, his jaw fell to the floor when he saw what remained of his army fall back in total disarray. "Impossible! How can a bunch of peasants defeat an army three times its size!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

 

"I take it... that not everything went according to plan," chuckled Kikyo, obviously very amused by the current situation.

 

Jumping down from his perch, Masahiro grabbed the woman by the collar and hoisted her at eye-level. "Tell me where the sensor is! NOW!" he ordered frantically.

 

"What's the matter Masahiro? You look pale all of a sudden," taunted the woman, a dark smile appearing on her lips.

 

"Don't kid with me!" he snapped back. "If you don't tell me right now, I'll..."

 

"You'll do what? Kill me? I thought I was to be taken alive," laughed Kikyo.

 

With an inarticulate growl, the youkai let her drop unceremoniously to the ground, just as Inuyasha appeared, soaring through the air, the Tessaiga held high above his head.

 

"MOVE AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARD!" snarled the hanyou while bringing his weapon down in a mighty blow.

 

Masahiro barely had time to raise his own sword before the two blades connected in a shower of sparks. The two remained in a standoff for a few seconds before the youkai, in a remarkable show of strength, managed to push the angered hanyou away.

 

Seeing himself abruptly surrounded on all sides, Masahiro quickly came to a decision. Sheathing his blade, he fished a small glowing sphere from one of his pockets and moved right beside the immobilized Kikyo.

 

"You may have defeated my army today... but I will not leave this place empty-handed," he growled right before throwing the ball to the ground.

 

The village's square was instantly basked in a blinding light that forced all the people present to shield their eyes in order not to get blinded. When the glow vanished a few seconds later, both he and Kikyo were nowhere to be seen.

 

A heavy silence fell on the group as they kept staring at the space where their friend had been standing just a second before. Neither could believe that after having fought so hard, their enemy had still managed to get the better of them and kidnap her.

 

"This can't be..." said Inuyasha, his voice hardly above a whisper. "Kikyo..."

 

And then, his whole body began to tremble as a murderous rage began to overwhelm his senses. He clenched his hands so tight that blood could be seen trickling from his palms. Finally, he let loose a long, anguished howl filled with anger and hatred. A howl that resonated through the entire village and froze the blood of everyone who heard it.

 

"MAAAAASAAAAAHIIIIIIROOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"