InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kotone ❯ The Demons and The River ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Author’s Note: Yo, I’m gonna start getting serious now. -laughs-

Disclaimer: Inu Yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I mean, if it belonged to me I’d have let Sesshomaru and Inuyasha pummel Narraku a long time ago...

Kotone

Chapter Six

The Demons and The River

Kotone sighed as she watched the heavy rain from the hallowed tree she and Rin had found for cover. It had begun shortly before morning, and the dark clouds blocked out the morning sun. Rin stood before her, letting Kotone braid her long dark hair as she sang her Lord Sesshomaru song.

Kotone sighed, shaking her head at her but didn’t ask her to stop, if the little girl wanted to sing she wouldn’t stop her. Then, as she finished the braid, she felt something very foreboding coming from the forest behind the tree they were sitting in.

Rin tensed feeling the forest shake and she turned around her wide eyes looked to Kotone in fear. Kotone blinked, smelling inu blood in the air and quickly wrapped an arm around Rin’s middle. Suddenly, though she had thought she had more time, the tree where they had taken cover from the rain began to crack. Kotone shifted, pushing hard on her feet while holding tightly to Rin. She launched herself from the tree just as it was smashed to pieces under the fist of a huge demon.

Rin squeaked in fear, her small hands quickly gripping Kotone’s kimono as the kitsune turned towards the demon. She barred her fangs at it threateningly, at the same time looking for an escape route. The demon wavered, raising it’s hand slowly as it looked around, then spotting her it took a step forwards.

Kotone sniffed the air again, and felt her stomach churn. The demon seemed to be rotting, then thing, she realized was dead. She held tight to Rin, trying not to think about the heavy rain pelting them as the demon corpse approached, raising it’s massive fist in the air.

“Kitsune, move!” came the deep demanding voice of the taiyoukai. Kotone blinked, looking up as something glinted in the air above her. She leapt backwards and narrowly missed being split in two by a large curved blade with a chain attached to the hilt.

“Lord Sesshomaru!” Rin cried, seeing the inu come out from the tree tops, after a smaller human looking demon holding the end of the chain. Kotone, watched the demon jerk the chain, pulling the blade back towards him. She sensed something to her right and, without looking to see what it was, ducked, covering Rin’s head with a hand. The larger demon’s fist flew by over her head, and she scrambled forwards, towards the trees where she could taken better cover from the larger demon.

“Jaken, go with Rin.” Kotone heard Sesshomaru say, she chanced a look over her shoulder and saw the little green imp hurriedly following after them. She turned her attention to the shaking girl in her arms and gritted her teeth, they’d go to the river and cross, it would slow down the large demon she knew was following her, she could let Rin down then, let her run to safety and she’d finish of the corpse with her fox fire.

“Where do you think you’re going?” roared the demon with the blade, Kotone gasped as the demon appeared in front of her, twisting it’s chain. Kotone tensed, sensing the other demon behind her. She could feel it’s heavy fist coming down at her through the air.

“Fox Fire!” She screamed throwing out a hand, as she did a wave of red hot fire was sent towards the smaller demon, and she moved forwards, following behind the safety of her flames. Rin whimpered and Kotone clutched her close.

“When we get to the river,” she said, whispering to Rin. “I will let you down, run and hide until the demons are gone.” She felt Rin nodded and with a deep breath she ran forwards, through her fox fire and past the small demon.

She easily parted the flames so Rin would be unscathed, and, using the smaller demon’s shock against him she sprinted past making it to the clearing around the river in a few short moments.

Kotone skidded to a stop, staring in horror at the river, the heavy rains seemed to have made the calm river from the day before rage with renewed life. Her heart fell and she doubted she could cross it safely with Rin.

There was crashing behind her in the forest and she moved towards the river, turning her back on it to face the demons coming through. She then spotted a group of rocks not far from the river and let Rin down.

“Go hide in behind those rocks,” she urged and Rin ran off, stumbling on her wobbly legs. Kotone followed after her, keeping herself halfway between Rin and the forest.

“Bitch!” growled the smaller demon as he came from the forest just as Rin disappeared behind a large rock. She saw with satisfaction that his face had been badly burned and smirked, turning her body to face him.

The crashing in the forest continued on, and she felt the earth quake beneath her feet, guessing that the large demon was striking at the ground she payed no attention to it. The smaller demon whipped the chain of his blade, sending it towards her.

She dodged it, finding that it was easier to move without Rin’s added weight, or worrying about the gil in her arms. She flicked her wrist at him, creating a ball of flame that shot towards the demon. He ran to the left, towards the river, and Kotone followed.
The quaking under her feet seemed to intensify and, as the small demon stopped and swung his chain again, she moved slightly, to avoid the blade and raised her arm to cast more fire. Then, before she could speak she heard a short, muffled scream as crashing waves of the river suddenly hit the large rocks where Rin had been hiding. Kotone’s blood ran cold as she tore her eyes from the advancing demon, and caught sight of a small hand in the river before a wave crashed down on it and swept the small girl down stream.

Kotone turned, to try and save her, when she felt the crescent blade pass by her. The chain caught her outstretched arm an wrapped around it. Kotone cried out as the demon jerked back on the chain, pulling her to the ground. She twisted her wrist and took hold of the chain, not to try and pull it back, but to melt it in her hand.

She cast her fox fire, and the flames followed the line of the chain back to the demon, he gave a surprised howl as the flames caught him before he could escape, but Kotone didn’t bother to stay and see if the demon was dead. The part of the chain in her hand melted and she pushed herself back up, ignoring the burning sensation where the hot metal had burned her hand and wrist.

She followed the river, vaguely aware of Sesshomaru as he came bursting out of the forest. Her eyes searched the surface as she ran, and she breathed out a sigh of fleeting relief when she saw Rin caught between a rock and a large tree trunk that stretched across the river. The current, she could see was dragging her down, back under and she quickly ran forwards, pushing hard against the shore line as she launched herself into the air towards Rin.

She landed just as Rin was swept under, and she plunged her hand into the river, grasping at the girls arm. She caught her wrist and pulled, hauling the girl back out of the river.

She held her close, feeling her labored breathing against her cheek. It was a miracle the small child was even alive, she leaned her back, finding the girl’s heavy lidded eyes struggling to stay open. There was a wound at the side of her head, bleeding but not too badly. She seemed otherwise unhurt but exhausted, probably from trying to fight the current.

She saw Sesshomaru coming towards them and stood, cradling Rin in her arms. The taiyoukai she could see, had lost the expressionless coolness that he often expressed, and was glaring at her vehemently.

She frowned as he landed not far from where she stood with Rin, and she had to admire the grace with which he landed. She blinked as something came flinging from the waves a few feet downstream from them, she barely had time to throw Rin forwards, into Sesshomaru as a metal chain wrapped around her neck and pulled her off the trunk, into the river.

The intitial shock of hitting the water racked her body so badly that she opened her mouth to cry out, not that she could, the chain was wrapped tightly around her neck, effectively choking her. She fought to cast her fox fire, but found herself unable to do so under the river’s current.
Kotone cringed when the chain around her neck suddenly pulled hard against the rivers current and she felt herself being dragged out of the river, against the current. She was hauled out in short jerking bursts, out of the river, and into the air to hang by the chain.

She raised her hands to the chain, caught hold of it and started to cast her fox fire. There was another jerk on the chain, she started to fall, as she heard something screaming before it crashed into the river. Then her eyes widened in painful surprise when the chain went taut again and she was pulled upwards.

Her eyes were beginning to blacken as she saw a wet, and blood stained taiyoukai before her, holding the chain that was still wrapped around her neck in one hand. She still hung before him, he was holding her out over the river, away from the large branch where he was standing.

She blinked her darkening eyes, seeing him sneer at her just before her body gave out.