InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Labyrinth ❯ Little Brother ( Chapter 11 )

  Chapter 11 *~*~*~*~* An-chan: A cute way of saying "Older Brother." It is a Japanese phrase I am including because it's a trait of Manten. *~*~*~*~*  "Run you stupid thing! Run!"  …Nothing.  Miroku gave a defeated sigh as the horse continued up the winding pathway at a slow, regular plod. Obviously, the beast was put out about having to run out of the city, and then climb up a rather large mountain. Impatiently, the priest sighed again. Kagome's life was in danger here, and Inuyasha had run off in what had tuned out to be the wrong direction. So it was up to him, the unassuming, modest, skilled, and above all, handsome monk, Miroku, to save the damsel in distress, thus becoming her night in shining armor.  …provided that he could get there this century. The only good thing about this slow pace was that it seemed to have calmed Shippo somewhat by taking all of the apparent urgency out of their task. Instead of crying, the cub was now sitting contently on the horse's head, half-heartedly trying to catch the flies that landed on the beast's ears. Miroku watched as the clouds moved over head, only to realize that even they seemed to be traveling faster than he was. Dammit he couldn't take this anymore!  "OI SHIPPO!, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT NOW!"  Shippo's head shot up and around while the monk reined the horse to a stop in the middle of a fair sized plateau, about a quarter of the way up the mountain. Turning in his seat, both companions were able to recognize a flash of silver and red, before it whipped past them, grabbed Shippo, and skid to a stop about fifty paces ahead. Inuyasha didn't even wait for the dust to settle before grabbing the cub by the tail and attempting to shake his brains out.  "You little bratt! Did you think you could actually get away with something like that? Huh? Was that supposed to be some kind of joke! Asshole I thought you were actually worried about Kagome! Stupid little twerp, brat, shit, useless weakling of a god beast!"  Luckily, Shippo had long ago lost track of what Inuyasha was saying, and was instead concentrating on keeping his breakfast in his stomach. Not an easy task when you're hanging upside down and being shaken by an angry half-demon. At this point Miroku stepped in and whacked Inuyasha with his staff. The hanyou immediately dropped Shippo to glare at Miroku in rage. Forgotten, the kitsune hit the ground, but only landed on his head, so he was okay.  "Oi Letch! What was that for!"  Miroku sighed, still seated upon the horse, and shook his head. "Inuyasha, we have already wasted precious time as it is. You can beat up Shippo as much as you like after we have rescued Kagome. For now I suggest we get…"  Inuyasha wasn't listening, as he had once again picked up Shippo by the tail and was now using the top of the fox's head as a punching bag. Miroku's eyebrow twitched with the monk's effort to maintain control, as he swung his staff again. This time Inuyasha didn't drop Shippo, but stopped his actions to rub his head and complain.  "What? You said I could beat him up as much as I wanted?"  The muscles in Miroku's jaw that twitched as well, and again Miroku swung his staff to bring it down on Inuyasha's head, only to have it caught by Inuyasha's hand.  "Oi! You swing that thing again, letch, and I'll start on you once I finish with the fox!"  "And while we stand here waiting, the thunder brothers may be 'finishing' with lady Kagome, or have you already forgotten her. Idiot, we don't have time for this! Lady Kagome may be dying as we speak!"  He spurred his horse, which actually listened, and was about to trot passed the half-god-beast, when Inuyasha suddenly blocked his way.  "Oi! Monk, Kagome is NOT dead. I'm her protector, and nothing's going to happen to her until I get there, so shut up!"  Miroku seethed, "Inuyasha, you're an idiot if you believe that the god beasts are going to wait for your arrival before harming Lady Kagome-"  "Asshole! Nothing's going to happen to Kagome! Got-"  Inuyasha was cut off rather suddenly when a blast of lightning struck the ground close to them. In the next second, Miroku's horse was bolting down the hill at top speed, with Miroku still on it of course, and Shippo had miraculously recovered from the beating he had received, and raced off screaming to find the nearest hole to hide in. Inuyasha stood where he was, arms raised to block of the resulting rock shower from the blast. Stupid wimps all running away, but he didn't have time to think more than that as a voice cut through the settling dust.  "Oi! You!"  Inuyasha looked up to find the source of the voice, a man with a braid was floating in mid air on some kind of fiery wheels. Instantly, Inuyasha didn't like this guy. He had an annoying cocky look about him, with one arm placed firmly on his hip while the other held some sort of spear-like weapon against his shoulder. He also had the stench of burned flesh about him, though whether human or animal, Inuyasha couldn't make out.  Either way, if Inuyasha was annoyed with the cocky flying jerk now, he was down right peeved with him when he spoke next. Bringing his weapon down to point at Inuyasha, his next word's were, "Yes you! Are you Sesshoumaru?"  After a startled pause, Inuyasha's most intelligent answer was, "Wha?!"  The guy was getting impatient. "It should be a simple question. Are you Sesshoumaru or not? If so, then I, Hiten of the thunder brothers, is going to challenge you to a duel. If not…" he finished with a shrug of his shoulders.  There was another long pause on Inuyasha's part, before he all but exploded. "What kind of fucked up stupid question is that, huh?! Do I look like that stuck up, shit-faced bastard to you? Do you see a fucking tail on me? No! Go to fucking Hades and look for him there!" He finished by pulling a classical, Inuyasha Keh! and turning to the side with his arms crossed over his chest.  Hiten let out a disappointed sigh. "Well, if you're not him then I have no need of you." And with that, he fired a fatal blast of lightning at the angry, sulking guy with white hair, and continued on his way…  …or at least he would have…  "You asshole! What the fuck was that for?!"  Hiten looked down to find an even angrier guy with white hair glaring up at him with golden eyes, not too far from the smoking crater his blast had made. Surprised, the god beast took a moment to think about this.  "Hmmm. So you managed to dodge my attack huh? Not bad. How about this…"  Again Hiten aimed his weapon, and again, Inuyasha dodged two, three, four times…  Hiten stopped. Obviously, this was going no where fast. "Dammit, You're wasting my time. Would you just die already?"  Inuyasha growled. "Not fucking likely. Why don't you come down here and fight me, bastard!"  Hiten huffed in annoyance, but he could see the guy's point. Hopefully he could finish this quick, and then go find Manten. Maybe he had spotted the god beast they were looking for… but then again, it was Manten…  "Allright," he sighed, "It's a pain in the ass, but I guess I'll just have to fight you. Ready!" He moved into a fighting stance, his eyes glittering, because Hiten loved to fight, no matter how short it would be… "GO!"  Inuyasha had little time to think as the god-beast attacked. First he dodged another thunder blast, and then he had no choice but to draw his useless sword to block as Hiten swung at him with his own sparking blade. This time, however, the sword didn't seem so useless. In fact, the second it was drawn, Tetsusaiga changed from a useless stick of rusty metal, into a gleaming white sword in the shape of a fang, that was almost as long as Inuyasha was tall. Surprised, Hiten leapt back, to assess this new development, while Inuyasha just stared…  …and stared…  …and then began cursing up a storm. "Damn, stupid thing! Why the fuck didn't you work earlier?!"  And then the battle, recommenced. *~*~*~*~*  Meanwhile, circling high above, Manten and Kagome were also searching for any sign of her "fiancée," though for very different reasons. Manten wanted to help his brother kill the supposedly famous god beast, and Kagome was hoping Inuyasha would kill the thunder brothers who were holding her captive. For now though, the two occupants in the cloud shared a common goal…er sort of. Find a god beast named Sesshoumaru, who was actually the half-god beast named Inuyasha. Because of this, they had decided to share the work, each one keeping watch over one side of the cloud as they flew onwards.  "Hey hair-sacrifice-girl, do you see anything?"  "No Manten, and my name is Kagome, remember?"  "Oh yeah…"  Kagome shook her head and brought her hand up to her forehead to keep her bangs out of her eyes. Leaning a little over the edge of the cloud to search the ground below, she couldn't help a rush of exhilaration that passed through her stomach. To be flying, this high up, with the wind in your face, was a sensation very few mortals had been given the opportunity to experience, and Kagome couldn't help but relish in it a little bit.  At that moment, Kagome considered herself very lucky.  "There! I see him! INUYASHA!!!!!!"  Kagome smiled and waved her arms about, trying to get his attention, while Manten came over and looked down.  "Hey!! Hiten An-chan's there with him too. Hi, Hiten An-chan!!" Manten too, began waving, as the cloud began descending in the direction of the battle.   Eventually they got close enough to be noticed by the two duelers, who promptly stopped their fighting watch their arrival.  "Kagome!!"  "Inuyasha!!"  "Hello Hiten An-chan!"   "Manten! What the hell are you doing?"  Manten paused in his waving for a second, realized what he was doing, and then sheepishly brought his hands down and hid them behind his back.  "Sorry Hiten an-chan."  Hiten just smacked himself in the forehead head and muttered. "I swear if you weren't my brother…" momentarily oblivious to the growling behind him.  He brought his attention back to Inuyasha again when the half-god-beast snarled, "So you're the bastards that stole Kagome!!"  Hiten looked up. "Huh? You know this girl? But she said she was in love with Sesshoumaru…"  "I DID NOT!!!" Inuyasha winced at Kagome's scream.  "Well then who is this Inushiro's son that you said you were in love with?" Hiten barked back.  Kagome froze and went red, as she began to sputter, "I…um…that is…uh…" She shook her head to get her bearings. "We're not in love, we're traveling together." With that, the flustered girl turned away from them, crossing her arms, much like Inuyasha, and letting out a 'humpf' of annoyance.  There was a long moment of silence as Hiten, Manten, and Inuyasha just stared at each other, while Kagome pouted.  Finally, Hiten gave I tired sigh and began to rub his forehead, as if to ward off a headache, while floating upwards to think. "Awe man, what a disappointment. Looks like I got all riled up for nothing…"  He gave another sigh, before opening his eyes and turning to Inuyasha. "Guess I might as well finish with you then." And then he turned to his brother. "Manten, why don't you go take the girl and sacrifice her like you planned."  "…Huh?...Ah! Yeah Hiten An-chan…uh…how do I do that again?"

Hiten smacked his forehead and repeated, again through ground teeth. "You hack open her back to paralyze her. Then you slice open her throat and bleed her to death. You skin her, strip off the fat, wrap it around the thigh bones and burn them as offerings to the gods. Remember?"

Manten took a long moment to internalize this information. "Yes Hiten An-chan! Come on hair-sacrifice-girl. Let's go!"

Inuyasha stood, rooted in place as visions of Manten 'sacrificing' Kagome ran through his head. The girl began to struggle, her skin looking more ashen than the gray clouds silhouetting her in the sky. "No! Inuyasha!! Let me go! I-"

"Shut up." And Manten abruptly clubbed her on the head with his large, oversized fist. Dazed, Kagome sunk back down into the cloud, and out of Inuyasha's sight.

"Kagome!"

Inuyasha was about to go after her, but Hiten chose that moment to attack. The two weapons, Raigakijin and Tetsusaiga, clashed while Manten began to fly up higher and higher. The big brute was chanting in a sing-songy voice, "I'm going to have hair! I'm going to have hair!!" "Dammit! Kagome!!" "Watch who you're fighting, or you might lose your fucking head! " Inuyasha almost didn't see the blast before it hit him. Full force, he was thrown back to go skidding like a stone across the rocky surface of the plateau. Hiten smirked triumphantly while Manten laughed from above.  "HEAHEHEHEHE!! Hiten An-chan's the best. HEHEAHA! Let me help too!" And so Manten leaned over the edge of his cloud to look down at the fallen hanyou. Carefully, he took aim, gathering his power in his mouth… "You big Bully!!" He was struck from behind, the force tipping him off balance and over the edge of his cloud. He released the attack just as he fell, the blast going wide and all over before finally ending just as Manten hit the ground. Kagome would have danced in triumph, however, the moment the god beast hit the ground, the cloud she had been riding in began to disappear. Before she knew it, she too was falling towards the earth. Her final words to be nothing but an earsplitting scream… "Dammit wench are you trying to make me deaf!?!" Kagome opened her eyes. She wasn't falling anymore, she was standing, with strong arms wrapped around her middle to keep her there. "Inuyasha!" "Dammit wench, look out!" Hiten made another pass at Inuyasha, and managed to take a knick out of his side as the Hanyou was too occupied with pushing Kagome out of the way. Kagome stumbled, but stayed on her feet while Inuyasha had no choice but to turn back to the battle. "Bitch, why are you standing there? Go find some place to hide!"  Instantly, Kagome realized the sense in his words and took off. Manten's wild blast had set the area on fire, and Inuyasha could only watch as out of the corner of his eye as she disappeared behind a billowing curtain of smoke. Then he turned his full attention back to Hiten.  The thunder demon stared down at him. "So you're finally going to take this seriously."  Inuyasha smirked, holding Tetsusaiga in one hand, and gathering power into the claws of the other. Before Hiten could attack, Inuyasha dug his hand into his side, and used the combined blood and power to send a volley of airborne claw slashes at the god beast.  Hiten was so surprised, he almost didn't block them on time. Eyebrow raised, he gave Inuyasha a pensive glare.  "Interesting," he said, "fight me some more!" *~*~*~*~*   Kagome ran blindly through curtains of smoke, looking for some reasonable place to hide. Eventually she found one, after following a towering, overhung cliff face to a place where a small alcove was hidden from view by a large boulder. Behind her, she could here the sounds of the battle between Inuyasha and Hiten, and prayed that the half god beast was all right. She was pulled from her reverie, however, when a slight whimpering sound met her ears. Curious, she looked around, only to spot a bush that looked to be made of hair of a familiar colour. Getting closer, she realized it was a tail, belonging to none other than, "Shippo?"  Her only response was a half sob as another blast of thunder was heard. Sighing, Kagome got down on her hands and knees, for Shippo had managed to burry himself into the tightest corner between the boulder and the cliff, and crawled over to the distressed boy.  "Shippo. Shippo? Shippo!"  "No! Go Away! Leave me alone!" was the quavering response.  "Shippo, it's me, Kagome!"  The shaking ball of fur froze. "I-is it really?"  "Yes Shippo, really!"  A long pause..."How do I know for sure?"  Now this Kagome hadn't suspected. Gee, the poor guy must have really been scared. It took a minute, but finally, "We got kicked out of that nice house this morning because Miroku had a moaning contest with the host's daughter."  "Ka-kagome?" Finally, there was movement, " KAGOME!!!" And lots of it too. Shippo instantly turned around and leapt at her, and the former princess barely had time to back out of the small space so she could catch the kit in her arms. The force of his enthusiastic jump pushed her off balance and she eventually ended up lying on her back on the ground with a wet, sobbing ball of fur in her arms.  "Waaah! Kagome! I thought the thunder brothers were gonna kill you and then I was going to be all alone again because Inuyasha hates me and I didn't know what to do and I was scared and…and …Waaaahhhhhh!!!!"   "Shhhh, shhhh Shippo," hugging him tightly and trying to calm him down was about the only thing she could think to do right now. "It's alright. Everything will be fine. See, I'm fine." And so it went for a couple of minutes until the fox kit was finally calm. Eventually, the sobbing stopped, and Shippo looked up at Kagome, just as bright eyed as ever and began asking questions.  "How did you get away from the thunder brothers Kagome? Did you run away? Huh? You must have been really fast because the thunder brother's can fly and you can't so you must have done something else, because otherwise you wouldn't be here and…" He cut off with a squeak however when another blast of thunder echoed off through the heavens. Kagome was sure she felt the ground shake underneath, and couldn't help but feel a bit worried.  "Inuyasha…I hope he's okay…"   Shippo's eyes grew round like saucers. "You mean he's fighting the thunder brothers! Ahhh!! He's going to be killed just like my parents. I mean he's a jerk but I don't hate him and he's probably already tired from running all that way in the wrong direction and Ahhhh! It's all my fault. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!!" He began beating his head with his tiny fists, but Kagome was quick to put a stop to that.  "Shippo? What do you mean 'he's going to be killed like your parents.' What happened to them?"  Shippo paused mid 'stupid' and suddenly became sullen. Eventually, in a very small voice he whispered. "They killed my parents because Manten wanted their furs to keep him warm…" He sniffled and for a moment, Kagome thought he was going to cry again, so she held him close again in a tight hug.  "Shippo, I'm so sorry." And then she remembered… "Manten!"  Shippo jumped, "Eeek! Where?! Where?!"  Kagome was quick to correct herself, "I mean, Manten had the furs! He was wearing them!" Prying herself away from Shippo, she gave him a determined look. "we have to get them back from him. Do you want to help me Shippo?"  Shippo just stared at her wide eyed before nodding.  "Good! Then let's go!" *~*~*~*~*  "Come on you stupid thing, let's go!!"  Miroku was standing by a nice little stream, with flowers and trees all around , while his horse drank water at a calm place, or at least tried to. It was made a little difficult with a monk yanking on the reins attached to it's mouth.  "Stupid, fucking horse! I swear when we get to Thebes I'm going to have them turn you into glue!"  From here, the Monk could clearly see the flashes from the monstrous battle that was taking place. Dammit, his good luck god beast was in there, and so was the fair and virtuous Kagome, whom he was determined to, um…make less virtuous…  Another large flash brought Miroku out of his reverie and back to the situation at hand. With renewed purpose, he grabbed the reins and began pulling with all his weight.  "Come on now, be a nice stinking, manure machine and….MOVE!!!"  To his utter astonishment, the horse actually obeyed. Unfortunately, the beast moved a little too quickly, in the direction of Miroku, who soon found himself sitting on his butt in the middle of a mud puddle.  With a mocking toss of it's head the horse went back to drinking. Miroku began cursing with every swear word he knew, all the while wondering what he had done to upset the furies so much. *~*~*~*~*  Inuyasha knew he was getting tired. He could feel his movements getting sluggish with each block or slash he had to make, while Hiten only seemed to get faster. His side ached from the shallow wound he had received, and other various places joined in where they had been kicked as well. Inuyasha growled in frustration as he blocked another attack from above. That was the other annoying thing. Because Hiten had those wheels, it was as if he was always on higher ground, and Inuyasha was constantly trying to push his way up from under him.  Hiten made another slash, and this time, Inuyasha was too slow to block. The blade sank into his shoulder a bit, before an electric current blasted him backwards. Again, Inuyasha went skipping over the rocks, before finally coming to a stop lying flat on his back. There were stars in his vision and he couldn't seem to muster the strength to move. Blinking, he saw Hiten hovering above him.  "You, what the heck are you anyways?" It seemed like Hiten was in the mood to talk. "Your blood smells like a human's, but you have the powers of a god-beast. Who were your parents boy?"  Inuyasha just growled, pulling himself upwards and shaking his head to clear it. "What the fuck does it matter, asshole. I'm here, now fight me!"  Hiten was still looking contemplative. "Hmmm, maybe the girl was telling the truth. I didn't know Inushiro'd had a bastard son, but," shrug, "that old fart was before my time too."  Inuyasha growled, while Hiten continued on oblivious. "But that would make you a half god-beast. Heh, considering that, you're not half bad, half breed, but I'm still going to kill you in the end. Too bad for that girl huh? You know, I think she's kinda soft on you. She's pretty though, bet she'll taste real good after we roast her."  That was it. Those visions of Kagome being sacrificed were more than enough to renew Inuyasha's strength. Without warning, he jumped up, surprising Hiten, and finally getting the upper hand. Lifting his blade, he brought it down. Hiten blocked, but Inuyasha still managed to land a solid kick to Hiten's chest. The full god beast went flying backwards, and landed in a trench of his own making, complete, of course, with a few hard rocks in the way.  "Keh! Bastard, don't think I'm done yet. You and your brother are going to become rust on my sword!" *~*~*~*~*  Shippo in her arms, Kagome stepped out from behind the rock and surveyed the scene before her. The smoke from Manten's blast was still thick in the air as the small grassfires raged all about the clearing. It was too think to allow Kagome to see Inuyasha, though she could clearly hear the sounds of the battle between him and Hiten continuing. Small droplets of water were beginning to fall from the sky, descending over everything in a light, random pattern.  Waving her hand in front of her face to thin out the smoke, Kagome began walking cautiously in the direction she assumed Manten had fallen in. Hopefully, he was already dead, making her job that much easier. Unfortunately, when they got there, all they found was a giant crater.  "Oh poo." Was all Kagome could think as the rain began to fall harder. A white steam rose up, replacing the black smoke, but it was still no less dense, and possibly made everything seem all that much more eerie. It certainly wasn't any easier to see through, Kagome thought as she began searching around for a sign of where the younger thunder brother had wandered off. It was her ears, however, that gave her the best clue. In a short break between the roar of the battle to her left, Kagome managed to catch a sound, or more like a voice.   "Here hair-sacrifice-girl. It's okay to come out. I won't hurt you…"  Oh yeah right, Kagome thought, but at least now she had a general direction to work with. The question was, how could she approach him, without him seeing her?  "Kagome," Shippo was tugging on her arm, "do you hear him?"  Kagome nodded, "but we need to get close without him seeing us."  "Don't worry. Leave that to me!" The fox kit leapt out of her arms and pulled out a leaf from somewhere within the folds of his clothing. Curious, Kagome watched as he placed it on his head, and seemed to concentrate. A blue fire engulfed him, and he did a few flips in mid air, seemingly weightless. Then there was a loud "POP" noise, and Shippo was gone.  In his place was…"Hiten?" Then the differences became obvious as she noticed the tail, and when he spoke, his voice.  "Here, you pretend to be my hostage, and when I let you go, you grab…them, and we'll both run in separate ways." Kagome almost had to stifle a laugh at the sound of Shippo's voice coming out of Hiten's body, but she was impressed with the plan. So, a few seconds later, Shippo disguised as Hiten, grabbed Kagome's arm, and headed into the smoke. *~*~*~*~*  Manten was lost. He couldn't see anything, and he couldn't find his hair-sacrifice-girl, and his head was still ringing and sore from the fall he'd taken, so he couldn't really tell which direction to go in to find his Hiten An-chan. Today was turning into a bad day, and now all he wanted to do was sit down and cry.  "O-Oi! M-Manten!"    Manten looked up and around. The rain was falling steadily now, and the white steam had almost completely overwhelmed the black smoke. Slowly, a shadow emerged from the mist, and Manten's eyes lit up with joy as he recognized his one and only, "Hiten An-chan!!" and indeed it looked like him. Manten's eyes became watery, and instantly, he threw himself at his brother's feet. "WAAHHH!! You found me Hiten An-chan! That hair sacrifice girl pushed me off of my cloud and then ran away, and I got lost in the smoke, but you found me Hiten An-chan! Thank you! Thank you Hiten An-chan!!"  Manten was so busy groveling, he didn't notice the absolutely shocked look his brother was giving him, or the glance that was exchanged between Hiten and his hostage. They needed him to be standing up to steal the furs from around his waist.  For the moment, Manten seemed to have not even noticed that his hair sacrifice was there. Eventually, Shippo, er Hiten, cleared his throat and in his deepest voice, which wasn't very deep, and quivering just slightly in fear at the moment, began, "Uh," cough "It's okay, uh, don't worry about it."  "You're the greatest Hiten An-chan!"  "Uh…yeah." Cough, "I found Kago- um er, you're girl, so let's get going."  Shippo barely had time to think as Kagome was snatched from his grasp and pulled into the arms of Manten. In one swift move, the thunder god beast had grabbed her under her arms and held her up like some kind of doll. With a childish glee in his eyes, he shouted, "You found her, you found her!" and began dancing and tossing Kagome in the air until she almost felt sick.  "AH! STOP IT!" Yelled Shippo, er Hiten…  Mnten froze in the action of tossing his hair-sacrifice-girl in the air, luckily, before Kagome had been launched. He blushed sheepishly, and muttered an, "Oops, sorry Hiten An-chan," before tucking Kagome under his arm again like a sack of wheat, and turning to face his "older brother."  Shippo felt the bottom of his stomach drop out. This wasn't supposed to happen! The panic began to rise even more as the fox looked up into the eyes of his parents' killer, and saw them regarding him scurrilously.  "Oi Hiten An-chan, what happened to your flying wheels?"  "N-N-Nothing!"  Manten's eyes only grew wider, "Hiten An-chan, is there something wrong with your voice? Did that white haired guy stick a frog in your throat?"  "N…No!" Manten was getting closer, which only made Shippo's voice rise in pitch with fear. The only good part about the entire situation was that Kagome had taken this opportunity to begin slipping the furs off from around Manten's waist.  "Are you sure Hiten An-chan. Your voice sounds funny to me-Hey! Is that a tail?"  Before he could even think, Shippo felt a hand close around his furry little tail, effectively trapping him and shattering his last nerve. The fox kit shrieked for all he was worth as a puff of smoke signaled his de-transformation back into a little fox child. Manten was so surprised, he dropped his prized hair-sacrifice-girl, who instantly slipped the furs from around Manten's waist and took off.  Kagome took maybe ten steps before she turned around and realized that, while Manten had released her, it was only so that he could now take up a double hold on the fox kit. One hand to securely wrap around his tail, and another to try and pin the child down and prevent his terror induced biting and scratching. Kagome frantically began looking around for some kind of help, her eyes eventually landing on the collection of large rocks that were under her feet, glistening and slippery from the rain. Bending down, she picked up the largest one she could hold, and launched it at the back of Manten's head.  "You Bully!!" Manten both felt and heard the rather loud crack as the rock bounced off the top of his head. Startled, he turned in the direction it had come from, only to find another one already headed straight for him. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size." He used one hand to deflect that one, but more kept coming. Eventually he dropped the fox kit, who sprinted away at top speed, and began using both hands to block the shower of rocks that were being hurled at him. However, even that wasn't really good enough. Soon one hit him in the eye, and another hit him in the nose, and Manten quickly found himself getting very frustrated and angry.  So he did the only thing he knew how to do in a battle, he began blasting every threat in sight, mainly Kagome.  Luckily, the girl recognized the threat of Manten's attack before it actually happened. Dropping all her rocks, she stooped down to grab the furs she had promised Shippo she would get, and then proceeded to take appropriate precautionary measures. Mainly, run like zephyr!!  The first blast sounded off like a deafening roar in her ears, but she managed to dodge it by tripping and skidding across a bunch of slippery, wet rocks. She was back up without missing a beat, pounding across the soaking terrain in her sandals as fast as she could.  "Why you!! You tricked me!! Come back here, hair-sacrifice-girl!"  The mist had started to clear, making it easier to see where she was going, but also easier for Manten to see her. He was chasing after her, she knew, and although she was faster, the soaked furs and her drenched skirt were weighing her down and tripping her up. Another blast, and Kagome dove for the side, using the furs as a buffer to land on.  "Come back here!!"  Running again, the rising shadow of a cliff became visible. If only she could find that hiding spot again. The earth shook and the ground trembled as another beam of power skimmed passed her and into the cliff face beside her. She used the furs as a shield again, to protect her from the flying rocks of the explosion. Running along the cliff face now, Manten close behind her, she finally spotted the boulder ahead. There was a deafening roar in the air now, as Manten let loose another blast of lightening. Or was it? It seemed too loud, the deafening crack could have split the heavens or burst Kagome's ears. A step away from safety, the sky began to grow dark, too dark. Kagome dove… *~*~*~*~*  Inuyasha stumbled mid swing as the ground underneath him shook and a thundering crack set his ears ringing. No, this one was beyond thundering, and even Hiten seemed to have stopped, in mid air. Inuyasha watched as the thunder god-beast's eyes went wide, and followed his gaze to where a cloud of dust seemed to be rising from a newly formed pile of rubble at the bottom of a cliff…wait a minute.  "MANTEN!!" Hiten's frantic yell succeeded in making Inuyasha's ears ring even louder, before he took off in the direction of the landslide. The air was clear now, the wind having blown away most of the steam, but the rain continued to fall steadily, soaking Inuyasha's clothes. Exhausted, Inuyasha sheathed his sword and took a seat on a nearby rock. Grumbling, he shook his head, trying to clear the annoying ringing in his ears, but it just wouldn't go away. In fact, it just seemed to get louder, and started to take on the sound of a young voice, yelling something. In fact, it kind of sounded like Shippo, crying for Kagome…  "Don't fucking tell me!!"  He was up like a shot, sprinting over the rocky plateau, rain drops flapping off his clothes and the white strands of his hair. The wench couldn't have been there! She must have hid somewhere else! Anywhere else!! Even so, his heart sank as he neared the ruins of the cliff side. The smallest fallen boulders were up to his waist, and they just got bigger from there. Following Shippo's voice, he leapt from boulder to boulder, until he finally came to the deepest part of the landslide, next to the face of the cliff.  There was Shippo, pulling frantically at the loose rubble with his puny fists, using his body to push at the smaller boulders without success. He was crying, constantly calling Kagome's name…  Kagome…  Inuyasha let the drenching rain pull his bangs down to cover his eyes. *~*~*~*~*  "H-Hiten An-chan, is it really you?"  The older thunder brother leapt to the ground before his sibling.  "Of course it's me Manten! Who else would it be!  His words were harsh but his tone was soft as he took in the state of his younger brother, or what was left of him. Half of his massive body had been crushed under a giant rock and a large amount of blood was slowly mixing into the muddy earth. Manten's breathing was hitched and raspy, his eyes held excruciating pain, and yet his movements were sluggish. When he spoke, his words were gasping and slow.  "Th-That m-mean hair-s-s.. girl, and a fox kit. Th-they pretended t-to be you when I was lost. I-I thought I'd f-found…and then she th-threw r-r-rocks at me. And I chased…and…it h-hurts…An-chan…"  "I know Manten. I'll get them for you, I swear! It'll be okay."  Though even as he spoke, Hiten knew it was a lie. Manten's face was as pale as the white marble rock surrounding him, and his breathing was getting slower. Hiten reached down to grab his brothers hand, wincing at how cold it was.  "H-hiten An-chan?"  "What is it Manten?"  "Was I a good little brother? I-I know I'm not very s-smart b-b-but-"  "Shut up! You were the best little brother anyone could ever ask for. Don't you even think that I would change you in any way!"  "…T-Thanks…. An-chan?"  "Yes?"  "You were the best….An-ch-chan…too…" *~*~*~*~*  Note: I went back and made some alterations on the details surrounding some of the myths. Turns out my source of information was confused between two gods, mainly Dionysus and Periapus. I guess that's what I get for believing Louis de Berniers to be a reliable source of Greek mythology. Not only is he a rotten author stylistically, but he obviously can't read or do research all that well either. Oh well. It was fixable with only a few minor changes, so I don't recommend re-reading the whole story. However, while investigating Greek mythology, I came upon some interesting facts about King Minos, or actually his wife, and the original legend of the minotaur.  Apparently, she was the daughter of the God Helios. After she had given birth to the minotaur, she blamed her husband for invoking Poseidon's wrath, and used her demi-god powers to curse the King. From that day on, whenever the king would have intercourse, his climax would produce only poisonous scorpions and snakes, instead of his seed, thus killing his partners and rendering him effete…and I made this guy the father of Naraku! Damn am I good, or just really, really lucky! ^.~  Also, for those of you who were interested, I got the descriptions for the sacrifices right out of Homer's "The Odyssey." It was one of the books I had to read for my Independent Study Unit. On a rating of one to ten, I'd give it a 7, which is pretty good considering that the poem was written over 2000 years ago.  *~*~*~*~*