InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lord of the West ❯ The Battle For the Fragment ( Chapter 5 )

Author's Note: Yet another consistency with the anime around Episode 140 that I forgot to mention: Kohaku's soul is now completely free of Naraku's dominion, but he, like Kagura, intends to maintain the illusion that he is serving Hakudoushi (Naraku's incarnation) in order to learn the secret location of Naraku's heart. In order to do so he has not told Sango that he is free now. Kohaku desires to destroy Naraku's heart as penance for the crime Naraku fooled him into believing he committed---the murder of his father and the other demon-slayers. For a while he and Hakudoushi are traveling around on a white horse Youkai that flies. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, “Hiraikoutsu” is the name for Sango's boomerang-like weapon.

 

{+} {+} {+} LORD OF THE WEST {+} {+} {+}

 

{+} {+} Chapter 5: The Battle For the Fragment {+} {+}

 

Snow fell quietly in the night, clothing bare branches like sleeves and gathering atop clusters of needles on the pines. In the village, Kaede stepped over the sleeping bodies on her floor to stand in the doorway. She pushed aside the bamboo door fastenings and peered out into the darkness. The snow beyond her house was nearly a foot high now, and showed no sign of melting.

 

`This winter will be a hard one,' she thought to herself, not as a complaint but as an observation of one who has seen many such winters and weathered them well.

 

Her elderly bones ached from the cold, but her keen miko's intuition was focused on the things that moved through the night beyond.

 

“What is it, Kaede-sama?”

 

She didn't turn around as Miroku came to stand beside her, but her eyes narrowed, and with her hand she fingered one of the protective wardings carved into the wood beside her door.

 

“I sense a foul presence tonight, young monk,” she replied. “It lingers in the trees, watching.”

 

Miroku followed her gaze and frowned. He held his staff in one hand, already prepared for defense.

 

“I, too, sense this presence,” he said darkly. “It watches us, waiting for the opportune moment.”

 

“Oh, aye,” Kaede agreed. “Naraku.”

 

Miroku skirted the priestess to stand between her and what lay beyond the door.

 

“Do we wake the others now?” he asked quietly, gripping his staff with both hands and beginning to call up a barrier spell the instant he saw any movement in the forest. “I can't think of a moment more opportune for Naraku than this. He's been watching us; he must know that Inuyasha's ill and isn't at his best and he'll AAAHHH!”

 

A strong, clawed hand had just clamped onto the monk's shoulder, nails digging into his robes.

 

“Not at my best, eh?” Inuyasha drawled, an evil gleam in his eye. His breath smelled like the tea Kagome had forced him to drink. “Weren't going to tell me, eh?”

 

“I-Inuyasha,” Miroku stammered, still recovering his nerves. “I didn't think you were awake . . .”

 

“Well, you THOUGHT WRONG, DIDN'T YOU?” Inuyasha bellowed, giving Miroku a shake before the monk was able to wrench himself free of the hanyou's grip. “Stupid humans---thinking after three years of shard hunting I don't know Naraku's scent like I know my own smell?”

 

Miroku rubbed his shoulder, stepping away before Inuyasha could inflict further damage.

 

“Speaking of which . . .” he began thoughtfully, but fortunately Kaede interrupted.

 

“Silence, ye ungrateful dog!” she hissed. “Since ye insist on not being left out, then do thy part and aid us in our vigil!”

 

“Feh,” Inuyasha grumbled, tucking his hands inside his sleeves and looking sulky. “So . . . is this one of Naraku's golems, or another one of his incarnations?”

 

In the shadows of the forest, something stirred.

 

“We shall see,” Miroku murmured, stepping outside into the snow.

 

The instant his sandaled foot touched the ground outside with a crunch, the thing in the woods was off like a startled animal. It darted swiftly away from the village, leaving the faint rustle of pine needles as evidence of its passage. And the instant Miroku's eyes were drawn to this small movement, Inuyasha flashed past him in a blur of white and red.

 

“Inuyasha---wait!” the monk cried, reacting too slow with his human reflexes to stop the hanyou from streaking out into the night. To Kaede Miroku said: “Wake the others. We're going to need help.” Under his breath, he muttered, “. . . to control Inuyasha.”

 

Kirara had appeared in the doorway beside them; she had not returned to the hut until nightfall because she had been out hunting all day. Miroku had almost stepped on her.

 

“Bring Sango and Kagome,” Miroku told the little cat, who promptly vanished inside the hut with a flick of her tail.

 

He and Kaede glanced at one another.

 

“I will alert the villagers, so that they may flee the village if they have to,” the priestess told him.

 

He nodded, then took off in the direction Inuyasha had taken.

 

“Damn that fool of a hanyou,” Miroku muttered as he pelted across the snow. “That temper of his will be the death of him.”

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Inuyasha hurtled through the forest, feet barely touching the ground as he went. Twigs snapped against his sides, but the toughness of the Fire-Rat hakama he wore prevented them from snagging and hindering his passage. His nose detected Naraku's foul scent wafting back to him; his demon ears heard mocking laughter, which might or might not have been in his head. His enemy smelled sharp and cloying---a smell much purer than that of any earthly thing, yet it reminded him keenly of a graveyard. Along the road chasing Naraku and the Shikon Jewel, Inuyasha had seen many graveyards.

 

The voice became clearer the further he ran. It was a boy's voice, but soft and cultured, for the child was old beyond his years.

 

“Are you coming for me Inuyasha?” it asked him teasingly. “You would chase a mere part of me all this way, knowing all the while that destroying it will not destroy that which is Naraku?”

 

Branches whipped past, and a shower of snow fell upon Inuyasha's head. Then he burst through the trees into a clearing. The snow fell quietly here, and nothing else moved. The clearing was empty.

 

Befuddled, Inuyasha walked across the clearing on a carpet of white until he came to the object at its center. He knew exactly where he was.

 

`The well,' he thought, face settling into a puzzled frown. `Why has he led me here? What the hell does this mean?'

 

He rested a hand on the well's rim, absently digging furrows into the snow atop it with his claws. Then, suddenly angry, he whirled to face the darkness of the trees, standing with his back to the well.

 

“Show yourself!” he demanded, brandishing his claws. “Hakudoushi!”

 

There was a moment of empty silence, and were it not for his enemy's ever-present scent, Inuyasha would have thought him long gone.

 

But Hakudoushi slipped noiselessly from the trees: a short youth with pale skin, paler hair, and sly violet eyes that marked him as an incarnation of Naraku. He wore a white hakouma, and black sandals fashioned from ebony; his shoulder-length hair hung loose about his face.

 

“Why are you here?” Inuyasha growled, unsheathing Tetsusaiga in a flash. “On second thought, I don't give a damn. Prepare to die!”

 

He lunged for Naraku's incarnation and swung the blade downward toward Hakudoushi's skull to cleave it in two. The boy never moved.

 

But the creature behind him did.

 

It came forth from the darkness of the wood, chittering and scuttling on its many legs. With demon speed it moved to grasp Tetsusaiga between its black pincers not two feet above Hakudoushi's head. With an exclamation of disgust Inuyasha wrenched the weapon free of its grasp, staggering back a few paces to take stock of this new opponent.

 

Had he known what a scorpion was, Inuyasha might've described this as a much larger version of one. But he hadn't, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It had a stinger on the end of its long, curling tail, and four giant pincers that functioned as arms for grabbing prey. Its body was composed of black chitin, which was rounded and hard like a beetle's carapace. But its eyes, which were divided into what looked like a thousand tiny mirrors, were a sickly violet color, and Inuyasha knew that he was dealing with another of Naraku's creations.

 

The creature's tail whipped down toward him at lightning speed---for all its size and awkward shape it was fast. Inuyasha recovered himself and slashed at the stinger with his sword, but just as quickly the tail retracted. Not waiting for it to finish this maneuver, he took a flying leap at it, preparing to stab downward through the top of its abdomen. Instead he found Tetsusaiga buried in the bark of the tree trunk beyond it. Amidst a shower of wood splinters scattered by the force of the blade's kenatsu, he turned to see that the creature had scuttled sideways on its many legs. One of the pincers snapped at him. He kicked it with his right foot, forcing it backward, but then the smaller pincer that had been hidden from view beneath it shot forward and clamped around his left foot.

 

With a shout of pain and anger, Inuyasha yanked Tetsusaiga free of the tree, twisted his upper body, and sliced downward. The creature chittered as the pincer gripping Inuyasha's left ankle was severed. A gout of sickly yellow ichor sprayed from the wound, but the creature did not retreat. Instead, as Inuyasha bent to slice the severed claw from his ankle, shot its left large pincer forward and caught his right wrist, which held Tetsusaiga.

 

“You're slow, Inuyasha,” Hakudoushi observed calmly from somewhere beyond the monstrosity. “You may die sooner than I had anticipated.”

 

“Like hell you will!” Inuyasha yelled, baring his fangs.

 

The Youkai's tail unfurled rapidly toward Inuyasha, whom it had used its pincer to yank off-balance. But just as swiftly Inuyasha plucked Tetsusaiga from his right hand with his left and swung it downward. The creature's chittering rose to a high-pitched whine; Inuyasha had severed not only the pincer holding his right wrist, but also the one below it. Then he leaped clear, and the creature's sting fell harmlessly upon the snow. Yellow-green poison trickled from the needle-thin point of it, staining the snow.

 

“Where are you, you little bastard?” Inuyasha demanded, whirling around; eyes searching the clearing for Hakudoushi.

 

The snowfall had grown thicker, and it was harder to see. With Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha managed to pry the two pincers from around his ankle and wrist, though he did manage to cut himself in his haste. When he looked up from this brief occupation, he spotted Hakudoushi, seated comfortably on the rim of the Bone-Eaters' Well. The pale-skinned youth had tucked his arms into his sleeves, and he watched Inuyasha coolly.

 

The scorpion-like Youkai, now maddened with pain, rushed at Inuyasha, but he dodged just in time, swinging Tetsusaiga and managing to take off one of the creature's legs. Then it aimed its tail at him, and he was forced to roll out of the way. By the time he got back on his feet his hair was full of snowflakes.

 

“You think this pathetic excuse for a Youkai is gonna kill me?” Inuyasha scoffed, pointing the blade toward Hakudoushi accusingly. “What are you---stupid? I'm already hacking this thing to pieces!”

 

Hakudoushi tilted his head to one side, smiling a little.

 

“Of course you are. But the fever seems to have addled your senses.”

 

Inuyasha scowled, slashing half-heartedly at the scorpion as it rounded for another attack. It dodged Tetsusaiga, but backed away for a moment, as if the wounds he had inflicted upon it had made it wary.

 

“What the hell do you mean?” Inuyasha shouted. “How did you know I'm sick? And why did you really bring me here?”

 

The pale youth's smile deepened.

 

“Was it not you, Inuyasha, who followed me here?”

 

The scorpion came at Inuyasha with demon speed, its insect's legs scuttling so fast they seemed to blur. Inuyasha waited until the thing was almost upon him, and then he leaped high into the air and landed on its back. He stabbed downward with Tetsusaiga, but the Youkai's black armored carapace was so hard that even the sword's strong kenatsu was deflected. The kenatsu rushed upward around Inuyasha's body like a strong wind, ruffling his hair and fire-rat robes. The Youkai bucked its body, attempting to throw him off, but he managed to shift his weight and keep his balance.

 

“Just answer the fucking question!” Inuyasha growled.

 

Hakudoushi rested one foot on his other thigh, looking amused.

 

“I know you're ill because Naraku knows. Naraku knows because Kanna saw it in her mirror. I decided to take advantage of the situation.” The pale youth raised a sardonic eyebrow, running a hand along the wooden railing. “As for the Bone-Eaters' Well . . .”

 

Inuyasha glanced down and experienced a bit of a nasty shock. The scorpion's severed appendages were magically reattaching themselves to its body. They slid along the ground as if they were being dragged by invisible hands. Inuyasha was simultaneously forced to shift sideways as the creature lurched sideways and to duck to avoid its flailing tail.

 

“This creation of Naraku's cannot be killed by stabbing it, Inuyasha,” Hakudoushi informed him calmly. “If you slice off its limbs, they will re-attach themselves. If you try to stab its body, your sword won't pierce the hard shell. And as for the Well . . . I know that for you and the priestess' reincarnation the Bone-Eaters' Well is some kind of portal. You cannot use the stronger magic of your sword against the Youkai, or the Well will be destroyed in the process.”

 

“Oh, I'll find a way, believe me,” Inuyasha retorted. He hacked off one of the reattached pincers, which was making another grab for his ankle. But inwardly, he was worried. `So now Naraku knows about the Well?' he thought. `Damn Kanna and her mirror! Now he's found another of my weaknesses to exploit.'

 

Then a rare flash of ingenuity struck Inuyasha's brain like lightning.

 

He attempted to slash the scorpion's tail off, but the tail was coated with the same chitinous armor as the rest of the creature's abdomen. He had expected this; severing the tail wasn't his main objective anyway. Then he deliberately allowed the snapping pincer to clamp onto his ankle and sank into a crouch, pretending to be thrown off-balance.

 

As he'd predicted, the tail furled and then unfurled rapidly, hurtling down toward Inuyasha's mid-section with the intent of embedding the stinger there. Instead, he dodged at the last minute, and the scorpion chittered with rage. Its stinger had missed him, and become embedded in the vulnerable flesh attaching the pincer to the body---which Inuyasha had known to be vulnerable because it was the only place aside from the legs that Tetsusaiga had done any damage. The scorpion tried to free its stinger from its own body, but the blow had been hard, and its own poison was now flowing into it.

 

Inuyasha leaped clear of the bucking, thrashing body wearing a feral grin.

 

“Heh,” he said, approaching Hakudoushi, who hadn't moved from the Well's rim. “I guess Naraku overlooked the fact of making it immune to its own poison when he made it.”

 

He flicked the dying creature's yellowish blood off of Tetsusaiga's blade. Hakudoushi looked on with a calm expression.

 

“Why did you follow me into the woods, Inuyasha?” the pale youth asked coolly.

 

Inuyasha brandished his sword in Hakudoushi's direction.

 

“I came to take back the shard of the Shikon Jewel that was stolen from Kagome.”

 

Hakudoushi smiled and removed his slim white hands from his long sleeves. There was nothing in them.

 

“I don't have it,” he told Inuyasha. “But the Shikon no Tama is the reason I let you chase me here . . .”

 

Inuyasha, who wouldn't have known a riddle if it bit him in the rear, shouted, “Shut it, you lying bastard!” and swung Tetsusaiga.

 

The blow clove Hakudoushi completely in half at the midsection. Hakudoushi laughed as it happened.

 

There was no blood.

 

Then Hakudoushi disappeared, leaving only a small wooden golem lying in the snow on the rim of the Bone-Eaters' Well.

 

Baffled, Inuyasha picked it up, examining it between his claws. There was not a single jewel shard to be found on it, or around it, either. Hakudoushi hadn't been lying . . . but this hadn't been the real Hakudoushi, either.

 

“Just a puppet?” Inuyasha murmured, confused. “But then why . . . ?”

 

“Inuyasha! What happened here?”

 

Miroku had just entered the clearing, and now stood panting and clutching his side. He cast a sidelong glance at the scorpion Youkai, which appeared to be dead though its legs still twitched spasmodically. Then he turned and noticed the wooden figure in Inuyasha's hand.

 

“A golem?” he asked, frowning. “Naraku sent another one of his golems and a new incarnation to attack you? That seems pointless. For someone who wants you dead, a bug and a puppet seems rather halfhearted. Unless . . .” The monk straightened, having dispelled the stitch in his side. “Unless it was a lure.”

 

Inuyasha's eyes widened. “Dammit! That was what Hakudoushi meant! The golem led me here . . . so that the REAL Hakudoushi could go after the jewel shard. Shit! Kagome!”

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Kagome and Sango hurtled through the forest atop Kirara, following the direction that Kaede had given them. The woods were dark and cold, but the two were warm because riding Kirara was like sitting atop a furnace. The woods were dark, but they weren't silent. Kagome could hear the faint sounds of Inuyasha shouting as they rode, echoing through the trees. But it wasn't the echo she was following---it was the kehai of the jewel shards.

 

“That way,” Kagome told Kirara, pointing off to the left where a small shadow had just slipped between the pines. “It's there.”

 

Kirara seemed to have other ideas. The enormous tiger-like Youkai was sniffing the air in the opposite direction and rumbling a little in her throat.

 

“Kagome, are you certain it's left?” Sango asked. The demon-slayer was seated behind Kagome with her arms around Kagome's waist to keep her balance. “Kirara seems to think Inuyasha's somewhere to the right.”

 

Sango was in full battle gear, with Hiraikoutsu strapped across her slender back and a metal breathing-mask on because dealing with Naraku meant dealing with poisonous miasma. Kagome didn't need a mask, because out of the entire group she was the only one completely immune to the poison.

 

“No, I'm sure it's left,” Kagome insisted, reining Kirara in that direction. “I sense the Shikon jewel not far ahead, and that should be where Naraku and Inuyasha are.”

 

With some reluctance, Kirara veered off to the left. The snowfall was growing thicker by the moment, making visibility worse. Were it not for Kagome's ability to see kehai and Kirara's keen nose they might as well have been blind. The ground was beginning to slope upward as they covered more ground and traveled further from the village. Neither girl was very certain exactly where they were now. After a while, Sango's doubts were growing.

 

“Kagome, I think we should go back to the place where we turned,” she urged. “I don't even think Kirara knows where we're going any more.”

 

Kagome pressed her lips together worriedly. She had her doubts as well, but she was more afraid of leaving Inuyasha alone to fight for himself even though Tatesei Sano had told her he died in Reiyama. The certainty that Inuyasha was going to die had sapped the confidence she had in Inuyasha's ability to defend himself, and the fact that he was ill didn't help, either.

 

“Just a little farther,” Kagome insisted, squinting to keep the snow flurries out of her eyes. “The kehai is gathering ahead. I can almost see the actual shape of the jewel, so it's close!”

 

Kirara seemed to be sensing it as well. Her great furry head swung from side to side, sniffing intently at the air. The low rumbling in her chest sharpened into a growl. She pushed off a rock protruding from the snow and bounded up and over the slope ahead. Beyond it was a small gully, carpeted with snow.

 

“It should be here---” Kagome started to say, but then she was cut short by a sudden jolt.

 

From beneath the snow in the gully white-robed Hakudoushi rose so fast his body became a blur. Kirara snarled and twisted in mid-air. Kagome and Sango gripped the Youkai's thick orange fur to keep from being bucked off. Then Hakudoushi's hands flashed again, and Kirara reared and let out a high-pitched yowl. Her two riders were thrown to the ground; both of them sank into the snow on either side of the gully's banks. Kagome struggled to push herself into a sitting position, unable to scream because the wind had been knocked out of her. With fingers already numb from the snow she grasped at the arrows in the quiver strapped to her back. Sango was much quicker. The demon-slayer rolled down the slope onto her feet, swiftly drawing her sword.

 

“What on earth . . . ? Kirara!”

 

Kirara sank into the snow, flames blazing around her body as she transformed back into her smaller form. In that brief flash of fire, Sango saw in the sudden light the flash of steel in each of Hakudoushi's hands. He held two daggers, with which he had sliced Kirara's vulnerable underbelly four times when he leaped up from the bottom of the gully. Then Kirara's flames went out, and the little beast lay motionless in the darkness. Sango wasted no time and flew at Hakudoushi, aiming her slash for his throat.

 

Sword rang against metal as another boy and his weapon imposed themselves between Sango and Hakudoushi.

 

“Kohaku,” Sango breathed.

 

Her brother stood between her and her enemy; her blade had struck his sickle. In the moment that she hesitated, he curved the weapon's blade around her sword and jerked the chain. The sword pin wheeled off into the darkness. It landed point-down, and its landing was followed by a very loud crack.

 

Meanwhile, Kagome had managed to find her bow, which had been dislodged from her back when she was thrown from Kirara's back. However, now she was having trouble notching an arrow, because her hands were almost completely numb from digging through the snow. The ground beneath her was strangely hard, as if the very earth had frozen under the snow.

 

The first crack was followed by a longer one.

 

“What is that?” Sango asked, reaching for the smaller dagger concealed beneath her sash.

 

Kohaku, of course, did not reply, but proceeded to drive her back with a series of vicious swings of his sickle. Sango tripped and fell backward as the lower tip of Hiraikoutsu caught on a protruding rock and hit the backs of her knees. But Kohaku did not press his advantage---instead he advanced slowly upon his sister, with eyes downcast and hidden.

 

Kagome finally managed to notch an arrow. As Hakudoushi stood over Kirara's small, motionless form, poised to stab downward with his swords, she let fly.

 

The arrow glowed as if set alight, cutting a short path through the darkness as it sped toward Hakudoushi. However, the enemy saw it coming. He whirled around, crossed both swords in front of him. The arrow struck them and flashed brilliantly. Still silent but no longer smiling, Hakudoushi tossed the blades from him. They fell into the snow, still crackling with energy.

 

“I grow tired of this,” the pale youth said calmly, addressing Kagome. “As much as it would please me to kill the beast and the demon-slayer, it was you that I came for. It's time I put an end to this.”

 

Over the top of the gully a large insect with a stinger on its tail came scuttling. Kagome heard it coming before she saw it---multiple legs thumping against the earth like horses' hooves. Its chittering call raised the hair on the back of her neck.

 

“Take the flesh,” Hakudoushi told it. “But leave me the jewel fragment.”

 

`Where are Inuyasha and Miroku?' Kagome thought frantically. `Why haven't they come?'

 

She notched another arrow, clumsily this time, and made ready to fire it at the new monstrosity. But she had underestimated the creature's speed, and it was upon her before she could shoot. Its pincers snapped at her mid-section. Her heavy winter clothing saved her. The scorpion's top two pincers sliced through three layers of fabric and a little skin as well, but she managed to throw herself backward against the ground to avoid the brunt of the attack. As she did, the arrow she had notched shot forth from the bow, and went blazing into the night sky.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Inuyasha was speeding back toward the village with Miroku on his shoulders to make better time.

 

“Inuyasha, they may not even be in the village,” Miroku shouted into Inuyasha's ear over the rush of wind. “Hakudoushi lured you here so that he could attack Kagome alone, right? He may have lured her out into the woods as well!”

 

“She's with Sango and Kirara, right?” Inuyasha shouted back. “Let's hope that means she'll be safe until we get there . . .”

 

Then a brilliant flash of white light lit up the sky. Inuyasha skidded to a halt, turning just in time to see the white blaze die as the arrow reached the pinnacle of its ascent and began to return earthward.

 

“That's---” Miroku began.

 

“Kagome's arrow,” Inuyasha finished for him.

 

Then they were off, running in the direction of the signal.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

“Little fool,” Hakudoushi remarked coldly. “You've wasted your shot.”

 

One of the scorpion's lower pincers shot forward and clamped around Kagome's bow. The appendage clenched, and the wood splintered. Abandoning any hope of retrieving the ruined weapon, Kagome scooted backward on all fours, trying to find some purchase in the snow with her heels to get to her feet. But the ground beneath the snow was too slippery. In fact, it was very slippery . . .

 

The scorpion's tail crashed downward, and Kagome threw herself to one side and rolled just in time to avoid it. The stinger struck the ground with terrifying force.

 

And then there was another crack.

 

A loud one.

 

Followed by a groan as of large things shifting underfoot.

 

Kohaku sliced his sickle downward, severing his sister's sash. The small weapons that she had concealed in it tumbled out and rolled away from her, but she did not attempt to retrieve them. Instead she used her dagger to parry the sickle's blows. Then the groaning of the ground beneath them rose to a thunder-loud rumble, and both looked up in surprise.

 

“Master!” Kohaku cried, backing away from Sango a little as she leaped to her feet and swiped at his weapon-hand. “You must call the demon off! It will collapse beneath us!”

 

“Ice!” Sango cried in realization. “This isn't a dip in the earth; it's a river!”

 

Hakudoushi cast a cold stare Kohaku's way but offered no sign of acquiescence. Instead he stepped backward carefully until he was standing on the slope above the frozen river.

 

“If you can't save your own life then you're of no use to Naraku,” the pale youth said icily. To the scorpion, Hakudoushi said: “Finish it. Kill her.”

 

Then the demon bore down upon Kagome, who threw her hands in front of her face in one last attempt to protect herself. Her right hand came into contact with one of the scorpion's multifaceted eyes. It chittered in agitation as light flared between them and the eye began to melt, but it didn't retreat.

 

Then the creature's body heaved as something struck it heavily from behind. Red light blazed in lines along the creature's body as if claws were raking themselves along it. The attack did not pierce the scorpion's armor, but in the process every one of its legs were severed. No longer able to support itself, the creature crashed to the ground. Kagome struggled, but she remained pinned beneath its weight. The only good thing about this was that without being able to support itself standing, the scorpion could not maneuver its pincers well. In its rage it flailed them, attempting to snap her head between them. The ice beneath them groaned, and the air was split with the chain-reaction of cracks that followed.

 

Hakudoushi saw that the object he'd come to steal was about to fall through the collapsing sheet of ice and be swept beneath it downriver. He darted back down onto the groaning ice, and reached toward Kagome's throat, where the last fragment of the Shikon no Tama hung on its chain.

 

“No!” Kagome cried, but she was powerless to stop him with her arms pinioned beneath the scorpion's body.

 

She could see the Sacred Jewel hanging inside Hakudoushi's clothes near his heart as clearly as if it had been outside of them. It was beautiful---she'd forgotten how beautiful, because she'd been carrying the last small fragment of it for so long while Naraku carried the larger piece. The shard at her throat began to pulse, almost seeming to rise toward Hakudoushi's hand as he reached for it. It was almost as if, after all this time in fragments, the jewel itself longed to be whole . . .

 

Then a sword-blade flashed between them, wreathed in red flame.

 

Hakudoushi's reaching hand was severed halfway up the forearm, and the youth rose and leaped back with demon speed to avoid taking the full brunt of the blade's kenatsu. Crouched spider-like on the side of the gully, he glared at his attacker, violet eyes narrowed to slits.

 

“You,” he breathed, clutching at the stump of his arm. “Why you?”

 

Kohaku abandoned pursuit of his sister, running up the opposite bank and disappearing over the top. Sango, now free of having to defend herself, shouted: “Kagome, I'm coming!” She scrambled to her feet and slung Hiraikoutsu off her back. Yet in her haste, she had forgotten that the ice was collapsing beneath her very feet. The ice groaned and crackled as she moved, and she realized that if she moved any further it would collapse in full. Yet she couldn't throw Hiraikoutsu forcefully without running momentum. And then she saw the red flash of light illuminate the face of the one who had intervened. Red light still smoldered at various places along the ice---remnants of Tokijin's kenatsu.

 

“Sesshoumaru,” Hakudoushi hissed, backing up the slope. Miasma seeped from his wound, slowly turning the air in the gully to mist.

 

Sango watched with both horror and surprise as the mist began to spread and Inuyasha's half-brother advanced on the enemy.

 

“I've come for the jewel,” the white demon said softly.

 

“You fool,” Hakudoushi said in a low voice. “After all the time that it has been in my hands, do you think you can just take it from me?”

 

Sesshoumaru took a slow step toward Naraku's incarnation, nudging the severed hand with his foot.

 

“I have taken this from you,” he answered calmly, “and it was a part of you.”

 

Sango tensed. The poisoned mist was growing thicker. If she was going to handle this, she would have to do it soon because it was even with the mask she couldn't stand Naraku's miasma for long. And she also wasn't sure if she should aim Hiraikoutsu for Hakudoushi or Sesshoumaru. On one hand, Sesshoumaru seemed to have become somewhat reformed. He had saved her life and the others' several times before, though he claimed otherwise. On the other hand, it seemed that now he had developed a sudden interest in the Shikon no Tama itself---something which he had never done before.

 

Sango frowned, shaking her head.

 

`The miasma must be getting to me,' she thought chidingly. `What am I thinking? He's too strong for me to handle. Hiraikoutsu won't do anything to Inuyasha's brother except make him angry.' In this sense attacking the pure-blooded son of a Greater Youkai with a single un-enchanted weapon was roughly the equivalent of walking up behind him and slapping him heartily across the rump.

 

Plagued with indecision, Sango hesitated a moment longer.

 

Then fate made the decision for her.

 

Hakudoushi's eyes flashed white, and an aura of power gathered swiftly around his body.

 

“The jewel, Lord Sesshoumaru, is more a part of me than any flesh.”

 

The white demon flew at him, but the aura pulsed once and then exploded. A rush of light filled the gully. Sesshoumaru was thrown back by the force of the magic.

 

`So this. . .this is the true power of the Shikon no Tama,' he thought as he was hurled against the snow-covered ice. `And it is not even whole yet.'

 

By the time the light had cleared, and the eyes of those watching had grown accustomed to the darkness once more, they saw Hakudoushi and Kohaku ascending heavenward atop the back of an enormous white horse. Sesshoumaru immediately tried to leap up to meet them, but all around the horse clouds had gathered and the skies flashed lightning. Froth poured forth from the beast's mouth, and its eyes were mad. This was Hakudoushi's steed Entei, whose hooves made thunder as it flew. No one, not even Sesshoumaru, could match it for speed or flight.

 

The white demon descended to the earth once more, where he sheathed Tokijin and stood watching silently as horse and riders ascended beyond visibility.

 

Meanwhile, the scorpion's legs had reattached themselves. The ice groaned as it lifted itself off of Kagome. She scrambled out from under it. Then Sesshoumaru turned, seeming to notice her for the first time. The scorpion attempted to pursue her, but it didn't get very far because the ice beneath it was breaking up.

 

Sesshoumaru stared at Kagome as she staggered to her feet on legs numb from being pressed against the snow, and there was something calculating in his stare that unnerved her.

 

Then several things happened at once. The scorpion lunged for Kagome, pincers clacking menacingly. It caught her around both legs, and at this very instant the ice beneath it gave way entirely because of the sudden weight shift. The creature was plunged into a dark hole in the white and into the icy waters running below . . . and still it did not release its hold on Kagome's legs. Then Inuyasha and Miroku burst forth from the trees, shouting things that no one could hear above the deafening groan of the ice breach and the enraged chittering of the scorpion. Inuyasha took a flying leap and landed on the creature's back. The sudden impact caused the ice to collapse further. The scorpion sank in so far that only its upper body and tail protruded from the dark, swirling water. Only Kagome's head and shoulders were visible above the ice; the scorpion's upper pincers were now clacking wildly in an attempt to grab her head and pull her under with it. Kagome herself could scarcely move---her body had become numb almost instantly in the freezing river.

 

“Hang on, Kagome!” Inuyasha cried. He grasped hold of the scorpion's tail with one hand and dived under the water with it. Then the ice really began to churn as the beast and the hanyou thrashed beneath it.

 

“Stay there, Miroku!” Sango cried to the monk, who was still standing on the bank. “The miasma's too strong down here, and you have no mask for it!”

 

Reluctantly, Miroku obliged. He couldn't use the Wind Tunnel, because his friends were too close to the scorpion to avoid being sucked in, and they had nothing to hold onto to anchor themselves.

 

Sango plunged into the miasma, regardless of the risk, heading for Kagome.

 

Sesshoumaru reached her first.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Beneath the water, though he faced the numbing chill and nearly no visibility, Inuyasha managed to force the scorpion's tail down against one of its legs. Then he grabbed the leg, and impaled it upon the stinger. The scorpion's thrashing intensified into death throes, and for a moment he thought he might drown because he lost sight of which way to swim to the surface.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

“Kagome!” Sango shouted, fanning at the mist with one hand while keeping a firm grip on Hiraikoutsu with the other. “Where are you?” She could scarcely see a thing; the large amount of miasma that had issued forth from Hakudoushi's wound now pervaded the air in the gully. It was thick as any fog. Sango made her way along the ice with difficulty---haste was making her less sure-footed, and it seemed as if everywhere she stepped new cracks opened up and the ice groaned and sank.

 

She almost tripped over Kirara, who lay curled up in a nest of blood-soaked snow.

 

“Oh, Kirara,” Sango whispered, tears coming to her eyes. “Please don't be dead.”

 

To her immense relief, the little cat's eyes opened slightly, and she mewled at the sound of her mistress' voice. Clutching Kirara tightly against her chest, Sango pressed on. She didn't have time to take Kirara to safer ground before she reached Kagome---the ice was breaking up with increasing speed.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Sesshoumaru stood before Kagome, staring down at her as she held on to the shifting, cracking ice while the claws of the scorpion demon tried to drag her under with it.

 

“P-please,” Kagome managed through chattering teeth. “H-h-help m-me.”

 

Sesshoumaru didn't move, but his yellow eyes flickered toward the scorpion's head, which had just emerged from the freezing river beyond Kagome and was now chittering madly.

 

And then, slowly, he drew Tokijin from its sheath.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

A hand plunged beneath the icy waters and grasped hold of Inuyasha's wrist. He clasped it convulsively in return, and pushed off the bucking demon's carcass in order to propel himself in the direction the hand was pulling him. He broke the surface with a gasp, using his claws to drag himself up onto the remaining ice.

 

As Miroku helped Inuyasha to stand and climb clear of the breaking ice, they heard Sango cry: “No! What are you doing?”

 

Both of them plunged back into the miasma, regardless of the risk, stumbling over the ice in the direction of Sango's shadowy figure. The scorpion was very large and very long, and they had to circle far around it to avoid falling into the breach in the ice shelf created by its thrashing.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

“S-s-sesshou-ma-maru,” Kagome whispered through blue, trembling lips. Her body was beyond even the point of shivering.

 

The white demon knelt and bent near to her, laying Tokijin across his knee and reaching his hand toward her.

 

Kagome's eyes widened.

 

He was reaching for the chain at her throat.

 

“Sesshoumaru! What the hell are you doing?” Inuyasha and Miroku had just emerged from the miasma to see Sesshoumaru looming over Kagome. Miroku noticed Sango standing frozen, her face pale and frightened. Kirara was cradled in the crook of one of her arms; with the other hand she gripped Hiraikoutsu's edge as if were thinking of throwing it but was afraid to.

 

“Inuyasha,” Miroku said in a low, warning tone. “Don't be rash . . .”

 

Sesshoumaru's claws curled and slashed downward. Kagome gave a weak cry of protest. The white demon rose swiftly to his feet, lifting Tokijin off his knee. Dangling from his fist, with the broken chain still threaded through it, was the fragment of the Sacred Jewel.

 

Inuyasha started forward, his face darkening with fury.

 

“If you touch her again, I swear I'll send your soul to hell if I have to drag it down there myself,” he said in a low, harsh whisper.

 

Sesshoumaru heard, and his fist clenched more tightly around Tokijin's hilt. For a moment time seemed to stretch. There seemed an eternity between the blade gleaming as he raised it above his head and the instant of closure as he stabbed downward with inhuman force and plunged it into the ice.

 

Tokijin pulsed once.

 

Then a wave of red light poured down the blade in rivulets and shot outward in all directions upon contacting the ice. Red, jagged lines shot through the ice like veins.

 

And then, with a final, heaving groan, the entire surrounding ice shelf gave way. The scorpion was suddenly submerged again, and this time it dragged Kagome with it into the roiling, dark waters.

 

Sesshoumaru sheathed Tokijin even as the ice gave way beneath him. His hand closed around the jewel.

 

Inuyasha flew at him then, a blur of white through the falling snow. But then Sesshoumaru was gone---dissolved into motes of light and traveling well beyond the hanyou's reach.

 

“Inuyasha, help me!” Miroku shouted. The monk was kneeling on a small island of broken ice, floating rather precariously but still trying to reach for Kagome in the water.

 

Inuyasha leaped to his aid, plunging into the icy river. He found Kagome floating just below the surface, but when he tugged at her she would not move. Then he realized that the scorpion's pincers still held her legs, even though the thing was dead now. Swimming a little deeper, he slashed the creature's limbs asunder with his claws.

 

He re-emerged from the river and hauled Kagome to safety. He hated having to lay her in the snow on the bank, but Sango and Miroku needed his help getting off of the river as well because both were somewhat weakened from breathing the miasma-fouled air.

 

Then Inuyasha crouched beside Kagome.

 

“Sesshoumaru . . . he . . .” Kagome whispered.

 

“Don't speak,” Inuyasha ordered. “Save your strength.” To Sango and Miroku, he said, “You'll be all right getting back to the village, right?”

 

“We will,” Sango agreed, removing the short waistcloth she wore over her pants and wrapping Kirara in it.

 

Miroku sat up, coughing a bit.

 

When the fit had passed, he added, “And if worst comes to worse we won't freeze. Sango and I can always strip and use my robes as blankets to wrap ourselves in.”

 

This earned him a glare.

 

“Precautionary measures, you understand,” he told Inuyasha.

 

Satisfied that his friends were lively enough to make it to safety on their own, Inuyasha turned back to Kagome, whose condition was more critical.

 

“I'll take you home,” he promised, sliding his arms underneath her. “I won't let you die.”

 

“W-why . . . d-did . . . he t-take it?” Kagome asked insistently as Inuyasha carried her across the river in one leap. “Why . . . would he w-w-want it?”

 

But Inuyasha didn't answer, and she was losing consciousness. She heard voices, swimming in her head: Sango's and Miroku's, and Inuyasha's . . . She wanted to tell . . . wanted to tell Inuyasha that . . .

 

“What did she say?” Miroku asked, frowning down at Kagome, who had gone limp in Inuyasha's arms.

 

“She said `in the dream he took the jewel, and the sky rained fire',” Inuyasha replied, confused and more than a little worried.

 

Then he was off, feet scarcely touching the ground as he headed for the Bone-Eaters' Well.

 

In the river, the last burbling breaths of the dead scorpion surfaced amid the churning ice.

 

{END OF CHAPTER 5}