InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lord of the West ❯ The Return of the Brown Crunchy Stuff, Part 2 ( Chapter 9 )

 

Sango stared at Inuyasha, dumbfounded. Kirara laid back her ears and growled, apparently wanting no part in this.

 

“Inuyasha, have you gone mad?” Sango asked, reaching for Hiraikoutsu again.

 

“DON'T, Sango,” Miroku cautioned, pushing himself to his feet. “You do not want to give him a reason to fight you when he's like this.”

 

“'CAUSEI'MTHESTRONGESTANDDON'TYOUFUCKINGFORGETIT!” Inuyasha bellowed, standing up and jabbing a thumb toward his chest.

 

“Only because I gave you coffee,” Kagome grumbled, clutching onto the rock to pull herself out of the snow. “Now calm down---we've got to keep moving to get the Jewel shard back from Sesshoumaru.”

 

Inuyasha suddenly stopped dead in the middle of another string of maniacal laughter, body going rigid. His eyes went very narrow and steely, and his hands balled into fists.

 

“Is it over?” Shippou asked tremulously. The Kitsune was hiding behind Kagome's legs and clinging to her.

 

Miroku took a firmer grip on his staff.

 

“We can only hope it's---”

 

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!THATLILYASSEDEXCUSEFORADEMONISGOIN GDOWN!!!” Inuyasha shouted, so loudly that the snow was knocked off all the branches in the near vicinity. “Youslowhumanscatchuplater'causeI'mgoingRightNow!” He jabbed one clawed finger in the general direction of the mountains. Then he took a flying leap and bounded off the rock.

 

“Osuwari,” Kagome said flatly.

 

WHAM!

 

Inuyasha crashed to the ground, sinking down through three feet of snow.

 

“I'm glad he has his prayer beads on this time,” Miroku remarked, mopping at his brow with a corner of his sleeve. “Otherwise there would be no controlling him.”

 

“Whew,” Shippou sighed in relief, emerging from behind Kagome and hopping up onto the rock. “I'm glad THAT'S over. We---OH NO! KAGOME, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

 

Kagome was heading for the prone hanyou, carrying another bag of coffee grounds.

 

“Lady Kagome, I really must protest!” Miroku told her, moving to block her way with his arms outspread. “You can't be meaning to---”

 

“I have to,” Kagome insisted, skirting the monk and crouching down next to Inuyasha. “Inuyasha, listen to me,” she said, opening the bag.

 

“DAMMITPUNYMORTALSLETMEGO!” Inuyasha growled, flailing his arms and legs in an effort to throw off the `Sit' spell. The only thing this achieved was to form a rather grotesque-looking snow angel.

 

“Not until you listen,” Kagome told him. “Then I'll let you go.”

 

Inuyasha's only response was a long and heartfelt string of swear words, rattled off at breakneck speed. But he stopped struggling, so Kagome assumed she had his attention.

 

“I'm going to give you more coffee,” she explained, holding the bag open. “It'll give you energy so you won't get overtired when you fight Sesshoumaru. It'll counteract the effects of the flu, and the fact that I'm giving you more will keep you from crashing for quite a while.”

 

Inuyasha managed to lift his head from the prone position, fixing two gleaming eyes on the bag of coffee grounds.

 

“Thecrunchybrownstuff,” he breathed, almost in awe.

 

Kagome held it out to him.

 

Then he opened his fangs wide and, in one mighty gulp, bit off most of the bag and its contents. Kagome backed away hastily as he leaped to his feet.

 

“Inuyasha, you ate the bag, too!” she exclaimed. “Plastic isn't edible!”

 

Inuyasha stared at her a moment, blinking, and then let out an earth-shattering belch. The remnants of the plastic bag went flying and landed somewhere on the ground.

 

“AllrightI'moff!SAYONARA,WEAKLINGS!” he declared. And then, before anyone could say anything else to him, he was off like a bat out of hell, heading straight for the mountains.

 

Sango watched him go, gaping.

 

“I really hate him when he's like that,” Miroku muttered, rubbing at an ache in his temple.

 

Kagome sighed, bending to pick up her bow and backpack again.

 

“Well, I guess there's nothing we can do now but follow him,” she said. “With the amount of caffeine I gave him, he'll be in that---er---`state' for the next twelve hours.”

 

Shippou sighed heavily, shaking his head.

 

“I'm glad it's Sesshoumaru who has to deal with him and not us.”

 

“Ah, Miroku-sama, I hate to be a bother,” Sango said, “but just how are we going to find him? Inuyasha's far ahead of us, and he's the only one who knows the way to Sesshoumaru's home.”

 

“Oh, that won't be a problem,” Miroku said flatly, gazing off in the direction that Inuyasha had taken. “We just follow the path of destruction.”

 

Kagome followed the monk's gaze, and true to his word all the trees and bushes along the way had been crushed and scattered.

 

“You're right,” she agreed. “With that much caffeine in him, he could probably tunnel through sheet rock.”

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

A company of warriors drew aside the bolts and manned the pulleys to open the gates to the city. As the heavy wooden doors swung outward the morning light streamed in, blinding the men who stood beneath the shadows of Reiyama's walls. When their eyes had become accustomed to the sun, they saw the white demon standing there, brilliant and terrible.

 

“Open the gates at dawn,” their king had ordered. “The Lord of the West is coming.”

 

And he had come indeed. For a moment he stood still, taking in the company of warriors with icy scrutiny, assessing the weapons that they carried and dismissing them just as easily because they didn't pose him any real threat.

 

“Where is Asano?” he asked them curtly.

 

“He awaits you in the palace, my Lord,” one of the warriors told him.

 

Sesshoumaru stalked off in the indicated direction with the Seer following close behind like a shadow. The Lord of the West did not like what he saw. Everywhere along his path through the city, the Tatesei he encountered knelt at the side of the road and bowed to him. Yet he knew, though they hid their faces from him, that the eyes of every man, woman and child here were black as pitch.

 

He came upon King Asano in the northernmost palace garden, standing on a footbridge amidst a cluster of bamboo. Though the young man stood with his back to Sesshoumaru, the Lord of the West did not announce his presence. He merely stopped and stood there, staring at the white cranes that soared across the silk on Asano's back. The Seer, after a moment's hesitation, knelt down in the snow and bowed, as the Tatesei had to Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru glanced down at her, wearing an expression bordering on contempt.

 

“Stand,” he told her coolly, but she remained as she was.

 

At the sound of Sesshoumaru's voice Asano turned to face them. He inclined his head toward Sesshoumaru, causing the gold in his hair to tinkle. Then his eyes came to rest upon the Seer, and for a moment he stiffened, frowning.

 

“Please rise, Suiton-sama,” he finally told her, seeming uncomfortable in her presence.

 

“You have heard your warrior's message,” Sesshoumaru addressed the king. It was not a question.

 

“Ah . . . yes,” Asano replied, returning his attention to the demon lord as the Seer rose to her feet. “I do not mean to be disrespectful, but I anticipated something like this happening the day you took the Seer from us.”

 

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed.

 

“Don't try my patience, Ningen,” he warned. “I gave you a choice; I have come for your answer.”

 

Asano regarded the demon lord somberly for a moment. The young king's black eyes appeared liquid and alien against the fair, youthful face. They were eyes far too fey and ancient for the flesh that encased them.

 

Asano lowered down onto his hands and knees and bowed before Sesshoumaru so that his forehead touched the snow. The Seer stared down at him in surprise.

 

“This, Lord Sesshoumaru, is my answer,” said the king. Then he lifted his head. Looking up into the demon lord's face, he added, “Irusei is dead.”

 

Sesshoumaru stood utterly still, as if frozen in place. For the briefest of instants, his eyes widened, and flashed with the terrible brilliance of sun on ice. Then the moment passed, and his expression became as placid as ever. Between the kneeling king and standing lord, a quiet snow began to fall.

 

“It is done,” Asano murmured, lowering his head. “Go in peace, and take Suiton-sama with you. Do not bring the Seer to this city again.” This last was worded oddly---almost like a plea.

 

Alarmed by the strangeness of this, the Seer turned to glance at Sesshoumaru for some indication that he understood. But the demon lord was already walking away, his footsteps soft and nearly soundless in the light snow. Casting one last puzzled look back at Asano, she hastened to Sesshoumaru's side. The king remained kneeling in the snow; a lone, pale figure against a forest of dark bamboo.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Clouds roiled overhead, building into what promised to be a heavy winter storm. Sesshoumaru stood watching the graying skies from the terrace outside his chambers. He knew what was coming.

 

“My Lord.” The Seer stood beside him, frowning. “Despite Irusei's threats, the king continues to swear fealty to you. And he has executed my brother, no doubt as an example to any sharing Irusei's---”

 

“Irusei is not dead,” Sesshoumaru cut her off.

 

The Seer fell silent in surprise, taking an involuntary step backward.

 

“Not dead?”

 

“The king lied,” the demon lord went on inexorably. “He lied, for he does not have the strength to fight the power of the dragon's blood in his veins. He has kept the warrior alive, because he believes that Irusei will lead him to a better understanding of all that is happening. And Irusei . . . will no doubt oblige him.”

 

The Seer frowned down at her feet.

 

“Then why did he seem to be warning you when he told you to keep me away from Reiyama?” she asked.

 

Sesshoumaru was silent for a long while.

 

“The boy Asano,” he said softly, “was the last chance I gave the Tatesei.”

 

The Seer glanced up at him, standing there with his white robes fluttering in the breeze, and for the briefest of moments she thought she read sorrow in the rigidity of his posture. It surprised her, but she prudently chose not to remark on it. Instead she asked, “What will you do now?”

 

The answers slid through Sesshoumaru's mind in an orderly stream.

 

`I will wait here, to let the Tatesei believe that I am fooled by their king's feigned loyalty,' he thought. `I will wait for Irusei to come after his sister again, and allow him to take her. I will follow them and they will lead me to the dragon, for that can be the only reason that the Tatesei wish to use her. I will take the dragon's life and power with Tokijin's blade. And then . . . I will abandon the Tatesei. Leave them alone and empty of strength, naked to whatever swarm of demons has a taste for their flesh. Leave them alone and betrayed, as they have betrayed me . . .'

 

But Sesshoumaru did not tell these things to the woman standing beside him. Instead, he said, “Get inside and stay there. Someone is coming.”

 

“Tatesei?” the Seer asked in alarm, already backing away toward the sliding door.

 

“No,” Sesshoumaru answered, laying his hand upon Tokijin's hilt. “Not a traitor. Just a fool.”

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Inuyasha, whose swift and arrow-straight passage had been churning up snow and flying debris all the way through the Inu Youkai palace gardens, skidded to a halt about fifty feet away from where his brother stood watching. For a moment the hanyou just stood there panting, having run a good twenty miles in one hour. Then, abruptly, he straightened and pointed a claw at Sesshoumaru.

 

“YOU!” he bellowed, standing with his legs planted shoulder-width apart. “YOUBASTARDGIVEMEBACKTHESHIKONSHARD!”

 

Sesshoumaru just stood there staring at him, which of course inflamed Inuyasha to no end.

 

“WHATAMIFUCKINGTALKINGTOMYSELF?! FORK OVER, BUTTMUNCH!”

 

Inuyasha reached for Tetsusaiga. By this time Sesshoumaru seemed to realize that the hanyou was seriously going to attack him and drew Tokijin in a flash of red flame. However, he did not attack, staring down at Inuyasha and frowning.

 

While Tokijin certainly seemed to be working, Tetsusaiga remained a skinny, ordinary blade---it hadn't transformed at all.

 

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” Inuyasha shouted. Then he glanced down at the sword in his hand and said, “Oh.”

 

He gave it a shake or two, and then the blade fired into functionality, becoming the large glowing fang it was meant to be.

 

“There we go,” Inuyasha muttered. Then he straightened, brandishing the blazing Tetsusaiga. “ALL RIGHT, SESSHOUMARU: PREPARE TO DIE! KAZE NO KIZ---”

 

Tokijin's blade clanged against Tetsusaiga before Inuyasha could complete the attack. Tetsusaiga glanced off Sesshoumaru's sword as the white demon struck it, and Inuyasha flew back several yards before skidding to a stop by digging his feet into the snow.

 

“Not here, you fool,” Sesshoumaru said coldly. “You'll destroy our father's house.”

 

Then the Inu Youkai proceeded to force Inuyasha back a good two hundred feet into the garden with a deadly elegant series of slashes keeping the hanyou on the defensive. When Sesshoumaru seemed satisfied that they were beyond the palace-trashing range, he eased off a bit to circle Inuyasha warily.

 

“You are here for the shards, are you not?” he observed. “Well it doesn't matter. For this intrusion you will die.”

 

With predatory swiftness, the white demon rushed at his brother, blade aimed straight for Inuyasha's heart.

 

Sesshoumaru's speed was phenomenal---so fast that his body became a blur that was nearly invisible . . .

 

. . . but Inuyasha was high on some speed of his own.

 

He arced Tetsusaiga around and countered Sesshoumaru's charge. The two blades met in a violent clash of fire and lightning.

 

For a moment, neither brother moved, and they stood there locked in stalemate. Snow flurries swirled around them, stirred up by the violent kenatsu of both swords.

 

“You have . . . increased your speed,” Sesshoumaru observed in surprise.

 

“DAMN STRAIGHT I HAVE!” Inuyasha bellowed into his face. “NOWHANDOVER THESHARDANDNOONEHASTODIE!”

 

They both sprang apart, forced into movement as each brother attempted to press his strength against the other's blade. Sparks lit the air between them, sizzling as they sank into the snow.

 

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip on Tokijin's hilt---a sure sign that he was growing angrier by the second. But Inuyasha avoided every attack with ease, practically dancing as he hopped from side to side and grinning fiercely from ear to ear, which was all the more infuriating to his opponent.

 

“WHAT, BACKING OFF?” Inuyasha jeered, dodging another lightning-quick thrust of his brother's sword. “WHAT, ARE YOU AFRAID? AFRAID NARAKU WON'T LOVE YOU IF YOU SCRATCH YOUR PRETTY FACE?!”

 

Sesshoumaru stopped altogether and stepped back, keeping Tokijin raised between them. This last affront to Sesshoumaru's dignity seemed to have been the final straw.

 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Sesshoumaru demanded angrily. “Stop this at once!”

 

“GIVE ME THE SHARD, YOU OVERGROWN PRETTY-BOY!” Inuyasha insisted, brandishing Tetsusaiga. The sword seemed to be blazing even brighter than usual---some of the overhead tree branches were beginning to be singed.

 

Sesshoumaru weighed the possible outcomes.

 

He didn't particularly want or need the Shikon shard for himself, and he knew that it would be safe from Naraku if it were in the hands of Inuyasha's human girl, so there was no harm in returning it.

 

Inuyasha had greatly insulted him, not only implying that he preferred to mate with males but also that one of those males was the despicable Naraku.

 

But Sesshoumaru also, as a rule, refused to fight his brother when Inuyasha was insane, and this certainly seemed to be the case.

 

Sesshoumaru also had bigger fish to fry, and wasting more time exchanging blows and insults was not the least bit preferable.

 

“Take the shard,” he conceded icily, sheathing Tokijin and producing the fragment from a pouch hung from his sword-belt. “Just retreat and leave me alone, and cease destroying the garden our dead kinsmen so laboriously planted.”

 

Inuyasha seemed somewhat disappointed, because the stupid grin vanished from his face, but he reached out and took the shard from his brother. Then, abruptly, he turned and sped off in the direction he had come with crazed swiftness.

 

Sesshoumaru watched him go with a mixture of distaste, bemusement, and a great deal of vexation.

 

Inuyasha's crazed “MOOWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” echoed through the valley.

 

`Next time I see you, Inuyasha,' Sesshoumaru thought, `I will kill you.'

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Shippou were all sitting huddled against Kirara's warm sides for warmth when Inuyasha returned. They heard him coming long before they saw him coming in a cloud of snow and debris.

 

However, his momentum was noticeably dying as he sped down the slope toward them. Kagome glanced at her watch, which she wore underneath her gloves.

 

“Are you ready with your `sit' command?” Sango asked her, nodding toward the approaching hanyou.

 

“Won't need it,” Kagome replied. “He's back just in time. Caffeine crash in five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one.”

 

“I'VE GOT IT!” Inuyasha shouted triumphantly, skidding to a halt in front of them and spraying them all with snow. “THAT ALBINO DRAG-QUEEN NEVER STOOD A CHANCE AGAINST MY---”

 

Whatever it was that Sesshoumaru hadn't stood a chance against, they would never know. Inuyasha flopped forward, landing face-first in the snow with one fist still triumphantly upraised.

 

“Oh no!” Sango exclaimed, looking worried. “Is he dead?”

 

“No,” Kagome said, kneeling beside him. She pried open the fist and, true to the hanyou's words, the Shikon shard was there.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

 

The boy-king Asano knelt in the garden, alone in the bamboo grove. The snow beneath his knees had long since melted and seeped through his white silk robes, but he paid no heed to the chill.

 

The chill in his heart was greater.

 

“Heaven preserve me,” he whispered, staring blindly into the verdant depths of the grove. “I've betrayed him, and he knows it. Yet what choice do I have? I had to draw him into this; he's the only one who might yet turn back the change that has come over us . . .”

 

In the king's mind, a darker echo of a thought whispered, `He is the only one, yet he will never forgive this. It is not in his nature. You have gambled for the lives of your people on a fool's hope that a demon would show you mercy . . .'

 

“If he cannot save us, then there is no one . . .” Asano murmured.

 

Then he lowered his face into his hands and wept.

 

{END OF CHAPTER 8}