InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Melting a heart of ice ❯ Chapter Two: Captured ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two: Captured

Sesshoumaru was positive he would get a headache.

He was sitting on his horse, proud, surveying his men. To his right was his little brother Inuyasha. Approaching them was Kouga, Lord of the Eastern Lands.

Problem was, Inuyasha and Kouga couldn't stand each other.

How many times had he lectured them about their behaviour, how it wasn't appropriate? It was as if they never listened to him, because every time they met, again and again, they would throw insults at each other and sometimes, they would even fight.

Sesshoumaru had to admit; the wolf prince was annoying. He was arrogant, spoiled, and said everything that came to his mind, whether it was insulting or complimenting, Kouga didn't care. This angered Sesshoumaru, who always thought about what he said, carefully considering what the consequences of certain pronouncements could be.

Inuyasha began growling and Sesshoumaru gave him a deadpan look. His brother however wasn't intimidated the least, and went from growling to yelling at Kouga, who was right before them now.

"Hey, wimpy wolf, decided to show your face again? I thought you would stay at home, like a coward."

"Oi, dog turd, YOU are the coward here."

"Why you bastard!"

"Have something to say, asshole?"

Sesshoumaru merely sighed and ignored the two bickering youkai. Instead, he turned his horse to survey the combined armies.

There was no doubt, that elven bitch would get it tough this time. She would be lucky if she survived the day.

Yet he still felt a bit uneasy. All Naraku's letter had told him, was that Kikyou challenged Naraku to fight against her, in the same valley where they were currently camping.

It was strange, because the elves hated fights and deaths, so it were usually the youkai who attacked the elves, and not the other way round, like now. Most of the past battles were fought near the most important fortress of the elves.

It was a huge - and he had to admit, beautiful - castle. It was were the royal family lived, which meant that the queen's youngest daughter was there too. Add the fact that she's the guardian of the Shikon no Tama, and you immediately understand why Naraku always attacked this castle. Once you got this castle, you got her, and once you got her, you got the Jewel.

Sesshoumaru must admit, he was curious about her.

He had heard the usual stories and gossip about her; about how beautiful she apparently was, that she had incredibly power, maybe even more power than Midoriko once had.

He had always thought these stories to be nonsense, most likely, she was so ugly, no man would look twice at her, and her power would be equal to that of a average elf, and only become stronger if she used the Jewel.

But then again, he had heard numerous stories about Kikyou too, and thought them to be nonsense, but most of them had turned out to be true...

So now he wished he could see this mysterious girl once, to test her power and see it for himself.

After that, he would kill her of course.

But well, before Naraku or he or Kouga would manage to set one single step inside that castle and near her, a miracle would have to happen. They surely wouldn't succeed in taking that castle as long as Kikyou lead their army and fought against them.

He didn't know how wrong he was...

        *

Kagome was still standing on the balcony of the same tower, lost in thought. She followed their army as it steadily marched away, until it disappeared out of sight as the road made a sharp angle to the right.

She gazed up to the sky once and then looked before her again. She stretched her arms out before her and closed her eyes. Her black hair and long dress fluttered behind her as suddenly a strong wind blew.

And then, there appeared a sort blue light, it began glowing at her hands, until she was giving of light with her entire body. She began whispering something in a strange language, and suddenly, a bright light bursted out of her hands, literally. It took the form of an eagle, and it flew into the same direction as were the army went.

After a few seconds, the light around Kagome disappeared, and she opened her eyes again and smiled. "Sorry you guys, but that's all I can do for now," she whispered into the air.

Her expression became a bit sad again, that is, until she noticed a tiny figure, metres below her position, which was a young, handsome man, dressed as a monk in black and purple robes.

"Oi, Kagome, come down here!"

The young woman grinned, sprinted down the stairs, storming through several corridors, giving a view servant a heart attack, until she came into the main hall.

Opening the huge oaken doors, she stormed out into the courtyard and bumped right into a grinning boy.

"Miroku! I thought you went with Sango and Kikyou?"

"Well, eh, Kikyou told me it wasn't necessary for me to come."

Kagome frowned. "Why? She's going to fight against all three youkai lords, she needs all the men she can get!"

Miroku chuckled. "Don't tell me you didn't notice."

Kagome looked confused at the boy before her. He too was a victim of Naraku. His grandfather had been an advisor of her father, and one of his best friends. His grandfather was cursed by Naraku. Every male in the family from now on would have a black whole in their right hand, which sucked everything in it, and it would grow with the years, sucking its owner in too, in the end.

The curse could only be lifted once Naraku was killed, and that's exactly what Miroku swore he would do.

He had come to the castle and proclaimed he wanted to join their army. He was just a human, but there were more humans in the elven army, so Kikyou allowed him to join them. He had become friends with Kagome and Sango and you often found them together. Also, he would give the queen advises, just like his grandfather did once.

"N-no. What should I have noticed?"

"Maybe you should have noticed how small Kikyou's army was?"

"It wasn't small! The whole place was crowded!"

"Well, that only shows how little you know about wars. Just take my word for it, her army was VERY small."

"B-but why is she going with so view men? That's suicide!" Kagome cried.

Miroku sighed. "Calm down, don't you get it?"

"Eh... no?"

"A large part of our army is located somewhere else, the part which left this morning is just a diversionary manoeuvre. I think Kikyou is up to something. Why else would she challenge Naraku?"

"S-she CHALLENGED Na- ... HIM?!"

"You didn't know?"

"NO! Is she gone crazy?!"

"I asked her the same question. She just smiled a bit and said `you'll see'. Do you have any idea what she would want to do?"

"No. Must be some of her tactics, don't ask me."

"Well never mind, I'm sure whatever she does, it will be the right thing to do. On to my next question; what nice little spell did you just perform?"

"So you noticed huh?"

He grinned and slung one arm around her shoulder. Ignoring the girl's warning glare, he answered. "Of course my Lady. I noticed your nice little eagle flying over. All your spells take on that form, and are that powerful, so it's hard to not notice them."

"Stop flattering me. It's nothing important, just some spell that will help them."

"Ah... one of your little blessing spells?"

"Something like that. Don't worry, I didn't curse them."

"Oh I would never think that, my beautiful Lady!"

Kagome quirked a brow. "What, Sango's gone, so now you are playing your little act on me?"

"No, but if you want..." his hand left her shoulder and travelled down. "... I can do that."

Kagome stiffened as she felt his hand on a `certain' place. She shrieked and turned quickly, throwing her hands out to Miroku. There was a bright light, and a second later, Miroku lay on the ground, stiff as a board, unable to move. All he could do, was blink with his eyes.

A servant came hurrying towards them and bowed, smiling. "Kagome-sama, shall I carry him away?"

Kagome smiled herself and nodded. "Very well. I will lift the curse in... let's say... a couple of hours?"

The servant was laughing now and disappeared to get some help so they could bring Miroku to his room.

        *

"Oh my, what a lovely sight!"

Sesshoumaru turned his head to see Naraku staring at Kouga and Inuyasha. He raise on single silver brow. "I do not know what one could find `lovely' at the sight of two idiots fighting."

"Oh, everything, Lord Sesshoumaru, everything. Rows and fighting are the best things of life."

"If you say so."

"I do. Now, can we go on with planning our strategy?"

"Very well."

        *

Sango silently watched Kikyou from the corner of her eyes. She had to admit, the princess was a great warrior. She respected her, and would gladly follow her orders. But the plan Kikyou had developed now... it was risky, dangerous, stupid, in one word; suicide.

Sango was glad Kikyou hadn't told Kagome or Miroku about it, because else she would have to listen to a thousand more `be careful'. Of course would be careful!

Kikyou's soft voice startled her from her thoughts. "You are worried," the elf stated. "You think I am crazy for even thinking about doing this."

"Of course I am worried! And so is everyone else."

Kikyou turned to her and flashed her one of her rare smiles. "Trust me Sango. Just think of what an advantage it would be if we would succeed..."

"And will we succeed?"

The elven princess held up her hand and watched how it began to glow in a blue light. "We will succeed."

        *

How he hated waiting.

Sesshoumaru was playing with Toukijin, one of his swords, as he let his gaze wander over his men once more.

Naraku and his men were positioned in the middle of the valley, Kouga to the right, and he to the left. He watched every soldier, one by one, with a trained gaze, judging them.

Naraku's men were, unlike his and Kouga's, on horses. They were strong, and good soldiers, but Sesshoumaru doubted they would be very loyal. Not with the way Naraku threaded them. But well, the Lord of the Northern Lands had his own ways of ensuring nobody would betray him...

Then Kouga and his wolves. Also, good, decent soldiers, but nothing more. They were the weakest of all, and he especially hated the fact that those wolves showed emotions. Imagine, a youkai showing emotions... he shook his head.

Then, he looked at his own men. Each one of them had the symbol of his house on their chest; a huge white dog. He was not a person to swank, but he was proud of them. They were strong, some of them could practice magic, and they were definitely loyal.

If not, they wouldn't be walking around with their heads still attached to their bodies.

He had discarded his horse; he preferred to fight with his feet on the ground. So did most of his soldiers.

He kept thinking their tactics over and over in his head. It was Naraku's plan, and to be honest, he didn't like it.

Naraku was clever, no doubt there, but he had this stupid feeling something was amiss. Something just didn't fit; there was a jaw in this plan somewhere.

He was still pondering about what that could be, when Inuyasha elbowed him hard in his side. "She's here."

Looking up, he saw the figure of a tall, black haired woman. His face lit up in an evil grin, and he chuckled. He would kill that bitch, she was annoying.

When he shifted his gaze to look at her army, the only thing that kept him from dropping his jaw, were years of training to hide any emotion.

`Is she CRAZY?!' was all he could think. `She surely doesn't expect to win the battle with... this?!'

His brother however failed miserably to hide his thoughts. His jaw almost dropped to the ground from shock, and his eyes grew wide.

Their combined armies were, together, thousands and thousands of soldiers.

The army that was facing them, had only a few hundred.

"She is CRAZY," Inuyasha stated.

"No," Sesshoumaru started as he realised something. "... not crazy, but brilliant."

As his brother began screaming about how the HELL this could be brilliant, he thought about how stupid he had been to not see the very obvious mistake in their tactics.

They had concentrated too much on the front of their armies, right there were Kikyou would show up. And they had forgotten to cover their back...

He would bet anything that the elf had stationed a large part of her army BEHIND them, on exactly that place where they would expect it the least.

It had been brilliant, yes, until he had seen right through it.

He turned and called out for Jaken, his toad like servant. Jaken came hurrying towards him and practically throwed himself for Sesshoumaru's feet.

"This humble servant is willing to obey to his master's wishes," the toad cried.

His master rolled his eyes and kicked him. "Jaken, get up and make sure you are by the back of or army within seconds. Tell them to keep a look out; we expect an attack from behind."

The poor toad opened his mouth, and shut it again, much like a fish. "An a- attack from b-behind, my Lord?!"

Sesshoumaru ignored him and drew Toukijin. He held the sword before him and concentrated on his youki, making the sword glow and crackle with power. "I think Toukijin longs to cut a nice little body today," he stated.

Jaken jumped at hearing this, and bowing again, he ran away, screaming to everyone to move when they were in his way. One could hear his wailing going on for minutes, until it went quiet, and he presumably reached the back of their army.

Inuyasha, who had heard his brother's words, frowned. "So this is what she was planning? I must admit, she's not that stupid after all."

"Never underestimate an enemy, Inuyasha, mark my words," Sesshoumaru growled, looking with a wicked smile at Kikyou. "But now we know what she's up to, and we will stop her. Go and inform Naraku and Kouga about our discovery. I would prefer for them to find out by their selves, but we could loose if they don't know."

"I'm already gone," Inuyasha yelled and a second later, a blur of silver and red raced trough the crowd of soldiers.

        *

Sango nervously shifted Hiraikotsu, a large boomerang, her favourite weapon, from her left to her right hand as soon as she noticed how the opposite army turned partly, facing them, and also facing the still empty opposite mountainside.

"Kikyou, they know it. They figured it out, look! They expect us to attack from behind! Damn!"

"Calm down Sango, it doesn't matter."

"Why?!" Sango cried, worried they would loose.

"Because now they expect the most danger coming from that way, and will think this part is useless, a mere diversionary manoeuvre."

"But we are..."

"No, we are not. If they should be afraid...," Kikyou took an arrow and spanned her bow. "... they should be afraid of us..."

        *

Tension hang thick in the air as both armies faced each other. Nobody moved, it was silence before the upcoming storm. Sesshoumaru growled, why didn't Naraku attack?

He wouldn't have to wait long, because seconds later, a horn clang, and Naraku's army began moving. On cue, he and Kouga yelled their commands to their armies, and they advanced upon Kikyou's.

Battle cries were soon being heard from everywhere, and soon, the smell of blood and death invaded his senses. He ignored it, and continued to slash trough every person that came in his way. Unbeknownst to everyone, he kept watching their back, and as after a thirty minutes, when most of their army was busy with Kikyou's, another army appeared from behind, he silently cheered. He had been right, Kikyou wanted to attack them from behind.

Jaken had done a good job of informing his men, because more had been watching the opposite mountainside, and they turned to fight the new men that arrived. He watched and as he ensured everything went well, he turned towards the few hundred elves before him. His eyes followed the figure of Kikyou, who was running around, yelling commands, and firing arrows, taking down quit a lot of his men.

He slashed Toukijin down, killing every elf that stood between him and Kikyou, and using his enormous speed, he stood before her within a second.

She smiled at him and cocked her head. "You are as alert and clever as always, Lord Sesshoumaru," she stated, pointing at the fight that was going on at the other side of the valley.

"Bitch, your tactic was simple, and therefore predictable," he spat. "Now stop talking and fight."

She spanned her bow and pointed an arrow at his chest. "As you wish."

At that, she let go of the arrow, but he dodged it quickly and trusted another blow of Toukijin her way. Unfortunately, she was quick and threw up a barrier.

She prepared to shoot another arrow at him, and he chuckled. "Foolish elf," he spat. "I will dodge every single arrow that comes from you; with my speed, you can not wound me."

"I wouldn't think so."

She smiled a bit mysterious, and several alarm bells were going of inside his head. She was an elf, elves could practice magic, and with that magic, she could curse him.

But it was too late.

A blue light shot out of her hands, and it went so fast towards him, he couldn't dodge it. He screamed as a terrible pain waved trough his body and he fell to his knees. As she shot another arrow at him, he was unable to dodge it, and she smiled triumphantly.

He was aware of the fact that his senses faded away, he could barely hear, see or smell anything. He coughed and glared at a vague figure which he presumed was Kikyou. "Bitch, what did you do?"

"I sealed your youki away. At the moment, you are something similar to a human, or even worse. This spell will last a day or two, in which you will come with us. I think you could be of use to us."

He tried to stand, to fight her, but she was right, he felt different, he felt weak. Damn, of all the things she could do to him, did it have to be something like this? He hated humans, and the mere idea of being like them for TWO days made he wanted to throw up. Or maybe it was just because of the spell, he didn't know.

He was aware of the fact that he was picked up, and carried away from the battle. Now he understood what Kikyou's tactic had been. She had wanted him to concentrate on the back, to send most of his army that way, and for him to come her way, almost alone, so that nobody, not Inuyasha or his soldiers, could possibly help him. This whole thing of Kikyou challenging Naraku had just been arranged so they could capture him.

Before he fell unconscious, he heard Kikyou talking to another person. "See Sango, I told you we would succeed."

        *

Kagome had gone to Miroku's room to free the poor monk of her curse. At the moment, he was stretching his legs and arms, and glaring daggers at her.

"Really, my Lady, such a thing as CURSING me wasn't necessary!"

She chuckled. "Believe me, it was. It's a shame Sango couldn't see it."

Miroku groaned. "Please no; then I would have something about a hundred lumps on my poor head."

Kagome laughed. "Maybe that's just what you deserve! You should stop acting like such a pervert, or else..."

She never finished her sentence, because all of the sudden, the room and Miroku disappeared, and she stood on a battlefield, watching Kikyou fight a silver haired man.

She watched in awe at how smooth his moves were, how practised he was with his sword. She admired his beauty, and silently asked herself who the hell he was.

Her question was answered soon as Kikyou began talking to him. So this was Lord Sesshoumaru, the powerful Lord of the Western Lands?

She kept watching, and only noticed she held her breath as she let it go in once as Kikyou cursed Sesshoumaru.

She watched how he felt to the ground, screaming in pain. She felt sympathy for him; she knew how cruel Kikyou could be, there was no doubt she threw some horrible curse at him.

As they carried him away, she started walking towards him, and was about to touch his pale face, as suddenly the vision disappeared and a worried Miroku came into view.

He waved his hand before her face, and suddenly he spoke. "One of your visions?"

She nodded, and opened her mouth. "I... I know what Kikyou was up too."

"And?"

"She has captured Lord Sesshoumaru."

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