InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Only to be Distracted ❯ Bloody Yesterdays ( Chapter 3 )

Kaede and Shippou met them outside of the hut; Kaede with a smile and Shippou with a shill shriek that cut off as he landed in Kagome's arms. His eyes grew very round and he sniffed audibly.

"Ooh, what have you two been up to? What will Sesshoumaru say when he hears?"

"Oi, enough of that brat." Inuyasha had him upside down by his tail in an instant.

"Well he's gonna find out," Shippou snarled, flailing his arms about irritably.

Inuyasha raised the little kitsune to eye level and said slowly and clearly, "I will tell him myself." Still holding the outraged kitsune, Inuyasha addressed Kaede. "Did that evil wench take Kouga's shards?"

"Yes, Inuyasha, I think she's handed them over this time too." Kaede sighed. "Sango is aware and is concerned for the safety of her brother; it won't be long now."

Kagome stepped forward, taking Shippou gently from Inuyasha's grasp. "Maybe I'd better go speak to her."

"She's at the shrine." Kaede answered. Kagome nodded and began to set off but was called back by Inuyasha.

"Take your bow." he said.

Kagome found Sango sitting alone at the head of the shine steps, her head resting on her folded arms. Kagome sat next to her, a little gingerly.

"Everything alright between you and Inuyasha?" Sango slid an eye over towards her but didn't otherwise move.

"I think so." Kagome copied Sango's posture. "At least things are very clear between us so we can go on. To wherever it is we have to go to."

"They took Kouga's shards."

"I know, that means that your brother Kohaku is next. If they haven't already gotten him yet. Sango, what happens is what happens. At least this means we're at the end of this part of the story."

"You can really believe there's a story beyond this?"

"Well, I don't think I would have been alive with the Shikon-no-Tama in my side five-hundred years from now if there were no more story."

Sango had to digest this for a few minutes. "What part of the story am I in? The tragic side character like in the plays?"

Kagome sighed. "I was actually thinking about this subject this morning: There is a country in my time that has almost all of its stories end happily. I know it sounds crazy, but it's a very rich very successful country. Why not copy it's attitude and plan on winning?"

They both laughed at that and descended the stairs to do what needed to be done.

Most of the evening was spent by the group setting up a large circle about the town to form a ward that Kaede could activate in a moment and hold by herself for a considerable time.

Kouga could hear, as he drifted in and out of consciousness, the shrill cries of "Kisune-bi" as the little fox demon affixed spells were carried to him on the breeze. Kaede and Miroku seemed to be writing offuda as fast as they could go and the others came and went, stopping only briefly for a few words.

Once a presence stopped by his pallet and left a bowl of clear broth by his elbow. It was Inuyasha, swift and silent as ever, as graceful in his movements as a cat. The hanyou paused for a moment and regarded him expressionlessly and rose and left without speaking. He didnft need to; the meaning was clear in the commingled scents of Kagome and her chosen mate filling the air. Kouga turned his face to the wall until he was alone again but he did drink the broth when Kaede came to feed it to him.

Out beyond the farthest edge of the fields a darkness built up over the land. It seemed to swell and grow until it was proven to be only a shadow in the moonlight caused by the enormous black cloud that was descending from the heavens. Sesshoumaru regarded it with interest.

He stood upon a slight rise near to the western edge of the village. Jaken crouched in a shivering huddle behind him waiting for the next order. But Sesshoumaru delayed for quite awhile, studying the heavens. Finally, he dropped his head and strode forward a few dozen paces and used his katana to pull aside some grass. There was a small wooden stake with an offuda tacked on it as if it were a label for a vegetable row.

He raised his eyebrows at this and flicked his hand as if throwing some sand at the small marker. A fizzle of blue fire appeared momentarily, followed by the appearance of a faint blue glow that seemed to be an inverted bowl over the sleeping village.

Sesshoumaru studied this a moment before snapping the fingers of his remaining hand and ending the glow. "We will walk around this, Jaken."

"But, Sesshoumaru-sama, you can easily pass straight through!" The toad-youkai exclaimed.

"Nevertheless, we shall continue around. Obliterating this may cause me annoyance later. So, you see, I, Sesshoumaru, am progressing in greatness, Jaken."

"Of course, Sesshoumaru-sama. Of course." Jaken shook his head worriedly and led the great beast Ah-Un, with its burden in his lord's footsteps.

Far on the other side of the village, where the black cloud seemed to billow and swirl, Kagura waited babe-in-arms. She squinted her eyes against the dust that was kicked up by the descending cyclone of darkness. 'Naraku hasn't gotten any classier,' she thought, as the dust cloud cleared to reveal three figures in its midst.

Naraku was yet again wrapped in a baboon's skin with it's mask concealing his face. 'No matter,' thought Kagura, 'there truly is no concealing his evil, and this is the true Naraku and no puppet.' His hands rested upon the shoulders of a young boy in a taijiya battle outfit. The mask that covered the boy's face was old and showed much wear. Kanna stood by their side.

Kagura saw that the boy Kohaku showed no more consciousness of where he was than an ox, brought out to slaughter. And indeed, like the ox, he bent his head willingly to win, even in death, the commendation of his master. Her heart pounded. She wanted to live! Not be subsumed in some twisted story of her creator's making; not to be a victim to his tiresome plots.

"Oi." There was a faint voice over the hill. Miroku and Sango, mounted on Kirara seemed to rise independently of sense on blue flame, their dark clothes billowing. "Leave the boy alone, we know why you are here. Leave the boy alone and we might be able to talk."

Naraku chuckled, "Now why would I parley with you? You just want the boy's life, when I want so much more." A wind seemed to stir his robes around.

Kohaku stepped forward. His appearance was not reassuring, as his armor now had a tattered appearance it had not had before and his hair was no longer neatly tied up. Naraku spoke, sweeping back his baboon hood to reveal his all too perfect features.

"You see the boy before you. In almost all respects the same brat that fate dumped on my hands well over a year ago. This offal is good for only one thing. And, you two insignificant people know what that is. Where are your betters?"

"Whom could that mean?" Miroku shouted furiously. "You debase yourself with every change. You make a point of flouting every rule. Anyone is better than you!"

Naraku only shrugged in reply and wrapped his white baboon skin around him more firmly still. "They are not here. I shall seek them elsewhere." He dipped his head and a cloud of purplish miasma obscured him.

There was again an explosion of chocking dust as a dark whirlwind spun itself about Naraku and obscured him, lifting off and arching out of sight towards the east. Kagura coughed furiously. This was not what she wanted. She resentfully raised her hand to call and they came; all of the small demons of the air that had been gathering for weeks; the wormlike roiling mass of minor youkai that would wait at a greater demon's call just to get a bit of the kill.

"Go! Curse you!" She shut her fan for a moment and turned away to confront those who stood behind her."Kohaku, get in front of me! Kanna, why are you still here?" She stared at the small pale girl who transmitted so many of Naraku's wishes.

Kanna stepped forward. "I watch you." She said in her childish voice. "I wait for you to make an unforgivable error. All truly fine tools are inherently dangerous to their owners, as any fine craftsman knows. So, you, like a fine tool wish to turn in the craftsman's hand and slice him. It is pathetic."

Kagura stared at her for a moment and then spun around to observe events.

Sango and Miroku regarded the flight of small youkai without serious alarm. These had faced by the group so often to be almost routine. The problem was to get past them and capture Kohaku. Miroku indicated with a swing of his staff where he wished to be let off and Sango did so to come in low and fast towards the little group awaiting on the ground. She could feel the slight shift in Kirara's flight that indicated a passenger had dismounted. Good, now to concentrate.

While still some distance off, Sango took the move that she hoped would buy her some needed time. She let loose her bone boomerang in a shortened arc that brought the flat of the blade against Kohaku's back and propelled him sharply forward, knocking his claw out of his hand.

Kohaku, lacking any direct orders to attack, did not react as rapidly as he might have to the boomerang's progress and flew forward to land on his hands and knees. Well away from the globe of barrier that appeared about the group behind him. Kagura turned to deposit the baby and his skin into Kanna's arms. "Here, looks like Sango intends to fight for her brother." Kanna did not reply but took the baby and looked at it.

It seemed to be sleeping again. "Let her, he's beaten her before." The baby barely slitted his eyes and looked to Kohaku, transmitting some message to him where he knelt bent forwards on the ground some feet away. Kohaku rose to his feet and strode forward to meet his sister's approach.

Miroku rolled forwards twice as he stuck the ground and came up on his feet, staff whirring in a figure-eight pattern that cleared the area immediately around him. As expected, the swarm of demons was ignoring him to follow Sango's rapid flight for the most part. They were visible even in faint light of early dawn like so many paper lanterns of wild shapes. He took a few more swings, destroying low-level youkai right and left before undoing the binding on his air rip. "Kazanna!"

Wind began to rush past him as he advanced, hand upraised onto the field. He kept a careful eye out for Naraku's insects but spotted none as he moved forward, counting to himself how long he kept the vortex in his hand open. The youkai came and circled him, still attracted by the call of Kohaku's shikon shard but distracted by the challenge of this opponent. Miroku swiftly sealed up his air rip and produced the first of the little surprises set for this morning from his voluminous sleeve. Again shooting his arm up to its full extent he chanted the spell that affected the contents of a large aerosol can of hornet spray and discharged it at the circling youkai.

The results were spectacular. The combined spay and powerful dispersal spell latched to each demon it contacted causing them to burst into a sparking ball of fairy fire. The dispersing demons howled and whirled about, igniting their companions before exploding into balls of fiery motes that drifted in the dawn wind. The houshi's figure was outlined in flashes of red, green and blue light.

Miroku tossed the empty can aside with a hard grin. Kagome had brought a sack of them when the well had been infested with hornets only to find that Inuyasha had cleared the well of nests while she was gone. Naraku's saimyoushou were in for a hard time if they showed up.

A large claw swept past his nose causing him to stumble back a moment. One, at least had been missed. He turned to find himself confronted by a mantis-type youkai. Not one he was willing to risk the air-rip on. With a shout he readied his staff. As he swung at the thing it lunged, cutting a shallow stripe along his hairline. A sheet of his own blood instantly blinded Miroku. "Shit!" The rest of the fight was short and unpleasant, resulting in the impalement of the youkai on the end of his staff.

"Kirara, guard!" Sango directed as slipped off to confront her brother. Kohaku was approaching at a steady pace, his eyes holding that blank expression of control. Sango watched him carefully, easing Hiraiktsu in her hands. The group within the force barrier did not concern her too much at the moment as they could not attack from within and Kirara posed a sufficient threat from without to force them to deal with the fire cat first. It should give her enough time. No matter her feelings on the subject she had been training for weeks to act as opponent to her brother's claw fighting style.

Kohaku stood his ground a few feet in front of Sango. She waited tensely until the boy made the first move. He leapt up, surprising Sango a little and threw the claw down at her. Immediately she blocked with the Hiraikotsu, and as he came towards her used the giant boomerang to propel him off to one side.

Sango realigned her position. He leapt back to his feet, deftly running to another angle to try it again, this time sending the chain out to catch around one of her ankles before running with the claw raised as Sango fell, missing the boomerang as it slammed into the ground just beyond her head.

She whipped her katana out and parried his attack. "Ko-haku..." she ground out through her teeth-though it made no difference. Still silent he moved quickly and shifted bringing the point of the claw into the back of her head, hard. The taijiya gritted her teeth and shoved her feet in his stomach, flipping him up and over her as she scrambled up and grabbed the boomerang and sent it flying towards Kohaku. He dropped and rolled underneath it.

Sango caught Hiraiktsu, balancing it easily on her shoulders, planning to repeat the throw that had brought Kohaku disarmed to his knees in the first place. The pyrotechnics going on behind her certainly seemed to mean that Miroku had successfully dealt with his end of the business. She looked to see Kohaku straighten himself and bring his claw into his own shoulder at the same moment that the force barrier in the background released.

"Kohaku!" Sango yelled with a sickening sense of deja vu. She saw him fall, blood blossoming like some obscene scarlet flower from his back. 'That's a lung,' a small cold voice in the back of her mind told her. It sounded to her like Kagome's.

Kanna stepped forward, holding her mirror out before Kirara's face. The fire cat froze and stood unmoving as the small group left the force barrier together. Kagura shouldered the baby and felt one handed at the fallen Kohaku's back, picking out the bloody shard. As she did so, Sango felt a cold grip on her mind freezing her in place. She was held only for a moment and was released to stagger as the three escaped upon a feather, leaving Kohaku's body crumpled on the ground.

Sango sobbed in frustration and swung around, gathering momentum to heave Hiraiktsu off of her shoulders and into its arc. "Hiraikotsu!" she cried and let go, seeing the giant boomerang swirl off before she ducked and rolled to get closer to the body of her dying brother.

Miroku used his staff to deflect the boomerang just in time. It had not struck its target and would have taken him out on its return trip had he not been watching it. The boomerang spun over on itself on the ground and he grabbed the carrying strap dragging the unwieldy thing back to Sango and Kohaku.

"Sango-" he paused in astonishment as he saw the look of horror on her face and remembered what a mess of mud and blood his face must be. "Just a scalp wound," he reassured her "Let's get him sitting up so he can breathe."

"Oh, gods, why can't I just kill him and be done with this?" Sango gasped out. Her face was gray and Miroku suddenly realized that he had two patients on his hands, or maybe only one. Kohaku's eyes had dulled in the few moments that had passed. A warm flood was sluicing over his hand where he supported the boys back. Kohaku was leaning bonelessly against Miroku's shoulder and neck.

Sesshoumaru paused for a moment at the edge of the field. Rin had broken away from him on a tangent that took her to a small group huddled in the bottom of a dip of land. She stood still at the edge of the dip long enough for him to become curious and incline his steps in her direction. She looked back at him and uncharacteristically waited for him to approach her.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin wishes..." She gestured behind her. He gazed at the mess behind her for a moment and returned his regard to her without change of expression.

"The boy also?" He inquired.

"Most especially," Rin twisted her fingers in her kosode.

Sesshoumaru nodded and drew Tenseiga bringing it around to make a long slash close to the ground. There was a tortured gasp and a rattle of prayer beads so Sesshoumaru added another slash bisecting the first, visible as great planes of light radiating out from the sword. He brought it up in a half-salute and resheathed it. He immediately turned his back and resumed his journey.

Rin stayed behind just long enough to be sure that the job had been a thorough one and then danced away to follow her own god: Sesshoumaru.