InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Ours ❯ Jaken 3 ( Chapter 12 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The enemy is just standing there, not doing anything.

I'm not ready for this.

The others must have sensed the tension between Rin, Lord Sesshomaru and I. Her tears hadn't completely dried when we got here. They chose not to say anything, though.

Not even when I turned Zearth around and walked away from where the enemy was standing.

"Um, Jaken?" Seiko spoke up-those three were with us again, after having told the people in this area to evacuate. "Where are you going?"

"To my old village." I answered. Several eyes widened. Of course, it came as a surprise to them that there was a time I did not travel with Lord Sesshomaru.

The one named Hiroshi studied where I was going and coughed nervously. "But we haven't evacuated that area yet."

"Goddammit!" Seiko shouted. "Dung Beetle, please teleport me and my brothers outside so we can warn whoever's there!"

Dung Beetle gave them what they wanted; I shrugged. It didn't matter. I knew my old "colony" better than they did. Daichi...I know where he is for some reason. I can also sense where his little crew is too. Must be Zearth's powers. I'm gonna go see them.

They're gonna die with me.

"Master Jaken?" Rin got out of her seat and walked up beside me. "What are you doing?"

I ignored her. I spotted the smallest one out of Daichi's crew; this particular one used to love strangling me.

"There." I said before I tore the roof off the house. It seemed the bird demons had been too late, or weren't successful in trying to evacuate the place. Everyone was still here. They all stared up at me with their yellow eyes, their green skin identical to mine; and memories of the past flooded my mind.

I simply slapped away the other toads around the one that I wanted. They couldn't even survive one slap from Zearth.

"What the hell?!" Inuyasha had shouted, obviously confused. Everyone seemed a little bewildered, even my Lord.

"Jaken!" Lord Sesshomaru called, using the authorative tone he used with me to get my attention.

I sighed. "My Lord, this humble Jaken has served you faithfully for years. My loyalty to you remains, and it shall still remain after my death."

"What are you saying?" I could envision his eyes narrowing. I didn't dare look at him.

"I cannot-will not follow your orders this time, my Lord." I replied. "Not this time. These are my last moments alive."

Did he expect that from me? Or did he think I'd follow his commands even during my dying moments when I'm dealing with my most personal issues? I don't know. I just hope he didn't get the wrong message. This doesn't mean that I am no longer loyal to him. It's just that this situation is different.

I held the boy in my hands and used Zearth's fingers to strangle his puny little neck. Oh, this felt so wonderful. We have switched places. I gradually increased Zearth's pressure on his neck until his head popped off of his body.

After throwing away the headless body, I left that area to go find someone else. The one that used to stomp on my face. And when I found him, not only did I stomp him to death, I also stomped the bodies of everyone there with him that was in my way.

"Master Jaken!" Rin shrieked in terror.

The same people that called me weak and helpless were now running from me, crying.

"I told you." I found myself saying out loud. "I told you I'd make you regret laughing at me. Who's laughing now, huh?! I am!"

I pounded at the imps mercilessly, emotions taking over me. I laughed at them. I laughed at them the same way they used to laugh at me. And for some strange reason, I started to cry at the same time. Laughing, sobbing, and choking.

"You said I was weak-I was uselss-who's the weak one now?!" I screamed as I made my way towards Daichi's place. His father would be there. I know he will be. Their deaths won't be quick like the others. Theirs will be slow and torturous.

I used Zearth's sharp arm to pierce through Daichi's house. What do you know? I had stabbed through Daichi's father in the process. His body was hanging on Zearth's finger. I flung him off to the side.

There. Daichi. I can see him, huddled in a corner, shivering. I smirked.

Slowly, I reached out for him and picked him up in Zearth's hand. he rubbed his eyes and stared directly into my-no, zearth's eyes. He blinked three times before speaking.

"J-J-Jaken?" He whimpered. "Is...is that you, Jaken?"

"What is this?!" I shouted at Dung Beetle, who had returned alone after teleporting the three bird demons outside. "He can see me?"

"Of course he can't see you, you dumb fuck." Dung Beetle replied in his usual manner. "He's obviously going by his gut instincts. Where do you know him from?"

Gut instincts?

Daichi's intuition's telling him that I'm the one controlling this thing?

That means I had left enough of a mark in his memory for him to still remember me. I was a big deal to him, huh?

"Jaken, I'm sorry." Daichi choked out before burying his face in his hands, trying to hide his tears. "I'm so, so, so sorry."

Inuyasha chose to speak up right then. "Hey Jaken, you got bullied, didn't you?"

Everyone's heads turned towards him. I gritted my teeth.

"Yeah, you did." He continued. "I can tell better than anyone else. You're acting like I used to...except you're actually carrying out your fantasies."

I looked over at him. He was biting his lip.

"So. If you knew...if you had been through the same thing, why did you do it, toad? Huh?" He shouted. "Why did you stand there and cheer Sesshomaru on while he constantly tortured me for no fucking reason?! If you knew what it was like to go through that, why did you fucking help him along, huh?"

"What do you want me to say?! It felt good, alright!" I screeched at him as loud as I possibly could. "It felt good! After all that, being put down for so long, I got to be the one causing the pain for a change, not someone else! For once, I wasn't the victim. It made me feel better, and bigger. Is that what you wanted to hear?! Okay, you got it, a fucking confession! Now fuck off!"

I swiftly turned back around and returned my attention to Daichi, who I had ignored for too long. I readied Zearth's sword-like fingers and plunged them in his direction-but it didn't hit him. It hit something else.

Someone else had gotten in the way. A female's arm had been cut off.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

"Mother?"

"Dammit." I said through clenched teeth. "Dammit. Move! Why is she defending him?!"

I felt Rin tug at my sleeve. "Master Jaken. They are sorry. You got what you wanted."

She was right. I did. I vowed to make them sorry for laughing at me, and it effected Daichi so much that not only did he apologize crying, he could sense that I was controlling Zearth.

But that wasn't enough.

"You think you can get away with it just cause of a measly apology, huh?! It doesn't work like that!" I shouted as I pulled my mother apart from Daichi with Zearth's large fingers. She was still struggling and pounding at me with the arm she had left.

After carefully placing her on the ground, I turned to Rin. "Sorry, Rin. But I'm a murderer too." She let go of me, her eyes full of hopelessness. "I have to be. This is the only way I can get any respect."

I wasted no time in squeezing Daichi to death in Zearth's large, metal grip. His eyes bulged out and popped out of the sockets before the rest of his body basically exploded in my grip.

"Master Jaken, please! This isn't you!" Rin was at my side again, tugging on my sleeve. "Please be yourself again! I don't like this, this isn't Rin's Master Jaken..."

"Rin..." I sighed. "You're the only one on Earth who is fine with me being that way. For everyone else, I'm a joke-"

"Do you think this Sesshomaru would have allowed you to serve him if you were a joke?" A cold, deep voice interrupted me mid-sentence. I turned my head to the speaker, my jaw hanging open.

My Lord?

"I let you follow me when you asked; exactly as you were that day. I made no requests for you to change or become stronger." He continued. "There are plenty of strong demons everywhere. They are not hard to find. My father had plenty of servants who were powerful in their own right. But they were not loyal to me. They were obligated to him."

Of course. I never noticed before.

My Lord never kept any servants around; only myself. There was no doubt that his father had left behind countless followers, all much stronger than me, smarter than me, more useful. But he didn't associate with any of them. He associated with me.

I never noticed before, but out of everyone who had worked for my Lord-whether willingly or unwillingly-I was the only one who did so because I looked up to Lord Sesshomaru himself and not because I looked up to his father.

From Totosai to Myoga to the demons who wanted to serve him during the fight against the panthers...they all did so because he was the Inu no Taisho's son.

I was the only one of them who saw him as Lord Sesshomaru and not a shadow of his father.

"I assumed you took pride in yourself and your position, Jaken." He spoke again.

I tried. But I didn't. But to know that my Lord kept me around for no other reason than that I was who I was-I was Jaken, toad youkai, servant of my Lord; not incredibly strong, not very smart, but fiercely loyal, honest to a fault, and clumsy-and he wanted it that way, did not want it changed, and he saw those traits as something to take pride in was enough to crumble my earlier resolve.

To him and Rin, I was not a joke. I was not inferior. I did not have to become stronger, or better, or wiser. I was fine exactly as I am now.

"My Lord..." I breathed out. "Why couldn't you have told me that sooner? If I had known that before this whole thing happened, I think I would've been able to be happy with myself. But now...now it's too late. I've already done what I've done..."

"Too late for what, Master Jaken?" Rin grabbed my sleeve. "You still have time left. Not everybody is dead yet."

I gulped and nodded. To think I did all that for such petty insecurities.

"...Jaken." Hiroshi spoke up. "The enemy is coming this way."

My throat became dry. Solemnly, I turned to face the enemy and watched as the "robot" took flight. It then came down on me, crushing me. I choked and coughed at the pain in my chest.

I must continue to fight. If I don't, then everyone else up until this point has died in vain.

Regardless of the pain I felt, I willed Zearth to get up and kick the enemy in the shins, knocking it over. I hopped back up onto my-or Zearth's-feet. In the position we were in-the enemy on the ground and Zearth standing up, hovering over it-provided me with a clear view of my opponent's anatomy.

The vital spot I need to destroy to win; it's there in the center. I stabbed Zearth's sharp arms through its middle, drew it out, and then stabbed again with the other arm. I repeated this multiple times, just to make sure I had gotten the right spot.

Right now, I am more than I ever was in my whole life. A hero, if you will. Just a moment ago, I was a villain as feared as Naraku.

Not too long ago, I would've leapt at the chance to become either one of those two instead of myself.

But now I know that plain old Jaken had lived a life more worthy of living than any powerful demon. Your worth is not measured by how others see you, but how you see yourself. I know that now.

As I finished my battle, I looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes. "Lord Sesshomaru. Rin. Thank you."





(Normal POV)

"L-Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin mumbled as she tilted her head back from where she was kneeling over Jaken's limp form. Out of the corner of her eye, she had seen a light. The all too familiar light that she remembered once waking up to.

Sesshomaru had drawn Tenseiga and was standing by Jaken.

Everyone started to talk among each other; they had forgotten about Sesshomaru's sword. If he was willing, maybe they would not have to die. Maybe they'd make it out of this alive after all!

Sensing their apprehension, Dung Beetle chuckled. "You'll get your answer."

And indeed, they got it. Sesshomaru swung Tenseiga over Jaken, where he saw the creatures from Hell collecting his soul. To his surprise, the sword of heaven did not cut through the messengers from the underworld. It just went right through them like they weren't there.

Jaken did not come back alive.

"That sword is from this dimension, even if it's from this Earth's heaven." said Dung Beetle. "It can't interfere when Zearth is absorbing someone's life force for the next round. Sorry."

Miroku turned to Sango with a frown on his face. "Sango..." he whispered.

"Hmm?"

"...How come Dung Beetle already knew about Tenseiga and what it was? No one told him about it."