InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Past, Present, and Future ❯ Demon's Blood ( Chapter 8 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: SilentTaiyoukai 
Shizuka is turning out just like Inuyasha.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 12.09.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 383 | Status: Work In Progress
Shizuka is turning out just like Inuyasha.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 12.09.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 383 | Status: Work In Progress
“Mom, what are you doing?” Shizuka asked, and Kagome looked up at her daughter in confusion. Shizuka pointed down at the large pile of vegetables next to her.
“Oh,” Kagome said, and looked down at her work.
Rin had inherited Kaede’s garden along with her hut, but since Rin was so heavily pregnant Kagome took it upon herself to tend to the plot. The garden had been very productive this year, and in today’s gathering alone Kagome found herself up to her elbows in radishes, turnips, onions and countless herbs. She had been so lost in thought she hadn’t realized she had placed nearly a dozen turnips into a single bundle. She sighed and created a new bundle with the excess of vegetables.
She had been lost in thought a lot lately. It had been nearly two weeks since Kagome had discovered Sesshoumaru training Shizuka, and nearly that long since she, or anyone else in the village, had seen Sesshoumaru. Kagome was used to him going off for a day or two on his own. He was Lord of the West, after all. He had an obligation to protect and watch over his lands, but he also had an obligation to the people that loved him. In all their years together, it was longest time that he had stayed away, and Kagome was worried.
She wasn’t worried that something had happened to him. There wasn’t a youkai in the world that could intimidate him, but Kagome was afraid that she had done just that. Kagome wondered just how many people told Sesshoumaru that they loved him. Even with a life as long as his, Kagome didn’t think there were many, if any at all besides herself. Even Rin had never told him so.
“I was just bundling these vegetables up for everyone. Here,” Kagome said, tying up the finished food arrangements and placing them in a single basket. “One is for Sango, one is for Rin, and one is for Shippo. He loves radishes.”
She handed the basket up to Shizuka, who slung it easily over her back.
“You okay, ma?” Shizuka asked, and Kagome smiled listlessly.
“I guess,” Kagome said. “I’m just worried about your uncle. He hasn’t been gone from the village for this long since you were little.”
“Kitsune Inn is pretty far. I’ll see if I can catch his scent on the way to see Shippo,” Shizuka said.
“Okay, hun. Be careful. And come back before dark!” Kagome said, and watched as Shizuka dashed away toward Rin’s hut.
“Okay!” she called back, and Kagome waved her goodbye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
< br>
After dropping the vegetable bundles off to Rin and Sango, Shizuka cut through the forest to the east and in the direction of the Kitsune Inn. Tetsusaiga swayed at her hip as she ran. Since Uncle Sesshoumaru had started training her, the sword never left her sight. Even though Sesshoumaru was absent, Shizuka continued training by herself. She practiced what he had shown her over and over again when there was no other work to be done, and sometimes she would even sneak away at night and practice by herself in the forest. She was a bit glad her mother only had a human’s dull senses. If she knew Shizuka was sneaking out alone at night, she would do no less than go on a tirade.
Shizuka wasn’t quite sure why her uncle had been away so long, but she didn’t think he had traveled very far from home. She caught his scent in the forest, and it grew fresher as she continued.
As she neared the Kitsune Inn, Shizuka became aware that she was not alone.
She swerved as she ran and the following aura mimicked her movements, keeping in a perfect line with her. What did the bastard think he was doing?
Shizuka jumped into the branches of a tree, unsheathing Tetsusaiga. She held the blade over her head as she leaped, coming face to face with a pair of horrid golden eyes that glared up at her. There were angry, gnashing fangs and a forked tongue that flicked up at her feet. Tetsusaiga came down on the scales of a serpentine youkai body, and blood spurted over her face and hands. The youkai screamed and twisted itself around the trunk of a tree before launching at her again.
Shizuka’s heart drummed madly in her chest. It was her first real opponent, and she would not fail.
“Kaze no Kizu!” she yelled, and dug her feet into the ground as the recoil from the massive attack drove her backwards.
The swirl of white light ripped through the snake youkai, and Shizuka’s ears twitched with the sound of his hissing scream. He fell to the forest floor in two cleanly cut halves. Shizuka sheathed the sword and watched as the halved corpse disintegrated, leaving nothing but a pile of gray ashes behind. She poked her foot into the ashy pile and the wind carried them away, leaving no trace of the youkai behind.
A fang popped out over her lip as she smiled. “Hell yes.”
She took to the trees for the rest of the journey, hopping her way through the high boughs and keeping an eye on the ground below for any more signs of trouble. Eventually she leaped onto the shingled roof of the Inn. She crouched down and concentrated for a moment, tightly closing her eyes and focusing her efforts. Her senses weren’t keen enough to detect distant auras unless she really put her mind to it.
On the fringes of her conscious, she could feel them. More snake youkai, dozens of them, and one other aura that was far stronger than the rest, like a hot poker pressing into her head. Shizuka opened her eyes and scoffed. She would deal with that aura in a minute.
She leaped down from the rooftop and into the doorway. She slid the doors open and stepped into the hall.
“Hey Shippo! You home?!” she called. A number of sleepy kitsune poked their heads curiously out from their rooms.
Shizuka took a step backward as a mesmerizing swirl of foxfire materialized in front of her. The fire gradually burned itself out to reveal a bushy-tailed teen with smiling green eyes.
“Shizuka!” Shippo yelled, and Shizuka grunted as she was bombarded with the force of Shippo’s hug.
“Hi Shippo,” Shizuka said, and took a breath as he released her. “Here,” she said, pushing the basket into his chest. “From my mom.”
Shippo took the basket and the two went outside to sit on the Inn’s steps. Shippo immediately plopped down to rummage through the various vegetables.
“Hey, there’s radishes in here,” he said. Shizuka rolled her eyes as he took a radish and roasted it in a palm full of foxfire. She watched him eat a few more radishes before she got to her feet.
“Hey Shippo, I’ll be back in a minute, ‘kay?” she said.
“Where you going?” he asked through a mouthful of food.
“To see an idiot about my uncle,” she quipped.
Shippo swallowed noisily. “Yeah? I’ve sensed Sesshoumaru hanging around south of here since yesterday.”
“Yeah? Well, I’ll be back,” she said, and ran down the steps. She circled around the building and to the south, following the steady increase in her uncle’s aura.
Shizuka’s nose wrinkled at the smell of blood, while her uncle’s aura flared with a power she had never seen him use. She ran as fast as she could and crashed through the bush where he was standing just in time to see him dispatch a serpent youkai, a bright yellow mononoke with a red cobra’s hood. The snake fell at the taiyoukai’s feet and he sheathed his sword, not acknowledging Shizuka in the slightest.
“Where have you been?” Shizuka asked, folding her arms into her sleeves.
He gave a brief glance over his shoulder.
“I have been keeping watch over my lands. What are you doing so far from the village?” he asked. He did not turn around.
“Visiting Shippo,” Shizuka replied. “You know, mom’s worried about you.”
“She has nothing to fear,” he said, and Shizuka was taken aback by the callousness behind it, as if they had no business caring what he did or where he was.
“Really? You’ve never stayed away this long, so of course she’s gonna worry,” Shizuka nearly snarled.
“I will not let the worries of others dictate my actions. I will return in my own time,” he said, thoroughly surprising her.
She had heard stories of the man her uncle had once been. She had been told there was a time when he would give no second thought to killing a human, a time when he traveled with no one but himself for company. He had tried to kill her father for the purpose of gaining Tetsusaiga, and she had even been told he had tried to kill her mother. It was something which she had never believed. Shizuka had always known her uncle to be silent and sometimes a bit distant, but never the heartless thing she heard stories about. She knew he loved her mother, and to imagine him trying to take her life was unthinkable. Now, hearing the icy edge to his voice, she thought she might just understand.
“Wow, you sounded like a real bastard just then, you know?” she said, and Sesshoumaru finally turned around, eyes narrowed in a deadly glare. He raised an eyebrow as Shizuka growled at him. “Come home soon.”
Shizuka left him then, turning back toward the Inn. She had no idea what exactly was eating at him, but she supposed it had something to do with her mother. Perhaps if he stopped avoiding her enough to talk to her they could work out whatever it was. Shizuka didn’t like the look in his eye either. She was young, but she wasn’t dense. His eyes spoke of anger, but there was a sadness behind them as well.
When she got back to the Inn, Shippo was right where she left him. He was occupying himself by whittling. Shizuka watched as a little dog began appearing out of the block of wood in his hands.
“Did you find him?” Shippo asked.
“Yeah,” Shizuka said, plopping herself down next to him. “Ass.”
Shippo’s busy hands went limp for a moment as he snorted with laughter. He sighed and shook his head. “Not as big a one as he used to be,” he said. “He is helping get rid of the snake youkai. They’ve been all over the place lately.”
Shizuka thought she could have argued over just how big of an ass he was being, but let the subject drop.
“I got attacked by one of those damn snakes coming here,” she said.
“Really? And you’re not dead?” Shippo asked smartly.
“Hey, watch it runt,” Shizuka said, and gave him a firm slap to the back of the head.
“Runt? I’m fifty years older than you!” Shippo yelled.
“Yeah, but still the same height as me.”
“No! I am so tal-” he began, but Shizuka’s hand closed over his mouth to silence him.
“Shut up for a second,” Shizuka said, and Shippo’s eyes went wide as a tree fell in the distance.
That tree was followed by another, and another, until the forest was overcome with the sound of snapping wood. It grew closer and closer until they could see the trees falling over like a row of tiles, forced to the ground by the hissing mass of red and black slithering their way.
Shizuka drew her sword and leaped from the steps of the Inn to meet the emerging youkai. She was stunned when two gaping mouths came rushing at her, fangs dripping with yellow poison. Two cobra hoods flared out, and the single massive body they shared between them destroyed everything in its path.
“Kaze no Kizu!”
The attack ripped through the space between them. She was nearly blinded by the attack’s yellow light, and was ready to claim her victory. There was no possible way the thing could have survived, but when the Wind Scar faded away the snake was still in once piece, curled into a giant, scaly coil.
The two heads reared up from the center of the coil, seeming to laugh at her attempt to destroy them.
“Think that’s funny, do ya? Well what about this?” she said, and with a wave the sword’s blade changed into a diamond pattern. “Kongosouha!”
Diamond slivers pierced the snake’s tough scales, snapping a fang off from the left head. The snake bled heavily, but lost none of its speed as its heads darted for her. As Shizuka was deciding how she was going to fend off two hungry mouths at the same time, a stone kitsune statue landed on the right head, effectively crushing it to the ground.
Shizuka wedged her sword between the second head’s descending fangs. It hissed as a wave of foxfire dashed across its eyes. Shizuka and the snake fought for dominance as Shippo continued his fiery barrage. Shizuka forced the snake back a few inches, only to have her feet skid back a foot.
She yelled as she felt her feet began to leave the ground completely. She looked down to find the snake’s tail curling around her ankle.
She tried to keep a hold on Tetsusaiga as she was lifted upside down into the air, but the snake’s fangs remained clamped down on the blade and the handle slipped from her fingers. She watched as the snake’s mouth opened and Tetsusaiga fell to the ground, now just a rusted katana.
This definitely wasn’t good. Her uncle had not been gentle when he told her what might happen should she ever do battle without Tetsusaiga.
The world became a confused blur of colors as the snake pulled her down into the main coil of its body. A horrible pressured formed in her head as the youkai began to squeeze her. She could hear Shippo calling her name, but he sounded distant and muffled. She saw one last flash of green fire before everything started fading to black.
“Shizuka! Hold on!” Shippo shouted.
While the body squeezed Shizuka, the head turned it’s attention onto him. He used every trick he knew, even old ones he rarely used any more. Spinning tops, mushrooms, giant acorns. He even transformed himself into a large snake. The youkai looked confused for a moment. Shippo hissed and stared it down, but when he could no longer hold his transformation, the snake came at him with renewed anger. Fangs threatened to pierce him, but the head fell limp before he could be skewered.
Shippo watched with wide eyes as blood erupted from the main curl of the body. The curl was ripped open in a gory display to reveal Shizuka, standing tall in the center of the carnage.
It took him a moment to wake up from his amazed stupor.
“That was amazing, Shizuka!” Shippo yelled. He ran at her, and instead of the thanks he expected, he received claws to his face.
“Shizuka, what the hell?!” Shippo yelled. He placed his palm to his cheek and came away with blood.
Shizuka reared her head and snarled. The warm brown of her eyes had bled into an ugly red, her tiny blue pupils staring the kitsune down. The color slowly drained from Shippo’s face, his blood running cold at the sight of his transformed friend.
“Oh, shit.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Kagome,” Rin said happily, “What brings you?”
Kagome entered the hut and kneeled down beside Rin and her husband, who were just finishing up their dinner. Kirara mewled and curled up at Kagome’s side, purring as Kagome patted her.
“I was wondering if you’d seen Shizuka since this afternoon. It’s getting a little late and she hasn’t come home from visiting Shippo yet,” Kagome said.
“We haven’t seen her. But she’s probably fine,” Rin said with a shrug. “You know how Shippo is. He can talk for hours if you let him.”
Kohaku caught Rin’s eye for moment, and the worried look he gave her was not lost on Kagome. Kagome quickly turned to the taijiya.
“You know something, don’t you?” she asked, and Kohaku gulped nervously as she gripped his sleeve.
“Well, the youkai populations in these woods has been growing for the last month or two…” he said, his teeth rattling in his head as Kagome tugged roughly on his kosode.
“What do you mean?”
Kagome let him go when Rin’s hand fell on her shoulder. “Don’t be worried, Kagome. Shizuka is part demon, too. And she has Tetsusaiga with her.”
“I don’t care if she had an army with her,” Kagome said, getting to her feet. “I’m going to check on her. Come on, Kirara, you’re coming with me for a while.”
Kirara obediently followed Kagome out of the hut. The nekomata changed into her larger form in a flash of fire and took flight when Kagome settled on her back.
Rin and Kohaku watched from the ground as they flew over the trees and out of sight.
It was hard to see the forest floor through the thick cover of trees. Nothing seemed out of place. Until she saw the long path of destruction.
Fallen trees and a few smashed shrines, a long and winding path of devastated forest. At the end of the whole mess sat the Kitsune Inn, and Kagome could barely make out a few figures standing in the clearing. She recognized Shippo and Shizuka immediately, but it took a little longer for her to realize what the giant mass beside them was. An enormous snake mononoke, its green scales spattered in blood and its body sliced into numerous pieces.
“Shizuka! Shippo!” Kagome called.
“Kagome!” Shippo called, and Kagome could hear the panic in his voice.
As Kirara descended, Kagome could see the strange way Shizuka’s back was hunched, her ears drawn back against her head. She could feel the girl’s strong aura, and heard her low, rumbling growl. Both of them were streaked with blood. And there was Tetsusaiga, laying abandoned on the ground.
Kagome jumped from Kirara’s back even before they landed.
“Shizuka…” Kagome said, approaching her very slowly.
Shizuka turned around and Kagome’s heart leapt into her throat. There was no recognition in Shizuka’s red eyes, and she only growled in response. She was covered in the slain youkai’s blood.
“Shizuka, it’s me, your mother. You know me, don’t you?”
What had once worked for the father, had no effect on the daughter. She had once brought Inuyasha back from his madness with gentle words, but Shizuka’s response was a calculated lunge, claws and fangs bared.
Claws grazed across her cheek before Shizuka was shoved away by Kirara. Shizuka took hold of Kirara’s fur and threw her to the side. She clashed with Shippo and both kitsune and nekomata were slammed into a tree.
“Shizuka!” Kagome yelled, drawing her attention away from the injured pair. Shizuka came at her again.
Kagome was horrified to feel so frightened of her own flesh and blood. Horrified at what she knew she had to do.
She screamed as Shizuka lashed at her again. She grabbed one of the girl’s sleeves as claws dug into her shoulder. Kagome unleashed her reiki and Shizuka howled. Kagome could no longer hold back her tears. She had purified her own child.
Shizuka backed away, looking a bit stunned. There was a burnt patch on her sleeve, and the revealed skin of her arm was blistered from Kagome‘s power. Shizuka’s confusion soon turned to anger, and Kagome knew she would come at her again. She wouldn’t be able to purify her a second time.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Shizuka was supposed to live a long, happy life. Maybe the future had all been a terrible lie.
Before Shizuka could reach Kagome, Shizuka was spirited away in a flash of white and red. Kagome shielded her face and waited for the blow that never came.
Sesshoumaru was there when she opened her eyes. He had Shizuka by the throat and was pinning her against a tree. Shizuka’s feet pushed against his breastplate, while her hands closed around his wrist. Her claws ravaged his doubled stripes and blood dripped down the length of his arm. Shizuka let out a strangled roar and Sesshoumaru’s closed his fist tighter around her neck. Shizuka’s tongue lolled out of her mouth like a bloated fish.
“Sesshoumaru!” Kagome yelled. She ran to him and wrapped both her arms around his middle. She tried with all her might to pull him away from Shizuka. “Stop! You’ll choke her to death!”
The taiyoukai did not budge. He looked over his shoulder and at the grief-stricken mother. “Would you rather I run Bakusaiga through her?”
Kagome stared into his solemn face. For a moment she couldn’t comprehend why his stoic eyes seemed to waver behind a liquid glaze. Tears poured down Kagome’s cheeks as she desperately screamed her only child’s name.
“Shizuka! Snap out of it! Please!”
Gasps and terrible strangled noises wrenched Kagome’s heart. Shizuka’s claws began to cut into her own neck as she struggled for air. Kagome watched as the red slowly drained from daughter’s eyes. They turned back to brown only to roll upwards in her head and leave nothing but the whites behind. Sesshoumaru gradually released his hold on her, letting her limp body slump down against the base of the tree.
Kagome fell to the ground and gathered Shizuka in her arms. She searched for and found a pulse at Shizuka’s bloodied neck, though it was very weak.
“Shizuka…” Kagome cried, burying her face in a tangle of black hair.
Her body was racked with sobs, and she was grateful for the strong hands on her shoulders to steady her.
“Oh,” Kagome said, and looked down at her work.
Rin had inherited Kaede’s garden along with her hut, but since Rin was so heavily pregnant Kagome took it upon herself to tend to the plot. The garden had been very productive this year, and in today’s gathering alone Kagome found herself up to her elbows in radishes, turnips, onions and countless herbs. She had been so lost in thought she hadn’t realized she had placed nearly a dozen turnips into a single bundle. She sighed and created a new bundle with the excess of vegetables.
She had been lost in thought a lot lately. It had been nearly two weeks since Kagome had discovered Sesshoumaru training Shizuka, and nearly that long since she, or anyone else in the village, had seen Sesshoumaru. Kagome was used to him going off for a day or two on his own. He was Lord of the West, after all. He had an obligation to protect and watch over his lands, but he also had an obligation to the people that loved him. In all their years together, it was longest time that he had stayed away, and Kagome was worried.
She wasn’t worried that something had happened to him. There wasn’t a youkai in the world that could intimidate him, but Kagome was afraid that she had done just that. Kagome wondered just how many people told Sesshoumaru that they loved him. Even with a life as long as his, Kagome didn’t think there were many, if any at all besides herself. Even Rin had never told him so.
“I was just bundling these vegetables up for everyone. Here,” Kagome said, tying up the finished food arrangements and placing them in a single basket. “One is for Sango, one is for Rin, and one is for Shippo. He loves radishes.”
She handed the basket up to Shizuka, who slung it easily over her back.
“You okay, ma?” Shizuka asked, and Kagome smiled listlessly.
“I guess,” Kagome said. “I’m just worried about your uncle. He hasn’t been gone from the village for this long since you were little.”
“Kitsune Inn is pretty far. I’ll see if I can catch his scent on the way to see Shippo,” Shizuka said.
“Okay, hun. Be careful. And come back before dark!” Kagome said, and watched as Shizuka dashed away toward Rin’s hut.
“Okay!” she called back, and Kagome waved her goodbye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
< br>
After dropping the vegetable bundles off to Rin and Sango, Shizuka cut through the forest to the east and in the direction of the Kitsune Inn. Tetsusaiga swayed at her hip as she ran. Since Uncle Sesshoumaru had started training her, the sword never left her sight. Even though Sesshoumaru was absent, Shizuka continued training by herself. She practiced what he had shown her over and over again when there was no other work to be done, and sometimes she would even sneak away at night and practice by herself in the forest. She was a bit glad her mother only had a human’s dull senses. If she knew Shizuka was sneaking out alone at night, she would do no less than go on a tirade.
Shizuka wasn’t quite sure why her uncle had been away so long, but she didn’t think he had traveled very far from home. She caught his scent in the forest, and it grew fresher as she continued.
As she neared the Kitsune Inn, Shizuka became aware that she was not alone.
She swerved as she ran and the following aura mimicked her movements, keeping in a perfect line with her. What did the bastard think he was doing?
Shizuka jumped into the branches of a tree, unsheathing Tetsusaiga. She held the blade over her head as she leaped, coming face to face with a pair of horrid golden eyes that glared up at her. There were angry, gnashing fangs and a forked tongue that flicked up at her feet. Tetsusaiga came down on the scales of a serpentine youkai body, and blood spurted over her face and hands. The youkai screamed and twisted itself around the trunk of a tree before launching at her again.
Shizuka’s heart drummed madly in her chest. It was her first real opponent, and she would not fail.
“Kaze no Kizu!” she yelled, and dug her feet into the ground as the recoil from the massive attack drove her backwards.
The swirl of white light ripped through the snake youkai, and Shizuka’s ears twitched with the sound of his hissing scream. He fell to the forest floor in two cleanly cut halves. Shizuka sheathed the sword and watched as the halved corpse disintegrated, leaving nothing but a pile of gray ashes behind. She poked her foot into the ashy pile and the wind carried them away, leaving no trace of the youkai behind.
A fang popped out over her lip as she smiled. “Hell yes.”
She took to the trees for the rest of the journey, hopping her way through the high boughs and keeping an eye on the ground below for any more signs of trouble. Eventually she leaped onto the shingled roof of the Inn. She crouched down and concentrated for a moment, tightly closing her eyes and focusing her efforts. Her senses weren’t keen enough to detect distant auras unless she really put her mind to it.
On the fringes of her conscious, she could feel them. More snake youkai, dozens of them, and one other aura that was far stronger than the rest, like a hot poker pressing into her head. Shizuka opened her eyes and scoffed. She would deal with that aura in a minute.
She leaped down from the rooftop and into the doorway. She slid the doors open and stepped into the hall.
“Hey Shippo! You home?!” she called. A number of sleepy kitsune poked their heads curiously out from their rooms.
Shizuka took a step backward as a mesmerizing swirl of foxfire materialized in front of her. The fire gradually burned itself out to reveal a bushy-tailed teen with smiling green eyes.
“Shizuka!” Shippo yelled, and Shizuka grunted as she was bombarded with the force of Shippo’s hug.
“Hi Shippo,” Shizuka said, and took a breath as he released her. “Here,” she said, pushing the basket into his chest. “From my mom.”
Shippo took the basket and the two went outside to sit on the Inn’s steps. Shippo immediately plopped down to rummage through the various vegetables.
“Hey, there’s radishes in here,” he said. Shizuka rolled her eyes as he took a radish and roasted it in a palm full of foxfire. She watched him eat a few more radishes before she got to her feet.
“Hey Shippo, I’ll be back in a minute, ‘kay?” she said.
“Where you going?” he asked through a mouthful of food.
“To see an idiot about my uncle,” she quipped.
Shippo swallowed noisily. “Yeah? I’ve sensed Sesshoumaru hanging around south of here since yesterday.”
“Yeah? Well, I’ll be back,” she said, and ran down the steps. She circled around the building and to the south, following the steady increase in her uncle’s aura.
Shizuka’s nose wrinkled at the smell of blood, while her uncle’s aura flared with a power she had never seen him use. She ran as fast as she could and crashed through the bush where he was standing just in time to see him dispatch a serpent youkai, a bright yellow mononoke with a red cobra’s hood. The snake fell at the taiyoukai’s feet and he sheathed his sword, not acknowledging Shizuka in the slightest.
“Where have you been?” Shizuka asked, folding her arms into her sleeves.
He gave a brief glance over his shoulder.
“I have been keeping watch over my lands. What are you doing so far from the village?” he asked. He did not turn around.
“Visiting Shippo,” Shizuka replied. “You know, mom’s worried about you.”
“She has nothing to fear,” he said, and Shizuka was taken aback by the callousness behind it, as if they had no business caring what he did or where he was.
“Really? You’ve never stayed away this long, so of course she’s gonna worry,” Shizuka nearly snarled.
“I will not let the worries of others dictate my actions. I will return in my own time,” he said, thoroughly surprising her.
She had heard stories of the man her uncle had once been. She had been told there was a time when he would give no second thought to killing a human, a time when he traveled with no one but himself for company. He had tried to kill her father for the purpose of gaining Tetsusaiga, and she had even been told he had tried to kill her mother. It was something which she had never believed. Shizuka had always known her uncle to be silent and sometimes a bit distant, but never the heartless thing she heard stories about. She knew he loved her mother, and to imagine him trying to take her life was unthinkable. Now, hearing the icy edge to his voice, she thought she might just understand.
“Wow, you sounded like a real bastard just then, you know?” she said, and Sesshoumaru finally turned around, eyes narrowed in a deadly glare. He raised an eyebrow as Shizuka growled at him. “Come home soon.”
Shizuka left him then, turning back toward the Inn. She had no idea what exactly was eating at him, but she supposed it had something to do with her mother. Perhaps if he stopped avoiding her enough to talk to her they could work out whatever it was. Shizuka didn’t like the look in his eye either. She was young, but she wasn’t dense. His eyes spoke of anger, but there was a sadness behind them as well.
When she got back to the Inn, Shippo was right where she left him. He was occupying himself by whittling. Shizuka watched as a little dog began appearing out of the block of wood in his hands.
“Did you find him?” Shippo asked.
“Yeah,” Shizuka said, plopping herself down next to him. “Ass.”
Shippo’s busy hands went limp for a moment as he snorted with laughter. He sighed and shook his head. “Not as big a one as he used to be,” he said. “He is helping get rid of the snake youkai. They’ve been all over the place lately.”
Shizuka thought she could have argued over just how big of an ass he was being, but let the subject drop.
“I got attacked by one of those damn snakes coming here,” she said.
“Really? And you’re not dead?” Shippo asked smartly.
“Hey, watch it runt,” Shizuka said, and gave him a firm slap to the back of the head.
“Runt? I’m fifty years older than you!” Shippo yelled.
“Yeah, but still the same height as me.”
“No! I am so tal-” he began, but Shizuka’s hand closed over his mouth to silence him.
“Shut up for a second,” Shizuka said, and Shippo’s eyes went wide as a tree fell in the distance.
That tree was followed by another, and another, until the forest was overcome with the sound of snapping wood. It grew closer and closer until they could see the trees falling over like a row of tiles, forced to the ground by the hissing mass of red and black slithering their way.
Shizuka drew her sword and leaped from the steps of the Inn to meet the emerging youkai. She was stunned when two gaping mouths came rushing at her, fangs dripping with yellow poison. Two cobra hoods flared out, and the single massive body they shared between them destroyed everything in its path.
“Kaze no Kizu!”
The attack ripped through the space between them. She was nearly blinded by the attack’s yellow light, and was ready to claim her victory. There was no possible way the thing could have survived, but when the Wind Scar faded away the snake was still in once piece, curled into a giant, scaly coil.
The two heads reared up from the center of the coil, seeming to laugh at her attempt to destroy them.
“Think that’s funny, do ya? Well what about this?” she said, and with a wave the sword’s blade changed into a diamond pattern. “Kongosouha!”
Diamond slivers pierced the snake’s tough scales, snapping a fang off from the left head. The snake bled heavily, but lost none of its speed as its heads darted for her. As Shizuka was deciding how she was going to fend off two hungry mouths at the same time, a stone kitsune statue landed on the right head, effectively crushing it to the ground.
Shizuka wedged her sword between the second head’s descending fangs. It hissed as a wave of foxfire dashed across its eyes. Shizuka and the snake fought for dominance as Shippo continued his fiery barrage. Shizuka forced the snake back a few inches, only to have her feet skid back a foot.
She yelled as she felt her feet began to leave the ground completely. She looked down to find the snake’s tail curling around her ankle.
She tried to keep a hold on Tetsusaiga as she was lifted upside down into the air, but the snake’s fangs remained clamped down on the blade and the handle slipped from her fingers. She watched as the snake’s mouth opened and Tetsusaiga fell to the ground, now just a rusted katana.
This definitely wasn’t good. Her uncle had not been gentle when he told her what might happen should she ever do battle without Tetsusaiga.
The world became a confused blur of colors as the snake pulled her down into the main coil of its body. A horrible pressured formed in her head as the youkai began to squeeze her. She could hear Shippo calling her name, but he sounded distant and muffled. She saw one last flash of green fire before everything started fading to black.
“Shizuka! Hold on!” Shippo shouted.
While the body squeezed Shizuka, the head turned it’s attention onto him. He used every trick he knew, even old ones he rarely used any more. Spinning tops, mushrooms, giant acorns. He even transformed himself into a large snake. The youkai looked confused for a moment. Shippo hissed and stared it down, but when he could no longer hold his transformation, the snake came at him with renewed anger. Fangs threatened to pierce him, but the head fell limp before he could be skewered.
Shippo watched with wide eyes as blood erupted from the main curl of the body. The curl was ripped open in a gory display to reveal Shizuka, standing tall in the center of the carnage.
It took him a moment to wake up from his amazed stupor.
“That was amazing, Shizuka!” Shippo yelled. He ran at her, and instead of the thanks he expected, he received claws to his face.
“Shizuka, what the hell?!” Shippo yelled. He placed his palm to his cheek and came away with blood.
Shizuka reared her head and snarled. The warm brown of her eyes had bled into an ugly red, her tiny blue pupils staring the kitsune down. The color slowly drained from Shippo’s face, his blood running cold at the sight of his transformed friend.
“Oh, shit.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Kagome,” Rin said happily, “What brings you?”
Kagome entered the hut and kneeled down beside Rin and her husband, who were just finishing up their dinner. Kirara mewled and curled up at Kagome’s side, purring as Kagome patted her.
“I was wondering if you’d seen Shizuka since this afternoon. It’s getting a little late and she hasn’t come home from visiting Shippo yet,” Kagome said.
“We haven’t seen her. But she’s probably fine,” Rin said with a shrug. “You know how Shippo is. He can talk for hours if you let him.”
Kohaku caught Rin’s eye for moment, and the worried look he gave her was not lost on Kagome. Kagome quickly turned to the taijiya.
“You know something, don’t you?” she asked, and Kohaku gulped nervously as she gripped his sleeve.
“Well, the youkai populations in these woods has been growing for the last month or two…” he said, his teeth rattling in his head as Kagome tugged roughly on his kosode.
“What do you mean?”
Kagome let him go when Rin’s hand fell on her shoulder. “Don’t be worried, Kagome. Shizuka is part demon, too. And she has Tetsusaiga with her.”
“I don’t care if she had an army with her,” Kagome said, getting to her feet. “I’m going to check on her. Come on, Kirara, you’re coming with me for a while.”
Kirara obediently followed Kagome out of the hut. The nekomata changed into her larger form in a flash of fire and took flight when Kagome settled on her back.
Rin and Kohaku watched from the ground as they flew over the trees and out of sight.
It was hard to see the forest floor through the thick cover of trees. Nothing seemed out of place. Until she saw the long path of destruction.
Fallen trees and a few smashed shrines, a long and winding path of devastated forest. At the end of the whole mess sat the Kitsune Inn, and Kagome could barely make out a few figures standing in the clearing. She recognized Shippo and Shizuka immediately, but it took a little longer for her to realize what the giant mass beside them was. An enormous snake mononoke, its green scales spattered in blood and its body sliced into numerous pieces.
“Shizuka! Shippo!” Kagome called.
“Kagome!” Shippo called, and Kagome could hear the panic in his voice.
As Kirara descended, Kagome could see the strange way Shizuka’s back was hunched, her ears drawn back against her head. She could feel the girl’s strong aura, and heard her low, rumbling growl. Both of them were streaked with blood. And there was Tetsusaiga, laying abandoned on the ground.
Kagome jumped from Kirara’s back even before they landed.
“Shizuka…” Kagome said, approaching her very slowly.
Shizuka turned around and Kagome’s heart leapt into her throat. There was no recognition in Shizuka’s red eyes, and she only growled in response. She was covered in the slain youkai’s blood.
“Shizuka, it’s me, your mother. You know me, don’t you?”
What had once worked for the father, had no effect on the daughter. She had once brought Inuyasha back from his madness with gentle words, but Shizuka’s response was a calculated lunge, claws and fangs bared.
Claws grazed across her cheek before Shizuka was shoved away by Kirara. Shizuka took hold of Kirara’s fur and threw her to the side. She clashed with Shippo and both kitsune and nekomata were slammed into a tree.
“Shizuka!” Kagome yelled, drawing her attention away from the injured pair. Shizuka came at her again.
Kagome was horrified to feel so frightened of her own flesh and blood. Horrified at what she knew she had to do.
She screamed as Shizuka lashed at her again. She grabbed one of the girl’s sleeves as claws dug into her shoulder. Kagome unleashed her reiki and Shizuka howled. Kagome could no longer hold back her tears. She had purified her own child.
Shizuka backed away, looking a bit stunned. There was a burnt patch on her sleeve, and the revealed skin of her arm was blistered from Kagome‘s power. Shizuka’s confusion soon turned to anger, and Kagome knew she would come at her again. She wouldn’t be able to purify her a second time.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Shizuka was supposed to live a long, happy life. Maybe the future had all been a terrible lie.
Before Shizuka could reach Kagome, Shizuka was spirited away in a flash of white and red. Kagome shielded her face and waited for the blow that never came.
Sesshoumaru was there when she opened her eyes. He had Shizuka by the throat and was pinning her against a tree. Shizuka’s feet pushed against his breastplate, while her hands closed around his wrist. Her claws ravaged his doubled stripes and blood dripped down the length of his arm. Shizuka let out a strangled roar and Sesshoumaru’s closed his fist tighter around her neck. Shizuka’s tongue lolled out of her mouth like a bloated fish.
“Sesshoumaru!” Kagome yelled. She ran to him and wrapped both her arms around his middle. She tried with all her might to pull him away from Shizuka. “Stop! You’ll choke her to death!”
The taiyoukai did not budge. He looked over his shoulder and at the grief-stricken mother. “Would you rather I run Bakusaiga through her?”
Kagome stared into his solemn face. For a moment she couldn’t comprehend why his stoic eyes seemed to waver behind a liquid glaze. Tears poured down Kagome’s cheeks as she desperately screamed her only child’s name.
“Shizuka! Snap out of it! Please!”
Gasps and terrible strangled noises wrenched Kagome’s heart. Shizuka’s claws began to cut into her own neck as she struggled for air. Kagome watched as the red slowly drained from daughter’s eyes. They turned back to brown only to roll upwards in her head and leave nothing but the whites behind. Sesshoumaru gradually released his hold on her, letting her limp body slump down against the base of the tree.
Kagome fell to the ground and gathered Shizuka in her arms. She searched for and found a pulse at Shizuka’s bloodied neck, though it was very weak.
“Shizuka…” Kagome cried, burying her face in a tangle of black hair.
Her body was racked with sobs, and she was grateful for the strong hands on her shoulders to steady her.