InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Rivals in Love ❯ The Attack ( Prologue )

The hot midday sun shone down onto a poor boy sitting near the river's edge. The cool water sparkled as it swirled around the smooth gray stones. The boy sat, clothed in red, watching the swirls of water rush by.
“Damn that Kagome.” He cursed. Clenching his jaws and narrowing his eyes as he caught the putrid stench he had come to know so well, he stood, barely able to turn around in time as his body was pierced through.

Kouga trudged through the bushes and grass as he searched for his silver haired “companion”. With a sigh he glanced around, the river was just up ahead and he could smell the filthy mutt.
“Why do I have to go find him?” He wondered out loud. The image of the angry slayer standing before him with the promise of death entered his mind and he cringed. She was very scary.

He could smell the dog just beyond the bushes, and with that scent came another, more putrid stench, if that was possible. Speeding up he pushed passed the brush and stood, staring at the image before him, his "companion" sitting by the river, only a few feet from the tangle of thorny vines protruding from the forest and dangling out onto the bank. Inuyasha had obviously caught his scent because he began to stand, clutching at his sword, but before he could face him the vines moved.

Knotting into a fibrous vine, shaggy with thorns and sliver-like bark, it twisted as it lifted off the ground and began to grow, shooting straight at Inuyasha's back and he shrieked in agony as the tendril penetrated his abdomen with a sickening ease. Kouga's face went white, even before he saw it he knew the wound was fatal.

Inuyasha dropped his sword, staring down at the chasm that had opened in his abdomen. It first appeared as just a rip in his cloths, then it turned black, then dark red, blood pulsed from the mortal gash as his knees buckled under him. The deadly vine pushed itself deeper within him.

Flecks of yellow foam spewed forth from his mouth and his skin turned rapidly gray as the blood continued in its rhythmic cascade, spraying the field and his rival with dapples of scarlet; his mouth was open in silent protest, his face contorted in the throes of death.
Kouga fell upon him, clutching his stiff limbs and scrambling for purchase on the ground. With grim determination he began to hack at the snare, trying to pry it from Inuyasha's entrails. Pieces of flesh and viscera spattered him as he dug and slashed at the vine. The vine fought back as though alive. Its tendrils flexed and banded together to form a claw; it sliced at him savagely. Vines lashed out like whipcords, lacerating Inuyasha's face with spiny barbs, and hundreds of small tendrils wrapped around his wrists, striking like serpents trying to pierce his skin.

Kouga fought on, trying to ignore the assault. And though he had secured Inuyasha's body, the vine appeared stronger, yanking him forward in spasmodic motions, pulling him instantly toward the trees.

Branches swept across Kouga, slapping him in the face, cutting his legs and arms, but he would not let go. He buried his face in the crook of Inuyasha's arm, wishing for all that it was worth that this was just a dream. That he would wake up in the cave, and he would go taunt Inuyasha about the dream, and he would laugh and say that he would never be so weak as to be defeated by some measly vine.

The tentacle hit the ground, loosening its grasp on its prey and letting the bleeding hanyou fall lifelessly to the ground as it disappeared under the brush. Kouga sped over to where it had been, but the tangles of vines were gone.

Kouga turned around to focus on Inuyasha. “Mutt! Are you—” The sight the greeted him was horrific. Inuyasha lay sprawled out on the sandy bank of the river, precious life blood flowing from his wounds. Shocked Kouga stared down at the lifeless body, Inuyasha's eyes no longer held their usual hypnotizing gleam; instead what Kouga found there was emptiness. A slight dribble of scarlet touched his lips as he stared soulless into the sky.

“Puppy get up!” Kouga shouted, but the half dog just stared blankly into nothing. `No,' he thought. Grabbing Inuyasha's wrist he shouted again, hoping the insult would stir the worthless dog. “MUTT!”