InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Roses Intertwine ❯ Sprouting ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kouga

Kouga released his grip on the half-breeds throat. Kouga looked down on him in disgust.

'How could this filthy creature have possibly killed such a large amount of my comrades?'

A cackle rang out from behind Kouga. Kouga whipped around and saw a mysterious figure come out of the shadows. "Ah, My dear Kouga, you fell right into my trap!."

"What? What trap? Who are you?"

"Me? I am Naraku, and you, Kouga, have just played a very important role in my plot to get rid of the vermin known as Inuyasha."

"W-what? You mean-"

"Yes, Kouga. Inuyasha had been telling the truth the whole time. You violated and killed someone for a crime they did not commit."

"NO! YOU'RE LYING!"

With that Kouga turned and ran as far from that place as possible.

"Meh..." Naraku enunciated as he thought. 'The poisonous effects from that tainted jewel he has in his arm should take care of him.'

Kagura

Kagura couldn't believe her eyes. How could someone do such a horrible thing to another person? She covered her mouth to contain another sob that threatened to come out.

'How? How could some one do this to a person? I-I have to do something.' Kagura thought.

She quickly devised a plan and set it into action. She watched as her master glided across over the ground towards Kouga. He saw his lips move and watched as Kouga's expression turned from one of anger, to one of guilt. He screamed some words and ran away.

Naraku called for her.

Kagura came out of her hiding spot and walked towards Naraku, noticing the young girl, Kagome, who was passed out asleep at his feet.

"Dispose of this one, she is of no use anymore; her friend as well."

"Yes master." She said monotonously as she could.

Naraku floated past her and began to absorb the corpses of the fallen wolf demons.

Kagura knelt down and began to scan Kagome's unconscious form, looking for the source of the power she felt. She pinpointed it at a small jar hanging from a necklace around her neck, which had about seven jewel shards inside. She glanced behind her. Naraku had absorbed many of the wolf demons, but she knew it would take a while for his body to process their added power, leaving him vulnerable and exposed.

She grasped the bottled in her hand and uncorked it. With out hesitation, she quickly drew the shards into her fan, feeling the powers from just seven shards was amazing.

She turned.

A smirk appeared on her face as she approached Naraku in his weakest form. She could feel the demonic energy pulsating off herself. She raised her fan.

"Fuujin no Mai!"

Blood red blades shot from her fan, but they were too powerful for Kagura to control, so they missed target.

"Kagura! You disobedient bitch! How dare you betray me?" A pissed Naraku lay there, trying to absorb the slain wolves. He knew he was too far into the process to revert back and he couldn't speed things up, so he tried stalling with words.

Kagura raised her fan again to her weakened father.

"Shikabane Mai!"

Several wolf corpses Naraku missed rose and began attacking Naraku, landing some good hits on him. But, her power was too great for their bodies to handle and they fell apart into bloody heaps.

"K-Kagura- kaug!" Naraku struggled to speak. He was coughing up blood and some of his body parts had been severed in her last attack.

"Kagura, I gave you life! Is this what I get in return, you ungrateful wench?"

"Ungrateful? How CAN I be grateful? You give me life just to take it away and force me into servitude! You are a monster, Naraku! A stain on this world! I cannot sit idly by as you destroy the lives of innocent people!"

"So what will you do then? Kill me? Destroy the only family you ever had?"

"That," She said, a red glow overcoming her eyes. "Is exactly what I plan to do. Now DIE!"

Kagura slowly stalked closer to the disembodied Naraku. She pitied such a man. A monster that gave no self righteousness to his deeds.

"Tsk, so pathetic." She sneered as she readied her fan. She slowly maneuvered her fan towards the filth in front of her. The wind started to form into spires as storm clouds came falling down from the sky, impaling Naraku. The spires soon started to twist, slowly rupturing the middle of his guts. Intestines slowly ripped out, tearing them to shreds. They started to regenerate, but she wouldn't allow that to happen. She summoned more spires of wind to impale his chest cavity. To her surprise, the intestines tried to regenerate on their own, but failed, spewing blood everywhere.

"Where is your real heart!" The demand echoed from Kagura as she summoned more and more spires forming and twisting as they impaled him one by one.

"Ka-Kagura," Naraku coughed up blood, severely in pain as he slowly looked up at his creation. "How could you put me in this much pain?" A devilish smirk appeared on his face.

"Fujin no Mai!" A final twist of her wrist sent the spires closing in on Naraku closing in on him. The Spire quickly enveloped the body and tore it to shreds as a red object shot out of the spire, landing close to her feet. Still beating, Kagura stomped on the heart of her 'former' master who dared call himself her father.

Naraku let out a blood-chilling scream as the last of the spires dissipated. He flopped helplessly on the ground, gasping hopelessly for breath. Blood oozed out of his mouth as he gurgled incomprehensibly at Kagura as he reached for her, helplessly begging for help. He let out his last breath and fell limply to the ground.

She walked over to his lifeless body and watched as it disintegrated into dust. The miasma lifted, letting in the sunlight. Kagura gasped in horror at the sight of the barren wasteland. Then her eyes settled on the broken body of the one her former 'master' had called Inuyasha.

She walked over to him and looked at his body. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she collapsed into his corpse and sobbed loudly into the tattered remains of his haori.

"I am so sorry..."

She felt her fan pulse with energy and it began to glow bright blue. She heard unintelligible mumbling she couldn't quite understand. She put it to her ear to try to hear it better.

"Shikota, onatola vizo mairota..."

"What?" She questioned.

"Totora, talimorte fortesa, Kagura."

When Kagura heard he name, chills went down her spine.

"WHAT! What are you saying!"

She heard gibberish and then she heard a different voice, speaking in a language she could understand.

"Kagura, there isn't much time..."

"Isn't much time for what?"

"It would take too long to explain, Kagura. You must do as I say and repeat these words."

She listened closely to what the voice instructed her to do.

"Wa-watashi wa, repeat that. Watashi no shi de... watashi wa anata no seimei o ataeru..."

Kagura felt her chest swell with air as her entire being became engulfed with an icy cold.

"NOW KAGURA! NOW! DO IT! DO IT NOW!"

Kagura obeyed, slamming her lips into Inuyasha's.

Inuyasha

Inuyasha's eyes snapped open as he gasped for breath. He sat up, his hand over his chest to calm his frantic lungs. He surveyed his surroundings. He was in the middle of a seemingly endless plain covered in a heavy blanket of snow. But strangely, this snow didn't bite at his body with its chill. In fact, he felt warm.

The sun was angled perfectly so it's beams hit the ground at an angle which splashed a creamy color on the world around him. The sight was so beautiful, he thought he might cry.

Inuyasha got up onto his feet, the snow crunching beneath him. He looked around, trying to find some clue as to where he was and how he got here. The plain seemed desolate. The snow in the ground looked fresh as if it had just fallen, even the snow beneath his feet remained strangely undisturbed.

Then he spotted something.

Off in the distance, he saw a group of people waving, beckoning to him. He could hear them, faintly.

He was pretty sure they were calling out his name.

He ran to them.

As he got closer, their voices became clearer and clearer and he recognized some of them. One of them sounded like…Kagome? What was Kagome doing here?

Then he recognized Kikyo's voice, then Miroku's. Each voice was streaming into his ear. They were all separately sounding but, somehow, they were harmonious, like a gentle hum.

Then they all came into view. Sango, Shippo, even his mother. They were all here. Everyone he had ever known and loved. They were calling out his name, each with a smile, happy to see him.

A pair of hands shot up out of the snow and grabbed his ankles, causing Inuyasha to fall face first into the snow.

A woman appeared standing before him. Inuyasha struggled to his feet, glaring at her. Beyond her, he could see his family and friends gaping open mouthed with looks of shock upon their faces.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" He demanded.

"My name is Midoriko, Inuyasha. We must speak quickly, for there isn't much time."

"What, why?"

"Inuyasha, I am here to tell you that you do not belong here, yet. Your soul is far too tarnished to exist in this realm for very long without being sent to hell."

"But, where exactly is 'here'?"

"This, Inuyasha, is heaven; your own personal paradise. All of your friends, family, anyone whom you have loved; they are here, regardless if they are dead or not. But your soul is so tarnished that, over time, this place will become filled with your worst nightmares and will eventually become your own personal hell."

Inuyasha suddenly heard a voice echoing through the air.

"Watashi no shi de… watashi wa anata no seimei o ataeru…"

He felt a pulse of energy go through him as pain coursed through his body. He was having difficulty breathing. The snow around him became stained in his blood as wounds tore open. His clothes were now tattered and he felt a cold chill on his back. He could hear his family and friends all screaming in horror.

The hands pulled him down into the snow, which now bit at his body with cold. Inuyasha clamped his mouth and eyes shut as his head was submerged into the icy snow.

Inuyasha felt his lungs burning for air. He opened his mouth and let the cold snow invade his body. It filled his lungs and made him cough and sputter. He opened his eyes and saw dark blue sky, the sun had just set. All he could feel was red hot pain shooting through his whole body, which shook violently and struggled to get a better look at his surroundings.

Where was he? How did he get here? Why did he hurt so much?

He looked to his right and gasped. A dead woman lie beside him, her icy gaze piercing through his eyes and seemed to chill his very soul.

Who was this woman?

He tried to look around more, but his body wouldn't let him. Darkness crept in on his vision. He closed his eyes as the darkness consumed him.

Inuyasha gasped and opened his eyes. He was standing in a dark room with a light focused on him.

'Now where am I? This is getting old...'

"Inuyasha..."

Inuyasha turned around.

"Midoriko! What's going on? Where am I now? Who was that woman I saw? What's happening?"

"Hmm, so many questions. But I'm afraid I cannot give you the answers you seek, for you must uncover them yourself."

"Bullshit! You better start talkin' lady, or I'll start asking questions with these." He threatened, flexing his claws.

"If you think empty threats will get you anywhere, I am afraid you are sadly mistaken. This is the Realm of Dreams. The only reason you exist here is because just as you slipped into unconsciousness, I brought your soul here so that I may speak with you. Only now, I have a little more time, but we still must be brief."

"Alright, you got me lady. Whaddya want to talk to me about? I can't wait to hear about whatever it is." He said sarcastically.

"Inuyasha, this is serious! You are in grave danger! There is a new enemy in our midst! I can keep you safe while you recover, but I cannot do anymore beyond that."

"Wait, recover from what? And what's this about a new enemy!"

Midoriko closed her eyes. "I cannot say anymore! I have broken many spiritual laws just by doing what I have done already!"

"But what have you done besides tellin' me a buncha cryptic nonsense and then sayin' you can't say anymore when I ask questions?"

"I-I cannot say. I just needed to ensure that you would be safe."

"Safe? Safe from what?"

Just then a blue orb floated between the two and Midoriko turned and ran.

"I will say more when we speak again," She yelled as she ran. "But for now, wasurete!"

Red chains shot from the ground and enveloped Inuyasha.

They tightened and constricted around his head, blocking of his ability to breathe.

Inuyasha felt like he was going to faint. Then the chains faded and he greedily swallowed air when they did.

Then, memories of something terrible flashed in his mind. The memories of what happened before... before he died? When did he die? Who killed- Kouga? How did Ko- OH GODS!

Inuyasha crumbled to the floor and sobbed. Tears poured from his eyes, pooling on the dark floor. He suddenly felt exhausted and embraced the surrounding darkness

Kouga

Kouga ran blindly through the forest, guilt stabbing through his chest like a javelin. He tripped and landed face first in the forest floor.

"Arise demon."

Kouga looked up and saw a woman in the dress of an ancient high-priestess. She knelt down and reached out to give him a hand.

"I don't deserve you're aid, priestess." He said, refusing her help and standing to his feet. He walked past her.

"Then, I suppose you are willing to die rather than save him?"

Kouga stopped in his tracks and turned to her.

"What do you mean? He's already dead. And how exactly would I die?"

She pointed to his right arm. "The jewel shard in that arm is tainted by ancient magick which is poisoning you're blood slowly. I imagine you have 30 minutes before you die."

"What?" Kouga looked at his arm in the spot where he had put the jewel shard. His veins were black and pulsating.

"I can remove the shard and the spell, but I cannot undo the damage you have already done. That is up to you." Kouga felt something pop in his arm accompanied by the sound of breaking glass.

She spoke again. "Go to him, Kouga. He needs you. To protect him from the dangers that lie ahead." With that, she dissipated into the foliage.

Kouga blinked twice. Was what he had just seen real? Or was it just a hallucination?

He looked at his arm and saw the same rot and decay happening in his blood and knew it was real. He sped off towards the smell of blood. Inuyasha's blood.

When he arrived at the scene of his crime, he saw Inuyasha dead on the ground. Kouga ran to him and knelt at his side, putting an ear to Inuyasha's chest.

He felt Inuyasha's weak heartbeat.

Wasting no time, Kouga scooped Inuyasha up into his arms and, using the stars, ran to the Northern Den.
To be continued.
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