InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver Fox ❯ Nightmare ( Chapter 29 )

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

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He knew now was the time to make his move. Now, when the group was at it's weakest. Naraku looked down into Kanna's mirror, checking on his enemies. He knew that the monk would live, but it would take time for him to be able to move again. The hanyo was in no condition to fight. His biggest threat, the fox family, was now heading back to the hidden gingitsune village. The children would be the weakest link. Make them hostages or kill them off. He pondered it. A person only truely needs one hostage. His low laughs echoed in the miasma filled room.

Yes, kill one. He chuckled again. One to make a point, the other to make sure it stuck. He looked pointedly at the red fox. He wouldn't be an easy target, in no shape or form, but he could prove to be useful in controlling Kagome. "Kanna, show me Kikyo." The void child nodded. Kikyo was walking through a decimated village, one of the many Kagome had lain ruin to. He could just barely see the horror hidden in her dark eyes.

"Kohaku, go to the old priestesses village and finish off the monk, Miroku." The young slayer bowed. "Yes, master Naraku." He answered then left. Naraku looked back into the mirror. 'It is worth a little horror isn't it, Kikyo? She has the potential to be my best protege yet.' He laughed quietly.

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The fox family was laughing joyessly together at some joke Shippou made. Sai put a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "We're close." Kagome smiled up at him. "Is that what the feeling is?" She asked. He nodded. "That is the feeling of home, territory established." Ryoko yipped and chased Shippou around the pair. She snatched him up by his tail and trotted ahead, pleased with her prize. Shippou gave her a dirty look and bopped her on the nose.

The little silver fox dropped him with a disgruntled snort. Shippou gave a triumphant grin. "Ha!" He pointed at her and stuck her tongue out. "Mom can we go play at the stream?" Shippou asked, pointed to the small stream that ran parallel to the path they were on. Kagome smiled. "Sure, I think we should all play for a little while." She chased the to fox cubs into the stream. They squealed in delight as Kagome splashed them. Sai sat on the bank and watched them frolic in the stream.

He wiped away the stray water that landed on his face. "Come on Sai! Come and play." Kagome called to him, waving. "Kagome, I am not a pup to play in a stream." Kagome walked over to him. He stood up. "Why? What is so bad about playing in a stream?" She asked. "For one it is undignified." He looked at the kids. "I see..." She trailed off, adding a playful lilt to her voice. With a heave she pushed him into the water. His red head bobbed above the surface.

Sai stood, sputtering and shaking off the water. He looked down at his soaked clothes. Kagome rolled on the ground, convulsing with laughter. Sai came over and picked her up. "Funny, is it?" He said in a mock serious voice. He let her go, falling into the water with a splash. She squealed as the cold water fell in over her. Kagome sprung up out of the water, knocking Sai over. They both came back up laughing. "See, playing in the river isn't that bad." He sighed and nodded. Shippou and Ryoko chose this moment to pounce upon their unsuspecting parents.

Sai paused in splashing to sniff the air. "Kagome." He whispered urgently. She stood and looked at him. "Sai what is-" Her sentence died in her throat as the smell of Naraku hit her nose. All of them looked to the darkening sky. The roar of lower class demons drown out bird song and animal chatter. They started falling from the sky in a massive horde. "Ryoko, Shippou stay back." Kagome said. They nodded, clinging to each other.

Demon rose up from behind them. Kagome looked around at the massive numbers. They would be over whelmed. There was no escape this time. No InuYasha with the wind scar. No Sango, Miroku, and Kirara. No miko powers. Nothing but two pups, one untrained fox, and one fox who couldn't defend all of them. There was no hope. "Stay by Kagome." Sai looked to the two pups. Then he was gone, into the massive number of demons that lie ahead of him.

Thunder rumbled in the distance and the wind picked up. The demons hissed in displeasure as a light rain started to fall on them. No one truly likes to be caught in the rain. At least not when there is going to be a fight. One wailed in pain as Sai cut open it torso, spilling it contents to the ground. He then bounded away to another. Kagome could only catch fleeting glances of him while trying her best to defend the pups. At the moment there were at least three demons at her feet. All of which were frozen solid in ice. She slashed into another opponent with ice covered claws.

A writhing snake demon smashed into her, throwing her away from them. A mass fell in on the now defenseless pups. Kagome rose with their frightened screams and yelps. A growl trickled out of her mouth and she charged in. She slashed though four demons before a tail caught her and flung her away again. Rage like a red hot flame rolled over her. She roared at the mob of demons, and charged them again. This time there was fire in her eyes and hand. The fire that clung to her hands and licked at her elbows incinerated and demons it touched.

When she was done a fine layer of ash formed a circle around two small bodies. Fur rippled over her like water, and she was left standing in a half human half fox state. Her eyes were no longer blood red with rage but the familiar blue they usually were. She leaned down, bending at an awkward angle, so that her muzzle was only a small distance away. She sniffed and bumped the limp bodies with her nose. She came away with blood on her snout. Slowly she rolled Shippou over with a great clawed and furred hand. The young red kitsunes throat had been torn out, all of his precious blood spilled onto the ground.

Kagome looked over to Ryoko and knew she couldn't be alive. Her spine sat at a ninety degree angle and her stomach was split open like a ripened tomato. She stared down at the bodies and the rest of the world fell away. Bile rose up her throat. She fell to hands and knees and threw up. Nothing mattered in her circle of consciousness. Only the pups existed. Tears rolled from her eyes and down her furred fox face. Slowly she turned. With a viciousness never before in her she ran at the swarm of demons still trying to fight. White flames again came to life on her hands. The fire burst to life on her feet leaving singed grass where they fell.

She kicked the first demon. It combusted with such an intense heat that the ones closest to it died with painful howls. She went on, tearing open throats, slashing open gullets, and reducing others to ashes. Finally, when bodies were the only thing around her, the fur receded in much the same way it had come. Perfectly human looking again, she made her way to Shippou and Ryoko. She could sense that their souls were gone, taken away, to a hopefully much better place. Slowly she went to her knees and prayed.

Kagome opened her eyes and looked at them once more. She couldn't help but feel that she failed them. It was her fault that she wasn't able to protect them. It was her fault she never got training to do so. Her fault that their small and frail bodies now lay just before her devoid of any life they had but a few minutes ago. Sobs rocked her body, throwing it sideways onto the ground. She hadn't even had her family for a week and half of it was destroyed. She lie there like that, letting the rain wash the blood off of her.

Sai stumbled over to her, one hand trying to stem the blood flow that was pouring out of a gash in his shoulder. He caught sight of the broken forms of the children. "Oh great Kami..." The whisper escape his mouth. He hadn't thought when he left Kagome to watch and protect them. He forgot that the woman he loved did not know how to really fight. He sat on the bloodied ground and pulled her into his lap. She never made a sound. He cradled her in his arms, rocking her gently. "I'm so sorry Kagome, so sorry." He turned her face away from them. She curled against his chest and cried for all she was worth.

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Naraku sneered down at the mirror. 'Fools! I told them to bring me back one alive.' He threw a vase at the wall. The vase shattered scattering hundreds of tiny pieces about the room. "Kanna show me the slayer and monk." The mirror showed Sango holding Kohaku down with hiraikotsu. The monk, who staggered about and leaned on his staff for support, was only sporting a small wound just above his collar bone and another one on his leg. Both were still alive. He sneered again. "InuYasha." He hissed.

The inu hanyo was standing with ripped clothes talking to Kikyo. Naraku ground his teeth in frustration. The easiest way past InuYasha's defenses was Kikyo. In that case he had made a doll resembling her. He even put in so much work as to match the sent. Part demon that InuYasha was even he couldn't survive a knife to the heart. Simple as that. If the real Kikyo was there, that meant she'd spoiled his plans. That was unusual in itself. The undead miko usually stayed out of the way.

He held his chin in thought. That miko usually did things for personal gain since she had been brought back to life. Either something was in it for her, or the relationship between them had changed some how. He glared down at the mirror. All of his plans had failed today, but he would make use of the results. A saimyosho landed in his hand. "Fetch Kohaku." The wasp flew away.

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Sai had carried Kagome to the gingitsune village. Ryu had taken a brief explanation before taking Kagome to her chaimbers, leaving Sai was able to go and retrieve Shippou and Ryoko. With the help of a guard he was now bringing them back on a silk covered stretcher with a white cloth covering them. They were heading to the preparation room. The bodies would be washed, dressed, and prepared for the funeral.

He calmly walked to Kagome's chaimbers. There was a guard just outside her door, as he requested. The loss of a pup can cause mothers to do some awful things, usually to themselves. Kagome was on the bed, wrapped tightly in blue blankets. She rolled over to face him. Her face was empty of everything. Except her eyes held the consuming sadness that now lived within her. He sat down by her. His hand curled around hers. They sat in silence, morning the loss of two pups.

Kagome woke to Sai stroking her hair gently and whispering softly. Her dreams last night had been haunted with a bloodied battle field and two crumpled bodies. She scooted away from his touch and rolled tighter in the blankets. "Kagome, we need to talk about this. I know it's hard..." He let his voice trail off. There was more than one reason demons were taught to distance themselves emotionally. It was a defense. Especially for animal based youkai. Animal based always gave birth to a litter, it was rare for more than two to survive. If the mother didn't know how to be distant to the loss of the others they were usually driven insane.

Sai rose from the bed and looked at her. "I'll go and make funeral preperations." Kagome gave a slight nod, and then Sai left. She lay in bed looking out the window to the sunlight that slipped past the thick clouds. She knew, as she watched, that she had to get out of the room. The walls were closing in, suffocating her, but the energy to move just seemed to escape her. So she lie there completely still except for the slight rise and fall of her chest.

Sai came to the preparation room. Both Shippou and Ryoko had been clean and prepared already, probably some time over the night. Shippou lay wrapped in a turquoise silk kimono that would have matched the shade of his eyes. The collar rose high to hide the wound. His hair wasn't done up in it's usual bow, instead it was left to lay around his head like a bright red pillow. A small amount of makeup had been applied to his face to take away the look of death. Ryoko had a loose long stretch of midnight blue silk wrapped loosely from neck to tail. It covered the wound but left much of her pale silver fur exposed.

The funeral would be today. Two spots had been picked out in the eastern gardens. They sat beneath a sakura tree that was at the far corner. Some flowering plants surrounded the spot. A servant entered the room. "When shall the funeral be, my lord?" The servant asked in a somber voice. "At noon, today." The petite woman nodded and walked out. Noon was only a few hours away. He had to prepare himself and Kagome.

He went back to the room and help Kagome out of the bed. He called in a servant to escort her to the spring and bath her. Meanwhile Sai was at another spring, quickly washing and drying so he could dress. He pulled his hair into a high pony tail while waiting for Kagome to come back to the room. She entered dressed in a five layer kimono. The outer most layer was a deep blue. Each layer was a lighter blue except for the inner most one which was white. The servant sat her at the vanity to do her hair and add some make up. The servant pulled her hair into a tight braid and added a comb to her hair. The makeup was very slight so little that it looked as if she wore none.

Sai gave her a hand up and they walked to the eastern garden. All of the gingitsune were there. The sea of silver parted as Kagome and Sai made their was to the grave side. Shippou and Ryoko were carried right behind them, each on their own flat. The guard who carried the flats stopped and held them just before their final resting places. An elderly fox came to the forefront. He spoke strongly and saddly about the two young foxes. Kagome wiped away a tear, and Sai held her close. They were lowered into the ground. Each person gave their condolences to Kagome then filed away. Some left flowers

The guards began to finish the burial. Kagome watch the whole time, not daring to look away. She knew that it couldn't be real. Didn't want it to be real. Death was only supposed to be temporary like on Saturday morning cartoons. The coyote always died but came back just in time to manage one more trick before the credits rolled, but she knew better. She'd been around to much death to not know better. She could no longer be so childish. Sai was the only thing that kept her from collapsing on the ground. He picked her up with ease and carried her to bed.

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Thank you for the reviews!! Plz R & R !! Everyone likes to know if they're doing a good job. ^-^ A/N I felt so bad about little Shippo and Ryoko, but...it just sorta happened. Merry early christmas! Or whatever you celebrate!