InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Special delivery ❯ Ripples ( Chapter 82 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: saphira404 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.16.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 213 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.16.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 213 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 82: Ripples
A/N: Hello! Yes I know long time no see :) There will be a great shocker in this chapter, so please whatever happens, don’t hate me! Thank you for the great reviews:
Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, Sesshy and Kagura would be happily mated and working on silver haired baby number three by now…
“Talking”
‘Thinking’
“Hey mangy wolf! Do you have things in hand here?” He asked his friend.
“Don’t worry Dogshit, we can handle the rest of them.” Kouga interrupted himself to block a punch one of Naraku’s hired men was trying to deliver to his face. “Go help your brother.” He then grunted. He too could distinguish the steadily growing smell of the dog demon’s blood, and was worried for him.
Not needing to be told twice, the half dog demon did as suggested, and hurried over to the set of stairs. As he climbed up, he could discern more and more the scent of his brother’s blood in the air, and that worried him. As he finally reached the upper level of the warehouse, he could not help but halt. He knew the scene that greeted his eyes would stay etched in his mind forever: an unknown young demoness was holding on to a sobbing Kanna as the two of them stared helplessly at a large pool of Sesshoumaru’s sizzling acidic blood quickly spreading on the ground.
“What the fuck?!” Inuyasha exclaimed angrily. He ignored the pain in his leg where he had received a vicious kick earlier, and slightly limping walked towards his injured brother.
“Do not get involved.” Sesshoumaru growled. As much as his left arm throbbed in pain, the dog demon forced himself to ignore the ache. He would not give Naraku the satisfaction of knowing how much the bullet wound he had inflicted was burning him. He did not even allow himself to check on his injury, and kept his eyes trained on the seething hanyou. He could feel his blood steadily flow from the wound and dribble down his arm, but did his best to ignore both the sick feeling of losing so much blood and the sharp pain.
“The bastard fucking shot you!” An incredulous Inuyasha snapped back at his brother. He could not detach his wide golden eyes from his brother’s injured arm. The material of the expensive designer shirt was being eaten away and dissolved by the quickly flowing demonic blood. The acidic substance was sliding down the pale skin then fast collecting in a sizzling red puddle, which was slowly disintegrating the outer layer of the concrete ground.
“Inuyasha.” Sesshoumaru stated in an authoritative voice. “Take Kanna and the woman down to the car, and leave this place.”
“Keh! Are you insane? I’m not going to leave you alone here. In case you didn’t notice, you’re injured you asshole!”
“Do as you are told.” The older half sibling allowed himself to briefly look away from Naraku to send his brother a glare.
“Why exactly should I listen to you? You’re bleeding all over the damn place!” The silver haired hanyou pointed out.
Naraku could feel a muscle twitch in his jaw. He was enraged. Instead of paying any attention to him, the two brothers were bickering as if he was not even present. ‘I just need to wait until my little surprise really comes into effect.’ He thought to himself, eyes stuck on Sesshoumaru’s steadily bleeding wound.
“Would you like me to take care of you as well?” The spider half demon addressed Inuyasha, for the first time averting the target of his gun from Sesshoumaru to his younger half sibling.
“Your issue is with me Naraku, do not involve anyone else.”
“As you wish my dear son in-law, you know I aim to please.” The dark hanyou reverted the aim of the barrel of his gun back to its original target.
Sensing the thick tension in the room, Mayumi decided to intervene. She had never in a million years expected Naraku to shoot the father of the sobbing young girl she was holding in her arms.
‘He must have lost his mind.’ The young woman thought to herself. She had always been scared of the hanyou, but now she was downright terrified. She could not help but think that if he had dared use his weapon against the strong inu youkai, then what could stop him from gunning her down? And unlike Sesshoumaru she was not sure she would be able to survive being shot.
“I will take care of Kanna.” Mayumi whispered, hoping that her use of a meek voice would prevent Naraku from paying too much attention to her. Little did she know that the little girl would ensure that would not be the case.
“Daddy.” Kanna let out in a whimper of protest upon hearing Mayumi’s words. Her dark red rimmed eyes could not detach themselves from her father’s blood soaked shirt sleeve.
“Do not worry, uncle Inuyasha will take you home to your mother.” Sesshoumaru suddenly found himself struggling to speak. To his surprise instead of lessening to a throb, the pain of his bullet wound was increasing. Not only that, but he was he still losing as much blood as before.
‘This is strange, my body should have already started trying to heal the wound, and should have stopped the blood loss.’ He thought to himself, doing his best to prevent his surprise from registering on his face. Not wanting to appear weak in either his brother’s eyes, or Naraku’s, he decided it was time for his counter attack. He focused his power and willed his poison to gather in his right hand, causing his claws to elongate and turn a green color. He would have done the same with his left hand, but due to his injury he was unable to do so. His arm was heavy and only moving it caused great pain. He of course would not let anyone know about that.
“The hell I will.” The half dog demon cracked his knuckles as his eyes moved to stay on the grinning hanyou who was still holding his brother at gun point. If his brother was going to fight as his display of power indicated, then Inuyasha would stay by his side and fight alongside him. “I am not leaving you alone so that asshole can shoot you again!”
“Don’t worry about it Dogshit, I’ll have your brother’s back.” Inuyasha and Mayumi were the only ones who dared turn their eyes from the ‘main action’ to look at the newcomer. It was Kouga who had just walked up the stairs. Even though he had had to use his trusted gun, Goraishi on several of Naraku’s goons, the young demon had thankfully not been harmed very badly. He could however feel his cheek swell due to a kick he had received to the face. The wolf demon could then not help but run his tongue over his sharp teeth, and could feel one or two missing. A groan rose in his throat as he thought of how long it would take for them to grow back. He was a demon, and knew they would eventually, but the question was how long the process would take.
‘I’m gonna have a hell of a time explaining that one to Ayame… or her father.’ He reflected as he thought about the best way to explain to his boss what had happened in the Magokoro’s warehouse.
Naraku was not very happy about the arrival of the police lieutenant. He knew Sesshoumaru would bring his own reinforcements, but had not expected for the police to be involved.
“Inuyasha take the kid home, her mom must be sick with worry. We’ll take care of things here.” Kouga said again, hoping that his friend would do as told.
“Feh! Fine, but you better not let yourself get even more banged up.” The silver haired hanyou growled. Considering that Naraku had shot Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha could not anticipate what exactly the dark hanyou would do next. Since he had kidnapped the child, he would not put it past him to try to hurt Kanna further. To his greatest regret it seemed that getting the young child out of harm’s way meant he had to leave his brother behind, and as much as he hated it, he could not see any other solution.
‘At least Kouga’s here, and as much as he may get on my nerves, other than Miroku there’s no other man I’d let watch over Sesshoumaru…’ Inuyasha thought to himself.
“Come here.” Inuyasha instructed the shivering Mayumi. She reluctantly did as told, and handed Kanna to Inuyasha’s outstretched arms.
Inuyasha was about to go downstairs, but something occurred to him. “What I am supposed to do with her?” He pointed his chin towards Mayumi.
“Have Jakotsu and Bankotsu tell her where they have kept her mother and let her go.” Sesshoumaru ordered. He decided to be magnanimous as he was sure Mayumi was not a willing participant of Naraku’s schemes; the faint bruises on her face and arms were indication enough of that, so was the careful way she had been cradling Kanna in her arms until she had handed the child to her uncle, which was something that had not escaped Sesshoumaru’s keen eyes.
“Fine. Just don’t get yourself killed.” Inuyasha threw over his shoulder as he hurried down the stairs. His logic was simple: the faster he brought Kanna to safety, the faster he would be able to come back and help his brother.
“What about daddy?” Kanna whispered in one of the young hanyou’s dog ears.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine kid.” Inuyasha said with a forced smile even as he thought ‘He better if he doesn’t want me to revive him so I can kill him all over again.’
As soon as Inuyasha left, Kanna in his arms, and a hesitant Mayumi closely following behind him, Sesshoumaru relaxed. He knew what needed to be done, but his daughter’s presence and his brother’s morals had stopped him from accomplishing.
“Ku ku ku Sesshoumaru, are you sure it is such a good idea to have sent your bother away?” Naraku chuckled. If the fine sweat that had broken out on his enemy’s forehead was any indication, the enchanted bullet he had tried so hard to obtain had worked, and Sesshoumaru would soon be unable to fight him.
‘I may have lost my bargain chip, but I can still escape with my life.’ He thought to himself. ‘All I need is make sure that the wolf leaves us alone, and the best way to do that would be to taunt that prideful dog.’
In order for his plan to come to fruition, he added “You may be too weak to take care of me especially alone.”
Just as he had expected, his words worked like magic.
“Kouga, leave.” Sesshoumaru snarled.
Kouga was reluctant to leave Sesshoumaru alone with the man who had injured him so badly, but could understand the request of the other demon.
‘If some bastard had kidnapped my baby girl and hurt her, I also would want to be left alone to hand him so justice by my own hands’ Even as he thought about that, the young wolf demon struggled with his instincts as a police lieutenant. ‘I know I should arrest that scumbag of Naraku, and let him rot in prison, but I’ve seen monsters like him walk away from a conviction way too many times because of some legal loophole…’ He closed his eyes for a brief second, trying to think about the best course of action. He could tell that his instincts as a policeman were about to be overcome by his animal instincts and especially the important idea for canine demons like him and Sesshoumaru to protect the members of their packs. Contrary to their ancestors it might not be an actual way of life, but it still was a concept of importance to him personally, and his need and urge to protect had been one of the driving forces behind his career path.
‘I did promise Inuyasha I’d have his brother’s back too… Damn it why is this so hard?!’
“I give you fifteen minutes to take care of him, if not I’ll cuff him, and you’ll never get a chance to rid us all of that asshole.” Kouga surprised even himself as he muttered these words. “In the meantime I’ll go take care of the men we tied up downstairs.”
“That will be more than enough time.” The dog demon agreed. It was however only after the wolf demon had left them that Sesshoumaru walked towards Naraku. To his shock, the action was requiring more energy that he had anticipated. He knew that he had lost a lot of blood, but had not realized how much the small injury was costing him in strength.
“Wasn’t it a great idea my dear son in-law?” Naraku gloated then noticing Sesshoumaru’s confusion added. “The bullet I shot you with was enchanted. The wound will close slower than usual and while we are speaking you are losing a lot of blood, which will slowly but surely rob you of your strength. As of right now you are in no shape to cause me any harm. You really should have not sent your wolf friend away.”
‘That explains the constant ache, and my lack of energy.’ The enraged dog demon thought to himself. Ignoring the pain, he forced a grin on his lips and said. “It only means to me that I will have to get rid of you fast.” He then leaped towards the unsuspecting Naraku.
The half demon swiftly took a step back, barely evading a scratch from Sesshoumaru’s poison claws.
‘Damn him! It seems he was not as affected as I would have hoped.’ Naraku thought angrily. Even if he was impressed, he did not take the time to marvel on Sesshoumaru’s resilience. Unless he wanted to be arrested or worse killed, he would need to make a swift escape. However because of the absence of Kanna and Mayumi, he was left with no shields.
“If you think that your poor attempt at evading me will be enough to save your life then you are mistaken.” Sesshoumaru may be a strong demon, but he was not a stupid one either. He knew that in order to get rid of Naraku, he would need to rely on one of his most powerful attacks, his poisons whip. However he also knew that if he summoned such a powerful and energy draining move then the effects of the enchanted bullet would be magnified. And even if he did not know what exactly Naraku had added to his bullets because of its potent effects, wasting unnecessary energy was not something he could afford to do. He probably would not be able to focus enough energy to maintain his whip for a long, and would therefore need to be quick and efficient.
‘I am more than willing to take this chance.’ Even as he thought the words, Sesshoumaru suddenly felt his left arm completely go numb, and this he knew was not a good sign. He needed to act, and fast.
Sesshoumaru focused his energy away from his now limp and useless left arm, and towards his right one. His eyes squinted from the effort, but soon enough the claws of his right hand lengthened into a whip, and turned a light green shade. The only indication of Naraku’s sudden fear upon seeing Sesshoumaru’s weapon was a slight widening of his eyes.
“What do you mean to do to me? Flog me?” Naraku tried scoffing his fear away. He was hoping to distract Sesshoumaru long enough for him to run out of energy, and allow the older demon to run away.
“No. I aim to kill you.” One thing Naraku had not anticipated was this much honesty from Sesshoumaru.
While he struggled to think about a fitting answer, the dog demon was already upon him. Sesshoumaru extended his arm, causing his deadly whip to snap and uncurl to its full length. He then threw it in the direction of Naraku. The dark hanyou was unable to move out of the way, or do anything but let out a gasp as Sesshoumaru’s poison whip coiled itself around his pale throat.
Sudden sharp pain resonated throughout his entire body even if it was only his neck that was being melted away by the poison. He tried taking a deep breath, hoping to dislodge the heavy weight, but it was impossible.
“I… will…leave… you… alone.” Naraku struggled to let out. Sesshoumaru ignored him. The only proof that he had heard the croak let out by the half demon was that he tightened the hold of his whip. His right arm briefly shook with the great effort, but he did not relent. Unfortunately, and to his own dismay, as much as he tried, his fantasy of melting Naraku’s head away with poison was not to be. He could simply not summon enough poison to do so.
‘Then I will have to content myself with strangling the bastard to death.’ Sesshoumaru thought to himself.
A groan of pain escaping his thin lips, Naraku collapsed on the ground.
Sesshoumaru walked over to stand directly over Naraku’s twisted form. The spider half demon was using his long fingers to try to claw at the whip, hoping to remove it from his wind pipe. Unfortunately for him this only resulted in the searing pain over his throat to expand to his burning hands. He opened and closed his mouth several times trying to feed much needed air to his starving lungs, but to no avail. He may have never killed anyone, but Sesshoumaru knew better than to relax his hold on the half demon.
The dog demon did his best not to wrinkle his nose as the disgusting stench of Naraku’s burning flesh rose to reach his sensitive nose. Kouga would be back soon, and he wanted this disgusting task to be done with by the time the wolf would be back.
For a long time his cold golden eyes only stared down at Naraku’s quickly fading red ones. As distasteful as what he was doing might be, he knew it needed to be done. After all it was the only way to make sure his family would be safe. Only thinking about how much pain Naraku had caused to is family strengthened his resolve. He struggled but managed to increase the hold of his whip around the other demon’s neck. Naraku’s pale lips let out a rasping noise as his body started thrashing. Despite the jerking motion, Sesshoumaru refused to let go.
With one last gasp, Naraku Onigumo was no more. Sesshoumaru looked into the wide opened eyes of the dead hanyou. He was surprised not to feel anything. Not even regret. He released the hold he had on Naraku’s neck, and before he could retract his whip it disintegrated; he did not have enough energy for it to keep its form.
‘It is over. Kagura and our family will be safe’ These were the last words that rang through Sesshoumaru’s head as he fell to the ground, completely exhausted, only a few feet away from Naraku’s lifeless body.
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“Something happened…” The hanyou tried again to explain the situation, but found his throat to be constricted.
“What? What is it? Tell me what happened!” She ordered the half demon, a feeling of unease growing inside her. Something told her that there was more to her daughter’s tears than the fact that they had been reunited.
He reluctantly opened his mouth and said the words she dreaded. “It’s Sesshoumaru, Naraku shot him.”
And just like that Kagura knew exactly what it meant to go from the greatest of joys to the deepest of sorrows.
“He was shot in the arm though, and Sessh’s a tough bastard… he’ll be fine.” Inuyasha quickly blurted out. He was trying to reassure Kagura as much as himself.
“Was it a graze? Did the bullet go through? Was he bleeding a lot?” Kagura had fired her questions too quickly for her would be brother in-law to be able to answer. Just as he was about to try to, the young half demon felt his phone ring in his pocket. Glad to be offered a reprieve, he quickly answered.
Kagura’s scared crimson eyes briefly flashed with annoyance. She was worried about her fiancé, and at the moment Inuyasha was the only one able to give her some sort of information.
“What surgery?! Yeah we’ll be there… I’ll bring her along too. Thank you.” A somber look on his face, Inuyasha hung up his cell phone and put it back in his pocket.
“What happened? What was this about a surgery?” This time around to her relief, Inuyasha answered her quickly.
“That was Kouga. He’s at the hospital; he brought Sesshoumaru there so Suikotsu can fix him up.”
Kagura let out a relieved sigh. As long as her lover was alive, there was hope he could be getting better.
“So what are you waiting for, let’s go!” Without waiting for the young hanyou, Kagura rushed outside of the room, Inuyasha following closely behind her. She could have woken up her mother, and ask her to watch over Kanna, but now that the toddler was back in her arms, she had no intention of letting her out of her sight.
‘You better not have let that asshole of Naraku kill you Sessh!’ The young wind sorceress struggled not to let tears slip out of her eyes.
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The whole ride in Inuyasha’s small sports car had been a complete blur to Kagura. The whole time she had silently prayed and hoped for Sesshoumaru’s recovery. The fact that her lover had been shot by her former father was bad enough, but the idea that he could die from his wound was unbearable.
‘I will blame myself forever if he doesn’t make it…’ These were the words that ran through her head over and over.
“What are you waiting for?” Inuyasha’s question and snappy tone caused her to come back to her senses. It was then that she raised her eyes, and realized that his car was parked in front of what she recognized as being the biggest hospital of the city. It was one she had not been able to get her daughter admitted when Kanna had been sick.
The wind sorceress came out of the car, then released her daughter from Shippou’s car seat which was placed in the back of Inuyasha’s bright red car. One thing Kagura was grateful for was that her daughter had stopped crying, and was staying quiet. She picked Kanna up and gently cradled her in her arms. Again she worried if taking her daughter along had been the best of ideas, and once again she pushed the guilt away. After what Naraku had done, the idea of leaving Kanna out of her sight was more than she could bear.
Kagura silently followed Inuyasha as he rushed inside, his golden eyes looking around, and searching for Kouga’s long black ponytail.
“Over here Inuyasha.” The fact that the young wolf demon had actually used his name caused a feeling of unease to spread through the younger of the two Takahashi brothers.
Kagura and Inuyasha quickly joined the man who had called over to them from the entrance of a nearby corridor.
“How is Sesshoumaru?” Kagura immediately asked. Her question was met with an uneasy smile from Kouga.
“I’ll let Suikotsu fill you in.” The police lieutenant stepped aside to reveal Sesshoumaru’s personal physician. Other than the deep frown present in between Suikotsu’s brows, another indication of how tired the young doctor was the dark circles under his eyes.
“Sesshoumaru is going to need surgery to take the bullet out. As we speak he is being prepared for that…”
“Bust he’ll be fine, right?” Kagura interrupted him. During the time she had spent working for Naraku, she had seen her share of people victims of bullet wounds. One thing she had taken away from this was that as long as the bullet was taken out, a youkai who had been shot would have a good chance of getting better.
“It’s hard to tell.” Suikotsu interrupted to rub his tensed neck with a large hand. “There might be complications… I mean he has lost a lot of blood. He will surely need a blood transfusion in order to have any chances of making it. Unfortunately we don’t have inu youkai blood on hand…”
The blunt way in which the doctor had explained how dire the situation was caused Kagura’s spirits to plummet, but she brightened up as something occurred to her. “What about Inuyasha?” She turned towards the hanyou. “He’s his brother. He could give him blood!”
All three men stayed silent as if not wanting to tell her something, which unnerved Kagura more than anything. Inuyasha was the one who dared break the uncomfortable silence.
“Keh! We’re only half brothers. I am half human…” The way in which he spoke let Kagura know that this was a sore spot for him.
‘I can be such an idiot sometimes. If it had been possible, I am sure that Inuyasha would have offered.’ She let out a sigh of annoyance and balanced Kanna’s weight on one of her hips, so that she could use her free hand to rub her tired eyes.
“Yeah well, all we need is to find some dog demon who’ll be willing to donate some blood.” Kouga pointed out after clearing his throat. He hoped that his quick intervention would help clear off the suddenly uncomfortable atmosphere.
‘I can’t imagine how they’ll all react when I tell them what Sesshoumaru did to that Naraku fellow…’ Kouga felt himself shiver before he could stop himself from reacting. He knew that he would never be able to forget the image of Sesshoumaru lying down next to Naraku’s lifeless body.
“Things are not this easy. Sesshoumaru possesses toxic blood as well. The chances of finding a youkai that can fulfill both of these criteria are not that high…” Suikotsu was once again interrupted, but this time not by Kagura.
“I believe this is why I was called.” A female voice came from behind the group of people.
“You?!” Kagura could not help but gasp as her crimson eyes took in the newcomer: Asuka Takahashi, Sesshoumaru’s mother. “What are you doing here?” She repressed a snort once she got the clear answer to her question. In fact she had just spied the shiny bald head of none other than Jaken who was trying to remain as hidden as possible behind the impressive folds Asuka’s lavish dress. She had never quite understood why Sesshoumaru was attached to the green skinned, yellow eyed kappa. From the moment she had met him while working at the Takahashi agency, she had not been able to stand the small demon. Of course this was a feeling he shared as well.
“Did you think I would not come if I was told that my only son was in the hospital?” Asuka spat angrily.
‘I will not let her get the best of me. I know that this is exactly what she wants, and I will not give her this satisfaction. Besides I have much more important things to deal with right now than fighting with Sesshoumaru’s mother. The first one is to find a blood donor for him.’ Her own words helped calm Kagura greatly. She now had her priorities straight.
“I am sure Sesshoumaru will be glad to hear about your concern.” She forced herself to say aloud. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we are in the middle of trying to find a solution to an important issue.”
“How dare you talk to Sesshoumaru-sama’s mother like this? She has been called here in order to save his life!” Jaken sputtered angrily. He brandished his little green fist angrily. Kagura was sure that the only reason he dared display his anger in such a way was that he was being protected by Asuka’s presence.
Kagura let out a sigh of pure relief. If anyone would be able to donate blood to Sesshoumaru, it would be his mother. Tears of pure relief and gratitude pooled inside her crimson eyes.
“You would do this?”
“Of course, I want my son to recover after all.” Asuka snapped as an answer to Kagura’s question.
“Then what are you waiting for?” The wind sorceress turned away from her future mother in-law to look at her fiancé’s personal physician. “You need to get her blood right now.”
“He will, the second you leave us.” Asuka grinned openly; she had just been handed the perfect opportunity to get her son rid of Kagura.
“What did you just say?!” The wind sorceress quickly turned back around to face the older dog demoness.
“Oh I think you have heard me perfectly well. I believe it is high time I have our family free of you.”
To be continued…
A/N: So Naraku’s dead! I have to admit writing the scene of Sesshoumaru killing him was quite hard. But I’m glad at seeing how it turned out. Asuka is going to try to break apart our fave couple, will they be able to make it? And will Sesshoumaru even survive the surgery, we’ll find out next time.
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A/N: Hello! Yes I know long time no see :) There will be a great shocker in this chapter, so please whatever happens, don’t hate me! Thank you for the great reviews:
Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, Sesshy and Kagura would be happily mated and working on silver haired baby number three by now…
“Talking”
‘Thinking’
“Hey mangy wolf! Do you have things in hand here?” He asked his friend.
“Don’t worry Dogshit, we can handle the rest of them.” Kouga interrupted himself to block a punch one of Naraku’s hired men was trying to deliver to his face. “Go help your brother.” He then grunted. He too could distinguish the steadily growing smell of the dog demon’s blood, and was worried for him.
Not needing to be told twice, the half dog demon did as suggested, and hurried over to the set of stairs. As he climbed up, he could discern more and more the scent of his brother’s blood in the air, and that worried him. As he finally reached the upper level of the warehouse, he could not help but halt. He knew the scene that greeted his eyes would stay etched in his mind forever: an unknown young demoness was holding on to a sobbing Kanna as the two of them stared helplessly at a large pool of Sesshoumaru’s sizzling acidic blood quickly spreading on the ground.
“What the fuck?!” Inuyasha exclaimed angrily. He ignored the pain in his leg where he had received a vicious kick earlier, and slightly limping walked towards his injured brother.
“Do not get involved.” Sesshoumaru growled. As much as his left arm throbbed in pain, the dog demon forced himself to ignore the ache. He would not give Naraku the satisfaction of knowing how much the bullet wound he had inflicted was burning him. He did not even allow himself to check on his injury, and kept his eyes trained on the seething hanyou. He could feel his blood steadily flow from the wound and dribble down his arm, but did his best to ignore both the sick feeling of losing so much blood and the sharp pain.
“The bastard fucking shot you!” An incredulous Inuyasha snapped back at his brother. He could not detach his wide golden eyes from his brother’s injured arm. The material of the expensive designer shirt was being eaten away and dissolved by the quickly flowing demonic blood. The acidic substance was sliding down the pale skin then fast collecting in a sizzling red puddle, which was slowly disintegrating the outer layer of the concrete ground.
“Inuyasha.” Sesshoumaru stated in an authoritative voice. “Take Kanna and the woman down to the car, and leave this place.”
“Keh! Are you insane? I’m not going to leave you alone here. In case you didn’t notice, you’re injured you asshole!”
“Do as you are told.” The older half sibling allowed himself to briefly look away from Naraku to send his brother a glare.
“Why exactly should I listen to you? You’re bleeding all over the damn place!” The silver haired hanyou pointed out.
Naraku could feel a muscle twitch in his jaw. He was enraged. Instead of paying any attention to him, the two brothers were bickering as if he was not even present. ‘I just need to wait until my little surprise really comes into effect.’ He thought to himself, eyes stuck on Sesshoumaru’s steadily bleeding wound.
“Would you like me to take care of you as well?” The spider half demon addressed Inuyasha, for the first time averting the target of his gun from Sesshoumaru to his younger half sibling.
“Your issue is with me Naraku, do not involve anyone else.”
“As you wish my dear son in-law, you know I aim to please.” The dark hanyou reverted the aim of the barrel of his gun back to its original target.
Sensing the thick tension in the room, Mayumi decided to intervene. She had never in a million years expected Naraku to shoot the father of the sobbing young girl she was holding in her arms.
‘He must have lost his mind.’ The young woman thought to herself. She had always been scared of the hanyou, but now she was downright terrified. She could not help but think that if he had dared use his weapon against the strong inu youkai, then what could stop him from gunning her down? And unlike Sesshoumaru she was not sure she would be able to survive being shot.
“I will take care of Kanna.” Mayumi whispered, hoping that her use of a meek voice would prevent Naraku from paying too much attention to her. Little did she know that the little girl would ensure that would not be the case.
“Daddy.” Kanna let out in a whimper of protest upon hearing Mayumi’s words. Her dark red rimmed eyes could not detach themselves from her father’s blood soaked shirt sleeve.
“Do not worry, uncle Inuyasha will take you home to your mother.” Sesshoumaru suddenly found himself struggling to speak. To his surprise instead of lessening to a throb, the pain of his bullet wound was increasing. Not only that, but he was he still losing as much blood as before.
‘This is strange, my body should have already started trying to heal the wound, and should have stopped the blood loss.’ He thought to himself, doing his best to prevent his surprise from registering on his face. Not wanting to appear weak in either his brother’s eyes, or Naraku’s, he decided it was time for his counter attack. He focused his power and willed his poison to gather in his right hand, causing his claws to elongate and turn a green color. He would have done the same with his left hand, but due to his injury he was unable to do so. His arm was heavy and only moving it caused great pain. He of course would not let anyone know about that.
“The hell I will.” The half dog demon cracked his knuckles as his eyes moved to stay on the grinning hanyou who was still holding his brother at gun point. If his brother was going to fight as his display of power indicated, then Inuyasha would stay by his side and fight alongside him. “I am not leaving you alone so that asshole can shoot you again!”
“Don’t worry about it Dogshit, I’ll have your brother’s back.” Inuyasha and Mayumi were the only ones who dared turn their eyes from the ‘main action’ to look at the newcomer. It was Kouga who had just walked up the stairs. Even though he had had to use his trusted gun, Goraishi on several of Naraku’s goons, the young demon had thankfully not been harmed very badly. He could however feel his cheek swell due to a kick he had received to the face. The wolf demon could then not help but run his tongue over his sharp teeth, and could feel one or two missing. A groan rose in his throat as he thought of how long it would take for them to grow back. He was a demon, and knew they would eventually, but the question was how long the process would take.
‘I’m gonna have a hell of a time explaining that one to Ayame… or her father.’ He reflected as he thought about the best way to explain to his boss what had happened in the Magokoro’s warehouse.
Naraku was not very happy about the arrival of the police lieutenant. He knew Sesshoumaru would bring his own reinforcements, but had not expected for the police to be involved.
“Inuyasha take the kid home, her mom must be sick with worry. We’ll take care of things here.” Kouga said again, hoping that his friend would do as told.
“Feh! Fine, but you better not let yourself get even more banged up.” The silver haired hanyou growled. Considering that Naraku had shot Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha could not anticipate what exactly the dark hanyou would do next. Since he had kidnapped the child, he would not put it past him to try to hurt Kanna further. To his greatest regret it seemed that getting the young child out of harm’s way meant he had to leave his brother behind, and as much as he hated it, he could not see any other solution.
‘At least Kouga’s here, and as much as he may get on my nerves, other than Miroku there’s no other man I’d let watch over Sesshoumaru…’ Inuyasha thought to himself.
“Come here.” Inuyasha instructed the shivering Mayumi. She reluctantly did as told, and handed Kanna to Inuyasha’s outstretched arms.
Inuyasha was about to go downstairs, but something occurred to him. “What I am supposed to do with her?” He pointed his chin towards Mayumi.
“Have Jakotsu and Bankotsu tell her where they have kept her mother and let her go.” Sesshoumaru ordered. He decided to be magnanimous as he was sure Mayumi was not a willing participant of Naraku’s schemes; the faint bruises on her face and arms were indication enough of that, so was the careful way she had been cradling Kanna in her arms until she had handed the child to her uncle, which was something that had not escaped Sesshoumaru’s keen eyes.
“Fine. Just don’t get yourself killed.” Inuyasha threw over his shoulder as he hurried down the stairs. His logic was simple: the faster he brought Kanna to safety, the faster he would be able to come back and help his brother.
“What about daddy?” Kanna whispered in one of the young hanyou’s dog ears.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine kid.” Inuyasha said with a forced smile even as he thought ‘He better if he doesn’t want me to revive him so I can kill him all over again.’
As soon as Inuyasha left, Kanna in his arms, and a hesitant Mayumi closely following behind him, Sesshoumaru relaxed. He knew what needed to be done, but his daughter’s presence and his brother’s morals had stopped him from accomplishing.
“Ku ku ku Sesshoumaru, are you sure it is such a good idea to have sent your bother away?” Naraku chuckled. If the fine sweat that had broken out on his enemy’s forehead was any indication, the enchanted bullet he had tried so hard to obtain had worked, and Sesshoumaru would soon be unable to fight him.
‘I may have lost my bargain chip, but I can still escape with my life.’ He thought to himself. ‘All I need is make sure that the wolf leaves us alone, and the best way to do that would be to taunt that prideful dog.’
In order for his plan to come to fruition, he added “You may be too weak to take care of me especially alone.”
Just as he had expected, his words worked like magic.
“Kouga, leave.” Sesshoumaru snarled.
Kouga was reluctant to leave Sesshoumaru alone with the man who had injured him so badly, but could understand the request of the other demon.
‘If some bastard had kidnapped my baby girl and hurt her, I also would want to be left alone to hand him so justice by my own hands’ Even as he thought about that, the young wolf demon struggled with his instincts as a police lieutenant. ‘I know I should arrest that scumbag of Naraku, and let him rot in prison, but I’ve seen monsters like him walk away from a conviction way too many times because of some legal loophole…’ He closed his eyes for a brief second, trying to think about the best course of action. He could tell that his instincts as a policeman were about to be overcome by his animal instincts and especially the important idea for canine demons like him and Sesshoumaru to protect the members of their packs. Contrary to their ancestors it might not be an actual way of life, but it still was a concept of importance to him personally, and his need and urge to protect had been one of the driving forces behind his career path.
‘I did promise Inuyasha I’d have his brother’s back too… Damn it why is this so hard?!’
“I give you fifteen minutes to take care of him, if not I’ll cuff him, and you’ll never get a chance to rid us all of that asshole.” Kouga surprised even himself as he muttered these words. “In the meantime I’ll go take care of the men we tied up downstairs.”
“That will be more than enough time.” The dog demon agreed. It was however only after the wolf demon had left them that Sesshoumaru walked towards Naraku. To his shock, the action was requiring more energy that he had anticipated. He knew that he had lost a lot of blood, but had not realized how much the small injury was costing him in strength.
“Wasn’t it a great idea my dear son in-law?” Naraku gloated then noticing Sesshoumaru’s confusion added. “The bullet I shot you with was enchanted. The wound will close slower than usual and while we are speaking you are losing a lot of blood, which will slowly but surely rob you of your strength. As of right now you are in no shape to cause me any harm. You really should have not sent your wolf friend away.”
‘That explains the constant ache, and my lack of energy.’ The enraged dog demon thought to himself. Ignoring the pain, he forced a grin on his lips and said. “It only means to me that I will have to get rid of you fast.” He then leaped towards the unsuspecting Naraku.
The half demon swiftly took a step back, barely evading a scratch from Sesshoumaru’s poison claws.
‘Damn him! It seems he was not as affected as I would have hoped.’ Naraku thought angrily. Even if he was impressed, he did not take the time to marvel on Sesshoumaru’s resilience. Unless he wanted to be arrested or worse killed, he would need to make a swift escape. However because of the absence of Kanna and Mayumi, he was left with no shields.
“If you think that your poor attempt at evading me will be enough to save your life then you are mistaken.” Sesshoumaru may be a strong demon, but he was not a stupid one either. He knew that in order to get rid of Naraku, he would need to rely on one of his most powerful attacks, his poisons whip. However he also knew that if he summoned such a powerful and energy draining move then the effects of the enchanted bullet would be magnified. And even if he did not know what exactly Naraku had added to his bullets because of its potent effects, wasting unnecessary energy was not something he could afford to do. He probably would not be able to focus enough energy to maintain his whip for a long, and would therefore need to be quick and efficient.
‘I am more than willing to take this chance.’ Even as he thought the words, Sesshoumaru suddenly felt his left arm completely go numb, and this he knew was not a good sign. He needed to act, and fast.
Sesshoumaru focused his energy away from his now limp and useless left arm, and towards his right one. His eyes squinted from the effort, but soon enough the claws of his right hand lengthened into a whip, and turned a light green shade. The only indication of Naraku’s sudden fear upon seeing Sesshoumaru’s weapon was a slight widening of his eyes.
“What do you mean to do to me? Flog me?” Naraku tried scoffing his fear away. He was hoping to distract Sesshoumaru long enough for him to run out of energy, and allow the older demon to run away.
“No. I aim to kill you.” One thing Naraku had not anticipated was this much honesty from Sesshoumaru.
While he struggled to think about a fitting answer, the dog demon was already upon him. Sesshoumaru extended his arm, causing his deadly whip to snap and uncurl to its full length. He then threw it in the direction of Naraku. The dark hanyou was unable to move out of the way, or do anything but let out a gasp as Sesshoumaru’s poison whip coiled itself around his pale throat.
Sudden sharp pain resonated throughout his entire body even if it was only his neck that was being melted away by the poison. He tried taking a deep breath, hoping to dislodge the heavy weight, but it was impossible.
“I… will…leave… you… alone.” Naraku struggled to let out. Sesshoumaru ignored him. The only proof that he had heard the croak let out by the half demon was that he tightened the hold of his whip. His right arm briefly shook with the great effort, but he did not relent. Unfortunately, and to his own dismay, as much as he tried, his fantasy of melting Naraku’s head away with poison was not to be. He could simply not summon enough poison to do so.
‘Then I will have to content myself with strangling the bastard to death.’ Sesshoumaru thought to himself.
A groan of pain escaping his thin lips, Naraku collapsed on the ground.
Sesshoumaru walked over to stand directly over Naraku’s twisted form. The spider half demon was using his long fingers to try to claw at the whip, hoping to remove it from his wind pipe. Unfortunately for him this only resulted in the searing pain over his throat to expand to his burning hands. He opened and closed his mouth several times trying to feed much needed air to his starving lungs, but to no avail. He may have never killed anyone, but Sesshoumaru knew better than to relax his hold on the half demon.
The dog demon did his best not to wrinkle his nose as the disgusting stench of Naraku’s burning flesh rose to reach his sensitive nose. Kouga would be back soon, and he wanted this disgusting task to be done with by the time the wolf would be back.
For a long time his cold golden eyes only stared down at Naraku’s quickly fading red ones. As distasteful as what he was doing might be, he knew it needed to be done. After all it was the only way to make sure his family would be safe. Only thinking about how much pain Naraku had caused to is family strengthened his resolve. He struggled but managed to increase the hold of his whip around the other demon’s neck. Naraku’s pale lips let out a rasping noise as his body started thrashing. Despite the jerking motion, Sesshoumaru refused to let go.
With one last gasp, Naraku Onigumo was no more. Sesshoumaru looked into the wide opened eyes of the dead hanyou. He was surprised not to feel anything. Not even regret. He released the hold he had on Naraku’s neck, and before he could retract his whip it disintegrated; he did not have enough energy for it to keep its form.
‘It is over. Kagura and our family will be safe’ These were the last words that rang through Sesshoumaru’s head as he fell to the ground, completely exhausted, only a few feet away from Naraku’s lifeless body.
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“Something happened…” The hanyou tried again to explain the situation, but found his throat to be constricted.
“What? What is it? Tell me what happened!” She ordered the half demon, a feeling of unease growing inside her. Something told her that there was more to her daughter’s tears than the fact that they had been reunited.
He reluctantly opened his mouth and said the words she dreaded. “It’s Sesshoumaru, Naraku shot him.”
And just like that Kagura knew exactly what it meant to go from the greatest of joys to the deepest of sorrows.
“He was shot in the arm though, and Sessh’s a tough bastard… he’ll be fine.” Inuyasha quickly blurted out. He was trying to reassure Kagura as much as himself.
“Was it a graze? Did the bullet go through? Was he bleeding a lot?” Kagura had fired her questions too quickly for her would be brother in-law to be able to answer. Just as he was about to try to, the young half demon felt his phone ring in his pocket. Glad to be offered a reprieve, he quickly answered.
Kagura’s scared crimson eyes briefly flashed with annoyance. She was worried about her fiancé, and at the moment Inuyasha was the only one able to give her some sort of information.
“What surgery?! Yeah we’ll be there… I’ll bring her along too. Thank you.” A somber look on his face, Inuyasha hung up his cell phone and put it back in his pocket.
“What happened? What was this about a surgery?” This time around to her relief, Inuyasha answered her quickly.
“That was Kouga. He’s at the hospital; he brought Sesshoumaru there so Suikotsu can fix him up.”
Kagura let out a relieved sigh. As long as her lover was alive, there was hope he could be getting better.
“So what are you waiting for, let’s go!” Without waiting for the young hanyou, Kagura rushed outside of the room, Inuyasha following closely behind her. She could have woken up her mother, and ask her to watch over Kanna, but now that the toddler was back in her arms, she had no intention of letting her out of her sight.
‘You better not have let that asshole of Naraku kill you Sessh!’ The young wind sorceress struggled not to let tears slip out of her eyes.
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The whole ride in Inuyasha’s small sports car had been a complete blur to Kagura. The whole time she had silently prayed and hoped for Sesshoumaru’s recovery. The fact that her lover had been shot by her former father was bad enough, but the idea that he could die from his wound was unbearable.
‘I will blame myself forever if he doesn’t make it…’ These were the words that ran through her head over and over.
“What are you waiting for?” Inuyasha’s question and snappy tone caused her to come back to her senses. It was then that she raised her eyes, and realized that his car was parked in front of what she recognized as being the biggest hospital of the city. It was one she had not been able to get her daughter admitted when Kanna had been sick.
The wind sorceress came out of the car, then released her daughter from Shippou’s car seat which was placed in the back of Inuyasha’s bright red car. One thing Kagura was grateful for was that her daughter had stopped crying, and was staying quiet. She picked Kanna up and gently cradled her in her arms. Again she worried if taking her daughter along had been the best of ideas, and once again she pushed the guilt away. After what Naraku had done, the idea of leaving Kanna out of her sight was more than she could bear.
Kagura silently followed Inuyasha as he rushed inside, his golden eyes looking around, and searching for Kouga’s long black ponytail.
“Over here Inuyasha.” The fact that the young wolf demon had actually used his name caused a feeling of unease to spread through the younger of the two Takahashi brothers.
Kagura and Inuyasha quickly joined the man who had called over to them from the entrance of a nearby corridor.
“How is Sesshoumaru?” Kagura immediately asked. Her question was met with an uneasy smile from Kouga.
“I’ll let Suikotsu fill you in.” The police lieutenant stepped aside to reveal Sesshoumaru’s personal physician. Other than the deep frown present in between Suikotsu’s brows, another indication of how tired the young doctor was the dark circles under his eyes.
“Sesshoumaru is going to need surgery to take the bullet out. As we speak he is being prepared for that…”
“Bust he’ll be fine, right?” Kagura interrupted him. During the time she had spent working for Naraku, she had seen her share of people victims of bullet wounds. One thing she had taken away from this was that as long as the bullet was taken out, a youkai who had been shot would have a good chance of getting better.
“It’s hard to tell.” Suikotsu interrupted to rub his tensed neck with a large hand. “There might be complications… I mean he has lost a lot of blood. He will surely need a blood transfusion in order to have any chances of making it. Unfortunately we don’t have inu youkai blood on hand…”
The blunt way in which the doctor had explained how dire the situation was caused Kagura’s spirits to plummet, but she brightened up as something occurred to her. “What about Inuyasha?” She turned towards the hanyou. “He’s his brother. He could give him blood!”
All three men stayed silent as if not wanting to tell her something, which unnerved Kagura more than anything. Inuyasha was the one who dared break the uncomfortable silence.
“Keh! We’re only half brothers. I am half human…” The way in which he spoke let Kagura know that this was a sore spot for him.
‘I can be such an idiot sometimes. If it had been possible, I am sure that Inuyasha would have offered.’ She let out a sigh of annoyance and balanced Kanna’s weight on one of her hips, so that she could use her free hand to rub her tired eyes.
“Yeah well, all we need is to find some dog demon who’ll be willing to donate some blood.” Kouga pointed out after clearing his throat. He hoped that his quick intervention would help clear off the suddenly uncomfortable atmosphere.
‘I can’t imagine how they’ll all react when I tell them what Sesshoumaru did to that Naraku fellow…’ Kouga felt himself shiver before he could stop himself from reacting. He knew that he would never be able to forget the image of Sesshoumaru lying down next to Naraku’s lifeless body.
“Things are not this easy. Sesshoumaru possesses toxic blood as well. The chances of finding a youkai that can fulfill both of these criteria are not that high…” Suikotsu was once again interrupted, but this time not by Kagura.
“I believe this is why I was called.” A female voice came from behind the group of people.
“You?!” Kagura could not help but gasp as her crimson eyes took in the newcomer: Asuka Takahashi, Sesshoumaru’s mother. “What are you doing here?” She repressed a snort once she got the clear answer to her question. In fact she had just spied the shiny bald head of none other than Jaken who was trying to remain as hidden as possible behind the impressive folds Asuka’s lavish dress. She had never quite understood why Sesshoumaru was attached to the green skinned, yellow eyed kappa. From the moment she had met him while working at the Takahashi agency, she had not been able to stand the small demon. Of course this was a feeling he shared as well.
“Did you think I would not come if I was told that my only son was in the hospital?” Asuka spat angrily.
‘I will not let her get the best of me. I know that this is exactly what she wants, and I will not give her this satisfaction. Besides I have much more important things to deal with right now than fighting with Sesshoumaru’s mother. The first one is to find a blood donor for him.’ Her own words helped calm Kagura greatly. She now had her priorities straight.
“I am sure Sesshoumaru will be glad to hear about your concern.” She forced herself to say aloud. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we are in the middle of trying to find a solution to an important issue.”
“How dare you talk to Sesshoumaru-sama’s mother like this? She has been called here in order to save his life!” Jaken sputtered angrily. He brandished his little green fist angrily. Kagura was sure that the only reason he dared display his anger in such a way was that he was being protected by Asuka’s presence.
Kagura let out a sigh of pure relief. If anyone would be able to donate blood to Sesshoumaru, it would be his mother. Tears of pure relief and gratitude pooled inside her crimson eyes.
“You would do this?”
“Of course, I want my son to recover after all.” Asuka snapped as an answer to Kagura’s question.
“Then what are you waiting for?” The wind sorceress turned away from her future mother in-law to look at her fiancé’s personal physician. “You need to get her blood right now.”
“He will, the second you leave us.” Asuka grinned openly; she had just been handed the perfect opportunity to get her son rid of Kagura.
“What did you just say?!” The wind sorceress quickly turned back around to face the older dog demoness.
“Oh I think you have heard me perfectly well. I believe it is high time I have our family free of you.”
To be continued…
A/N: So Naraku’s dead! I have to admit writing the scene of Sesshoumaru killing him was quite hard. But I’m glad at seeing how it turned out. Asuka is going to try to break apart our fave couple, will they be able to make it? And will Sesshoumaru even survive the surgery, we’ll find out next time.
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