InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Synthetic Twilight ❯ XIV ( Chapter 14 )

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

By: lesalee

Natsuki stood on ruined hut in front of a large crowd of kitsune, "Listen up! Your assignment today is to run around like panicked humans when a group of demonslayers reaches the edge of the forrest there," she said, pointing to a trail leading into the thick line of trees.
"And why would we listen to an old flea like you?" one of the kitsune spoke up, his hands on his hips.
Natsuki grinned at the strip of paper that floated down to the youth with 'FAIL' written on it.
The boy's eyes grew large, "My ranking! My parents are gonna kill me!" he wailed.
If Natsuki didn't have the crowd's attention earlier, that certainly grabbed it. All sets of eyes were focused on her and the only sound in the village was the occaisional sound of shuffling feet. "Now that I have your attention," she paused and looked at the still sniffling boy, "this assignment is not dangerous, as soon as the demonslayers start to fight the demons brought here, you all are to run to the forrest and return to the school. This assignment counts as five points extra credit on your Kitsune Youjutsu Advancement Exam, so be sure to report your arrivals to get credit!"
Many of the young kitsune began to transform into beautiful women, Natsuki clucked her tongue, "This is supposed to be a village! You can't all be women!" Several pops were heard and she nodded her head in approval at the 'men', 'women', and 'children' milling around, "That's better." She herself transformed into a middle aged man- this morning's breakfast. She burped, well, at least he looked like a village headsman.
Sesshomaru walked through the village. "Is everything to your liking my lord?" Natsuki asked, blushing and batting her eyes at the demon lord.
Sesshomaru almost grimaced, there was little that unsettled him, but apparently a middle aged man flirting like a young girl was one of the few things that did. "It is sufficient. How far away are the slayers?"
"An hour at the most, my lord." Natsuki peeked up at him with what she thought to be a demure look.
"And Inuyasha?"
"Far away enough to arrive in the middle of the slayer's fight."
Sesshomaru raised his head and scented the air, "Jaken, go summon the demons now."
"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken called and scrambled off, clutching his staff proudly.
"My lord? Is something wrong?" Natsuki asked. She looked at Sesshomaru, who didn't answer and was walking out of the village. All of the students raised their heads and breathed in deeply, Creepy, she thought to herself.
"They're closer than you thought, sensei." said one of the kits, disguised as a little girl.
A loud explosion in the nearby mountain shook the ground, and Natsuki could feel her eyes widen at the horde of demons rapidly descending towards them. "Get ready!" she screamed.
The children became a wailing sea of bodies, shoving each other, running into one another, and fighting over the little trinkets that had been left in the ruined huts.
Natsuki could feel her throat tighten, Jaken had assured her on Sesshomaru's behalf that neither she nor any of her students would be harmed in participating in this, but the pure fear that the scene instilled in her was overwhelming.

"It's just ahead!" Shoga called from Kouga's back. The group of demonslayers ran through the trees and stopped in the clearing with the village right in front of them.
"Oh my god..." Kagome whispered, looking on in shock at the chaos the village was in. The villagers didn't looked harmed, but the village itself had been razed and the mass of demons were bent on destroying what little buildings had been left standing.
"Reminds you of Naraku, doesn't it?" Kouga muttered. He sneezed, "It stinks of kitsune here."
Sango shook her head and placed her mask on, "We'll have to deal with that later. Shoga, was it? Get your villagers to leave this place immediately."
"Yes, Sango-sama." Shoga whistled sharply, "Natsuki-chan! It's time to go, get everyone out!"
A man who appeared to be the village leader turned around and nodded, "Time to go! I'll see all of you at the school."
The mass of villagers all stopped what they were doing and ran for the woods to the east, still screaming and wailing."Very odd..." Miroku said, looking thoughtfully in the direction the people had ran to.
"Is something wrong, Miroku?" Kagome asked.
"I guess not," he said with his eyebrows furrowed, "I'm sure it's nothing."
"Who dares disturb us?" yelled the demons. A head that looked as if it had been severed, turned and stared at the group screetched, "Demonslayers!"
"Prepare yourselves!" Miroku yelled as he unleashed his windtunnel on the mass of advancing demons. The demonslayers huddled together, their backs at each other to fight off the remaining demons that made it past the monk, it was the goriest battle Kagome had ever been in. "How the fuck did this village manage to piss all these guys off?!" Kouga shouted as he sliced through a demon with his claws. Kagome gasped loudly and dropped her weapons, her twin swords flared out as they hit the ground. "Kagome, watch out!" Kouga screamed. Sango dropped Hirakotsu and cut down a demon with her katana just as it reached to strike her friend.
"Kagome? Are you hurt?" she asked, shaking Kagome, who was staring blankly at the path leading into the forrest across from them.
"The Jewel..." Kagome trailed off. "It's there," she pointed, "I can sense it!"
"Kouga! Take Kagome out of here, we'll cover you" Miroku yelled.
Kouga picked Kagome and ran quickly in the direction Kagome was pointing.
A few of the demons turned to follow them, but Sango threw down a few blinding powder capsules, "Your fight is with us, demons!" The remaining demonslayers drew their circle in tighter.

For most of the morning, Inuyasha had caught a scent on the breeze that smelled eeriely like Kagome's, now the scent on the wind was rank with demon blood. He hoped the wind would shift soon.
"Something wrong, Inuyasha-sama?" Myoga asked.
"There's a big fight up ahead." he said distractedly, he wanted to smell Kagome's calming scent on the wind again- but that just wasn't possible. He sighed.
"Perhaps we should check it out." Myoga suggested, his cheeks reddening.
"Oh no we're not, I'm on a tight enough schedule as it is without stopping to help everyone in distress. No, we're going to Totosai's and then I'm leaving." Inuyasha looked at the mountains in the distance, "Myoga? Are you sure this is a shortcut?"
Myoga gulped, "O-of course my lord, would I lie to you?"
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, "You're lying to me right now, you asshole! Why did Sesshomaru tell you to take me this way?"
"I can't say, Inuyasha-sama! Oh the horrors he has made me endure! P-promise that you'll take me with you and I'll tell you everything."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "You're just trying to get away from that fiance of yours."
"Yes!" Myoga wailed, "Well, she's my wife now, but I'm still trying to get away! But that's not the only reason, if I tell you and this doesn't go to plan, he's going to kill me! B-but of course, it'll go as planned, you wouldn't run from this- would you? Of course not!" he rambled off to himself.
Inuyasha stopped walking, why would Sesshomaru have bothered to set a trap? The only thing he could think of that he possessed that Sesshomaru might have wanted, he had given him. It couldn't have been about him working for Fernam either, Sesshomaru often bought chocolates from them for Rin. What the hell are you up to, Sesshomaru?

Kouga had smelled Inuyasha as soon as they left the clearing. He figured had he not been upwind, he would have been able to smell him before the fight even started. Inuyasha has the jewel and he's headed this way, man, that guy's got some balls. He sighed and placed Kagome on her feet.
"Kouga-kun?" Kagome asked.
"The jewel's close, yeah?" he asked sadly.
"Yeah. Kouga, is something wrong?"
"No." Yes. "I just think a demon has it, and I want us to both to be on equal footing if a fight breaks out."
"Do you think we'll have to fight it ourselves?" Kagome asked, unshouldering her new bow.
I doubt he'll want to fight you, "Who knows? Better safe than sorry, right?" Kagome nodded. Kouga grimaced as they continued walking toward Inuyasha's scent. Personally, he would have loved nothing better than to run up to Inuyasha with Kagome resting on his back, but seeing as how Kagome said she hadn't seen him in five years, he decided it would probably be best not to pick a fight.
"Kouga! Don't think I can't smell you, what the fuck are you helping Sesshomaru with?" came Inuyasha's voice. Kouga heard Kagome's sharp intake of breath before she bolted in the direction of his voice.

Inuyasha heard underbrush snapping as someone came running through the trees. He breathed deeply, there was the faint scent of Kagome again. He supposed he did that fairly often, when he spent so much time alone his thoughts usually redirected to Kagome or Kikyo. A woman dressed as a demonslayer emerged, her short hair wild and her face flushed. Inuyasha's eyes widened, if he thought that Kikyo could have had another reincarnation walking around, he'd swear that would be her. Kagome? But the well was sealed!
"I-Inuyasha?" she asked hesitantly.
There was no way that wasn't Kagome! It was her scent, her voice, though she looked a few years older than when he'd sent her back- his heart sank. "What are you doing here?" he asked, Kagome flinched.

Kagome could feel herself jerk, but she couldn't help it. It was almost painful to look at him. Gone were his firerat robes, replaced by black slacks and a loose white shirt- and black boots on his feet. His hair was dyed black, though his ears and roots were showing his natural silver-white color. Had he done this to himself for Kikyo?
Five years... no, 'how have you been?' or 'it's good to see you again' but "What are you doing here?". Are you fucking kidding me?! She could feel her fingernails digging into her palms. Has he been here the whole time? There around his neck was the kodama rosary and the Jewel of Four Souls, showing purple swirls and not the translucent pink that it held when thoroughly purified. She was furious! "SIT!" she screamed. Inuyasha landed face-first in the dirt. Kagome walked quickly to his prostrated body and snapped the chain holding the jewel off of his neck and placed it in her armor.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" he yelled.
"I'm taking what belongs to me, this jewel is my responsibility. You know, SIT!, I was hoping that I could really talk to you for once, but I should have known better." Kagome said, turning to go back to the village.
"The jewel isn't your responsibility." Inuyasha's voice came muffled.
"And who's would it be if not mine? Yours? I was BORN with the damn thing, don't tell me it isn't my responsibility. SIT! Don't concern yourself with protecting it or me, Inuyasha. I can handle myself now, I don't need you anymore." Kagome walked past a shocked Kouga.
Kouga took a moment to look at Inuyasha, still sprawled on the ground, "Nice going, dog-shit," he said before following Kagome out of the forrest.

Sesshomaru sat at his desk initialing and signing forms in triplicate. How he longed for the time when a hostile takeover actually involved some sort of hostility! He could hear the drone of Jaken's TV downstairs, he really regretted allowing the imp to purchase one. He pressed the button on his phone that triggered the intercom system that went through his house, "Jaken, turn down the TV and bring me a cup of tea." The loud drone mercifully became a murmur, he supposed that was as good as it could get considering how well he could hear. He picked up his pen to begin again on the thick stack of papers when he heard something fall off the mantle and clatter onto the hardwood floor of his office. He looked up at the two swords on display. The Tetsusaiga had vanished from the room and the pieces of wood that it used to rest on lay on the floor, no holes were in the wall where they had been screwed in. Curious.
Sesshomaru hissed at the headache that suddenly blossomed and pushed the button for the intercom again, "Jaken, bring some asprin on your way up." He'd have to have the imp move the two swords on the mantle closer together... he never liked how far apart they were spaced.

AN: ... You expected a hug, maybe?
Poor Inuyasha suffers from foot-in-mouth disease.
I won't say anything about Sesshomaru's plan, but I've dropped hints here and there... that is all. :D
Kitsune Youjutsu Advancement Exam is a reference to vol 505-506 in the Inuyasha manga. I think I'm the only one that loves filler episodes more than the real story sometimes.
(semi-spoiler: I know I mentioned Sesshomaru having two swords instead of one, like he currently has in the manga, I'm not using most of the stuff going on because it's convenient. Haaar.)

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I do not own any of the characters from the manga/anime Inuyasha.