InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tale of the Twins ❯ Chapter Sixteen: Monthly Transformation ( Chapter 16 )

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

Chapter Sixteen

Monthly Transformation

Naraku was being stubborn. He floated in his barrier about as long as he possibly could, and didn't bother to tell Sesshoumaru when his power was waning. Not that Sesshoumaru didn't figure it out anyway. He could sense the hanyou's power, and it was slowly fading away to nothing. Naraku's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell. Sesshoumaru caught him long before he would have hit the water.

“Baka,” the dog hissed, pulling him to him.

“There isn't much time,” Naraku muttered. It was all he could do just to stay—literally—in one piece.

“I can see it now. It won't be long.”

“Hurry.”

He didn't waste any more time on words. He used a different method of transport this time. The light consumed him. He wasn't sure if it would work with Naraku, but apparently, it did. This method was the fastest available to him, and soon, he called back his power and landed on the shore. Naraku pushed away from him and stumbled a little. Sesshoumaru frowned. Naraku was doing something now. He saw the first signs of the illusion—the crisscrossings in the air, like a 2-dimensional blueprint. It became translucent, then shimmered once and seemed real. It wasn't nearly as grand as the previous illusions he had conjured, nor nearly as large. It was one room, but that was apparently all that was called for. Naraku stumbled in to it, refusing any help from Sesshoumaru and glaring at him when he tried to follow him. Naraku opened the door, half-fell in, then slammed it closed. Sesshoumaru doubted that slamming it had been intentional. He had been in a panic for quite a while, after all.

He heard another door open. This one sounded like a trapdoor. It closed with a solid bang. Sesshoumaru allowed his mind to wonder about this.

Naraku descended the steps in to the darkness. No sooner had he touched the cold earth of the floor than his power, already so diminished, was finally snuffed out like a dying candle. He was no longer able to hold his body together. He flinched, knowing very well what was coming.

It was like his body was being torn apart in some places, forcing itself apart in others, and in other places, it just fell away. There were more body parts than it seemed like there should be. More organs than there should be, more flesh as well. He had been keeping it compact, in one solid piece, in one form, with the use of his power. It had become second nature, so he was used to it. It was a lot like—one could say—wearing a heavy ring or necklace. It just grew to be normal after a while. When his power waned, his body, naturally, collapsed.

It wasn't so much how it felt that was sickening. It just felt like he was being spread out, which was true anyway. It was how it sounded that bothered him. Slick, cold, like something heavy, damp, and potentially squishy hitting the floor. Other noises were hissing sounds as pieces of youkai dropped from his body. Other noises were like something being pushed through flesh. It was a sound that, overall, just shouldn't be heard.

The smell was bad too. It wasn't that the pieces were rotting. It wasn't even as if they were exactly dead. Organs have a distinct and pungent scent. With so many just lying around, the smell was awful. At least there weren't any flies. He had experienced that once, and that was all it had taken. They were irritating, and his body was too spread out to do much about it.

Once it was finished, all it left was his head. Even then, it served more as a link to the rest of the pieces than a head. His core being was actually elsewhere. Not a very large organ amidst the mass of them. Not very important-looking or even useful. And definitely unwanted and unneeded.

Onigumo's heart. His heart. The beginning of his existence.

Sesshoumaru had once mentioned a human girl called Sara who had become a hanyou at her moment of death. The only thing that surprised him about the story was how long the youkai inside of her had waited. He hadn't so much as given Onigumo a chance. He wondered, vaguely, if, somewhere, Onigumo was locked in his mind, watching, waiting, his heart crying out every time he saw Kikyou, driving him to find her and be with her. Damn him.

She was dead, so Onigumo should just go to hell too. He was constantly aware of the heart's presence, as if it were a heavy burden, even though the small organ was completely lost amidst the youkai body parts lying about.

Just a few more hours. Then he could begin piecing his body back together. He heard the door open. Sesshoumaru…

“I told you to stay out,” Naraku muttered. His voice came from no distinct part of what was, for the time being, his body.

“It's raining,” Sesshoumaru replied. “I'm not coming downstairs. Don't worry.”

“Don't even open the door.”

“I won't.” Sesshoumaru sat down on the floor, leaning his back against the wall, listening to the rain hit the roof.

“We wouldn't have this problem if you would give me the Shikon no Tama.”

There was no chance of that ever happening. “I really don't mind it, Naraku.” He stretched a little. “I don't mind watching over you.”

“I do,” he muttered.

Sesshoumaru was bemused. Naraku was so touchy about being a hanyou—rightfully so.

“I have a better idea. Let's use the Shikon no Tama and make you a hanyou, Sesshoumaru. Then you can get an idea of what it's like,” Naraku spat.

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes. “I doubt such a thing would be possible.”

“It made you a man.”

“It did not change my bloodlines.”

“It can change bloodlines, though.”

Sesshoumaru wasn't so certain about that. “I disagree.”

“Oh?”

He inspected his claws for dirt idly. “I think that it shifts the bloodlines, but doesn't change them, per se. It sort of controls the dominant bloodline and pushes the other aside. Quite simply, you couldn't make me a hanyou because I have no human blood in my veins.”

Naraku scowled, irritated. “Then how did it make you go from female to male?” From being a goddess of a youkai to a statuesque male, that is.

Sesshoumaru was undeterred by Naraku's tone. “That did not alter my bloodline in any way.”

He decided to give up. They remained silent for a while. Sesshoumaru's eyes slowly closed and he ended up falling asleep, listening to the rain hit the roof and roll off on to the sand.

Naraku, like most half demons, never slept during this time, so was content to listen to Sesshoumaru's steady breathing and the fall of the rain outside, mingling with the sound of the tide.

It took hours, but, slowly, his strength returned. It was always a welcoming, safe feeling. Being in his weaker state was a lot like trying to sit still with a knife to your back; it was maddening, and he hated the paranoia too. Slowly, his body twisted back in to his normal self, the form he had chosen. His clothing had sort of fallen away earlier. He pulled the garments back on and climbed up the steps. He carefully opened the trapdoor and slipped through, trying to be as quiet as he could to keep from waking Sesshoumaru.

No such luck, however. Sesshoumaru's stirred and halfway opened his eyes. Naraku held his breath, waiting. His breathing evened again and he fell back asleep. He moved over to him. He kneeled in front of him and began peeling off his armor. He used two tentacles to balance it and set it down gently on the floor. It was either the slight noise or the loss of the weight that woke Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru's eyes slid open. Naraku leaned forward and kissed him.