InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Bearers of the Shards ❯ The Demon's Wrath ( Chapter 8 )

Author's Note: Chapter 8 is going to be the darkest yet. I give this chapter the individual rating of R, because it gets rather violent in places---just to warn those of you who are sensitive to that sort of thing. Also, "Jii-san" is a term of address for "grandfather."

{#} {#} {#} THE BEARERS OF THE SHARDS {#} {#} {#}

{#} {#} Chapter 8: The Demon's Wrath {#} {#}

Flashback: Fifty-five Years In the Past

A thin, shivering boy stumbled through the forest, clutching his shoulder. Beneath his shirt he was wounded; burnt, by the villagers from whom he had stolen his most recent meal. That had been four days ago---a roast chicken and a sack of rice. The rice he had been forced to eat hard and uncooked, because he had no bowl and no time to stop.

After downing the meal hurriedly he had rushed off to find somewhere safe to sleep---somewhere where the vengeful villagers would not find him. He thought he had run far enough, until he was roused from deep slumber by rough hands. They had burnt into his shoulder the brand of a thief, not realizing that as a hanyou he would not have lasting scars. Yet the lesson they taught him remained burned into his brain: do not trust humans.

The humans of Reiyama had killed his family, and hunted HIM now. So he kept running. And that meant he could not settle into any village, so he was forced to steal what he couldn't catch on his own. And stealing meant that no one trusted him.

Now he came upon yet another village. He had not been trying to find one; this one seemed to have found him. He knew he must stop to sleep or he would soon drop with exhaustion. Yet he had not wanted to stop so near to a human settlement, because he feared the Tatesei Wise would find him there more easily.

"Run, half-breed. I am going to kill you"

He had only been five years of age when he heard their final warning. Now he was fifteen, and he had not forgotten. There were times when he had tried to settle into a particular village---especially when he was younger---and had fallen into the lull of a false sense of security. But then, after perhaps a few months at most, he would begin to sense a powerful presence approaching and take to the road once again.

Yet now he slumped to the ground, exhausted beyond even his half-demon strength. He was too weakened from hunger to do more than drag himself beneath the concealment of the bushes.

When he awoke two days later, he was no longer in the forest but in someone's house, on a bed. The house's owner---a kindly old man---fed him chicken broth to strengthen him, and spoke to him soothingly when he cried out from feverish nightmares.

"They're coming, they're COMING," he would cry. "Don't touch me! They'll take you!"

But the old man only said, "Hush, no one is here. You have nothing to fear."

Months passed; months during which he resided in the village. And, as always, with the passage of time he came to believe the old man's words of comfort. . .

. . .Until the day he returned from hunting in the woods to find a new enemy standing in the doorway of the old man's house.

He froze, the blood from the two rabbits he had caught still drying on his hands. He had not sensed this man as he had sensed the Wise---the near presence of the Wise made his flesh crawl, while this man exuded the impression of a very different kind of power.

His enemy also froze at the sight of him, and they stood there regarding each other for a moment.

The boy's first thought was that his enemy possessed an unearthly beauty. The stranger's skin and hair were pale and luminous---as if he had never seen the sun, though he stood in bright daylight now and did not so much as squint.

`A prince,' the boy thought, because only royalty had such pale complexions. He hadn't seen a man dressed so finely since his youngest days in the Tatesei city. The stranger wore mostly white, and the boy would easily have mistaken him for a marble statue were it not for the bright intelligence in his eyes.

Yellow eyes, hard and cold as jewels.

The stranger's regard was hostile, yet there was also a kind of dazed wonderment in it, as if he were seeing a ghost.

"Why are you hunting me?" the boy demanded. His muscles tensed for flight---he had lived this long because his Youkai instinct to survive was very strong. "YOU'RE not one of the Wise. . ."

The stranger seemed to recover himself, and stepped forward calmly.

"I have come for you," he said, "Inuyasha."

A cool wind arose, blowing back his long hair. Though he wore a warrior's armor, he wore his hair loose and unbound. Beneath the white mane, his ears curved upward, tapering to points. It was then that the boy realized his enemy wasn't human.

"You're a demon," the boy murmured, frowning. "Why the hell am I being hunted by both Tatesei AND Youkai?"

"The Tatesei have abandoned their search," the demon told him dispassionately. "Too many years have passed, and you have roamed too far. But I---I have found you now."

The boy sniffed the air, and his eyes narrowed.

"I smell blood," he said, attempting to peer beyond his enemy to the house. "What have you done?"

The white demon took another step toward him but did not cease his blockage of the doorway.

"The human?" he asked carelessly. "Dying or dead. It doesn't matter."

The boy dropped the rabbits he was carrying, a sudden gleam of fury in his eye. They fell into the dirt, forgotten.

"I don't care what you want from me," he said, cracking his knuckles. "You shouldn't have come."

The white demon seemed interested. He advanced another step, and the boy held his ground.

"You're not going to run?" the demon asked. "Face me, then, whelp. Show me that his blood truly flows through your veins."

Inuyasha's hands clenched into fists.

"WHOSE blood?" he demanded. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The demon took another step toward him. His hand brushed the hilt of the sword that hung at his hip, but then passed over it as if he had thought better of it.

"Our father's," he answered quietly.

Inuyasha's eyes widened, and for a moment his fists uncurled.

"You're saying---you're my---" He paused, unable to finish the sentence, then asked with characteristic frankness, "Then what's with your ears?"

The man frowned as Inuyasha jabbed a claw in the direction of his ears. It was a fair question; the white demon did not seem the least bit dog-like.

"I am full demon," the white demon answered with evident distaste for his brother's manners. "It is only the demon parent that we share. But enough." He waved the question aside and began a slow, steady advance toward Inuyasha. He raised one hand, and a sickly greenish glow formed around the claws of that hand. "Come. I want to see just how human you are."

Inuyasha eyed the hand warily, unsure of what to do. On one hand, he figured this man was telling the truth. He noticed the resemblance between them now, and didn't see why the white demon would have reason to lie. On the other, his brother---half-brother---seemed like a real bastard. He didn't think the glowing green claws meant anything good, either.

So he planted his feet and declared, "Stay the hell away from me, you albino bastard!"

The white demon did not seem to hear---or perhaps he simply didn't care. With sudden, inhuman speed he launched himself at his younger brother, swiping downward with the glowing claws.

Inuyasha possessed a demon's quickness, but nonetheless he barely dodged the attack. The air beside him sizzled, smelling acrid and burnt.

"What the HELL?" he cried, confused. "You're trying to KILL me!"

The white demon merely narrowed his eyes, then moved in for another attack. Inuyasha responded with a swipe of his own claws, which managed to shred the end of his enemy's sleeve.

His demon brother paused to assess what had just happened; a little blood dripped from his wrist from where Inuyasha had scratched him. Then he looked up at Inuyasha, and for the briefest of moments his eyes flashed red. He smiled---a slow, faint smile that for some reason made the hairs stand up on the back of Inuyasha's neck. Then, abruptly, he flew at the young hanyou so swiftly that he became a blur. Inuyasha found himself falling steadily backward beneath a lightning-quick assault of deadly slashes. The air shimmered with the heat of the white demon's power.

Inuyasha sensed that this battle was going to claim his life; that the white demon---half-brother or not---intended for him to die here. And for some reason, he wasn't afraid---only increasingly angry. He was angry that he was hated by so many through no fault of his own. He was angry that he had found peace here, but the white demon had come to destroy it.

"WHY?!" he cried. In a fury, he attempted to grapple with his assailant. His haphazard blows were strong, but did not strike their targets with any sort of frequency.

From somewhere behind the rain of blows, his brother's voice asked calmly: "You ask `why'? Are you going to plead for your life?"

"WHY DID YOU KILL THE OLD MAN?" Inuyasha cried, and one of his blows struck his attacker's breastplate. It did not shatter, but a long, thin crack appeared in one corner.

The white demon seized the opportunity. Before Inuyasha could pull back his punch, he ran his claws through the hanyou's shoulder. Holding fast to the torn flesh, he pulled the boy toward him.

"Why do you care about the old fool?" his brother hissed between clenched teeth. His beautiful face appeared fierce and inhuman. "FIGHT me, Inuyasha. Or bow to me, now that you know my power. But do not speak to ME of human FILTH!"

"YOU KILLED HIM!" Inuyasha yelled, wrenching free of his brother's grasp with strength born of anger. "YOU KILLED HIM! You deserve to DIE!"

Inuyasha dug the claws of his right hand into his brother's arm. He tried to bring his knee up between his enemy's legs for a crude but crippling blow. However, the white demon appeared to know that one and dodged it, so that Inuyasha's knee only struck his brother's left thigh. Showing no indication of pain, Inuyasha's brother sank his claws into both of Inuyasha's shoulders, lifted him, and hurled him into the house with such violence that the walls shattered.

Beneath a rain of heavy debris, Inuyasha managed to crawl over to where the old man lay. Weak and hurting as he was, he managed to shove away the heavy wooden beams that pinned the man to the floor.

"Jii-san?" he whispered, his voice husky because the wind had been knocked out of him.

The old man did not answer, but let out a pathetic cry of pain as Inuyasha's probing hand made contact. Tears washed the dust from his eyes, and he saw what had befallen the man who had shown him shelter and kindness for all this time.

The white demon had disemboweled him.

The floor beneath the broken wood was slick with blood---so much blood that the wooden floor had not completely absorbed it.

From somewhere behind where he lay there came the sound of footsteps moving calmly over the ruins of the house. Then they ceased, and the cold voice of the white demon commanded, "Leave him."

Inuyasha ignored his brother's admonition. Weeping, he tried to push the old man's intestines back into the gaping wound, but they were torn and dragged splintered debris with them, and the old man screamed in agony.

"Jii-san," Inuyasha whispered brokenly.

"Get up," his brother's voice ordered from behind him. "Leave him."

In desperation, Inuyasha clasped the old man's head between his hands. A harsh sob escaped him.

Then his brother's foot connected with his mid-section, and he rolled a few feet, doubling up and gasping. Over the harsh sound of his own breathing, Inuyasha heard the white demon moving to stand over him.

"Forget him," he told the boy coldly. "He betrayed you to me. When I threatened him, he told me where you were, and that you would return to the house. THAT is human love, Inuyasha. To these puling mortals, honor is a but a thing of stories. As with the old man, they would cast all honor aside even if it means living for just one moment more. . ."

Through the stars that swam before his vision, Inuyasha looked up to see his brother glaring down at him. Then, unexpectedly, the white demon's face was filled with a great and terrible bitterness, and sorrow too dark and deep for words.

"Tell me you hate the Tatesei," he demanded suddenly. "Regardless of what BLOOD flows in your veins, tell me that you HATE them. They killed your mother---their own PRINCESS---because she bore a demon's son. They deserve to DIE."

Groaning, Inuyasha rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up onto his knees. His brother stepped back, waiting for his answer. Yet instead of replying, he crawled slowly and determinedly back to where the old man lay.

"Tell me that you thirst for the blood of those who betrayed our kin, and I will let you live," his brother told him, watching his progress through narrowed eyes. "Tell me that you are our father's son and I will spare you."

Once again Inuyasha took the old man's face between his hands. Gritting his teeth in anguish, he tightened his grip, and then snapped his hands abruptly to the side. The old man breathed a faint sigh and went limp, his agony over at last.

Inuyasha released the lifeless body and raised his head. Blinded by sorrow and pain, his eyes were sightless as the dead man's.

"He. . .was not. . .Tatesei," he told his brother slowly.

"Fool," his brother said icily. "ALL humans are Tatesei. They would use our power and strength to serve their own ends, all the while hating us for what they do not possess." He paused, and when his younger brother did not answer he said, "Say the words, Inuyasha. Show me that your demon blood is stronger than THEIRS. And I shall spare you for the sake of vengeance."

Slowly, Inuyasha turned to face his brother.

"Go to hell," he whispered.

Once again the white demon's face filled with bitterness, and his eyes flashed red.

"So be it," he declared, in a voice sharp as steel. "Then Lord Sesshoumaru abides alone."

Inuyasha watched the coming blow dully, too dazed and weakened to do much else. Then his brother's final blow connected with his head, and all the world went red, then black.

When he awoke five days later, he lay in the forest, covered in dried blood and still half-dead. He crawled slowly and painstakingly back to the village, only to be driven away at sword-point. Though his brother had left him for dead, it seemed the villagers did not want him living among them in case the white demon returned.

So he returned to the life of running and stealing, very much embittered and caring very little for either humans OR demons.

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The Present, In the Palace of Reiyama, the Tatesei City

On a marble floor now slick with blood, the Tatesei king breathed his last.

Slowly, Sesshoumaru straightened and turned to face his brother. They stood silently for a moment, regarding each other---Inuyasha with great dislike and Sesshoumaru with contempt. Then the white demon tilted his head to one side and spoke.

"You won't strike me," he said softly.

Inuyasha said nothing. Nor did he move; he seemed rooted to the spot.

"You won't strike, because you hate them, too," Sesshoumaru murmured. "Don't bother trying to hide it; I can see it in your face."

Inuyasha's face was indeed a map of warring emotions. He hated his brother---had always hated him---and yet he knew Sesshoumaru was right. In this Sesshoumaru had always been right.

Inuyasha hated the Tatesei. He wanted them to pay, for the years of loneliness he had been forced to endure; for part of him that would never be whole. . . His brother's words of all those years ago returned to him: "They deserve to DIE."

Sesshoumaru frowned at Inuyasha, at the sword still held poised between them.

"But you don't have the strength to do it," he said, lip curling with disdain. "And so you leave it to me. What a child you are, Inuyasha. You would let others stain their hands with blood because the human in you lacks the courage."

It seemed that Sesshoumaru hoped for some kind of response, but Inuyasha did not move. The elder brother glared at the younger. For a moment, an open, naked bitterness passed over his face like a shadow. Then it vanished, and the white demon's expression became as cold and calm as ever.

"So. I do this alone," Sesshoumaru said softly. "As always. Let the demon do what the half-demon cannot."

Then he swept past. His long hair brushed past Inuyasha's face, and then he was gone---through the door and out into the city. And still Inuyasha did not move.

{#} {#} {#}

Kagome climbed half-way up the building to the nearest window, where she could get the clearest view of the room's occupants. When she pushed aside the silk screen hangings and saw, she could barely suppress a gasp of surprise.

`Sesshoumaru. . .' she thought in horror. `Here!' She shifted into a better position, frowning. `And bearing a shard of the sacred jewel. But WHY? Why would he join forces with a prince of the people who murdered his family?'

She saw him strike the killing blow and saw Lord Iryokugou fall. Then she saw him speak with Inuyasha, who stood with Tetsusaiga upraised between them. And then, to her utter shock and horror, Sesshoumaru passed Inuyasha and left the room, and Inuyasha did nothing!

"Strike now, Inuyasha," she whispered. "While his back's turned. . ."

But Inuyasha did not move.

For a moment she sat there, wallowing in indecision. Then she recalled the brutal swiftness with which Sesshoumaru had delivered death to the Tatesei king.

Then she recalled that Sesshoumaru must remember all too well the Tatesei betrayal and murder of his kin sixty-five years ago.

And then she realized that Inuyasha's brother had allied himself with Yaburenumaru for a reason. He had used the boy to cross the web-like barriers in the mountains. The greedy prince, believing himself to be assured the loyalty of a great demon ally, had deliberately destroyed the wardings so that Sesshoumaru might pass.

"Oh. . ." she breathed, in dawning horror.

The prince had not realized how he was being used. He had allowed a serpent into the nest. And it was not a coup d'etat that Sesshoumaru wanted, but a chance to penetrate the spiritual defenses of the Wise, to destroy the city. . .

Hurriedly she climbed up onto the first section of the roof and scrambled to the front, where she hastily drew an arrow from her quiver and made ready her bow. Below, she could see Sesshoumaru emerging from the palace corridor and into the courtyard beyond.

Swiftly and without any warning noise, she notched the arrow and let fly. It sang through the air, parted the demon's long white hair, and sank deep into the small of his back. He gasped, staggering a few paces and clutching at the wound, then wrenched the arrow from his flesh. Once free of his body and in the grasp of his poisoned talons, it dissolved into dust.

Then he whipped around to lock gazes with Kagome.

`Oh, NO,' she thought. `The arrow didn't kill him. He still has the SHARD. . .'

Sesshoumaru's sharp gaze reddened, and a powerful light began to gather around him.

"You, girl, have just become an annoyance," he said coolly.

Then he expanded in all directions, into the form of the great Inu Youkai that he was.

Snarling, he came at her faster than she could ready her next arrow. Kagome dodged his enormous, snapping jaws, but then he reared up and fell upon the building itself, and with a great cracking of stone and broken timbers the palace began to collapse.

Kagome did not have time to jump clear of it, and she fell into the churning mass of falling debris. Her last coherent thought, before darkness took her, was that Inuyasha was still inside. As she fell she screamed his name.

{#} {#} {#}

In the Temple room, amongst bits of shattered wood and tile, Miroku lay prone and inert. The Wise called off the demon souls and ordered them back to from whence they came. The green light faded as the spirits slid silently into the Temple walls, where they resided in the prison of their own bones. Now only starlight fell upon the monk, forming a ragged circle of light around his body.

The Wise approached, beginning the incantations that would draw forth his soul. Never would they allow such a powerful soul escape their clutches. A soul not wielded was a soul wasted.

Yet when one of them bent down to touch Miroku, a great confusion arose.

"He is still alive," the man said, laying a finger on the monk's neck. "There is still a pulse." The man looked up from where he knelt, glaring at his fellows.

"The demon souls did not kill him," another said. "Though we commanded them. What does this mean?"

The one kneeling beside Miroku narrowed his eyes.

"It means that this monk, with the compassion he shows toward them, is too dangerous to be allowed to live."

From within the folds of his gray robes, he withdrew a long bone knife, carved with a serpent twining around its hilt.

From somewhere beyond the Temple walls, there came a resounding crash. It echoed through the city, and abruptly the air outside was filled with the cries of the warriors and the sounds of clanking armor. And above the din, there rang out a deafening roar as from the belly of a great beast.

The sorcerer with the knife paused, holding the blade just over Miroku's throat.

"Yaburenumaru?" he murmured. "Has he begun already? Why did he not wait for our aid?"

"No!" another corrected him, shaking his head. "It is not yet dawn! The prince is still human."

The Wise looked at each other in alarm.

"It is the Great Demon's son!" one of them exclaimed. "As the prince warned us!"

The sorcerer wielding the bone knife tucked it back into his robes and rose to his feet.

"Call forth our forces," he ordered sharply. He added a peculiar stress to the word "our." "Then send word to the warriors that the king is already dead. Tell them to avenge him."

The Wise immediately dispersed, moving through the Temple. Their chanting echoed down every hall like a chorus of ghosts, as they called forth every soul that the building contained. Yet one of the Wise remained by the side of the one who had given the order.

"Reikotsu-sama," he said, laying a hand on the sorcerer's arm. "Are you strong enough to lead us? The monk's spell did not harm you badly?"

The gray-eyed sorcerer smiled thinly, fingering the hard outline of the bone knife tucked into his obi.

"No," he answered. "Don't fear for me. Go. Prepare for battle. The warriors will die on the claws of the Inu Youkai lord. Then there will be none left to oppose us when we set Yaburenumaru on the throne."

"We are going to battle with the last of the Inu Youkai Line," the other sorcerer said to Reikotsu, narrowing his eyes shrewdly. "For in the end it is our blood he desires. We took the souls of his kin---he will not remain our ally."

Reikotsu nodded, smiling as if at some private joke.

"The demon lord will destroy the city if we do not kill him first," he agreed. "So we call forth all the forces bound to the Temple. All that we can muster. And we go to war."

The other sorcerer frowned at him, apparently somewhat puzzled by something.

"Reikotsu-sama. . .ah, never mind. What of the monk? Is he still to die?"

The gray-eyed sorcerer glanced down at Miroku, lying on the floor. His lip curled with dislike.

"No," he answered. "In light of recent events, I may have use for him."

The other sorcerer's brow smoothed again as he nodded and he turned to leave.

Gray-eyed Reikotsu stood silently for a moment, still fingering the knife.

"Wait," he called after the departing sorcerer. "The girl is not the only one bearing shards of the powerful jewel. The Inu Youkai carries one also. Cut it from him and you will sap his strength. Do not let him take the girl's shards---for one such as he that kind of power would make him like a god and nothing will stop him. Only with the shards may we have any hope of defeating him."

The sorcerer nodded again and exited the room.

Smiling, Reikotsu bent and lifted Miroku's head by the hair.

"So your noble intentions saved you from the demon souls," he murmured. "But I won't let you live much longer. The Tatesei Wise are right in one respect." He bent nearer to the monk's ear, then whispered: "The only true strength in this world comes from the power of demons."

Reikotsu proceeded to lift Miroku in his arms, as if the monk weighed nothing. Then he bore him from the room.

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In a darkened alley, Shippou transformed back into Kitsune-shape with a resounding pop. He and Asano tumbled to the ground. Asano, though apparently somewhat weakened by what he'd just endured, pushed himself into a sitting position to get a proper look at his rescuer.

"Thank you, young Kitsune," he said formally. "If you had not saved me, I might very well be dead thanks to my brother's treachery." The prince paused, frowning. "But what of your friend the monk? The Wise will kill him. We must warn my father of this immediately, because the Wise seem to be gathering for some kind of battle."

Asano leaped to his feet and hurried to the end of the alley. He peered around a corner and out into the streets. There seemed to be some kind of commotion---there were soldiers running in all directions.

Still panting from exhaustion, Shippou eyed Asano suspiciously.

"Why do you trust me so much?" he asked. "'Cause I AM a demon, you know. . ."

The prince glanced back over his shoulder.

"I share my father's desire for peace," he answered seriously. "And I don't think someone is evil because of what they are---only because of what they choose to be."

The Kitsune shrugged.

"Makes sense," he said, coming over to peek out of the alley beside the prince. "What's going on? Are the Wise attacking the soldiers? What's all the commotion for?"

"I don't know," Asano answered, frowning. He looked very much like his father when he frowned. "Maybe they're trying to find my brother before he transforms into a demon. Or maybe they're trying to protect my father from the Wise. . ."

The answer to their questions suddenly reared its huge, white head above the rooftops not more than three streets over. Stone and wood beams and roof tiles flew every which way in its wake, and then the head lowered slightly to reveal burning red eyes and a mouth full of fangs. The great nostrils flared, seeming to draw in a scent, and then there was a series of resounding crashes as it began to move through the city. Every fall of the huge paws crushed yet another building, and the night air was suddenly filled with screams.

"What---what IS that?" Shippou asked in a quavering voice. He had never seen Sesshoumaru's true Youkai form.

"An Inu Youkai," Asano breathed, wonderingly. "This was what my brother's spirit messenger warned the Wise about. This is the last living son of the Great Demon. . ."

Shippou's eyes widened to disturbing proportions.

"That's INUYASHA?!!" he exclaimed. "Since when does he turn into THAT?!!!"

Privately, the Kitsune was thinking, `We should've all been riding HIM, instead of WALKING all this way.'

"You're mistaken," Asano said, looking down at Shippou. "My father told me stories about the Great Demon's son. Have you ever heard of Sesshoumaru?"

The Kitsune's jaw dropped.

"Oh, NO!!" he wailed. "HE'S here?! That THING is HIM?!"

Shippou gripped the prince's hand and began pulling him back down the alley, away from the dog demon's path of destruction.

"Come ON!" he cried. "If Sesshoumaru's attacking the city, we're doomed unless we can get to Inuyasha!"

He dragged the prince around a corner and then they were off, racing down the streets. From every side they were jostled by soldiers running and civilians fleeing in panic.

"Inuyasha?" Asano asked, looking shocked. "There is someone here with that name? The Inuyasha I've heard of was killed by the Wise during my grandfather's time. . ."

"He's Sesshoumaru's half-brother," Shippou informed him. "He was the one who cut off Sesshoumaru's left arm. He was introduced to you and your pop as `Honnou,' but he's here to help you. He's going to protect the city from the demons."

Asano allowed himself to be pulled along, but his expression was now clouded with doubt. The name Inuyasha seemed to have made him even more ill at ease than the very real presence of Sesshoumaru did.

{#} {#} {#}

Through the city the white demon moved. The spears and blades of the warriors were mere flea-bites upon his thick hide. He swatted them aside or crushed them beneath his paws like the insects they were. He did not seek to attack the women or children fleeing his path of destruction, but neither did he make any effort to avoid crushing those in his way.

`There are no children in Reiyama,' he thought to himself.

His heart burned with rage so great its fire scorched him. It drove him onward, slavering poison and snarling in fury.

`Only one thing will quench this fire,' he thought. `Only one.'

With every building that he battered to the ground, he drew ever closer to the Temple.

`Let the blood of the Wise rain over me,' Sesshoumaru thought, red eyes narrowed to slits. `Let it RAIN. Let it cleanse this city of death, until the souls of my kin are free. Let there be death and death and death, until this scorching pain in my heart is quenched. . .'

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The Tatesei palace now lay in shambles---a pile of gilded wreckage that still glittered in the light of the coming dawn.

Something stirred beneath the mounds of debris, and then Inuyasha burst forth from one of the piles, scattering wood and broken tiles in every direction. With one vicious yank he freed Tetsusaiga from the beam pinning it down and slid it into its sheath. Then he looked around him in alarm and sniffed the air.

"Kagome!" he cried. "KAGOME! Where ARE you? SAY something!"

Inuyasha sniffed again and found the scent of her blood. He attempted to follow it to its source, stumbling in his haste to reach her. Then, off to his right, the debris stirred faintly. In a flash he was kneeling by it, digging with a fury born of desperation.

"Kagome!" he cried again when he had found her and lifted her free.

She coughed weakly and attempted to rub the dust from her eyes. One arm, however, was bent at an odd angle and would not obey.

"Ow," she whimpered. But she moved her legs, and nothing else seemed to be broken. The blood on her was only from scratches and splinters.

"I tried to kill him," she told Inuyasha. "I tried. But he's too powerful. And now he's going to kill them all. . ."

Suddenly she found herself pulled tightly against his chest. His heart thundered in her ears.

Inuyasha buried his face in her hair.

"I've been a coward," he told her raggedly. "I had the chance, and I didn't. I couldn't. Damnit, Kagome, I hate them! Sesshoumaru was right. I hate them. . . And because I didn't kill him you could have died. . ."

Gently, Kagome pushed him away, raising her head. She placed one hand upon his cheek, ignoring the blood that was seeping from a cut there. Her own hands were slashed cruelly from when she had tried to hold onto the collapsing tiles.

"I'm okay," she told him, making an effort to smile. "And now you have the chance to make it right. Because you're stronger than your brother."

"What?" Inuyasha asked, frowning. "What d'you mean?"

Kagome paused, as if uncertain of what to say, but then she seemed to gather her confidence.

"Stop him," she said solemnly. "He's going to kill everyone." She paused, wincing, then said, "There are good people in this city, Inuyasha. People worth saving."

Inuyasha's expression was very somber.

"Kagome, you don't know," he insisted. "Demon hatred runs deeper than you could ever know." He grasped her good hand, gazing at her with an earnest expression. "The Wise are evil. Sesshoumaru's doing what I was never brave enough to do. He's facing them, as my father would have. He's facing them like a demon."

Regardless of the pain, Kagome lifted her wounded arm, because he held her other hand too tightly. She placed her fingers over his lips, to silence him.

"You're stronger than Sesshoumaru," she told him, "because I don't see you out there killing innocent people. You have the strength to face the Wise as a man, because your heart is strong."

Inuyasha went silent, pulling a bit of a face.

`My heart is. . .?' he thought. This sounded suspiciously like romantic fan service to him.

But dutifully Inuyasha mulled over Kagome's advice, took a deep breath, and then nodded slowly.

"I'll go," he told her. "Get on."

He knelt while Kagome climbed onto his back.

"Can you hold on?" Inuyasha asked, glancing back at her in concern. "With the arm?"

Biting her lip, Kagome nodded, wrapping both arms around Inuyasha and determinedly forcing herself not to show how much pain she was in. He needed to do this now, or hundreds of innocent people were going to be slaughtered. And he needed her eyes, to see the shards.

Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga. It blazed brightly in the fading darkness, as it could only do when he meant to protect human life.

Then they were off, crossing the city as quickly as possible, heading for the Temple.

{#} {#} {#}

Atop the city's northern wall, Yaburenumaru stood watching the sun rise. The walls had long since been abandoned---the warriors were now battling for their very lives against the white demon's wrath.

`Let them die upon his fangs,' Yaburenumaru thought viciously. `They once drove me from my home as if I were some soulless beast. . .'

He closed his eyes, then opened them slowly. And the red light of the morning sun was mirrored therein.

`Soon,' he thought. `Soon it will be ended, and I will be king. Let the Wise bring down the last sons of the Great Demon. Let the Inu Youkai Line finally pass from this world.'

Then the first rays touched him, and his body rose into the hulking shape of the demon.

{END OF CHAPTER 8}

Yamisui: kukuku CRY HAVOC AND LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR!