InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Miko Bride ❯ The Miko Bride-Evacuation and Reunion ( Chapter 10 )

(Cut to Naraku, working in chambers. He is surrounded by papers-he really is swamped. Kagura enters.)

Naraku: Kagura.

Kagura: Sire.

Naraku: As Chief Enforcer of all Japan, I entrust you with this secret: Assassins from Guilder are infiltrating the Thief's Forest, and plan to murder my bride on our wedding night.

Kagura: My network has not heard of this.

(Kagome enters.)

Kagome: Any word from Inuyasha?

Naraku: Too soon, darling.

Kagome: He will come for me.

Naraku: Of course.

(She exits. Naraku turns back to Kagura.)

Naraku: She will NOT be murdered. On the day of the wedding, I want the Thief's Forest emptied and every inhabitant arrested.

Kagura: They will resist. My regular enforcers will be inadequate.

Naraku: Form a Brute Squad, then. I want that forest empty before the wedding.

Kagura: It won't be easy, Sire.

Naraku: Try ruling the world sometime.

(Cut to the Thief's Forest. Shouting, curses, and the sounds of fights fill the air. The Brute Squad forcibly evicts the thieves and throw them in a prison wagon. Kagura stands by the wagon, clearly in control.)

Grandpa: The day of the wedding arrived, and the Brute Squad had their hands full carrying out Naraku's orders.

Kagura: Is everyone out?

Brute: Almost. There's a Youkai in there giving us trouble.

Kagura: Then go give him some trouble. Move!

(Sesshomaru is curled up by a house in the Thief's Forest, sword held threateningly in one hand, bottle of sake in the other. He is drunk off his ass, unshaven, unkempt, and in generally terrible shape.)

Sesshomaru: (Slurring his words.) I am waiting for you, Kikyo. You told me to go back to the beginning, so I have. This is where I am. This is where I will stay. I will not be moved.

(He takes a long drink from his bottle. The Brute approaches him, a nasty looking mace in hand.)

Brute: Ho, there!

Sesshomaru: I do not budge. Save your `Ho, there!'

(He waves his sword threateningly. The Brute backs away nervously.)

Brute: The prince gave specific orders…

Sesshomaru: So did Kikyo. When a job went wrong, you went back to the beginning. This is where we got the job, so this is the beginning. And I'm staying till Kikyo comes.

Brute: You! Brute! Come here!

Sesshomaru: I-am-waiting-for-Kikyo.

Voice: You are surely a meanie.

(A huge hairy hand claps onto Sesshomaru's back. He compares it to his own. He is spun around to see a familiar face.)

Rouyakan: Hello!

Sesshomaru: It's you!

Rouyakan: True.

(The Brute appears behind Sess to knock him out, but Rouyakan sends the guard flying with a single punch. The wolf demon sets Sess back down.)

Rouyakan: You don't look so good.

(Sees belches in protest.)

Rouyakan: You don't smell so good either.

Sesshomaru: Perhaps not. I feel fine.

Rouyakan: Okay.

(He lets go of Sess, who promptly collapses in a dead faint. Before he hits the ground, we cut to an empty alehouse, where Rouyakan spoons some stew into the Youkai's bowl.)

Grandpa: Rouyakan and Sesshomaru were reunited. As Rouyakan nursed his inebriated friend back to health, he told Sesshomaru of Kikyo's death…

Shippo: Yay!

Grandpa: …And the existence of Count Hiten, the six-fingered man. Considering his lifelong search, Sesshomaru took the news surprisingly well.

(He faints into his stew.)

Grandpa: Rouyakan took great care in reviving Sesshomaru…

(By dunking his head in a barrel of ice-cold water and then a barrel of boiling water, over, and over, and over, and…)

Sesshomaru: (Standing up and shaking himself off.) Enough! Enough! Where is this Hiten, that I might kill him?

Rouyakan: The castle. It is guarded by thirty men.

Sesshomaru: How many could you take?

Rouyakan: No more than ten.

Sesshomaru: That leaves…twenty for me. At my best I could not handle that many.

(He sinks into a chair.)

Sesshomaru: I need Kikyo to plan. I have no gift for strategy.

Rouyakan: But she's dead.

(Sess hangs his head, overwhelmed by the apparent futility of it all. Suddenly his eyes light up.)

Sesshomaru: No…not Kikyo. I need the Man in Red!

Rouyakan: Eh?

Sesshomaru: Look he bested you with strength, your greatness, and me with steel. He must have outthought Kikyo. And a man who can do that can plan my castle's onslaught any day. Let's go!

(He is at the door, his passion's flames rekindled.)

Rouyakan: Where?

Sesshomaru: To find the Man in Red, obviously.

Rouyakan: But we don't know where he is.

Sesshomaru: Trouble me not with trifles! Twenty years I have sought revenge. Soon my father's soul will be at peace. There will be blood tonight!

(Cut to Naraku's chambers. Kagura enters and kneels.)

Naraku: Rise and report.

Kagura: The Thief's Forest has been evacuated. Thirty men guard the castle gates.

Naraku: Double the guard! My Princess must be safe!

Kagura: The gate has but one key, and I keep that upon my person.

(Kagome enters.)

Naraku: Ah! My dulcet darling! Tonight we marry. Tomorrow Kagura's men will escort us the Channel, where every ship in my armada shall accompany us on our honeymoon.

Kagome: Every ship but your four fastest, you mean.

Naraku: Whyever not?

Kagome: The four ships you sent out to deliver my message to Inuyasha.

Naraku: (Realizing his error.) Oh! Those ships! Of course not those ships.

(Kagura excuses herself and leaves.)

Kagome: You never sent the ships at all, did you? Don't bother lying. It doesn't matter. Inuyasha will come for me anyway.

Naraku: You are a silly girl.

Kagome: Yes I am a silly girl for not realizing sooner that you are a coward with a heart full of fear.

Naraku: I-would-not-say-such-things-if-I-were-you.

Kagome: Why not? You can't hurt me. Inuyasha and I are joined by the bonds of love, true love. You cannot track that with a thousand bloodhounds. You cannot break it with a thousand swords. When I say you are a coward, it is only because you are the slimiest weakling ever to crawl the earth.

(Naraku is in a rage. He leaps up with a roar and holds a knife to Kagome's throat.)

Naraku: IWOULDNOTSAYSUCHTHINGSIFIWEREYOU!

(He drags down the hall, throws her into her room, and storms out of the castle, and into the Pit of Despair. Inuyasha is in the Machine, but it's not on. Hiten jumps to his feet as Naraku comes down the stairs. Naraku glares at Inuyasha.)

Naraku: The two of you truly love each other, and so could have been truly happy together. Not one couple in a century has had that chance, no matter what the storybooks say. And so I think no man in a century shall suffer as greatly as you do today.

(He grabs the lever and cranks it all the way up to 50, its highest setting.)

Hiten: No! Not 50!

(But its too late. The Machine starts its grisly task. Inuyasha tries to hold out, but it's too much. He screams in pain, a sound of utter agony, pure suffering, a thing that the Pit cannot contain. The scream resounds over all Japan, and most particularly falls into the ear of Sesshomaru and Rouyakan.)

Sesshomaru: Listen, Rouyakan! That is the sound of ultimate suffering. My heart made that sound when Hiten killed my father. The Man in Red makes it now.

Rouyakan: Why?

Sesshomaru: His true love marries another today-who else has cause for Ultimate Suffering?

(He tries to push through the crowd, but no one moves.)

Sesshomaru: Pardon me…excuse me, this is important! Rouyakan, please!

Rouyakan: EVERYBODY MOVE!

(Instantly everyone steps aside, and he and Sess begin to track the fading scream.)

Sesshomaru: Thank you.