InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Vengeance ❯ Chapter Twenty-Eight: Blood Calls ( Chapter 29 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters or stories. This story is for private entertainment purposes only.

A/N: This chapter has some dark imagery...I do promise future WAFF's, though! Special thanks to Athena and Vyncent for awesome inspiration!

WARNING: Dark imagery in this chapter!

Chapter Twenty-Eight (Blood Calls)

Life tingled through his body, the call of blood shot through him, and then burned. Claws flexed in the muddy humus underneath him, and he was barely aware of the chilling rain that splattered across him. Cold fingers curled as warmth, and then heat, returned. Blank eyes flashed, and then reddened with rage.

Blood...

The call filled his mind, overwhelming his senses. Rage burned and flared through his lifeless body, and he was suddenly AWARE.

It was near.

Prey...

Enemy...

Blood...

"Goshinki..." A growl formed in his throat as his body jerked and then throbbed.

Blood.

"GOSHINKI!"

He snarled the name as he leapt to his feet, claws extending even as he felt his fangs lengthening. He sought death...death for the one who had slain him...called him...released him...

Blood.

Everything seemed filmed over with the red haze of blood, but it all was sharpened. His senses were heightened, and he could feel the very world around him breathing and living and dying. The animals of the forest had long fled the scene of the massacre, but the denizens of the soil still toiled beneath the leaf-litter that hid them, uncaring of what stirred above.

Blood.

Red eyes widened as he scanned the forest. THERE.

The demon was turning, its own red eyes widening. Something was clutched in one three-clawed fist. The small form struggled for a moment, and then lay still as the claws tightened in shock upon seeing him.

"InuYasha! You are alive!"

Sharply pointed fangs grinned evilly, signing the youkai's death warrant.

"DIE!" He roared, jumping up with unimaginable strength. Claws extended and cracked as he swept one hand back and flung it with force along the huge, muscled arm that the demon threw up to defend itself. He felt his claws connect, and he rejoiced with inner rage and glee as the blood he desired splashed out from the rending wound. His claws scraped across the tough, purple hide, digging through muscle and bone to sever the arm at the shoulder. His other hand, white claws gleaming, came up to stab along the demon's unprotected back as he spun in the air, his feet kicking off and away from the roaring beast.

Blood!

The severed limb fell to the floor with a crash and a weak moan that diverted his attention sharply to the right as his knees took the impact of his landing. He crouched, eyes glowing like flaming red coals as he growled at the intrusion.

The hand he had dissected had been the one that had clutched something---someone---in its claws. That something was moaning, and then silent.

"Kohaku!" A cry sharpened his focus toward a running black shadow that sped toward the form.

"You should be dead, half-breed! I felt your mind go!" The demon Goshinki roared at him, and he snarled.

Blood...

And then he laughed.

The purple incarnation of Naraku, towering nearly twenty feet above him, was actually flinching away from him. Delight tingled over his senses, sending his blood to racing, and his heart beat a steady tatoo of demand.

Blood...blood...blood...

"It is not possible!" The mind-reading demon snarled at him. "Your blood is almost that of a full demon's, and yet you are only a half-breed!"

"My blood is not like yours." He grinned, red eyes glowing at the youkai's fear. He could smell it on the rain. Thunder cracked, and his ears flattened, even as he felt the exultation course through him. The fury of the storm matched his own.

His grin widened, fangs flashing.

"And your blood is MINE!"

He was up again, both arms reaching for the heart of the demon pumping its life-blood throughout its enormous body.

Goshinki roared defiance, and sharp teeth tried to snap him out of the air. His body arced away, and he racked his claws across the beast's snout and down his neck.

The youkai's roar was of pain this time, and he delighted in it...lusted for it...

As soon as his feet landed against a toppled tree trunk, he crouched and sprung again, once more REACHING for the life before him, desiring death.

Blood...

Lightening flashed across the sky, highlighting the silver-white hair that flung out behind him in water-soaked tangles. Youkai blood dripped from the daggers of his claws, and he desired more...much more.

"DIE!" He shouted, the blood roaring in his ears.

Goshinki tried to fend him off with another swipe of its three-fingered claws, but he easily avoided the strong swing. He twisted under the arm, using one hand to sink a hold into the howling youkai's wrist and flip over it, while the other severed the hand away from the purple monster's body. Harsh laughter taunted the panic-stricken demon, and he felt the blood call to him.

THERE.

His claws dug into the chest, seeking the heart...

The beast's death roar rung throughout the forest, the impact of its dying body trembling the trees and rocking the ground beneath it.

He leapt away from the body, the blood splattering down to the ground below to cover the lifeless corpse.

His knees bent, taking his own impact as his clawed feet dug into the forest floor. A grin lighted the red glow of his eyes, and he laughed harshly, a growl echoing along the rough sound.

"Goshinki..." He smiled toothily at the dead youkai. "That was fun."

*~*~*~*~*

"InuYasha?"

Her whisper was lost in the crash of thunder. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she saw the white-haired hanyou actually leaping at Goshinki. She saw the half-demon's claws rake across the youkai's raised arm, saw the blood splash wide as lightening flared. The red-robed hanyou twisted away from Naraku's incarnation, and she watched in frozen horror as the severed arm fell slowly to the forest floor, her brother clasped in the tightened claws.

"Kohaku!" Sango cried out, her heart in her throat.

She heard a soft moan, and was running toward him, all thoughts of danger pushed aside. She dragged wet tangles from her eyes and nearly sobbed for air as she pushed her exhausted body into further strain, making it to Kohaku's side in mere seconds.

She dropped her katana into the wet mud, heedless of anything but helping her brother.

"Kohaku." She gasped, one dirty hand stretching out to him.

The boy was firmly caged in three claws, his body bent awkwardly under the impact. His eyes were closed, and he was unconscious. Keeping tears at bay, Sango desperately felt for his limp hand, and searched for a pulse in his bony wrist. He was so small and delicate...just a little boy...

*Oh, Kohaku!*

She almost gasped her relief when she felt the light pulse that was beating far too quickly. Sango dropped his wrist and took hold of one of the claws that measured her height in its length.

It wouldn't budge.

"No!" She cried out, and a small fist beat against the unmoving claw before she rested her forehead in angry defeat against the same barrier.

Thunder rumbled, and lightening flashed.

"S-Sango?" A weak thread of sound reached her ears, and Sango jerked up, blinking rain out of her eyes.

"Kohaku?" She fell to her knees in the mud beside him. His head and shoulders rested between the thumb and second finger of Goshinki's hand, his neck tilted at an odd angle.

"S..Sango...I'm..." There was an odd whistling noise that accompanied his words, and Sango blinked back tears of joy. Her brother was alive, and speaking, and knew who she was! Naraku's control was broken once again, and this time, she vowed, she would see him freed forever!

"Kohaku, stay calm. It's okay. You don't have to speak. I know. I'm going to set you free, and then we'll get you healed." She smiled at him, her hands running over his cheeks in thanksgiving, her fingers brushing aside the wet tangles of his bangs off of his forehead. His skin was so cold!

"S...Sango...please...listen..." Kohaku coughed weakly. She hated that hollow, gurgling sound. She wished she could see him, see what damage had been done. He was upset, she needed to calm him. He was desperate to speak, and although she only wanted to soothe him and rock him to her like the babe he was, she knew he wouldn't calm until she allowed him to speak.

"What is it, my brother?" She asked, tenderly kissing a wet cheek. He was so cold!

"The...the shard...Sango...the Shikon shard...in my back..." He coughed again.

"What of it, Kohaku?" She traced the line of his delicate brows. He was such a tender boy, with such a heavy load on his young shoulders. Part of what Goshinki had said was true, though it hurt to admit. Kohaku had desired to forget the awful blood he carried on his young hands, and Naraku had given him that much...forgetfulness. But in that forgetfulness, that blank slate of his mind, Naraku had been able to twist the beautiful soul that was her innocent little brother into something evil and methodical in its blood-letting. Naraku had caused him to do acts that had made the original blows he had dealt to their father and fellow slayers at Lord Kagewaki's castle pale in comparison. But if he could bear it, so could she. She was strong, and she would carry it all for him, do anything for him. She would help him. She would heal him.

"The shard...the shard is...gone..."

Sango froze.

*No!*

The Jewel shard in his back was the only thing keeping her brother alive.

"Kohaku! Where is it? We must find it!" Tears blurred her eyes, and she wiped them furiously away. Lightening flared, and Kohaku's pale face, his eyes dark holes, looked like a bleached skull.

*NO!*

"K-Kohaku! Help me! Tell me where it is!" Her eyes scanned the chaos around them in desperation, looking for the tell-tale aura of energy that would surround a shard of the Shikon no Tama. She wished desperately that she had Kagome's ability right then; Kagome could have found the Jewel shard in a moment, but Sango lacked the superior senses that were part of Kagome's strange, untapped miko powers.

"S-Sango..." The wheeze was stronger now, the rattle in his chest and the gurgle a tell-tale sign of blood filling his lungs. She could see a faint twitch in the limp hand that hung on the other side of imprisoning claws.

"Don't, Kohaku! Please!" She shuddered, her soul crying.

"S...Sister...please...I...want to..."

"NO!" She cried out fiercely, her own hands clutching his face between them, willing her life into his.

"S...So much pain...I...I...can't...stand...it..." Kohaku coughed again, and his voice was becoming weaker.

"No! Kohaku! None of it was your fault! All of it was Naraku! You did NOT kill our father! It was Naraku!" Tears fell in a continuous stream like the rain around them as her fingers feathered over his pale cheeks, desperately trying to convey her love and forgiveness, her knowledge that it was not his fault, that it was hers. She was the strong one. She should have protected him.

"No...you are not to blame, either..." Kohaku's hoarse whisper eerily followed her thoughts.

"Please, Kohaku!" She sobbed, the strong beat of her own heart painful in her tight chest. If only she could give him her desire to live...there was so much left for him!

"S...Sango..." There was a slight hitch in his whisper, and Sango froze.

*Oh, please no...*

"F...Forgive me..." The little body spasmed in a harsh cough, and then the air was sucked out of him, and he lay limp in the demon's grasping claws.

Her call was wrenched from the very depths of her heart.

"KOHAKU!"

*~*~*~*~*

He heard a soul-wrenching cry on the rain-swept winds, and Tenseiga pulsed once at his side in answer.

*Kohaku...who is he?*

A mental image of a young demon slayer...a boy no older than fourteen, and under the dark hanyou's control...flashed through his mind.

*What has this boy to do with you?* He asked the sword, who was now silent.

He traveled slowly, approaching the area with caution. The smell of death and blood hung thick in the air, and he could feel the aura of powerful demons fighting. How they had managed to escape his earlier detection was due primarily to the fact that he had allowed himself to be distracted by that ningen girl.

Yet another reason for him to put her out of his mind. He could already see the disturbance she was causing, the threat she was---unknowing---to his holdings. To be Taiyoukai, he had to be alert and ever vigilant.

Else the vermin moved in.

He growled softly, his blood heating. The inu youkai was so easily stirred now that it had been unleashed. He must exercise more control.

The white glow surrounded him---to all others, he would appear as a simple globe of blinding light, a more solid form of lightening, perhaps. The globe kept the rain off of him, and allowed him to see what he wanted. He scanned the dark forest around him, his senses heightened. He could smell the death that dirtied his lands, and he was not pleased.

One of the demon auras abruptly disappeared from his seeking, and his mouth curled. One had triumphed over the other.

It just made his task all the easier.

*~*~*~*~*

"Is this all there is to wear?" Kagome held up the hated miko robes.

"Ye expect other clothing, child, to sprout from the trees?" Kaede's dry humor wasn't funny this morning.

Kagome bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Lady Kaede. I just don't..."

Kaede laid a calloused hand on her shoulder with understanding. "Ye worry about how the hanyou will react to ye when he sees ye dressed as a miko. Ye wonder if it will remind him of my sister, Kikyo."

Kagome had to smile. The old priestess was pretty perceptive, for all that she only had one good eye.

"I just hate it when he moons after her." Kagome let out a sigh of frustration, eying the white kimono and red hakama with misgiving.

*Oh, well. Nothing for it.*

It wasn't as if she could go back through the well to get some decent clothes. Sighing, she gave in to the inevitable, and pulled on the clothing. The hakama was far too big---and short---Kaede was a bit wider and smaller in both directions. The white kimono could only be described as huge. The sides were almost wrapped half-way around her back before she tucked them into the hakama, and the ends went well down her pants. Thank goodness the pants had the extra room.

The white sleeves hung far past her wrists, and Kagome let out a mew of frustration when they kept getting in her way as she tried to tie the hakama tight to her thin waist. Kaede wiped a tell-tale tear from her eye as she laughed quietly.

Kagome glared, finally giving up. She imagined a little thundercloud over her head as she gave the older miko a stormy look.

Kaede still wheezed out a dry chuckle as she took over, firmly pulling the ties tight on the red sash. "I think we will have to do a bit of sewing." She smiled.

Kagome sighed. She hated sewing, she had only learned when she had seen how many rents and tears rough-living in the feudal era put on her clothes. And those were only emergency, on-the-road repairs. She wasn't that good, and she knew with a sinking feeling that she would probably be sewing her garments together for the rest of her life now.

*Oh, I wish I could visit a mall! Just once more!*

Images of various giggling shopping trips with her friends ran through her mind, and she felt a stab of nostalgia for the modern age. What she wouldn't give for just one more day...

*Enough of that!* She firmly put the longing away into a tiny, tucked away corner of her mind, and concentrated on finding her tabi socks. She couldn't see anything down below---the bulky fabric kept getting in the way.

Impatient, she finally knelt down and spied the socks under Kaede's bench. Sitting cross-legged, she managed to pull the socks on. The split ends felt weird after her own Western-styled singles, and she wiggled her toes in them.

"Now you are a true miko." Kaede said, some pride in her voice.

Kagome blushed. She should be grateful for Kaede's thoughtfulness, instead of wishing for things she couldn't have!

Kagome stood up, and gave the old priestess a bad bow. The hakama spiked up another two inches at the movement, showing her legs over the short tabi socks. The wide kimono, tucked in as far as could be, still sagged wide open, providing the old miko quite a view.

Kaede cleared her throat, trying to look stern, but failing miserably. A twinkle sparkled in her black eye, and she calmly stepped forward, slipping a small pin from inside of her sleeve. She casually clasped the edges of Kagome's kimono together and hooked them with the pin. Kagome blushed, but couldn't stop a giggle from escaping her.

"Perhaps we could do some sewing tonight?" She asked, her fingers twitching in the too-long sleeves that extended a good six inches past her stretching fingertips.

"Not a bad idea." Kaede smiled, and patted her shoulder again.

"Did I ever thank you, Kaede, for all that you have done for me?" Kagome's brown eyes were suddenly intense.

The old miko knew that she wasn't only referring to her loan of the clothing. Her rough hand came to clasp the small chin.

"No need, child. You are a gift to me already." She smiled warmly, and Kagome impetuously threw her arms around the old miko. The old woman stiffened for a moment in surprise, and then returned the gesture, her old heart warming.