InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Vengeance ❯ Chapter Sixty-Four (Barrier) ( Chapter 65 )

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

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters, etc. This story is for entertainment purposes only.WARNING: Some dark imagery, no one under 17 please!Japanese Wordskochou - butterflyChapter Sixty-Four (Barrier)Kikyo screamed.Torment like she had never known danced along her pale form, burning with a cold fire that raced along the surface of her skin and coursed through her blood like molten lava. A desperate sob burst forth as her dark eyes widened into tortured orbs."Help...me..." She whispered, calling to her Shinidama-Chuu. They twined around her, taking her up, though their touch burned across her skin like thousands of tiny needles pressing in on her. Blackness overwhelmed her, and she knew nothing more as her clayed body was pulled free of the fires of demonic rage by the white youkai who wrapped their snaking figures around hers, bearing her dying flesh away.*~*~*~*~*"Sango! InuYasha!"The rings on Miroku's staff clanged discordantly as he sped across the torn earth, looking for signs of the hanyou and taijiya. Shippo, riding on his shoulder, tested the air with his sensitive nose, and pointed across the monk's jaw toward the far left."There, Miroku!"Miroku spied the dust-streaked fur of the cream-colored neko where she crouched over a still, black form."Sango!"Kirara's large head came up, and she blinked glowing red eyes as the houshi hastened to reach the taijiya's side. The huge neko youkai made a wuffing noise of reassurance as Miroku fell to his knees beside the sprawled slayer---dropping his staff in the dirt beside him---and turned her over with gentle hands, blue eyes deep with concern.Shippo hopped off the monk's shoulder and onto the neko's back. Green eyes widening into fear, he asked plaintively, "Miroku, is Sango hurt real bad?"Sango stirred at the kitsune's piping voice, and dark lashes fluttered on pale cheeks. Miroku's held breath sighed out in a silent prayer of gratitude to the kami as the taijiya blinked open pain-filled brown eyes."InuYasha..." She croaked, her broken, bloodied arm cradled to her breast."Damn it, you hentai..." There was a hoarse cough from behind them. Miroku turned his head around in surprise as a battered, silver-haired hanyou lurched up on unsteady feet, using the rusted blade of his dissolved Tetsusaiga like a crutch."Get...your...cough...hentai hands off...my mate..." InuYasha staggered forward, and nearly fell. "Damn it!"Kirara purred."InuYasha..." Sango sighed, her eyes closing as her lips curved in a soft smile.*~*~*~*~*A small pebble quivered as if an unseen wind touched it. But the wind had died, where usually it howled and gusted around the steep cliffs and jagged teeth of this blackened range of bare earth and rock. For a minute space of time, a mere breath of tense waiting, the pebble was still---and then it trembled once more.Another breath, and then the pebble shuddered. Another, and it shifted. The tiniest bit, the smallest length, and then it stilled once more.But the quiver came again, and again, and the pebble shifted slowly, inevitably, toward the edge of the cliff. In a span of breaths, it had moved toward the periphery of up-thrusted rock, where it paused, teetering on the edge into dark oblivion. All time stood still, as if the very breath of the world waited for decision...And then it fell.With a crack as loud as snapping thunder, it rattled down the mountainside, pulling others of its fellows after it, until small pebbles and rocks showered down in a clatter and hiss of falling earth. The ground shuddered, the rhythmic stamping of feet pulsing through the very bones of the mountains in which the dark hanyou laired. Loose sand and gravel poured down in a hissing, slithering rain as the repetitive thunder throbbing underground increased, as the large war hosts inexorably drew nigh.The lone pebble ricocheted off of the last crag, and shattered against the harsh stone of the mountain's base. The wind, which had remained still throughout the pebble's descent, suddenly sprang to life and howled in circling, maddened eddies through the blackened waste that surrounded the dark castle where it nestled in the jagged teeth of the range. The winds wailed eerily into the cloud-covered dawn like the souls of the lost were held tortured and moaning in its grasp.The ground was still, though the air had grown heavy and chill.The Taiyoukai had arrived.*~*~*~*~*"We must go." Sango said, her voice hitching as she cradled her broken arm to her chest. The pain seeped through her, making her temples pound, but she pushed it aside. She knew, without knowing or caring how, that they must follow the dead miko who had fled the village, wrapped in the protective hold of her white Soul-Collectors.InuYasha growled low in the back of his throat, but said nothing. He knew."You are not going anywhere." Miroku frowned down at the composed taijiya, who leaned against the cream-colored neko for support. "Not with that, anyway." He pointed to her bloodied limb, broken by the powerful jaws of Kikyo's minions."He's right, girl." A gravelly voice intruded. They looked up at the old ookami with surprise. He limped up to them, a bag of healing salves swinging in one hand, a stout stick in the other. "The bone must be set, and the wounds cleaned out ere they fester."A trio of wolves, following the old healer faithfully, sat down on their haunches, tongues lolling out."We must follow." Sango replied stubbornly. Miroku crossed his arms over his dark robes and fixed her with a penetrating stare. After a long moment, he nodded once in sharp agreement."I understand.""You've all lost your minds." The old wolf, Hideki, growled at them. InuYasha scowled back."THAT thing was hurt by THAT thing." He pointed from the clouded sky where Kikyo had hovered and was now eerily empty, and then toward the scowling hanyou. "She will need time to heal...as will you." He pointed at Sango, his dark eyes piercing.*~*~*~*~*Red eyes gleamed in the mask of the white baboon. Sensual lips curved in a dark smile of promise.It was time."Come, children." The dark voice purred. "We must prepare while the dog is distracted by our barrier. It will not keep him long, but the delay will cost him dearly in the end."With a clawed hand, he summoned his aerial minions to his side. Whirring wings and glowing crimson eyes surrounded the white baboon as he turned a last look on his eldest child. "Kanna. You know what you must do."The white child of the Void bowed deeply, saying nothing.Naraku nodded, satisfied that she, at least, would not fail him. Seething purple mists rolled from under the white furred robes until they engulfed his body in a miasmic fog of dull black clouds shot with streaks of violet menace. The insects closed in around him, and with a swirl of poisonous vapor, the dark hanyou departed.*~*~*~*~*"She is still a threat." Sango said simply, ignoring the throbbing pain in her arm. "Kagome---""Concern ye naught with Kagome, child." Kaede's voice rose gruffly from behind the old wolf's shoulder. All eyes turned to the weathered visage of the elderly miko as she gingerly stepped around the three wolves who sprawled behind the grey-haired ookami healer who was helping her tend the wounded in the village. There were many, too many, and the tiredness weighed down on Kaede's troubled mind. Strengthening her voice, she advised them. "Kagome will keep. The task before ye is to find that thing who is not Kikyo and destroy it lest she seek to join forces with Naraku. Given time to regain her strength, she may prove too strong to defeat. Ye must find her, and quickly."Sango nodded in full agreement. Miroku cast a sharp look at InuYasha, but the expression in his amber eyes was unreadable.Hideki growled. "Are you a fool, woman? That girl cannot go with a broken arm and unhealed wounds. She is not youkai, she cannot heal herself."The priestess's single black eye narrowed on the ookami healer. "Ye think too much of your youkai blood, wolfling."With that barb, the old miko gingerly knelt by the taijiya's side. Her calloused fingers lightly touched across the surface of Sango's skin. Sango grimaced, and then deliberately blanked out the pain as Kaede took the wounded limb in strong hands. A pale glow misted from the priestess's palms and surrounded the slayer's arm in sacred energy. Calling her small gift of power to her, the old miko fed her strength into the slayer, willing the bone to knit and the flesh to heal unbroken. The warmth of sacred energy transferred to the taijiya, and Kaede felt light-headed and dizzy as her unselfish gift of healing drained her strength. Murmuring a prayer of thanks to the kami, the old priestess allowed her hands to fall from the taijiya's arm with weary detachment.Sango blinked in astonishment, flexing the pale, unscarred flesh with surprise.Kaede swayed with exhaustion, and it was Hideki's worn hands that curved around the old miko's white shoulders to give her support. There was a note of respectful awe in his chiding voice. "You have exhausted yourself, woman."Kaede only sighed, too tired to reply.Miroku gave the old miko a deep bow of respect. "Lady Kaede..."She waved the monk's words aside as InuYasha abruptly stood and grunted, "Thanks, Baba." He pulled the slayer up to his side and nudged Kirara with one foot. "We going, cat?'Kirara rumbled assent, and rose from her crouch. Twin tails lashed, and the rings on Miroku's staff sang out as he stepped forward. "I am going with you." He said simply."Me, too!" Shippo's little hands held tightly to the creamy fur of the neko's neck should someone try and argue with him. InuYasha looked ready to do just that, but Kaede stopped him."Go. All of ye may be needed." She made a waving gesture with her hand, her careworn countenance closed."Come on, then." InuYasha abruptly turned and hoisted his mate onto the neko's back. He gave her a quick kiss, and growled at the houshi to keep his hentai hands to himself. Miroku merely grinned, and settled himself behind the taijiya with familiar grace. He feigned a look of hurt when the scowling hanyou handed over Hiraikotsu. With boned boomerang and ringed staff in both hands, he would have none free to grope with---which had been InuYasha's intention.Hideki chuckled in Kaede's ear at the monk's chagrined expression, and then they were up and away as Kirara leapt skyward, her black paws bursting into sparking flame. InuYasha paused to secure Tetsusaiga to his waist, and then he gave Kaede a long look out of golden-amber eyes.With a running leap, he was after the flying neko, his silver hair swirling with the speed of his passage."Why did you deceive them, old woman?" Hideki demanded, even as he used surprisingly strong arms to help the priestess to stand. "And send the young fox? Should he not be near while his okaa-san lies in peril?""Ye know nothing, old fool." Kaede replied, short of breath. "Kagome has little need of distraction right now, and Shippo of more. What help could the young one be to her?" She would have pushed away from the ookami's assistance, but loathed as she was to admit it, she needed it. The healing had cost her more strength than she could have predicted.Kaede's dark gaze grew troubled. "Kagome must hoard her strength. She will need it to survive the dark hours that lay ahead."Hideki's eyes were shrewd. "So the great osambasan could not stop the miko's labor. Her pups come, before their time.""Aye." Kaede said, too tired to bate words with the ookami."And you said nothing to them of this." Hideki shook his head at her, even as he lent his shoulder for support as they hobbled back across the torn fields and turf toward the village where the young girl lay in pain, striving to hold back life too young yet to live."They, too, will need their strength in these dark hours.” Kaede said, her voice low, her gaze somber."As will we all." Hideki muttered, calling his wolves to his side.*~*~*~*~*The barrier lay over the castle and part of the black mountains that surrounded it like an overturned bowl. Perfectly circular, its surface smooth and glassy, the colors wavered from deepest purple and grayed midnight to crimson-touched fuchsia as its power fed and flowed in eddies of expanding, whirling ripples and waves.None dared touch that evil's surface, lest they die in agony and pain from its malignance. Spear and sword edge could not pierce it, arrows strung and flown against it bounced off like flung twigs. Flame dispersed over its smooth surface without scorching and youkai acid was merely absorbed like water in parched desert sands.The allied armies of the Taiyoukai stood restless, staring at the barricade that barred their way with impatience and varying degrees of ire. A few cast wary glances up toward the skies and the black mountains that extended on either side, fearful lest the treacherous Naraku use this barrier as a mere distraction to attack from other quarters. More than a few turned eyes to the gleaming white figure who had brought them forth to confront the filthy hanyou in his own lands, wondering what now he would do.Giving voice to their unspoken question, Jaken hurried to the Lord's side. His own beloved Staff of Skulls had done little to pierce the rippling, miasmic wall, which daunted the staunch little green servant of the Taiyoukai more than he would care to admit or claim."What now, me Lord?" Jaken swiveled his neck in a most uncomfortable position so that he could address the Taiyoukai properly. Ah-Uhn hovered just above and to the left of the little green imp, pale blue flames spurting from the dragon's feet keeping it aloft. Lord SesshouMaru's white robes slithered in the slight breeze, which also feathered the long silver-white hair he wore unadorned down his back. Golden eyes focused solely on the barrier that kept him from the one he sought, but his still expression was as unreadable as ever."M-Master?" Jaken stuttered, feeling slightly frightened in the face of SesshouMaru's apparent lack of action. His quavering voice drew other eyes, which grew tense as the Taiyoukai continued to hover, expressionless.With a curt, unexpected shift, the Taiyoukai's single hand released the reins he held and motioned forward, sharp white claws gleaming in the chilly grey dawn. Jaken wasn't the only one to jump back in fear at the abrupt movement. More than one was suddenly reminded of just how deadly Lord SesshouMaru could be...Streams of defusing light swept past the staring allies, glittering pale golden and milky pearl. With flitting wings, hundreds of tiny kochou swarmed over the barrier's surface, surrounding it in tiny dots of pale brilliance against the swirling purple-black wall. They hovered just out of touch of the glassy surface, aligning themselves along the perimeter in equal distance from each other, the faint sounds of their high-pitched humming a whisper across the silent battlefield.*What can THEY do?* Jaken wondered, feeling impatient with the nagging fear that made his heart beat faster in his chest and made his little claws tighten on the wooden shaft of his Two-Headed Staff. Those useless, flighty little things were nothing more than convenient messengers---what was me Lord thinking by sending them to cover the round circumference of Naraku's defensive wall? Did me Lord hope that their pearly champagne light might act like a candle and reveal some hidden weakness in the dark, eddying surface of the barrier? It was a stupid thought---the butterflies were too few, their light too weak, spread out as they were across the wide expanse of swirling miasma...The Taiyoukai's golden eyes narrowed on the impenetrable barricade, and Jaken felt like shrinking in on himself with the horrible fright and doubt that touched him. *Me Lord is as lost and confused as I am! He has no clue how he might break the barrier, and we are sitting ducks out here, just waiting to be destroyed!*He could not help the tiny, despondent moan that issued involuntarily from his beak, though he clamped a three-fingered hand over it in mortification and looked around with wide yellow eyes to see if anybody had taken note of his treacherous qualms.But all eyes were focused on the Taiyoukai, and the fact that he now grasped the hilt of his sword, and was drawing it forth. A shaft of silvery light gleamed across the shining surface of the bared blade, and Jaken gasped in recognition, heedless of how he might sound.*Tenseiga!*But then fear-filled uncertainty ate at him again, and his little shoulders fell. He could feel a tear burning in the edge of one bulging yellow eye, and he wished fervently that it was Tetsusaiga, not Tenseiga, that the Lord held unsheathed in his hand. Tenseiga was useless here, it was Tetsusaiga that was capable of destroying barriers, not this useless piece of pot-metal, only good for healing, focusing the energies of... *Focusing the energies of...*Jaken stared with dawning awe as it finally hit him what, exactly, the Lord was planning to do with the useless weapon, fanged gift of his powerful father. The inu strength of InuTaisho was inherent in both the swords made from his fangs, and Tenseiga's strength was not to be counted lightly.*But Tenseiga can only transfer life, it cannot destroy---*But the kochou waited, hovering in a latticed barrier of their own, each butterfly acting like a pinpoint of light in a webbed net over the dark shadow beneath them.And life was power.Poisonous green mists were pouring out from the Taiyoukai's palm, as he focused his aura into the weapon he held aloft in his hand. Misty vapors swirled over the exposed, silver blade, wreathing it in wraithlike swirls that seemed to grow into pale green wisps of flame, until the sword hung wreathed in ghostly, green fire. The golden eyes of the Taiyoukai remained narrowed, though he raised the flaming green sword, whose inner blade now glowed intensely white with the power fed into it, and pointed it straight toward the barrier that kept them from Naraku.Jaken flinched as green radiance shot from the blade's point, straight to the fuchsia-violet barrier, and the milk-pearl butterfly who hovered just above it. The kochou's milky light was swallowed up in green fire, which shot out in all directions to encompass the other small forms who wreathed the barricade on all sides. The green power raced from butterfly to butterfly, forming tangling webs as each of them focused the Lord's power with their own small strength. A net of lacing jade-green energy overlaid the dark surface of the shadowed barrier, and the Lord uttered a single, quiet order."Now."The white fire that had been Tenseiga's center shot forward, to follow that lacing pattern of green light. Its glow grew to such brilliance as it touched each kochou that Jaken had to duck his head and hide his watering eyes behind one raised arm and the scant brown protection of his dark robes.There was no explosion, no pulsing shattering of power like he had half-expected and braced for. Instead, it seemed the searing white power, traced with flashes of shimmering green brilliance, merely melted back the barricade that had stood so fixed between them and their goal. *Naraku.*The light faded as the barrier dissolved, and Jaken blinked his eyes, trying to regain his vision as the kochou dispersed, their task done. By the time the little imp was finally able to see, Ah-Uhn was already leaping forward into the black-rimmed valley that was now exposed, the castle a mere pinpoint of grey stone and wood atop a flat-topped table of the steep-sided mountain straight ahead.The Taiyoukai's voice raised in a single word which thundered across the valley and echoed round the circling black mountains Naraku called home."VENGEANCE!"The roar that followed as wave after wave of avenging allies snatched free their sword, spear or bow swelled behind him, making the very earth tremble beneath their thundering feet as they rushed forward to free their wrath in fury and vengeance.The final battle had begun. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*A/N: Brahahaha! Another cliffie! *evil grin* A few thanks to the many people who have encouraged and stayed with this little story…Vyncent: As always, darling, I am blessed by your friendship. Congratulations on winning animedefiance’s award for Best Angst. Her story, "The Unworthy One", can be found on affnet and A Single Spark, and is worth a look-in!Fairia: Keep the pocky, I want the Raidon. And where is my Lemons?! Hentai needs refueling badly! Thanks for your help on “The Source of Solace” (another fic I’m working on…)Krysie: I’ve read all my books, too, which made me write, lol. Thanks for the compliment!Lessa: Yes, Anne McCaffery figured prominently in the Gathering. Love her books.Love Me Princess Kagome: *mysterious smile* You have a good grasp of the developing bond between Sess & Kag.Sesshyslovergrl: I have to be cautious of putting out direct links to my stories on other sites, especially as I cannot be certain of everyone being over 18. I do not know why you have not been able to access my stories on other sites. My author id is different on other sites: at adultfanfiction dot net and mediaminer dot org I am known as YoukaiFate, on A Single Spark I am simply Fate. Hopefully that will help. If not, please email me directly at Inufanasha (at) aol dot com.Amanda: Thank you for the Harry Potter compliment, it gave me the warm and fuzzies!Hellspixie18: *innocent smile* Death threats? Lol!Sarah (mm.org): Yes, Sango and Inuyasha are paired in this fic as well. Thank you for your encouragement!Megan Consoer: You have been so faithful with your encouragement and support. Thank you so very, very much!Additional Thanks go to: Jingko, Icygirl2, Sessies Personal Priestess, Red, Bookreader999, Crystal Tears of the Moon, Yuya-sama, Hermonine, Tessie-fanfic, Inugirl, Jessie, Yoshiko K., Jenna, Jessica, Tsuki Yume, Dark Paine, Sesshys Jaded Samurai, Rin-chan, Linda, Cocla, Ever-After, Mystic Shadows, Faelaine, Twiddledee, Mystic Hanyou and White Tiger PrincessAnd last but never least, my trueheart and best friend, Caile. If it weren’t for you, I would never have written a single word.