InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Truth About Cats and Dogs ❯ Kirara's Rage ( Chapter 13 )

Recap: Sesshomaru confronted Kirara, but it was not to battle with her as she suspected, but rather to tell her she would be his mate. Enraged by his arrogance, Kirara refused, returning to her friends infuriated.

 

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Chapter 13 - Kirara's Rage

 

“Kirara!” Sango called, struggling to run well in the slippery, sticky undergrowth of the forest. “Kirara, slow down!”

 

Ahead of her, Kirara was still marching onwards, her feet shamelessly splashing through the moss, causing it to spurt upwards, small chunks landing all over her clothing. Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides, her arms hanging stiffly and unmoving, and she was muttering to herself through her tightly clenched teeth, a string a barely audible curses against Sesshomaru's name.

 

“Kirara, please, talk to me!” Sango begged.

 

Kirara stopped abruptly, her mutterings replaced by the sound of her deep, ragged breathing that whistled through her still clenched teeth.

 

“What happened, Kirara?” Sango asked, jogging over to her side. “What did he do to you?”

 

“Nothing,” Kirara growled through her teeth.

 

“Then what did he say to you?”

 

Kirara paused, before looking back sharply over her shoulder. As she saw the others, far away from them, apparently walking in the opposite direction, the redness drained from her eyes and she slowly relaxed her shoulders.

 

“Kagome was able to sense the sacred jewel while you were gone,” Sango explained. “It's west of here, we have to go back that way.”

 

“I don't want to go back that way,” Kirara said stubbornly, turning back to face east, folding her arms over her chest.

 

“Kirara, you have my word as your friend that I will not tell the others anything you want to tell me about what just happened,” Sango said gently, touching a hand to Kirara's bare forearm.

 

“Hm,” Kirara grunted, her green eyes narrowing.

 

“Obviously he was very rude to you again,” Sango said lightly, hoping to encourage Kirara to talk.

 

“Extremely so,” Kirara simply replied her eyes still fixed ahead of her.

 

“He is a very rude man, Kirara,” Sango said warmly. “He is a demon lord, he thinks everyone is beneath him. It's probably just been his upbringing.”

 

“Impossible,” Kirara growled in a low voice. “Inuyasha is nowhere near as arrogant, single-minded, rude or vain as his brother.”

 

“Inuyasha wasn't raised with his brother,” Sango pointed out. “Their father died when Inuyasha was still just a baby, his mother fled the castle and raised him on her own, away from Sesshomaru.”

 

“Fled the castle? Not likely. I would willingly gamble my life that Sesshomaru forced them out, the insensitive dog that he is!”

 

“Kirara, may I ask you a question?”

 

“Certainly.”

 

“Do you really hate all dog demons, or do you just hate one?”

 

Kirara paused, her eyes lowering slightly in thought.

 

“I just hate one,” she eventually replied, turning to face Sango. “And his name is Lord Sesshomaru!”

 

Kirara grabbed a fist at the air between herself and Sango, baring her fangs in her rage.

 

“What did he say to you, Kirara?” Sango asked, ignoring her friend's expression of anger. “And why could he not say it in front of the rest of us? He took you away alone, not even his little toad servant came with you. What did he say, Kirara?”

 

“I am too ashamed to repeat the words he spoke to me,” Kirara quietly replied, lowering her fist to her side once more.

 

“I will not breathe a word of this to another soul, I swear, Kirara!” Sango insisted. “I just want to know because I am worried for your safety. I don't want to lose you, Kirara. You're the only thing that keeps me going. Thinking of all my friends and family who have perished because of Naraku sometimes makes me wonder why I'm still alive. It tears me apart to see Naraku using Kohaku as a mere puppet, I need something to give me the strength to continue, and you, Kirara, are that something. If not for yourself, then for my sake, please tell me what happened.”

 

“Well…” Kirara began slowly, her eyes dropping to her feet. “He, um… He asked me to - no, he told me to… He ordered me to be his mate.”

 

“Hm, I thought as much.”

 

“What?”

 

Kirara stared at Sango with wide, shocked eyes, but Sango merely nodded her head, a knowing expression on her face.

 

“You knew?” Kirara yelped. “But how?”

 

“I realised he was either going to kill you or take you as his,” Sango replied. “When you returned alive, I decided it must have been the latter.”

 

“But how did you know? You had never even witnessed any of the interactions between us!”

 

“I didn't need to. The way you spoke about him, and the way he regarded you when we came across him in the forest just now. I knew what was going on. Or at least, I knew it was one of two things, I could never really be sure. Sesshomaru is such a strange character. Although I am surprised that he didn't try to kill you for refusing him.”

 

Kirara lowered her eyes again, and Sango gasped in alarm.

 

“You did refuse him, didn't you Kirara?” she asked.

 

“Of course I did!” Kirara snapped, lifting her eyes to Sango, her face turning pink. “It was just… The things that he said to me!”

 

Kirara turned her head to the east, hooking one fang over her bottom lip pensively.

 

“What did he say?” Sango innocently asked.

 

“I cannot bring myself to repeat his words!” Kirara sharply replied, turning back to Sango. “Such a loathsome, irksome, arrogant-”

 

“Yes, I understand, you hate him,” Sango interjected, holding up both hands to stop Kirara's seemingly endless string of adjectives that she liked to use to describe Sesshomaru. “And obviously he said some terrible, terrible things to you. You were lucky to escape with your life, Kirara.”

 

“He accused me of…”

 

Kirara stopped, flattening a hand across her chest as she saw an image of Sesshoamru's face in her mind's eye, his words echoing inside her head.

 

`The closer I move to you, the more you go out of your way to accentuate the alluring curves of your body,' she heard him say.

 

Kirara mewed indignantly, shaking her head in an attempt to shake Sesshomaru's image from her mind.

 

“You said Kagome was able to sense the Shikon Jewel?” she asked, turning to Sango.

 

“That's right,” Sango agreed, pointing back in the direction the others were heading. “It's this way.”

 

“Right,” Kirara said firmly. “Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!”

 

Kirara smacked a fist into her open palm before marching off back in the direction she had just come from.

 

“Kirara!” Sango called to her. “Could you slow down please? It's really difficult for me to walk in this.”

 

Kirara stopped, transforming into her fire-cat form before turning and bounding back to Sango's side.

 

“Thanks, Kirara,” Sango said, leaping onto her back.

 

With a feline snarl of determination, Kirara leapt up, soaring up above the treetops before moving forwards after the others. From her new vantage point, Kirara could see the valley beyond the end of the forest, and the hills beyond that. Flying at around the same altitude as she was, and heading in the same direction, was a familiar looking dragon demon. Although it was flying considerably further ahead of her, Kirara instantly recognised the beast as well as those who rode on its back.

 

`The dragon demon Ah-Un,' she thought to herself. `With the toad imp Jaken and the mortal girl Rin. But where is Lord Sesshomaru?'

 

Kirara growled again. Why did she even care where he was? With a burst of speed that made Sango squeal and grab onto the fur around her neck to steady herself, Kirara raced onwards, diving down towards the others. Kirara landed with a loud squelch, sending moss and mud flying everywhere. As the others muttered under their breaths and wiped the dirt from their clothing, Sango leapt off Kirara, waiting until she had returned to her human form before talking.

 

“Kagome was able to sense the jewel while you were gone, but she thinks it may be only one shard,” Sango explained.

 

“Yeah, but it's still quite far from here,” Kagome added, rubbing one side of her face with her sleeve as she spoke.

 

“Which means we have to go right into his damn territory!” Inuyasha moaned.

 

“What?” Kirara echoed. “Whose territory?”

 

“Well, I thought I had been in this forest before, and now I can remember why,” Inuyasha replied.

 

Kirara tilted her head in confusion as she saw Miroku and Sango violently shaking their heads at Inuyasha as if they wished him to discontinue his explanation.

 

“This forest is the border to the Western Lands,” Inuyasha continued, either not noticing the others or not caring. “Once we reach the other side, there should be a valley. That valley marks the start of the Western Lands. Once we reach that valley, we're walking on Sesshomaru's land.”

 

Kirara faltered, and Sango quickly stepped forwards.

 

“So I think we should split up now,” she said, before anyone else could speak. “Kirara, you take Kagome back to Kaede's village for the antidote, and wait with her while she returns home for a few days. Kagome needs to go home to see her family, and we need some more of those supplies we left back at Kaede's hut. If you transform and fly there and back, you can both move quickly and carry more supplies.”

 

“An excellent idea,” Miroku agreed.

 

“We have plenty of supplies,” Kirara calmly replied. “And if it's a flying demon with the ability to carry heavy loads you seek, why not ask Hachi? He's a lot bigger than me, and he can fly faster.”

 

“Hachi is not strong enough to help Kagome if she encounters a powerful demon,” Sango pointed out.

 

“Perhaps not, but he is an expert at running away,” Kirara returned.

 

“I don't even know where Hachi is,” Miroku said, hoping that this would deter Kirara from her line of thought.

 

“Hachi is never too far away,” Kirara coldly replied.

 

“That's true,” Inuyasha grunted. “I can smell him pretty much every day, and the stench has been getting stronger, he must be quite close.”

 

Kirara smirked smugly at Miroku, who hung his head in defeat.

 

“Call him out, Miroku,” she said. “Tell him to take Kagome back to the village and then return to us. Tell him we will be heading west of this point. Kagome will be able to find us after that, we will have recovered a shard of the jewel.”

 

Miroku sighed, turning to Sango, who merely shrugged her shoulders.

 

“We will continue on,” Kirara announced. “We will find this demon and slay it to retrieve the shard of the jewel.”

 

“I guess I should stay with you guys until we find the jewel shard,” Kagome offered. “I think it's moving around, so someone or something must have it.”

 

“Then we shall slay every demon we come across,” Kirara coldly replied. “After all, slaying demons has been my life's work.”

 

“What if a human has it?” Sango asked.

 

“We will know, a human would display super-human characteristics if in possession of a shard of the jewel,” Kirara replied.

 

“You're not going to get her to change her mind,” Miroku whispered to Sango.

 

“I know,” Sango whispered in reply.

 

“I can hear you,” Kirara growled. “And I know what you are all thinking. And you are all wrong. I do not fear Lord Sesshomaru. I will cross his land with my head held high.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Inuyasha said.

 

“Let's go!” Shippo chirped, leaping up onto Kirara's shoulder.

 

Sango turned to Miroku and Kagome, her desperation evident in her face.

 

“Go on ahead,” Miroku told her. “Kagome and I will look for Hachi, and I'll catch you all up once I have safely seen Kagome off.”

 

Sango reluctantly nodded her agreement.

 

“I suppose we don't have any other choice,” she said with a sigh, watching over her shoulder as the two demons and the half-demon walked off without them. “Kirara can be so headstrong and stubborn.”

 

“Like Inuyasha?” Miroku asked, cocking a smirk at the girls.

 

“You think Kirara is like Inuyasha?” Kagome asked, arching her eyebrows. “I thought she was more dominant and pompous, like Sesshomaru.”

 

Sango turned sharply to Miroku, who laughed nervously, putting a hand on Kagome's shoulder and steering her away from Sango.

 

“Come on Kagome!” he said brightly. “Let's go find that pesky raccoon!”

 

Sango watched her two friends leave, her mind in turmoil. A glance over her shoulder told her that she was rapidly losing ground on the remaining members of their group. With a groan of despair, she began to run as best she could through the sticky, sludgy undergrowth to catch up with Inuyasha, Kirara and Shippo.

 

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Sesshomaru walked across the open valley, his usual slow pace slightly quickened, but otherwise his demeanour as cold, calm and indifferent as ever. He was instinctively heading back towards his home, recent events having left him desiring nothing more than to retire to a place where respect was given without question, his every order was obeyed with haste, and there was absolutely no chance whatsoever of him coming across his irksome younger brother.

 

He had hoped for an uneventful and slow journey home, allowing him sufficient peace and time to collect his thoughts; but even before he reached the other side of the valley, he knew that it was not to be. Ahead of him, he was picking up four demonic auras, and as he walked onwards, the scent of blood began to reach his delicate senses.

 

Under normal circumstances, Sesshomaru would have darted towards the scent, destroying whoever or whatever he found. Usually, these scents meant that lesser demons were warring over something pitiful and meaningless on his land, and he saw it as his duty to remove them from existence for the crime.

 

But, he thought to himself, these scents were far from ordinary, and three of the demonic auras he sensed were far more powerful than those of a common centipede or weasel demon. Stopping by the foot of the hill, Sesshomaru raised his chin, sniffing lightly at the air. He paused, stiffening at what he sensed. He could smell three demons, a half-demon and a human, all of whom he knew only too well. He could smell the blood of two demons as they fought against each other, their sweat, their adrenaline and their determination.

 

Sesshomaru lowered his chin again, stalking around the curve of the foot of the hill, before launching himself into the air, silently scaling his way to the uppermost branches of a sizeable tree to watch the scene that had previously been obscured from his vision by the hill. Narrowing his eyes at what he saw, he barely noticed the actions of the bystanders, or the fact that they were missing two human travelling companions; all he could see was the fire-cat, looking positively wild, her arms locked around the neck of a giant bear demon as she tried to choke it into submission.

 

“Kirara, get out of the way!” Inuyasha yelled, brandishing the red-bladed Tetsusaiga in the air. “I can finish that thing off with one blow!”

 

“Interfere and I will come for you next!” Kirara yelled back, before biting down into the bear's shoulder.

 

Sesshomaru leaned forwards, the rage radiating off of the female cat demon hitting him in waves. Her teeth still embedded in the bear's shoulder, the bear swiped a paw at her arms, its claws tearing through her bared skin. As the scent of her blood become stronger in the air, her arms weakened their hold of the bear's neck, and as it swung its head around, her arms slid from its body entirely, her body flying outwards, only the strength of her bite holding her up.

 

Seeing this, the bear drew its shoulder back and then jerked it forwards. Kirara lost her grip and was thrown unceremoniously through the air her back colliding hard with a tree not far from the one Sesshomaru was concealed in. Sesshomaru craned his neck to see where she had landed; surely a blow like that had been enough to knock her unconscious. As his eyes located her, he found her slumped against the base of the tree, her arms and legs splayed at her sides. She looked to be out cold, one blow away from losing the battle and her life; but as Inuyasha stepped forwards to take over from her, her eyes suddenly snapped open, her demon spirit spiking in power as her eyes turned scarlet and her fangs lengthened in her jaws.

 

“Stay down, Kirara!” Inuyasha warned her.

 

“Never!” she growled, getting to her feet. “I am a warrior!”

 

Claws raised, Kirara pounced at the bear's chest with what little energy she had left. As she flew towards the bear, one hand tore her sword from its sheath, the other tore into the bear's flesh, her claws hooking into its skin to hold her body in place as she stabbed her sword into the bear as though it were a dagger. She twisted the blade before yanking it out again, a small, sparkling pink splinter emerging along with her bloodied blade.

 

The bear demon dissolved into nothing more than ashes, and Kirara dropped to the ground, landing in an awkward crouch.

 

“Kirara!” Sango cried, running towards her.

 

Kirara growled, pushing herself to her feet. Even from the distance he stood, Sesshomaru could see the fire-cat was sporting several battle wounds, the smell of her blood overwhelming his senses. As he watched, she dragged the back of one hand across her lips, wiping away the blood that remained there. She cocked a smirk at the demon-slayer standing before her, trying her best to stand tall and proud.

 

“One jewel shard,” she said, pointing at the sparkling object behind her. “I told you we could manage fine without Kagome.”

 

“I could have easily killed that thing with my wind scar!” Inuyasha grumbled, returning the Tetsusaiga to its scabbard.

 

“Kirara, are you alright?” Shippo asked, bounding over to her ankles to frown up at her in concern.

 

Sesshomaru leaned further forwards still as he awaited the fire-cat's response. Clearly she was not alright, he thought to himself. Only an idiot would ask such a stupid question of her at such a moment. By sight alone it was obvious that she had suffered several deep wounds, her clothing was badly torn and stained with both her own blood and that of the bear demon, and her hair had come loose, sticking to the blood and sweat down the sides of her face.

 

“I'm fine, Shippo,” she said, smiling slightly and crouching down to pat him on the head.

 

As she stood again, she visibly winced, obviously from the pain of one of her more serious injuries.

 

“You don't look fine, Kirara,” Inuyasha said bluntly. “You look awful.”

 

“Well I feel fine, alright?” Kirara sternly replied.

 

“Such a stubborn, headstrong girl,” a voice purred at Sesshomaru's shoulder. “I must say, Inever pictured you falling in love with a woman with a bad attitude, who spends her time with humans, and gets her hands so dirty in battle, Sesshomaru.”

 

Sesshomaru growled, swiping his one remaining hand around. Predicting his angered response, Kagura back-flipped out of harm's way, landing a few branches below Sesshomaru. She tilted her head back to look up at him, smirking at him shamelessly.

 

“I thought you were already betrothed to the princess of the Northern Lands, Sesshomaru,” she called up to him. “But if you were looking for a bit of fun before you bond with the princess, I could have easily fulfilled your every want and desire. All I ask in return is that you kill Naraku.”

 

Sesshomaru stared blankly down at Kagura, who began to laugh, her voice shortly catching in her throat as Sesshomaru leapt down at her. Again, she back-flipped out of his way, landing on the ground. Sesshomaru landed in a crouch a short distance in front of her, his eyes shifting from Kagura to the figure that stood between them.

 

“Kagura,” the monk said, before turning to face Sesshomaru. “Sesshomaru!”

 

“We'll meet again, Sesshomaru,” Kagura said with a sigh, pulling a feather from her hair and whooshing into the air in a whirlwind of energy.

 

Sesshomaru watched her leave before moving his eyes back to the bewildered monk before him. He slowly got to his feet, silently noting the scent of fear that tinged the air as he did so.

 

“Did she tell you where Naraku is?”

 

Sesshomaru stared back unblinkingly, deciding that he was in no humour to be answering the questions of a mere human.

 

“Kagura…”

 

As the monk turned his head to take a glance up into the sky, Sesshomaru took his chance to disappear, leaping back up into the tree and slipping out of sight before he turned back.

 

“Miroku!” Inuyasha called, jogging over to the monk's side. “Did you find Hachi?”

 

“Yes,” Miroku replied, frowning at the point where Sesshomaru had been standing only moments ago.

 

“Damn,” Inuyasha grumbled. “This whole place reeks of my jackass brother. Let's get out of here.”

 

“Did you find the jewel shards?” Miroku asked.

 

“Jewel shards?” Kirara asked, frowning at him as she joined them.

 

“There was just one,” Sango added, holding out her hand to show the recovered shard to Miroku.

 

“Yes, but Kagome said before she left that she could sense more jewel shards moving southwest of here,” Miroku replied.

 

“Southwest?” Inuyasha groaned. “But that's the opposite direction Naraku went!”

 

“I think we should pursue the jewel shards for now,” Miroku calmly replied. “After all, we have found no traces of Naraku, and there are still many more demons roaming the land, suggesting that he is still in hiding somewhere. We could go northeast and waste many weeks waiting for a sign from Naraku. It would be a productive use of our time to pursue the jewel shards, since we definitely know where they are from here.”

 

“Hm,” Inuyasha grunted. “Southwest, you say?”

 

Miroku nodded.

 

“Come on then, let's go.”

 

Miroku started to follow Inuyasha, skidding to a halt as he caught sight of the bedraggled and bloodied Kirara.

 

“What happened to her?” he whispered to Sango.

 

“She insisted on fighting the demon that had the jewel shard alone,” Sango whispered back. “She kept saying something about “I'll show you feisty” and “I'm not posing, I am a warrior”. She said she still needs battle experience in her new form.”

 

“But why?” Miroku asked. “She always fought in her fire-cat form before.”

 

Sango shrugged her shoulders, a thoughtful look slowly dawning across her features.

 

“I sense you are scheming something,” Miroku said, quirking an eyebrow at her.

 

“Well, you always say that you can read a sutra to calm someone's nerves, right Miroku?” she said slyly, stealing a glance at him from the corner of her eye as they slowly followed after the others.

 

“You want me to talk to her?” Miroku asked nervously.

 

Sango nodded.

 

“You think I can calm her down?”

 

Again Sango nodded.

 

“Well…”

 

“Do it for me, Miroku? Please?”

 

Miroku began to smirk to himself, causing Sango's features to darken.

 

“And don't bother thinking that this means that you can ask for some lecherous favour in return, Miroku!” she warned him.

 

Miroku sighed.

 

“It's the hand,” he said, looking down at his covered hand forlornly.

 

“So you keep saying…” Sango muttered.

 

“I'll talk to her,” Miroku said decisively. “For you, Sango.”

 

“Thank you, Miroku,” she said, smiling sweetly up at him.

 

Miroku smiled back, sneakily reaching a hand towards her. Having expected Miroku to try as much, Sango pushed her hip outwards, her smile widening as the outer edge of her Hiraikotsu clunked against Miroku's knuckles.

 

“Ow,” he muttered, hurriedly retracting his hand, his smile fading.

 

“Thank you, Miroku,” Sango said again, her tone sickeningly sweet.

 

Miroku sighed, turning to Kirara. Ragged, bloodied and smeared with dirt and sweat, the very sight of Kirara made Miroku cringe; but he would do what Sango had asked of him.

 

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Next Chapter: Miroku tries to counsel Kirara, but is Kirara really the one in need of help and advise? Chapter 14 - Miroku's Feelings.