InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ This Can't Be Good ❯ Opponent ( Chapter 27 )

KURAMA: You have not yet explained why I would want to meet Miss Almaseti.

She won the contest.

KURAMA: Never mind. You have admitted to benefitting from the unauthorized use of my likeness, not to mention the deliberate defamation of placing pictures of me on that website.

She's very nice.

ALMASETI: Thank you.

KURAMA: I do not wish to see you or any of your deranged friends again, with the exception, perhaps, if I am required to testify at your civil or criminal trial, and any parole hearings.

ALMASETI: There will be no such trials.

You should listen to her.

KURAMA: Because she is so very nice?

That and she's my lawyer.

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"What is it, Sango?" the priest got to his feet. Other than a flash of relief - Probably that I'm not too drunk to stand, he realized bitterly - there were no answers on her face.

"We left Inu-koro on the hillside by the north edge of the village," Kouga folded his arms, "What do we need him for, anyway?"

"Tell me," Sango commanded. "You have tracked serpent youkai. What is it about them that sets them apart from other prey?"

"The stench," he answered darkly, his deceptively human nose crinkling up.

"And?"

"They are poisonous," the monk gave a guess.

"No, Miroku."

Kouga scratched his chin, "They don't have any feet?"

Sango slapped her free hand across her eyes.

Sango is rarely wrong when it comes to youkai opponents. Miroku worried, If she is agitated, then there is surely something wrong.

"They're ...dumb?" asked Hojo.

Miroku rolled his eyes. That couldn't possibly be what she was trying to-

"Right!"

The monk squelched a squeak.

Sango turned toward the boy, "But this serpent leader went for Kagome first. We were so focused on retrieving Mrs. Mura's grandson that we forgot that the jewel shards were its first target. It took the child to make us follow!"

"It grabbed the kid because it was hungry, exterminator," Kouga answered in a half-confused growl.

"Yes," Sango allowed, "but the way we saw those creatures move, it could have escaped us at any time. The serpent leader kept us in sight, in hearing of the boy's cries. It was leading us into a place where its brothers could attack."

"That couldn't have been how it happened," Kouga tossed his head arrogantly, "Serpent youkai aren't smart enough to do those things."

Miroku's mind went brilliantly cold. "That's just what she's been saying," he realized aloud. "Snake demons can't do any of the things we've seen them do."

Sango nodded, "Not without help."

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"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.

He didn't answer, a ghost of white hair in the limited moonlight. Both ears flicked, nose crinkling uselessly as he scanned the undisturbed horizon.

There was something wrong. There had to be. Kagome wrapped her free arm around her stomach. There was an icky feeling in the air, almost like a-

"A dark aura," she realized more than said.

"Which direction?" he demanded quietly.

"I can't tell!"

Inuyasha swore again, one hand tightening on Tetsusaiga's hilt. "I still can't get a scent," he growled into the dim, "not that I need to."

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"Help?" Kouga's thoughts turned dark.

Jewel shards. Jewel shards, traps, innocent casualties...

"You mean Naraku," he growled. "I would have caught his scent if him or one of his blasted puppets was here. Do you think he planted a trap and left?"
"I don't know," the exterminator shook her head. "Something about this doesn't seem quite his style."

"It is Naraku's nature to recruit less sophisticated demons to do his dirty work," agreed the monk, "but something about this scheme is lacking in complexity, unless..."

"Unless there is some part of it which has yet to come into play," finished the warrior.

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"I don't suppose you remembered to bring your arrows," Inuyasha asked bitterly.

Kagome shook her head. Not that a bow would be much good out here anyway. The darkness had grown thicker while they'd talked; Kagome found her reference points whittled down to some straggling lamplight at the bottom of the hill and the clawed grip on her arm.

But she could hear the air as one leaf hit against the next. They'd left the trees. And there was the aura, the sickening aura that was somehow familiar. The feeling built and-

"Over there!"

"I see it!" Inuyasha released her arm to meet the attack, the sheen from the transforming Tetsusaiga illuminating the face of their opponent.

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"Style? Sophisticated?" Kouga fumed, twin whirlwinds kicking up around his ankles. "Argue all you want! Kagome's out there and I'm going to bring her back!"

"He has a point," Hojo pleaded as he ran off. "Is Higurashi in danger?"

"Not if Inuyasha is with her," Miroku answered truthfully. "Still, we should follow," he nodded to Sango, "and be ready for anything." He steadied his hands on his staff, feeling the beads that held back Kazaana against his palm. If this matter was in any way involved with Naraku, then the air rip would most likely be useless...

"Alright," Hojo's voice was resolute, "let's go."

"You are not coming."

"What?"

"Houshi-sama is right," said Sango. She plucked the kitsune cub from her shoulder. "Stay here and watch the village with Shippo."

"No!" Miroku looked up to see that Shippo had shouted at the same time.

"I don't wanna stay behind if Kagome's in trouble!" protested the kit.

"Miroku," Hojo's voice dropped. "It would be alright, really."

I do not believe you.

There was a sound of a clash, and then a cry.

"Never mind it," he cast his eyes into the dimness and began to run, "We don't have time left to argue."

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The wolf prince skidded to a halt halfway up the rise.

That scent! it came to him at once. No wonder I didn't catch it before. The reek of those damn rock-worms was masking it!

He flicked his gaze toward the trees and caught sight of Inu-koro. He'd backslid into using that damn fang again. Kouga shook his head. He could make out Kagome a few feet behind the dog demon, who was jerking his head in one direction after another, as if he expected the next attack to come from anywhere. The wolf prince followed after them, frowning into the grayscale night.

Inu-koro probably couldn't see even this well, and Kagome would be all but blind.

Should he shout out to them? It would be just like that stupid mutt to jump in and attack him when all he was trying to do was save his lame dog-reeking ass and protect Kagome from whatever-

Something all but materialized in the shadows behind the human girl, something that cast a razor-cutting volley toward her neck.

Inu-koro was behind her, blocking it with the sword before a heartbeat had passed.

Kouga reached him in half that.

The sound ripped from his throat and bled scarlet into black.

"Kagura!"

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ALMASETI: I am afraid you have no grounds to sue, Mr. Kurama.

KURAMA: She traded my likeness for an item of material value.

No I didn't.

KURAMA: Then how did you get that $50 gift certificate?

I gave them $50.