InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ This Wasn't In The Job Description ❯ Of Battles and Swords ( Chapter 70 )

Chapter 70

 

Of Battles and Swords

 

Naraku thought it was stupid that Byakuya could not make this silly crane fly any faster. They had barely kept ahead of Sesshomaru and the traitor, Kagura. To make matters worse, that bitch Kikyou seemed to have a death wish. She kept wriggling, and almost fell off a couple times. So he finally hauled her between him and Byakuya so he could keep hold on her. Finally, they were coming in for a landing, where a cliff met the forest edge. Only thing was, Sesshomaru was gaining on them.

 

Kagura slipped from Sesshomaru's grasp, squinted her eyes at their target. Naraku and Byakuya were coming in range for her attacks. She reached for her fan, tucked in her obi.

 

“Let me bring them down,” Kagura said grimly.

 

“Are you sure you are strong enough?” Sesshomaru asked.

 

“For this, yes,” Kagura responded, and flicking open her fan, unleashed the Dance of Blades.

 

Ten sickle-shaped blades of wind whipped towards Naraku as he tried to make his descent. Byakuya looked over his shoulder and spied the oncoming attack and tried to veer away. The blades ripped into the crane, and sent the three occupants tumbling to the ground. Sesshomaru grabbed Kagura and flew down, placing her gently on the ground before drawing Tokijin. She managed not to stumble and fall from exhaustion until after he left her side.

 

“I will destroy him now,” Sesshomaru said, and leapt for Naraku who was coming to his feet.

 

“Byakuya, go look for InuYasha while I deal with this,” Naraku barked, as huge, green tentacles sprung from his back, whipping out towards the charging taiyoukai.

 

By inclination not one to engage in direct conflict, Byakuya got up and scrambled away as Sesshomaru lunged for Naraku, slicing at oncoming tentacle strikes. But he had to get past Kagura, who was sitting on the ground by the cave entrance looking pale and worn. She eyed him as he came near.

 

`Well, she does not look dangerous right now,' Byakuya thought.

 

Like a whiplash, Kagura drew out her fan and sent a wind attack at Byakuya, blasting him into the rubble of the cave. He threw his arms over his head, his ponytail blown into his face, before he hit a pile of jagged rocks. The wind sorceress smirked, and then collapsed onto her back.

 

Coughing, Byakuya raised his head. He could already tell the cave's prisoners were gone. More bad news, and he really had hoped not to fail his master. Now, he had to figure out how to deal with this situation. Slowly, he picked himself up and dusted himself off, then peered out of the cave at the ongoing battle.

 

It looked like Naraku was holding his own against Sesshomaru, but the Taiyoukai was picking up speed and strength. The blows of his sword were shattering Naraku's tentacles, and Byakuya did not know how much longer his lord could continue to regenerate. And they had another problem. It seemed Sesshomaru had noticed too.

 

When Kagura had sent her Dance of Blades attack against Naraku, they had nicked Kikyou, and the bonds on her wrists as well. She had rolled into the dirt after the collapse of the paper crane, and lay forgotten while the battle ensued. Breathing hard, she kept her eyes on the combatants while desperately working on the loosened bindings. She grimaced as she pulled, the ropes cutting into her flesh, until suddenly she felt them snap. Sitting up, she quickly started to work on the bonds on her ankles.

 

“Your prisoner is about to escape,” Sesshomaru intoned at Naraku.

 

“Don't try and bluff me,” Naraku replied.

 

“Kikyou has freed herself!” Byakuya called out.

 

“After her!” Naraku snarled, lashing at Sesshomaru once more.

 

But when Byakuya moved towards Kikyou, Sesshomaru lashed at him and he had to dodge out of the way. He moved with such lightening speed, Byakuya did not see a way around him. Another idea came to his mind.

 

“You better see to Kagura,” Byakuya shot at Sesshomaru. “Looks like your new ally is dying.”

 

Eyes glowing red, Sesshomaru snarled, and sent a huge blast at Naraku. It did tremendous damage, shattering his tentacles and ripping deeply into his body. The evil hanyou began to collapse. Spinning on his heel, Sesshomaru flew over to Kagura and picked up her limp form. Byakuya ran over to his master, who had fallen to the ground in bloody heap of greenish ooze from his lacerated tentacles.

 

“Secure Kikyou first, then take me back to the vats at the stronghold,” Naraku instructed Byakuya when he knelt over his master, leaning on a bent knee.

 

Kikyou had got heavily up off the ground, wobbling a bit as the circulation returned to her feet. Hearing Naraku say her name, she glanced at them a moment and started to run. Her mad dash for freedom did not last long. One moment she was nearing the forest edge, the next she was tackled to the ground, her chin slamming into the packed dirt hard. Dazed from the impact, she was dragged over and tied with the remains of her original bonds.

 

Taking another origami crane from his pocket, Byakuya prepared to leave. He threw Kikyou on board, but had a harder time with Naraku who was in such bad shape he also had to be dragged over and placed on their ride. To be safe, Byakuya kept the crane low, deciding not to take a direct route back and possibly run into Sesshomaru again.

 

~*~

 

Something was tickling Kagura's nose. It was blowing in her face, and she raised a leaden arm to rub it, the mokomoko feather light on her fingertips. She opened her eyes, like red slits, and looked up into the handsome face of Sesshomaru, the wind blowing through his long silver-white hair. He noticed she had woken, and glanced down at her.

 

“I must check on the battle, if it is still going on,” Sesshomaru said. “Will you be able to hold out until after that? I will take you to the vats.”

 

“Naraku…” Kagura said weakly.

 

“He will not be a problem anymore,” Sesshomaru said, his voice firm and ringing with confidence.

 

“Hmmm…” Kagura responded, letting her head fall against his chest.

 

Although his strength soothed her, Kagura had a bad feeling. Her Lord did not know of all the resources her former master had at his disposal. Naraku would not be that easy to defeat, even for the most powerful Taiyoukai in the land, although she still believed he could do it. She bit her lip and nestled her head against him, willing herself the strength to see an end to Naraku once and for all.

 

~*~

 

The three-eyed, bovine youkai steed of Totosai was munching on some hay when the ragged group disturbed his dinner. They came down from the sky on the youkai neko, and he mooed his annoyance at the interruption. Totosai hurried out to see what the matter was, then shook his head sadly as they landed. They were a mess! What had happened now? And they had brought Kenmeimaru back with them!

 

Kirara crouched low to the ground to let her passengers off. InuYasha and Kagome dismounted first, and quickly went to aid Miroku and Sango. But Sango brushed their solicitous hands away, saying she was much better and did not need their help. The only one she let help her was Miroku, who dismounted and held out his good hand for her to take. Kenmeimaru dismounted last, and walked over to Totosai with a pleasant smile and bow.

 

“Good evening Totosai-sama,” Kenmeimaru said. “Sorry to barge in on you this way, but your young friends and I have been through a most distressing ordeal.”

 

“I didn't mean to bring any harm to you, Kenmeimaru,” Totosai said. “But these young ones seem to have trouble follow them where ever they go!”

 

“Yeah, nice to see you again too, old man,” InuYasha said sourly.

 

“Well, be that as it may, we must move forward,” Kenmeimaru said evenly. “I will relay to you the events which brought us here in such a condition, and then we must move quickly to repair InuYasha's sword.”

 

“You got the tooth sorted out for me?” Totosai asked.

 

Everyone turned and looked at Kagome, who grinned sheepishly, her hands in her pockets and shrugged. The tooth was still missing. InuYasha raised an eyebrow at her, and then ran his hand tiredly down his face. Whatever - it wasn't her fault, the cave collapsed after all…

 

“So you lost it,” Totosai stated. “Figures! I'll go get the tongs…”

 

A few minutes later, InuYasha was rubbing his sore mouth. Kemeimaru unstopped the vial, and Totosai plopped the canine in. While they waited, Kenmeimaru told Totosai everything that had happened, including the part about Midoriko and the Shikon no Tama formula. Kagome, InuYasha, Miroku and Sango were more interested in watching the actual formula work on the tooth. The liquid in the vial fizzed up and became cloudy, until you could not see the contents. Slowly, it began to clear, leaving two teeth in place of the one…only smaller. One shone a brilliant white, the other was a more dull yellow.

 

“Maybe you should have second thoughts about turning full youkai,” Miroku said with a wicked grin. “You will end up a midget.”

 

“You fucking idiot, Miroku,” InuYasha said, aiming a playful punch at him.

 

But Kagome caught InuYasha's fist in her hands and frowned at the hanyou. “Don't even, InuYasha. Miroku and Sango are badly injured, too much even for a play punch.”

 

“Yeah, right,” InuYasha said, relenting, and brought his arm down around Kagome's shoulders instead.

 

Kenmeimaru carefully fished in the vial for the teeth with his long, pointed fingernails. The vial made a small screeching sound as he carefully pulled them out. He placed them in Totosai's waiting hand. The sword smith regarded them, scratching his head. He picked up the yellowish one and tossed it away.

 

“Well, I hope it is enough,” Totosai said. “We may have to pull another tooth.”

 

The look of outrage on InuYasha's face at the mention of pulling another tooth made Kagome laugh, covering her mouth so as not to antagonize him. But her eyes glittered with merriment. Miroku and Sango chuckled softly.

 

“Don't get your fuzzy head into a tizzy yet, young hanyou,” Totosai said. “I'll start with this tooth and let you know.”

 

Carrying the tooth between two claw-tipped fingers, Totosai shuffled back into his forge. There was a loud, growling noise, and Kagome looked at InuYasha's stomach. He raised his hand to it and rubbed. She decided it was time to cook some dinner, and took off her backpack. Digging around, she saw they were running low on supplies. They would have to supplement their dinner with what they could find. InuYasha volunteered to go hunt for them.

 

Forty-five minutes later, the five of them plus Kirara sat eating the rabbit stew Kagome had cooked for them around the fire pit. The sky was glowing orange and pink with sunset. The only other source of illumination was their fire and the glow coming from Totosai's forge. He had been banging away in there for an hour. They made subdued and pleasant conversation, punctuated by the clanging. But Kagome's mind wandered over the connection she had made today between Kenmeimaru and their quest.

 

“Kenmeimaru, can you tell us more about how you met Midoriko and how she has been all this time?” Kagome asked.

 

Putting his empty bowl on the ground, Kenmeimaru rested his elbows on his folded knees, and looked up at Kagome. She looked back at him with a modicum of curiosity, trying to moderate her eagerness for his story with politeness. InuYasha, Sango, and Miroku also stopped talking to listen to what the youkai had to say.

 

“One night, almost a year ago, I came across her,” Kenmeimaru replied. “She was moving boxes on a hand cart past my cave. She had a wild look in her eyes, as if she was afraid of something, so though curious, I decided just to watch her at first. Over the course of several nights, I would see her laboriously bringing loads of strange items by. I did not interfere, until the night she was obviously injured. I followed her, as she staggered towards the series of caves that are not far from mine, and she fell. She was violently startled at first, when I came to her aid. But I was able to assure her I meant her no harm. From that day on, I have been her friend and protector, her only link to the world outside the caves she has been hiding in.”

 

“And in return for your help, she gave you the Shikon no Tama formula,” Kagome conjectured.

 

“She perfected it here,” Kenmeimaru said, nodding. “I assisted her, and in thanks, she gave me a small portion of it. I use it to help others who seek me out, but they don't know what it is. They think it is only youkai magic.”

 

“How long had she planned to stay here?” Sango asked. “Did she ever plan to come back to the human realm?”

 

Kenmeimaru nodded. “She was hoping Lord Sesshomaru would be victorious over Naraku, so she would be free to return.”

 

“That bastard,” InuYasha scoffed, crossing his arms. “He obviously is not as powerful as he thinks, otherwise Naraku would have been defeated by now.”

 

Biting her lip, Kagome looked at the disdainful expression on InuYasha's face. She remembered the battle they fell into, and how she thought that if InuYasha joined forces with his brother, Naraku could be defeated. In her heart, she still believed it was the right choice of action. But the way InuYasha was acting, it did not look forthcoming.

 

“There is one thing that always puzzled me,” Miroku mused allowed. “How is that both Naraku and seemingly Midoriko both had portals nearby when they needed them?”

 

“Good question,” Sango said. “I guess I never really thought about it, but you are right. I thought portals were rare.”

 

“You are both right,” Kenmeimaru answered. “Naraku stole the ability to stabilize portals within a local vicinity from Midoriko. It has something to do with nanotech.”

 

Just then, Totosai emerged with Tessaiga in hand. InuYasha jumped up and went over to him, reaching for the repaired sword. Totosai looked reluctant to give it back, holding it close to his scrawny chest. InuYasha pulled his hand back when he suddenly felt something bite him, and slapped at his neck. A small, flattened form fell off him and drifted to the ground.

 

“You little shit, Myoga,” InuYasha said. “I wondered where you had gotten to. You are always the coward, hiding behind Totosai's skirts when danger appears.”

 

“Good to taste you again, Lord InuYasha,” Myoga said. “I stayed to make sure Tessaiga was safe.”

 

“Sure you did,” InuYasha said, a sardonic twist to his lips.

 

“Myoga has convinced me to tell you of Tessaiga's ultimate attack,” Totosai said. “Although I doubt you can master it.”

 

“Don't be so quick to judge me, old man,” InuYasha spat. “Just tell me - I'll show you I can do it.”

 

Cradling Tessaiga in his arms, Totosai looked InuYasha up and down a moment and shook his head. InuYasha snarled at him impatiently.

 

“Alright! It is called the backlash wave,” Totosai said.

 

~*~

 

The vat bubbled, greenish and black over the form of Naraku, while Kanna and Byakuya stood vigil over it. Byakuya had had the distasteful task of putting Naraku in it with assorted lower youkai to be absorbed. All that could be seen was the hanyou's face, his eyes closed and profile pale in the turbid muck of the nanotech vat. In time, the bubbling stopped, and the rest of his body emerged. He was whole and strong once more, gleaming like a baby fresh from the womb. Opening his eyes, he reached for the sides of this horrid birthing chamber and pulled himself out. Kanna ran up to him and slipped a red silk robe over his nude form. Byakuya had been waiting to redeem himself once his master was healed. He stepped in front of Naraku and bowed, and got his attention. Eyes like red embers gave him an appraising look.

 

“I know where InuYasha is headed,” Byakuya said. “He must have returned to Totosai. The hanyou won't continue to look for the Shikon no Tama formula without his sword.”

 

“I see,” Naraku replied. “Go get Kikyou out of the dungeon, we will leave at once.”

 

“Yes…”