InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time After Time ❯ Ashes to Ashes ( Chapter 8 )

Time After Time

 

By RosieBird

 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha doesn't belong to me. I've gotten over it, so should you! Please R&R! Sorry this took so long to crank out…work's been busy and I had a hard time deciding how I wanted this chapter to go. My thanks go to all my reviewers who continue to be patient and all my “fans” who love my work. You're the best! I said I wanted to wait until I reached 75 reviews, but hey, I'm close!

 

Chapter 8 - Ashes to Ashes

 

Miroku stared up in shock as the memory of the monster before him flooded back into his brain. The sudden onslaught flashed before him like a movie. The years of watching the tiny pinpoint of air in his hand grow larger, seeing his father swallowed up by his own cursed hand and knowing that he would one day face the same fate. Unless Naraku could be defeated. Miroku had thought Naraku destroyed and his curse finally lifted. He knew that he had died before seeing his curse lifted, but it had been gone all the same. Now, he faced the uncertainty again.

 

“Sango, move!” Miroku cried as he pushed the young woman away from him. “Shippo, please, help me find something to cover and seal off this thing!”

 

“Oh, Monk, have you been left with no source of protection for your friends?” Naraku laughed wickedly.

 

“Miroku, here!” Inuyasha called as he pulled the rosary from around his neck. Kagome stared in wonder as she recognized the submission beads she'd placed around his neck so long ago. She stared at him in wonder.

”What, it didn't occur to you how you were still able to make me sit?” Inuyasha said in exasperation.

 

Kagome realized it hadn't, but how had he gotten them.

 

“Here, take them off me.” Inuyasha said and Kagome moved to remove them.

 

“Sango!” Kagome shouted and threw the beads to the other girl. Sango caught them and fitted them over Miroku's right hand. The holy power of the beads sealed the wind up and Miroku collapsed against Sango, gasping heavily.

 

“Miroku, are you alright?” Sango asked. She blinked in alarm as she felt his hand slide south along her back. She pinched his cheek and Miroku stopped.

 

“Just checking to see if everything was still attached.” Miroku said, his eyes twinkling mischievously. Sango tried to be annoyed, but she couldn't summon up the energy. She hugged him tightly and kissed his nose.

 

“Don't ever scare me like that again!” she said firmly. Miroku nodded and stood.

 

“How do we defeat him?” Shippo asked, still clutching the cracked ground beneath him. He screamed in alarm as a large tentacle of Naraku's slithering form came crashing down toward him. He leapt aside and clung to Kagome. Naraku laughed wildly.

 

“You can't defeat me!” he shouted. “I am more powerful than you could ever know now. And without your Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha, you don't even have a fighting chance.”

 

Kagome looked at Inuyasha. He was gritting his teeth in checked fury.

 

“Without our weapons, we can't fight.” Inuyasha said. A second clawed tentacle pounded toward he and Kagome and they jumped aside.

 

“Kagome, take Shippo and hide!” Inuyasha ordered.

 

“I'm not just gonna leave you out here!” Kagome shouted back. “We have to fight back!”

 

“Do as I say!” Inuyasha snapped. “You're the protector of the jewel. You need to protect it. And I have to protect you. I promised that I would.”

 

Kagome held his gaze for a moment, trying to stare him down. But then she took Shippo by the hand and the two ran behind the equipment shed. They poked their heads around the corner to watch what would happen.

 

Naraku continued to pound the pavement with crashing blow after blow of his claws. Inuyasha and Kouga leapt out of the way on one side while Miroku and Sango jumped on the other.

 

“Sango.” Naraku hissed. “It seems a shame that you shouldn't have your own reunion. I have someone here who's been dying to see you.”

 

Sango's mouth dropped open in horror as a young boy, possibly Shippo's age, stepped out from behind the monstrous creature. He was thin and wore a black body suit and armor. In his right hand, he carried a hook and chain. But most surprising were his eyes. They looked as lifeless as a doll's.

 

“Kohaku.” Naraku sneered. “Have you nothing to say to your sister?”

 

“Kohaku?” Sango whispered and her mind was filled with new knowledge of her old life and that of her brother, Kohaku. She remembered everything about him. From start to finish.

 

“Kohaku!” Sango screamed.

 

“Inuyasha!” Miroku called. “I think I can use the wind tunnel

 

“No, Kohaku's there!” Sango shouted imploringly. Sango raced toward her lost brother only to be thrown backwards as if she were nothing more than a rag doll.

 

“Sango!” Miroku called and knelt beside the fallen woman. She lay unconscious. Miroku checked her pulse and found it strong.

 

“Poor Sango.” Naraku cackled. “Kohaku is still mine. What will you do now?”

 

Kagome felt as though her heart were pounding through her ribcage. Every horrid and heartbreaking incident of the past had returned. Naraku, Inuyasha's worst opponent had returned to torment the young man, bringing with him the fears and tears of Sango and Miroku. Kouga too was being made to relive the memory of losing his comrades with the very sight of Naraku.

 

Suddenly, Kagome realized the simplicity of the moment.

 

“The past is here,” she said.

 

“Kagome!” Shippo said through chattering teeth. “What are we going to do?”

 

Kagome bolted into the supply closet and found the archery equipment.

“I hope my hunch is right.” she said to herself and appeared with a bow and a quiver of arrows. She clutched the jewel around her neck, trying to gain strength from it.

 

“Inuyasha, you are a fool!” Naraku sneered as he brought another massive tentacle arm crashing downwards. Inuyasha dodged again and felt the sudden rush of power pierce the air as Kagome fired an arrow into Naraku's body. Naraku growled in pain and fixed the girl with his red eyes.

 

“Onigumo!” Kagome said sharply as she fitted another arrow to the notch. “Show yourself!”

 

Inuyasha watched as the monstrous form stilled and slumped to bow before the bleachers. From beneath them, a man stepped into view. A lanky man with stringy brown hair, clothed in leathers and aiming a crossbow towards them.

 

“Very good.” Onigumo said. “But you are mistaken when you call me Onigumo. I am Satoshi, the ashes of your past. Every pain, every fear, every sorrow you've ever felt, I bring to life.”

 

Inuyasha gritted his teeth. He glanced at Sango and Miroku. Miroku clutched Sango close to him as she opened her eyes weakly.

 

“What do you want, you evil monster?” Kagome spat.

 

“Isn't it obvious?” Satoshi smirked. With a flick of his finger, the monster Naraku began to strike again, aiming for Kagome.

 

“Kagome! Look out!” Inuyasha shouted and bolted towards her. Kagome turned to see the giant armed tentacle preparing to crash at her.

 

“I can't move in time!” she thought to herself. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut but the blow never came.

 

“Keep away from her!” Inuyasha sprang in front of her. Kagome let out a scream.

 

***

 

Miroku and Sango watched in horror as their friends faced death. Suddenly, they saw a burst of brilliant light as though from an exploding star. And from the center of the light came the familiar battle call of Inuyasha.

 

“WIND SCAR!” Inuyasha brought down his sword, the Tetsusaiga, in a crashing blow against the monster. The Wind Scar did its work well and Naraku was scattered to the four winds.

 

Sango looked over towards Kohaku. He stood still but his eyes were clear and bright.

 

“Sister?” Kohaku whispered. “Where are we?”

 

“Oh, my dear little brother.” Sango cried and ran towards her brother.

 

“Fools!” Satoshi snarled. Sango watched as her brother too vanished into dust. Miroku looked at his hand as the wind tunnel disappeared as well.

 

“What happened?” Miroku asked. Sango collapsed to her knees.

 

“Sango.” Miroku said and hurried over to her. She was shaking with sobs.

 

“Please, stop crying.” Miroku pleaded. Sango buried her face into Miroku and cried.

 

“My brother.” Sango sobbed. “My little brother.”

 

“Yes, I thought so.” Satoshi sneered. “Even though you've been reborn, your past is as near to you as your very hearts. I shall enjoy watching each of you suffer.”

 

“Satoshi!” Kagome shouted as she aimed her arrow again. “I'll make sure your heart's the first thing to go.”

 

“And that's only if my Backlash Wave doesn't vaporize you first.” Inuyasha growled, bearing the Tetsusaiga at him. Satoshi narrowed his eyes at the weapons aimed towards him.

 

“What do you want? The Jewel? It's useless to you.” Kagome said. Satoshi's hand twitched and something white-hot glanced across her arm and she gasped in pain. Her arrow dropped and Satoshi made his move. With lightning fast reflexes, he held Kagome in front of him and aimed a dagger at her throat. It was identical to the dagger that Mika had used the previous night.

 

“Try now, Inuyasha.” Satoshi sneered. “Use your precious Tetsusaiga on me now and you'll lose your beloved Kagome.”

 

Inuyasha gulped and gritted his teeth.

 

“What can I do?” he thought.

 

To Be Continued

 

Okay, so just to remind you, all the bad guys are going by their new names, but all the others go by their former names (unless, of course, they're around classmates…perhaps I should include a playbook with this?) This chapter was shorter, but I have a good reason to end it here. I'll have the next chapter out pretty soon, so hang in there and thanks for being so patient with me. Really, it's because of you (yes, you reading these words right now, YOU, who are my encouragement and give me confidence to write more. So, until next time…

 

Stay cool minna! From here on in, this will be fun! ^_~