InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To live for you. ❯ A Futile Encounter ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: So what!? Even if I don't own InuYasha! Even if Rumiko Takahashi does! I still rule the world! Be afraid! Mwahaha!

 

A/N: Well I'm through with my exams! YAY! Though I only got A for my English. But I'm still happy! Screw Math!! Long live First Foreign Language and Professional Communication!! *dances happily*

 

So, anyway, here's the next chapter. I had to spend a couple of hours on Wikipedia to get the first part right. I must say, Sesshy's Tenseiga is rather boring! Having only the Meidou Whatsit and the healing attack. So I added some more, they're not named, consider them something like power waves or whatever… It's not crucial for the plot ^__^

 

Ok, Enjoy and review!

 

~Chapter 6~

 

~A Futile Encounter~

 

Lord Sesshomaru was standing on the top of a rocky cliff. His impeccably white robes were flowing around his tall frame. The youkai lifted his one hand and ran the slender clawed fingers through his silver mane. He could sense something was near. Something that was not very pleasant. Something… that reeked of Naraku. And that stench ran throughout his very being. Sesshomaru was trying to feel it with every part of his body, to understand it better.

 

He had left the rest of his party behind. He needed to be alone, when he met Naraku's incarnation. Yes, he was sure of it, whatever it was that was approaching; it could not be the hanyou himself. Nevertheless, the youkai wasn't able to grasp the reason of the strong aura surrounding the would-be-guest. It was weaker than Naraku's but definitely more powerful than any of his offspring could conjure. Either Naraku had created a completely new creature, or he gave some kind of amplifier to a former one.

 

It had been a good decision to face the hanyou's incarnation alone. Sesshomaru couldn't afford putting Rin's life in danger anymore. He used to think himself invincible, not even death could have brought him to his knees. Who would have thought that a mere human child would make him kneel over her lifeless body and suffer? Suffer more than he ever did. The great Lord never thought that such kind of pain could ever overtake him. Not even when InuYasha cut his hand off, did Sesshomaru feel that broken.

 

Even several weeks after his visit to his mother, the youkai caught himself searching for Rin every time she ran out of his sight. Even if his acute nose told him, that the child was near and well, Sesshomaru only relaxed when he actually saw her running happily towards him with a bunch of some unnamed flowers in her hands. She would lose half of then on her way, and her short feet would stumble a bit, but she would always reach her goal, and send her warm smile at the tai-youkai. He didn't understand why it affected him so much, nor did he care. This feeling didn't dull any of his skills or sensations, if anything, it only made them keener.

 

The tai-youkai inhaled again. Now the smell of miasma was much stronger.

 

Soon.

 

Sesshomaru pulled Tenseiga out and crouched a tiniest bit. No one would have noticed the minor change in his stance. But the electric tension in his muscles would pay off, once the enemy was in sight. All the remaining thoughts of the girl were dismissed and forgotten, clearing his head of anything that had nothing to do with what the youkai was about to face.

 

Yes. It was near. Soon. Very soon.

 

As if an answer to his thoughts the clouds began to crowd over his head. Seconds later he saw a short figure emerge from them in a transparent pink bubble.

 

Sesshomaru bared his teeth once the scent told him all he needed to know. “Byakuya…” The tai- youkai had no doubts about the reasons of the visit. The boy. Naraku wanted the jewel shard in Kohaku's back. It may be the only one missing for the hanyou to complete the whole Shikon no Tama. If that was so, Sesshomaru knew that, if Naraku were to get what he wanted, his power - which was great, as it was - would increase immensely! As any other artifact, parts of the Jewel were very precious, many of them - even more, but if the Jewel was complete… Oh, its might could not be compared to whatever number of shards. When at least one was missing, Naraku would not be able to uncover the true potential of the Gem.

 

It was strange, though, that Byakuya had come after him, Sesshomaru, when he was bound to notice that the brat was missing. Of course, the youkai made sure that no one would be able to smell the rest of his group out, leaving them under the protection of a barrier deep, deep in the forest.

 

“Greetings, Lord Sesshomaru.” Byakuya's voice was soft and calm. Sesshomaru didn't bother to answer. Instead he leapt into the air and swung his sword at the rosy orb. As expected, that didn't damage the protecting bubble in the least, but Sesshomaru got his message across loud and clear: there would be no threats and talks in vain.

 

Byakuya laughed dryly. “There is no need to be so aggressive, Lord Sesshomaru. I merely wish to talk to you.”

 

“I care not for what you have to tell me.” The youkai was standing tall and rigid. His had was slightly raised and tilted back, obviously prepared for another deadly blow. Byakuya decided not to temp his luck and floated up into the air, where he began to spin around the standing youkai. Every moment, in the place where the barrier had been, appeared a new one. An identical copy of the circumference and its owner inside. `He's creating doubles of himself' Sesshomaru thought. `Very good ones. They even mimic the scent. This shall be interesting' “How very astute, creature. However, it is not going to help you save your life.”

 

Byakuya watched as Sesshomaru closed his eyes. `I have to think fast. He won't hesitate to kill me. What I need is to understand where the last shard is.' The demon had to break his train of thoughts to avoid being crashed by a powerful attack that his opponent had thrown at him. It seemed that the tai-youkai decided to attack all the illusions instead of looking for the right one. Byakuya drew his lotus flower and moments later there was a big cloud of miasma right below his feet.

 

The dark air was so thick that it almost seemed liquid. Sesshomaru chocked when he tried to take a breath. He could not smell, he could not see and he was sure that Naraku's brat was smart enough not to move so there was no possibility for the lord to hear his opponent. All he had to rely on was his intuition and battle skill. Not little… If you are Sesshomaru, that it. The youkai tensed when a voice cut through the caustic waves of shouki.

 

“Lord Sesshomaru, how are you feeling?” The comment was dripping with sarcasm. “You should have let me talk when I offered you such opportunity. I might have spared your life. This concentrated miasma is too much even for a tai-youkai like you.” Sesshomaru heard a faint whoosh of air above him. So the brat was descending…

 

A very low gnash of metal… `Apparently I gave him too much credit.' An ominous smile snaked on Sesshomaru's lips. `The sound will lead me.'

 

“Now tell me, where did you hide the one, who carries the last part of the Jewel?” Byakuya's voice was ringing all around. Was he moving that fast? Or he was just creating another illusion. Of his voice now, it seemed. `No matter. I will deal with him either way.' The youkai leaped up, trying to avoid the toxic cloud, but found that there was a pink half-sphere surrounding it. `A barrier?' “Sesshomaru, your time is running out! Your body can live without air only so long. What's the use of wasting your life for sake of a mere human?”

 

A loud crash sounded through the mountains. Byakuya looked down, what he saw didn't please in the least. The purple veil was quickly disappearing, as if it were being sucked out. Right in the middle there was Sesshomaru. His bored eyes were watching the miasma vanish in the crescent-moon shaped portal.

 

“The Meidou Zangetsuha” Byakuya mused. `Very smart, Lord Sesshomaru, very smart'

 

Once the last drop of the poisonous aura had ebbed, the barrier blinked and faded away. There was no smile in the youkai's face anymore, but the cold mask that replaced it was all but cracking and screeching with arrogance when Sesshomaru said “Indeed, there isn't.” With that he lifted his sword to take another swing at Byakuya, but the demon was already in the air, mounting his origami.

 

Lord Sesshomaru sheathed Tenseiga and walked away.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

InuYasha was getting really tired of these games. More so, his head was starting to spin from all those time-travels.

 

They went to her time. She got mad.

 

He left. She got mad.

 

Chased after him. Got lost in the middle of the forest. He found her. She got mad. Again.

 

Left. Got lost - who would have doubted it? He found her. She got mad - see trend here?

 

He carried her home. She was still mad!

 

Now the hanyou was sitting on Kagome's bed and waiting for the girl to come out of the shower. He was pissed. Beyond pissed. But at least he got to put some sense into the wench's head. They were going lo leave tomorrow at midday, and because they had spent the better part of the night running around, they had only a few hours to sleep. `Which means', the hanyou thought with glee `that school is out of question. InuYasha - 1, wench - 0.' Maybe that night hadn't been that bad, after all.

 

The boy scowled at a pillow. Still, what was that, that had possessed him to cover her with his haori? Try as he might, the hanyou just couldn't get his head around it, and what was worse he knew for a fact that he would do it again. It just felt right somehow. `Well screw it, if she is able to put up with my other… um … habits, she may as well start learning to live with one more, `cause she ain't leaving my sight for nothing.' At that a pout appeared on his face `She has to smell like me, so that no one will touch her'

 

`That's bullshit, you know that right? Humans can't smell you on her, and for powerful youkai your half-breed smell is an extra reason to slice her up real nice.'

 

`They can sniff me on her just as well! Even if I don't sleep with her. NEAR her! I meant near her.'

 

`Keh!

Yeah, but you want her to smell of you.'

 

`For her protection!'

 

`We've already discussed that, didn't we?'

 

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he completely missed it when the girl entered the room. “Um, InuYasha?” The hanyou jerked up his head. “What's wrong with you? You look as if you were having some inner debate, or something, with your expressions changing like that for no reason…”

 

The hanyou almost rolled his eyes at that. `You don't know the half of it'.

 

Kagome had arrived just in time to see the hanyou begin to pout, torturing an unfortunate pink pillow with his claws. She smiled to herself. `Does he even know, how cute he looks when he does that?' Deciding that the reason for the half-demon's stuck out lip was her prolonged shower, she was about to say something… But then, unexpectedly, InuYasha raised his eyebrow and scoffed. A low growl and a show of a pair of two very sharp canines followed it. Kagome stood there, not knowing whether to laugh, or snap the hanyou out of his reverie. Watching his expression change a couple of more times she decided on the latter.

 

“Nothing's wrong with me, wench!” He snapped and motioned his hand towards the bed. “Go to sleep, will ya? You're not taking a nap on my back tomorrow. I need you wide awake, to feel the bastard's shard.”

 

Kagome decided not to press the matter and climbed on her bed, flipping the light switcher off on her way. She was about to close her eyes, but then noticed that InuYasha, it seemed, wasn't planning on falling asleep any time soon. In fact he was standing in the middle of the room and looking at her. His expression pensive and arms crossed as his ears were tweaking rhythmically.

 

“Inu… Yasha? Aren't you going to sleep?” The hanyou heard the tentatively asked question, but chose to ignore it, since he was busy solving yet another problem.

 

`So… how do I pull this off?'

 

`Keh, like always! Just do it, and then answer the questions. On second though, just do it. Period.'

 

`Right.'

 

With that InuYasha approached the bed, and snatched his hands under Kagome's body. The girl gave a yelp of surprise, which he paid no attention to, and promptly lifted her from the bed. That done the half-demon seated himself where she was just lying and placed her on his lap, twisting the girl a bit so that her legs were stretched parallel to his. InuYasha turned and fluffed the pillow behind him and leaned back. Kagome was staring at him with eyes as wide as saucers but he still didn't give any sign of acknowledgment, and pulled the tucked in part of his red haori from his pants, draping it around her. It was difficult it keep ignoring the girl's questioning glances and surprised moans when he bent to haul the blanket over them, but he managed well and closed his eyes with a sigh.

 

Kagome pushed herself up putting her hand on his chest for support as she turned in his embrace to be able to see his face. And though he looked asleep, she knew better. She kept watching him for a while, in case he decided to be a man and explain things himself, without her having to ask. No such luck. He just lay there breathing peacefully, though Kagome could feel his heart beating rapidly under her right hand. So, he was trying to get away with it, huh?

 

“InuYasha…”

 

“Sleep, wench!”

 

The girl frowned at him. His beating became more erratic. `He's afraid…' she realized. It didn't matter why he did this, but he was afraid that she would refuse him. Kagome smiled. That special smile that was secret, the one that was reserved only for him. She laid her head on his chest and sighed happily.

 

InuYasha couldn't believe his luck. She didn't push it! She just let it slip. And she actually accepted his touch. Not that he ever doubted it. Kagome had always trusted him. Had always been by his side him. She had never flinched at his nearness. It seemed that she rather enjoyed such kind of closeness with him. Even knowing all that, InuYasha was about to jump from joy when the girl relaxed in his embrace. But, sure enough, his happiness didn't last long.

 

“InuYasha?” She muttered softly.

 

`Stick to the plan, stick to the plan…' his head chanted. InuYasha's mind was all fuzzy from the warmth of her body so near his, so he decided not to be original. “Sleep, wench!”

 

However Kagome didn't seem to collaborate. She ignored his request and said. “Can I ask you a question?” Under her ear his heart was thundering like a mad drum. She grinned, while a single happy tear slipped from her cheek and left a wet mark on the hanyou's inner haori. That seemed to only encourage his heart into a crazier rhythm.

 

`Was that a tear?'

 

`No, she's content, can't you feel it. Questions always have some catch in them! Do. Not. Screw. It.'

 

`Ok, no smart questions means no stupid answers. Got it.'

 

“InuYasha?” Her voice was barely a whisper. He wouldn't have heard it, were he a simple human. `The plan! The plan!' Like a mantra he repeated to himself. But his resolution was melting swiftly.

 

“What, Kagome?” He hissed trying to sound annoyed. He heard her intake of breath. `I did it, didn't I?'

 

“Never mind, you already answered it.” She wrapped her hands around his torso and pressed herself more into the warmth of his embrace. “'Night, InuYasha.”

 

A/N: Special thanks to InusDemoness for her support and recommendation!