InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To Remember You ❯ Waiting to Strike ( Chapter 27 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

InvincibleInuYasha: Okay, so I decided it's really cruel to leave you all hanging, so I decided to write this quick while still taking my time so I don't mess up. I'm sorry it's taking long, but you'll have to wait. It must be EXTRA JUICY just for you! But in exchange, you must review! Otherwise I will make THIS chapter private so none of you can read it again unless I send it to you. Bwahahaha!

Disclaimer: Yeah, they're not mine. None of 'em. Inu Yasha fully belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Not me. Little ol' me.



::Chapter 27: Waiting to Strike::

Tatsuya stopped immediately. Standing in front of us, was Naraku. He had his baboon costume on, and he was holding the headpiece under his arm. Tatsuya's eyes narrowed as he bared his fangs. Naraku smirked and chuckled, "I've had my poison wasps search you and Inu Yasha. You seem to be his reincarnation, if I'm not mistaken." Tatsuya muttered, "You bastard." Naraku smiled sadistically, "Excuse me? Are you really that willing to die?" Tatsuya shouted, "You BASTARD!" He lunged forward and attempted to slice Naraku's head off. Naraku dodged as if it were nothing. Tatsuya continued lunging and missing, shouting as he went, "You tried to kill me! You hurt Kagome! You killed her friends! You don't deserve to live!" Naraku kept dodging and laughing. Tatsuya stopped and said, "Stop playing games. Fight me." I shouted, "Tatsuya! Don't! He's too powerful!" Naraku said, "Even your wench denies your strength to mine. You've got no chance. I could kill you in an instant you know." His eyes pulsed a red glow that sent a chill down my spine, "But I think I'll let you die slow and painfully." I tried to move closer to Tatsuya, but I couldn't move. Only my eyes.

I saw Tatsuya's eyes filled with shock. He can't move either. I widened my eyes at Naraku. Naraku touched my face and stared into my eyes, "Do you feel the increase in my power? Since you ran away from your friends, I was easily able to collect nearly every shard. Except for one." His claws dug into my jawbone and I felt the blood trail down my neck, "Why don't you tell me where it is, little miko. Then I would spare your life. For at least a day or two." Tatsuya's eyes filled with anger and malice as he stared at what Naraku had done to my face. I tried to shout and call for Inu Yasha, but nothing came out. He had numbed my vocal cords as well. My throat was dry and painful. He snickered and asked himself, "Well, there is an infinite number of ways to torture and kill you. But I must choose one method that will quench my thirst for bloodshed, as this is a one-time opportunity, killing the miko and her hanyou. Maybe one of you have an opinion?" Suddenly, my throat stopped hurting. I coughed. Naraku asked, "So miko, which is your preferred method of torture?" I narrowed my eyes, "Do whatever you want Naraku. But trust me, Inu Yasha will come before you can do much." Naraku smirked, "Is that so, young priestess? That seems impossible, seeing as I have just disposed of your comrades. I'll let you know that the last words out of Inu Yasha explained his undying love for you." His words struck me like a wrecking ball to my heart. I felt the tears well up in my eyes. But, Inu Yasha can't be dead. We'd have heard something, wouldn't we? Tatsuya sniffed the air, "I don't smell any bloodshed of Inu Yasha or his brother. They're alive." Naraku went up to Tatsuya and closed his hand around his throat. Naraku said maliciously, "Your sense of smell has been weakened by my miasma. There are other ways to kill a person without drawing blood, you filthy hanyou." I shouted, "Let go of Tatsuya you monster! You are a hanyou yourself!" Naraku kept his grip around Tatsuya's throat and continued staring into his face as he spoke softly, "That will all change soon enough." Tatsuya sputtered and gagged, unable to breathe. His eyes rolled back into his head. He couldn't do anything to defend himself. The tears came running down my face again. Inu Yasha's dead, and now Naraku is killing Tatsuya right in front of my eyes. It's too much. I cried out, "DON'T!!!"

Suddenly I fell down on the ground. I got up, I can move. I looked down at my hands and saw a pink light coming from them. The same light that comes from my arrows when I shoot. Are these... my miko powers? Naraku dropped Tatsuya and stared and me furiously. Tatsuya seemed to have escaped from the spell too, since he was coughing and rubbing his throat. Naraku snarled, "Wench! You'll die here!" Roots shot up from the ground surrounding me, like a cage. Naraku glared at me with the most hateful look. Taking my chances, I touched one of the roots with my palm. It disintegrated and Naraku yelled in pain. The rest of the roots plunged back into the ground. I shouted at him, "I WILL KILL YOU!" Naraku said, "You're friends are dead girl. With that in mind, there's no way you will survive!" He leapt off into the shadows of the miasma.

When Naraku left, the light from my hands slowly faded away. I ran up to Tatsuya and asked, "Are you alright?" His voice was hoarse as he rubbed his throat, "Yeah, I'll be fine in a minute." He moved his hands and I saw the deep, red imprint of Naraku's hands and claws. I sat down next to Tatsuya and started to cry. Tatsuya asked, "What's wrong?" I sniffled a little, "Naraku said that he killed Inu Yasha. And he was about to kill you too. You two are the only ones left for me!" Tatsuya smiled weakly, "Kagome, thanks for stopping Naraku. I really thought I was going to die this time. I was... really scared." I got up and helped Tatsuya up, "I don't want him to kill anybody else I care for. Especially you. You were the one who helped me cope with the loss of all of my friends. I was ready to kill myself even, but you stopped me. Thanks to you, I got to see Inu Yasha again. You really turned my life around. And I don't want you to die. I always want you to be there for me." Tatsuya hugged me, "Kagome, I know how you feel. I really thought I was just going to be an outcast from the start. After my mother died, I found no point in trying. Only years later I realized that I had to get over it. You helped me with that. And when I turned into a hanyou, you didn't care. You helped me again. You also gave me a friend I never had." I thought over everything that had happened since the other time I came back from the well. And he's right. We really helped each other a lot. Tatsuya said, "We've got to go find Inu Yasha. I'm sure he didn't go down, and I don't think he will." I smiled as we went back into the castle.

We wandered through the corridors, Tatsuya using his nose to try and find anybody. We were searching for about ten minutes when Tatsuya began to sway on his feet. I asked, "Tatsuya, are you okay?" He rigorously shook his head, as if trying to shake something out. When he stopped, he said, "The miasma really gets to you, especially when you're sniffing around for so long." I said, "Then stop sniffing. I'm sure Inu Yasha will hear us if we call him." Tatsuya said, "That's not a good idea. We don't know if Naraku has any more demons. If we call, Inu Yasha, they might come and attack us." I sighed, "Then just don't sniff. Listen for them." Tatsuya said, "That's what I've been doing. But we have to be quiet now so--" His ears swiveled towards the right wing of the castle, "Someone's there." He grabbed my hand and began to run.

We got closer to the right wing when Tatsuya hissed, "It reeks of blood here. Sesshomaru must have been putting up a good fight." And it was true that he was. We passed many bleeding corpses, with head, arms, leg, or other body parts cleanly sliced off. None of the dead demons belonged to Sesshomaru. Impressive. Then I heard it. Roaring and screeching were heard clearly farther ahead. There was so much blood on the floor. Tatsuya stopped in a hallway in front of a large oak door. He opened it. Behind the door was a beautiful ballroom. Or at least, it used to be beautiful.

The floor was covered in blood and bodies, fur and feathers. The spiked chandelier had fallen on top of another demon. The walls were scorched and soaked from battle. And there, in the middle of the ballroom, was Sesshomaru. He had his Tokijin unsheathed and covered in blood, pulsing from the aura of death in the air. The only other demons remaining were from Sesshomaru's army. Sesshomaru came up to us, "Miko, the whole right wing has been cleared of enemy demons. Have you found anything?" Tatsuya said, "We found Naraku." Sesshomaru's eyes slightly widened, his stoic face still plastered on. This was a sign that it really interested him, "Did you defeat him?" Tatsuya sighed, "No. He almost killed us." Sesshomaru's eyes glanced at Tatsuya's neck, "Ah, I see. Then, do you know the whereabouts of my younger brother?" I said, "No. We were looking for him, but we found you first." Sesshomaru nodded, "I suppose we should search for him and the half-demon girl as well. Perhaps they have found demons, or even Naraku." I gulped and took a deep breath, "Naraku said... he said that he killed Inu Yasha." Sesshomaru said, "Inu Yasha would not have fallen so quickly. Let us go and search for him."

The boards squeaked with every step as we got closer to the heart of the castle. Sesshomaru's demon's stayed behind in the ballroom. They wouldn't have been able to maneuver well in the smaller castle corridors with large demons. We entered a large, dark room. Across from it, was a door. Tatsuya opened the door to a large courtyard. The grass, the trees, the bushes. Everything was dead in the yard. Except for a hanyou who was standing helplessly in the middle of the yard. I ran up to him, "Inu Yasha! You're alive!" Inu Yasha faced me, the same expression of emptiness on his face. I asked, "Inu Yasha, what's wrong?" He said, "What happened? Where's Shiori?" Tatsuya said, "Wasn't she with you?" Inu Yasha said slowly, "I... I don't remember. Something happened..." Why is Inu Yasha acting like this? I wonder if Naraku had anything to do with it. It must be. This is his castle after all, anything could happen. I said, "Inu Yasha. Where is Shiori?" He closed his eyes and tried thinking hard, "I... I can't! I don't know what happened to me! The last thing I remember was Shiori screaming in a dark room. Then I suddenly ended up in here." Sesshomaru stepped up to face Inu Yasha, "Little brother, tell me. Did Naraku do this?" Inu Yasha thought a little bit more, "Yeah. It was him. I saw him, I smelled him. But... I don't know what he did. He must have kidnapped Shiori." He began to panic, "We- We have to find her! Where did Naraku take her!? Is she okay!?" Tatsuya said, "Calm down! If you freak out like that, there's no way we'll find her in time. Don't worry about it."

We were searching for Naraku and Shiori at the same time. We were hoping to find Shiori first. Inu Yasha looked guilty the whole time. We passed room after room, Tatsuya and Inu Yasha both sniffing. We went back to the ballroom and sent the other demons in search for her as well. There were many more courtyards and rooms than I expected. All of them were dark. Except for one. In the middle of the room was a low bed, covered in black sheets. Shiori was lying on it, sleeping. Inu Yasha stepped towards her and tapped her shoulder, "Shiori? Shiori, are you alright?" She opened her eyes, "Inu Yasha? What happened?" "I have no idea. I thought Naraku had kidnapped you."

And evil chuckle came up behind us, "I did. Just to keep her as bait to lure you all here. Now die!" The room suddenly filled with a dark purple gas. More poison. Inu Yasha cursed and brought up his sleeve to his face. Shiori hid her face under her robe, Tatsuya took out the handkerchief I gave to him before, Sesshomaru used the big fluffy thing on his shoulder to cover his face, and I used my sleeve. Naraku laughed, "It's useless. The poison is too strong. You'll all just become paralyzed and I'll kill you myself."


::Chapter 27: End::


InvincibleInuYasha: Ok, I still don't know what that thing that Sesshomaru carries on his shoulder is. I've heard things like, it's his tail, or it's a pelt of a demon or something else. I don't know. And I don't want to just pick one and be wrong. It will remain known as, 'the thing' to me. lol. Oh my God! I have everything planned out! Up to the last chapter! Oooh! It's gonna be good! I hope everybody like the ending I chose. Holy crap, you know what I just realized!? the ending will totally go with the ending! I thought I made a stupid title for the story and I was going to change it eventually. But now it's perfect! Everything fits and I don't have to go with the hassle of changing names and trying to tell everybody I changed it! Wow, I'm kinda slow to not notice that earlier... YAY! Review and I'll finish this up. I'm most likely ending the story at chapter 30. Sorry if you wanted more, but that's it for my story. Ja ne!