InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomorrow ❯ Chapter 20 ( Chapter 20 )

Chapter Twenty

 

SesshoMaru sat on top of the little shrine. He knew InuYasha was still sitting awake inside, unable to sleep on such a night. The humans, however, were all slumbering peacefully. SesshoMaru was left alone with his thoughts.

 

He stared upwards at the twinkling stars, so many more in view on a night with no moonlight to drown them, showing stars that one could not normally see from such a low elevation. At the tops of mountains, so close to the stars, you could see thousands of them. And there had been nowhere that you could see more than from the top of InuYama.

 

InuYama. He hadn't thought about it in so long; another memory that he had put away, hoped to forget about, because if you forgot about something then it as good as never happened.

 

But it had happened, and he knew that he'd always know it, no matter what; like Kagura, he knew he'd never forget it. Even now, in the stillness of the night, he could smell the rank stench of an ocean of blood and fire. In the silence, he could still hear the screams of the dying as they were blown apart, the sound still too loud after over two hundred years; yet even worse than the screams of the dying masses were the shrieks of the living, those torn by a pain worse than by blade or fire, until such tools ended it.

 

“SesshoMaru!”

 

He closed his eyes, as if blocking out the sound. He could still see the little hand falling limp, blood spiraling down the small arm.

 

And it was happening again. The world had seemed, if not good, then at least peaceful, for a too short period of time. A fragile peace, one that was now degenerating rapidly into fire and blood and screaming.

 

***************************************************************** *******************************

 

“I was a little younger than you all, at the time,” Yuudai said, “but I'll never forget it, even though it were over two hundred years ago.”

 

Yuki and Kazuki were sitting down, side by side, watching the wolf unreadably. Mitsuko was bandaging Kazeko's hand- in her fury at her father, Kazeko's nails had pierced her palm. Isamu was watching the wolf intently, Haruka still clutching his hand. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. The clan of the Inu-youkai?

 

“You kids ever seen an Inu-youkai?” Yuudai asked though fully. He missed the flicker of glances to Isamu and back.

 

“One or two,” Yuki said carefully.

 

“Then you're damn lucky, `cos one or two's all that's left. Matter of fact, I'm surprised there's more than one. Guess he saved her.” The old wolf seemed to be telling the story more to himself than them.

 

“There used to be more?” Kazeko asked tentatively. “What happened to them?”

 

“Like I said, I'm not sure it's my story to tell,” Yuudai said. “But back in that time, in that place, when the scent of blood was filling my nose and the taste of vomit was filling my mouth... Otou-san, he made me look, and he said, `Look at it, Yuudai. Remember it. They deserve to be remembered. And maybe, just maybe, as long as somebody it remembers, it won't happen again.' So I'll tell you, since I figure you cubs're gonna outlive me, and besides, I get a funny feeling about you all. Like maybe you need to hear.” He took a deep breath, stared into the fire for a second, seeing somewhere and somewhen that none of them could; then, he began to speak.

 

“If you go back maybe a bit over two hundred and twenty years, the Inu-youkai are big. Really big. There's a good few hundred of them, actually, and they're all shit-powerful. More powerful than any other kind of youkai there is. You know there's legends of Tennyo coming to earth, marrying mortals, then carrying off to the heavens again after pumping out a few kids? Well, as the stories go, there were a few Tennyo married wolf-youkai instead. Their kids were the first Inu-youkai. Dunno how many thousands of years ago this was supposed to be, dunno whether it's true or not, but one thing I know for sure: They were shit-powerful. And their clan leader? Well, he would've been the most powerful youkai in this world, I'd say. I vaguely remember Otou-san talking about the old one, the one who died back at InuYama, and this guy really had proved himself to be strong as fuck. Pardon the language, girls, but there's just no way to stress how strong this guy was. Can't remember his name, though. He was only ever referred to as the “Inu No Taishou”- the Lord of the Dogs.” He didn't hear Isamu's sharp intake of breath, but the rest noticed it; They had only heard that title once before, in reference to Isamu's long-dead grandfather, from whose fang Tessaiga and Tenseiga were forged.

 

“Anyway,” Yuudai continued, oblivious, “Most youkai didn't mess with them. They were a good sort, anyway- most youkai, with that kinda power, would just go on a killin' spree. Not them. They taught all their pups well. Didn't kill humans if they could avoid it, didn't seek fights, shared their hunting grounds if another clan was in need. Our hunting grounds bordered theirs, we sometimes ran into a few. I had a couple of friends my age there. It was the kinda peace you just don't find among youkai. But of course, there were always those who didn't like `em. Youkai from the continent, they'd tried to take over and been beaten back more times than I care to remember, and there was this clan- neko-youkai, ain't that hilarious- who were always challengin' `em. Always got beat, but that didn't stop `em. Anyway, two hundred and twenty years ago, I'm fourteen, and I'm out hunting with Otou-san when I hear all this noise in the distance, on the Inu-youkai land. Otou-san said he figured that those baka-neko were attacking again, and we'd best be well out of it. We could see InuYama from there- biggest mountain anywhere, you could probably see it from the east coast. I was just thinkin' that when there was this huge noise, like an explosion, and a rumbling- and InuYama was collapsing and falling to the ground.”

 

“Collapsed?” Mitsuko said in shock. “Was there an earthquake?”

 

“I'll bet big money there wasn't,” Kazuki said grimly. “Even in earthquakes, I've never heard of an entire mountain collapsing to the ground.”

 

“Although there was Hakureizan,” Yuki said thoughtfully. “Remember when Okaa-san told us about that?”

 

“I'd say the boy's won the big money,” Yuudai said grimly. “I heard about Hakureizan, oh yeah. Whole damn mountain destroyed by the same bastard who wiped out the clans years back.”

 

“So it was a youkai?” Kazeko asked, in shock.

 

“Somehow, I don't think so...” Isamu said grimly. If the Inu No Taishou that Yuudai was talking about was his grandfather, then the one who killed him...

 

“The boys win again,” Yuudai said. “It was no youkai. It was a dragon, from the continent. I guess some of the youkai there had found some way to convince it to lend them a hand, or maybe they just told it that it would get to kill. Who knows? But dragons are way stronger than youkai. This one weren't much, as dragons go, according to Otou-san, but that doesn't mean it weren't one powerful fucker. And it blew InuYama to the ground- killing the children, the mothers, the invalids, anyone who weren't out fighting. Killed in a collapse of fire and rock.”

 

“Oh, Kami,” Haruka said, squeezing Isamu's hand to support him. The Inu-hanyou had frozen completely.

 

“Well, when we saw that, we ran faster than the late Koga-sama himself to get to the mountain. Couldn't've taken us more than minutes, but we only got there in time to see the end of it. In time to see that last two left alive.”

 

“What do you mean?” Kazeko said sharply.

 

“When we got there, there was blood everywhere. It was pooling in fucking lakes among the rubble, torn bodies floating in it. You seen a youkai killed in battle? Their body goes, vanishes into dust, nothing left, `cos it's all in the graveyard. But slaughters like that ain't battle. The bodies stay. There were warriors there too, men and women alike, they must've come running back when the mountain fell. There was no sign of the Inu No Taishou, but there was this distant howling, so I figure he must've stayed behind to fight off the cats while his son led the others back to the mountain. The son was the only one alive at this point, y'know. He was in `is true form- doubt you've ever seen an Inu-youkai's true form, but they're big as fuck. And he was torn up. We saw `im lunge at the dragon and get blasted back, fireball to the gut, he knocked a huge crater into the ground.” Kazeko sobbed involuntarily at this point. If the Inu No Taishou was Isamu's grandfather, then the son was SesshoMaru.

 

“Well, he changed back to human and fell into the crater,” Yuudai said bitterly. “We all ran over to see if we could help `im, looking out for anyone who might be alive, but the dragon was charging up again. Guess it wanted to finish `im, and us, too, just `cause we were there. Then the Inu No Taishou got back; transformed, running, fucking furious. He leapt on that dragon, and he was bigger, much bigger than the son had been transformed, a bit bigger than the dragon. It slashed its claws through his stomach, damn well disembowelled `im, but he didn't notice- just slammed it into one o' the piles o' rock, claw through its heart. Tore the claw out of `is paw, but he didn't notice that, either- guess it hurts less than losing a few miles of gut. The dragon struggled for a second then fell asleep. Otou-san said the seal would drain it of its power- it would die, eventually, and if it ever woke up it wouldn't be even half as powerful as it was.” Isamu couldn't help wincing at the bloody tale of his grandfather's death. He knew some of it, from his father, but only that his grandfather had fought the dragon Ryukossei and died from his wounds.

 

“So there we were. Dragged the couple of `em down among the rubble, patched `em up, but it was clear the Inu No Taishou weren't gonna live and we weren't too sure about the son, either, but he healed up pretty good. We started digging up bodies out of the rubble. One day, we found a ton of babies, crushed flat as a plate. Must've been a nursery den. It was horrible.” By this point, tears were streaming down Mitsuko, Haruka and even Yuki's faces. Kazeko had been openly sobbing for a while, since the description of SesshoMaru's defeat. Kazuki looked like he wanted to vomit. Isamu had thought that the tale of the Yourozoku's slaughter had been too horrible to process, but this account of even more horrible slaughter, of a mountain flowing with blood barely removed from his own, was a million times worse. He wondered if his father knew. Judging by his reaction to Totosai's remarks, probably not.

 

“What...” Isamu cleared his throat; his voice was inexplicably hoarse and tight. “What happened after that?”

 

“The night after we found the nursery,” Yuudai said, “We came back to the cave and they were both gone. The son returned at dawn, and told us only that his father had died. He said he would deal with the bodies. He seemed... so changed, so haunted. I'd seen him once or twice before, when our hunting parties met theirs. He'd seemed pretty friendly, actually. Really cared about his clan, and everyone in it, which is a good thing in the future leader, eh? But now... cold as ice. He just told us to be gone, and that we could extend our hunting grounds since his clan clearly no longer needed them.”

 

“SesshoMaru-sama,” Kazeko rasped out, still crying. Yuudai nodded.

 

“You're heard of `im, have ye? Well, `e is pretty famous. I hear he's stayed cold all these years since. I'm not surprised. It breaks you, knowing you're alone. Your friends, your family, your clan, your world... all gone, somewhere you can't bring `em back. You don't wanna ever open up to anyone again, don't wanna care about anyone ever again, `cos you know they'll die too, someday, one way or another, and you don't wanna feel that pain. I dunno what went through `is head while `e dug out them bodies and lighted the funeral bonfires, but I know what went through mine. I ain't telling, `cos you won't understand and I'm prayin' to heaven that you'll never have to, but at the end of it, you don't care anymore. Nothing matters anymore. Nothing.”

 

***************************************************************** *******************************

 

Once again, SesshoMaru found himself staring at them; the feather and the hairclip.

 

When Kagura died, for no real reason, he'd found himself following the feather that had blown away from her disintegrating body, and suddenly, the wind had stopped and it had fallen into his hand. It was on a grassy slope, overlooking a large and beautiful lake. He had wondered if Kagura had ever come here, and, without thinking, tucked it into the little pouch where he kept only one other item: the hairpin.

 

He stared at the blue flower on the hairpin. The clip itself was stained with ancient, brown blood, but somehow, the little blue flower had remained pristine. Wasn't that hairpin why he had pushed Kagura away? He had kept it to remind himself of InuYama. It was supposed to remind him not to get too close to anyone. There was no point. Everyone died, and it hurt too much when they did. He came up with any number of excuses for ignoring Kagura, but in his heart he knew it was because he was a coward: he feared that pain. And in the end, it had made no difference at all. It had hurt just as much.

 

It had hurt every time. When the clan had been crushed in InuYama; when he'd led the warriors back to be slaughtered. In his head he knew that if they hadn't returned, they would have always felt guilty for leaving the others to die, and they would have been hunted down and wiped out anyway. It couldn't kill the guilt.

 

“Do you still insist on going?”

 

“Do you intend to stop me, SesshoMaru?”

 

“...I will not stop you.”

 

There hadn't been anything to be done for his father. He would have died anyway. But SesshoMaru had let himself grow even more bitter, pushing away Izayoi and blaming her and his newborn half-brother for what felt like the loss of the last family he had left. His mother didn't count; she had always been as cold as he had become, and when she left, SesshoMaru had been glad to see his father to find his own happiness again. But in the end he'd left Izayoi, who'd done so much for his father, alone; and she had died at her father's hands years later. No matter how hard he tried to avoid it, he was hurt time and again.

 

And now there was Kazeko. She was just as compelling, just as soothing to his soul, as Kagura had been. He did not want to take that risk again. But what choice did he have? Like Kagura before her, he just couldn't bring himself to be indifferent to her; he knew that he cared about her, had done before he even realized it. He was caught between the fire and hell. If he pushed Kazeko away, if he lost her too, it would hurt. He knew it would hurt. But if he let himself care for her and protect her, then if he failed again and he lost her, it would hurt more. It would hurt too much. SesshoMaru had survived three centuries of loss; but he wasn't too arrogant to admit that one more would break him. He knew it would.

 

He also wasn't too arrogant to think that he really had a choice.

 

***************************************************************** *******************************

 

“So that's why there's almost none left…” Isamu said faintly. Yuudai looked up at him and the others, seeming to remember that they were there. He shook his head sadly.

 

“Yeah,” he said. He looked over at Kazeko and Mitsuko, both crying, as well as the green-faced Kazuki and Yuki, who was repeatedly punching the ground in anger. “Maybe I shouldn't've told you all this…”

 

“No, it's all right,” Haruka said, shaking her head. Isamu reached out and wiped away her tears, very white-faced. “Thank you for sharing the story.”

 

“Thanks for sharing the fire.” Yuudai stood up, sighing heavily.

 

“Wait… where are you going?” Kazuki asked, confused. The wolf looked grimly to the south.

 

“I've been looking all over, and there's no-one else left,” he decided. “So I'm going for him.” He stared up at the stars, distantly, with an odd determination behind his eyes. “You know, the Inu No Taishou had a human mate near the end,” he said eventually. “The day he disappeared from InuYama, the human who was trying to marry her died- his castle burned to the ground. I guess he saved her, I hear she was pregnant. Anyway, years later, we were passing by her father's castle, and he saw my sister and started screamin' and screamin' about ghosts. Eriko did look a little like the human mate, I guess. She started stalkin' the old man, and in the end, he killed himself, yelling, `I'm sorry I killed you, but you can't blame me, I didn't kill him, he ran away, it was the winter that did it.' Dunno what the hell he was on about, but now I think maybe she ended up at his and he killed her, her baby too, maybe. But he got killed by a ghost, and that's what's gonna happen to that bastard Yamazaki. I'm going' for `im, and I've little doubt that it'll kill me, but I'm not moving on yet. Not `til I've haunted that bastard to the ends of the earth. He's gonna pay, see. I ain't movin' on `til I see him die screaming. I'm gonna make him pay in the only way I can.”

 

***************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ****************************************************

 

Your wish is granted, Saphira404...

 

The Yourouzoku are the wolf-demon clan. Three were wiped out by Naraku; two by Kagura in her first appearance, and a third came much later on in the manga (It's not been published in English yet), when Hakudoshi sought to draw Koga out and steal his Shikon shards.

 

The tale of InuYama is entirely my own creation, but I've woven it around what facts did come from the manga and third movie: InuPapa fought and sealed Ryukossei (Don't tell me It's Ryukotsusei- apparently, it was the same kanji mistake they made with “Tessaiga/Tetsusaiga”), sustaining horrible injuries in the process, saved Izayoi then died in the burning castle, a combination of wounds and several tons of burning wood landing on his head.

 

InuYasha is the property of Takahashi Rumiko-Sensei, and I claim no ownership of any of it. All couples not involving original characters will be strictly canon. Aside from Haruka, Yuki and Kazuki, I made up all of the kids, though since birthdates other than Kazuki's were never really stated in the manga, nor names, I've made these up as well. This fanfic will make little sense if you have not read the entire manga, and I'm afraid that to read the last twenty or so volumes you will have to (at the time of writing) venture into the internet, but I strongly suggest that you do buy the Tankoban volumes for yourself, so that Takahashi-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with her imagination. Anyway, hope you enjoy the fic. ^_-