InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Trust ❯ Chapter 34

Well, well. Coming up on the home stretch now. You know what finally helped with the writer's block? I re-read the whole story. Seems pretty obvious, but it helped more than I thought it would.

Thanks for those who have stuck with it all this way. And also thanks to those who have sent emails and left encouraging reviews. It really does help.

I hope you all enjoy.

Ch. 34

Sango wiped her best friend's brow as she winced at Kouga's grunts of pain. Kagome was doing her best to stop his bleeding, but given her inexperience, it was a slow and painful process, draining on both of them.

Kagome was terrified, but determined not to let it show. She blocked out the sounds of fighting as best she could, but with Inu Yasha's anger and pain seeping through their Bond, it was almost impossible to focus on Kouga.

"I was able to stop the bleeding, Kouga. But I can't heal it completely. I'm so sorry." She said softly.

Kouga's eyes were heavy, but he managed a smile. "That's more than enough for me, Kagome. Thanks…" he trailed off as he gave into his exhaustion.

Kagome smiled briefly as she let her hand rest on his face. That had taken more out of her than she had anticipated. Looking around, she saw that Zi's grandfather had awoken. His eyes were clear, if weary, and she decided that she could release him from the barrier. With one less spirit structure to maintain, she was able to conserve more power.

***

*You're tired.* Zi sent to her mate. *You need to let me help you.*

He stabbed Juuromaru in the arm before replying. *How?*

She stuck her fingers into the ground. *The next time he goes into the ground, I can track him and tell you where he'll come out. But he may be able to trace my energy back to me, so you've only got one shot.*

Sesshomaru had his face turned from her, but she could still sense his slight amusement. *I will need no more than that.*

He looked over at his brother. Inu Yasha was breathing heavily, and his body was covered in blood and dirt. His battle leathers had been all but slashed to ribbons. He would never admit it, but this battle was wearing on him as well.

Not for the first time, Sesshomaru bemoaned the youthful impatience that prevented Inu Yasha from fighting more strategically. Right now, he was doing no more than reacting to his opponent's attacks, instead of looking for the best way to defeat him.

Sweat ran into his wounds, but he ignored the sting. Kageromaru continued to zip through the air, landing hits on Inu Yasha more often than not.

"Inu Yasha cannot take much more of this," Sesshomaru thought to himself. He blocked a blow from Juuromaru that could have split his brother in half. "This must end."

Kageromaru paused next to his comrade, licking Inu Yasha's blood off his remaining tentacle. "Well, this has dragged on long enough. It's been most fun, but I'll have to finish this."

Inu Yasha growled and sprang forward, but a cloud of rocks and dust halted his charge as Kageromaru went underground once more.

Zi stiffened as she felt the creature move through the loose soil and gravel of the battlefield. He was in no hurry, since he could not be detected, or so he thought.

"Ugh," she thought. "His energy has the same diseased feel as Naraku's." As unnerving as it was, Zi continued to track Kageromaru through the loose soil. He circled around, evidently looking for the right moment to press his advantage. She was vaguely aware of her companions discussing something in a low voice, but she could not spare the attention.

"Are you feeling better, sir?" Conn asked Douglas. Nzinga's grandfather nodded and winced.

"More or less," he replied. "I didn't hurt you too badly, did I lad?"

"No, sir, not too badly. But we're going to need to get you to a healer soon. Your granddaughter didn't go easy on you when you won our fight."

Douglas sighed. "No, if she's anything like her grandmother, she wouldn't." He winced again as he rotated an arm. "Fuck, she's a mean one."

Sango overheard the conversation and snorted to herself. Next to her, Miroku chuckled softly. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. In all of the commotion with Kouga, she had almost forgotten how badly injured her husband was. Luckily, he seemed to be sitting a bit straighter than earlier, although he still looked pale. She prayed he would not need to enter this fight.

*He's in the ground again.* Zi reported.

*I gathered.* was her mate's response. Sesshomaru's muscles burned with exertion, but he refused to let it show.

Inu Yasha and Juuromaru continued to exchange blows, but Inu Yasha's anger was still hindering his strikes. Sesshomaru grew angry as another bloody line was scored across his brother's chest. If Inu Yasha didn't take care of that creature, he would.

Zi narrowed her eyes as she felt Kageromaru begin to move again, getting closer to the surface. Instead of moving towards her mate, he seemed to be going towards the younger man. Zi swore as she realized. Of course; Sesshomaru was alert, but Inu Yasha was distracted by his current opponent.

"He's not going for you! He's going after Pup!" She screamed. A second later she swore at herself for saying it aloud.

But it seemed their opponent couldn't hear through the ground, because he never wavered in his path.

Inu Yasha dodged a blow that would have broken his arm had it connected. He leaped again to bring himself out of arm's reach and stood panting.

"Shit," he thought. "I've got to finish this. I don't have much more left in me."

He looked more closely at his opponent. The only sign that Juuromaru had been in a battle were the wounds on his body and the rips in his clothing. His breath was even, his face was expressionless, his eyes dead.

Inu Yasha felt a wave of frustration wash over him. "I can't beat him like this." He thought. "I need to figure out a way to win."

As if at a signal, Juuromaru rushed forward to attack once more. Inu Yasha heard Zi scream his name just before the ground erupted in a spray of tiny rocks and dirt.

Inu Yasha's eyes widened in surprise as he saw both fighters heading towards him. The scene slowed; he saw Juuromaru leaping in high from his right, and Kageromaru slithering in low from his left.

Their plan was obviously to trap him in between them, as most people would have no way of disabling opponents who were coming from opposite directions.

Inu Yasha raised his sword, smiling fiercely as he called on the Cutting Wind. The attack was more than capable of defeating enemies attacking from multiple directions. Flows of spirit surrounded his sword as he swung it in a great arc. Lines of fire and wind followed the line of his swing, slicing through both foes. Nothing was left of the two fighters but dust.

He swayed slightly, suddenly light headed after his exertions. No one spoke a word; hardly daring to believe it was over. Douglas broke the silence with a hearty laugh, then bellowed, "That's the way, lad!"

Inu Yasha started, then grinned. "Keh."

Kagome let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, then blinked back tears of relief. Miroku grinned tiredly and squeezed Sango's hand, while Zi and Conn grinned at each other.

On the other side of the field, the attitude was much different. Kagura looked on in shock and horror, while Kikyou was stunned. She never imagined Inu Yasha would grow to have such power.

The wind user looked around at the diminished numbers of her companions, and the relatively unscathed opponents, and snarled, "Fuck this!" She snatched a feather from her hair and threw it into the air with a flash of light. When the light faded, she was seated on the feather heading away from the battle as quickly as possible.

"Naraku seems to instill no loyalty among his own fighters," Miroku murmured.

Inu Yasha's sharp ears caught the remark, and he said loudly, "That's because she knows a lost fucking cause when she sees one." He took a deep breath. This meant that Kikyou was the only fighter left. Even though he was committed to his friends and Clan, he didn't know if he had it in him to kill her.

She continued to watch them all thoughtfully, but made no move to attack, instead turning to look at Kagura as she fled. The wind user suddenly gave a piercing scream just before blood sprayed from her chest. The feather quickly lost altitude and she began to fall. By the jerking motion, it was obvious that she was trying to smooth her landing. A sickening crunch was heard on impact, and she did not move again.

A tentacle dislodged itself from her chest, and slithered across the ground. The eye was drawn unwillingly along its form before reaching its source; a mass of flesh sprouting from Naraku's torso.

"Gods preserve us," Miroku said faintly.

"Holy shit," Conn breathed.

Naraku wore a look of terrible fury unlike anything seen before. His eyes glowed red and he started forward.

"Do you like my new body, Kagome?" He said smoothly. "After all, I have you to thank for it. My wound from our last meeting wasn't healing quickly enough, so I had to absorb part of my army."

Kagome looked horrified, and her friends gathered around her protectively. Her mate gained her side in an instant.

"Don't you talk to her, you…you…" Inu Yasha was at a loss for words. "Fuck, whatever you are, just stay away from her."

"I'll do what I want." Naraku's eyes flashed dangerously. "Like…this for example."

With greater speed than any of them believed him capable, Naraku darted across the ground and shot out a tentacle aiming for Sesshomaru's chest. Had the pack leader been at his best, he could have easily dodged it. But as tired as he was, it was all he could do to keep it from going through him. The tip of the mass still entered his chest. With a pained grunt, he sliced at it, then leapt away, landing with a stumble. He looked up growling, then sank to one knee, blood pouring over the hand he pressed to his wound.

"Sesshomaru!" Inu Yasha screamed. "Naraku, you fucker!" He shot forward, only to be passed by a dark blur. "Zi! Zi, no! Get back!" He swore again as he tried to catch up to his sister.

At the sight of her mate falling to the ground, Zi's rage was such that she didn't remember anything until she was in Naraku's face, hissing and slicing. He knocked her back with a tentacle, then speared her through the shoulder.

Her scream of agony pulled Sesshomaru out of his daze, and he looked horrified at the scene in front of him. He struggled to his feet, only to be knocked back down as the ground began to shake. A jagged rock erupted from the ground, ripping through a good number of the tentacles on Naraku's right side.

His howl of pain and anger brought a smile to Zi's lips. "See how it feels?" she muttered.

"Get back, dammit!" Inu Yasha ordered. With a nod, she stumbled back over to her mate, who was losing an alarming amount of blood.

Sango ran to her friends' aid, hurling the bone boomerang at Naraku while he snarled at his injury. She succeeded in lopping off most of the tentacles on his other side. With a wicked smile, he turned his eyes to Miroku, who sank to one knee and began to wheeze.

"Best see to your husband, soldier," he purred. Sango's eyes widened, then darted to her husband's shaking form. Conn stumbled forward, unsure how to help his friend.

"Go take care of him, Sango. I'll handle this." Inu Yasha said roughly.

Momentarily torn, Sango paused briefly before running back to Miroku's side.

Inu Yasha began to gather his energy for the Cutting Wind, and leaped to get closer to Naraku. While he was still in midair, however, a blunted spirit bolt knocked him back. It wasn't enough to harm him, however, and he looked around confused, only to see Kikyou looking at him unwaveringly.

"Fuck, Kikyou, why?"

She closed her eyes briefly at his broken cry, before turning to Kagome and yelling, "Shoot, girl!"

Kagome, who had avoided using her arrows because Inu Yasha was in the way, smoothly nocked and fired an arrow at Naraku. Its pale fire streaked across the sky, dissolving the tentacles that had been pierced by the rock Zi pulled up from underground. She quickly readied another.

Naraku slapped Kikyou back with one of his remaining appendages. "Worthless woman!" He spat. He then brought his hands together and let out an attack of his own. The sickly green bolt and Kagome's arrow passed each other in midair, each fighter doing their best to throw up a barrier in time.

Inu Yasha attacked with the Cutting Wind once again as Naraku was defending himself against Kagome. Both Kagome's arrow and Inu Yasha's attack arrived at the same time, but Naraku managed to dodge.

As most of his large tentacles had been severed, he generated a smaller set that enabled him to scuttle around, much like a spider. This made him a much smaller and more difficult target.

Kikyou coughed, trying to regain her breath from her rough landing. She shook with fury. She had already resigned to losing her life in this battle, but not before she saw Naraku dead.

She stood, bloodied and dirty. Calling on the last of her strength, a tether snaked from her outstretched hands to Naraku's form, preventing him from moving. He thrashed around, bellowing in rage. The strain showed on her face, but she refused to let him go.

"Now!" She screamed. "I cannot hold him for long!"

Kagome and Inu Yasha looked at each other, then both unleashed their full power, she through her arrow, he through his blade. An enormous amount of power shot towards Naraku, and he was helpless to block or stop it. He screamed as the attack ripped through him.

The backlash of that enormous force was felt all the way back at the fort, where soldiers and others waited anxiously for word from their comrades.

The Commander was pale. "How can anyone survive such power?" He murmured.

Masaharu replied stoutly. "Those are our children out there, and they will not fall."

***

The dust had only begun to settle before the first of the ragged fighters began to stir.

Inu Yasha raised his head, then looked down at Kagome where she huddled, pressed between him and the ground. "Are you okay?" he asked her hoarsely. She nodded, still unable to speak.

He rose to his knees, peering through the clouds of dust. "Is everyone alright?" *Sesshomaru, Zi! Can you hear me?* He called simultaneously.

*We're alive,* Zi answered tiredly, *But your brother needs a healer. Now.*

Sesshomaru stiffly raised his body off the ground, suppressing a wince. "First we make sure Naraku is dead. Then we worry about anything else."

His mate's brows drew down in a frown, but she remained silent. She gingerly rose to her feet, ignoring the throb from her injured shoulder. Being thrown to the ground hadn't helped it any.

Sango looked up tiredly and responded, "We're all alive over here, but Miroku still isn't awake. I would take off the rosary to check, but…"

"But you don't know what would happen," Kagome finished. "Leave it on for now. It can't hurt either way."

Inu Yasha sneezed. "Stupid dust." He drew Tessaiga and slashed the air in front of him, using a gentler version of his Cutting Wind. It cut through the clouds of dirt and dust and gave the fighters their first view of what was left of their fallen foe.

There were chunks of flesh and pieces of tentacles scattered across the plain, but none were larger than the size of a fist. Naraku himself was nowhere to be seen.

"I can't smell him anymore," Zi stated.

Kagome concentrated, her dusty brow furrowed. "I can't sense him either. If he's still alive, he's nowhere in the area." A wavering smile broke through her weary mask, growing stronger every second. "I think we did it."

She looked around at her friends as looks of relief and tired smiles appeared on their dirty and battered faces.

Zi eased back down to the ground and leaned against her mate's legs. "Somebody needs to come get us."

Inu Yasha looked at her. "You can't make it back?"

"That's not the point. I don't feel like the walk."

"My brother can carry you."

"I don't think he should, Inu Yasha. Not with that hole in his chest." Kagome said. She came around her mate and leaned her head against his arm.

He opened his mouth to argue, when his face suddenly went pale and he swore.

"What's wrong?" Everyone immediately became alert, ignoring fatigued muscles and pain.

"Kagome, I have to check on Kikyou. She saved us at the end, and…I want to bring her remains home if I can."

Kagome's eyes softened and she took his hand. "I'll come with you."

Their friends kept a respectful silence as the two picked their way through dead matter and rocks to the place Kikyou had last been seen. Inu Yasha's mind was in turmoil. What if his last attack had killed her? Not only would he have failed to protect her, but he would be responsible for taking her life.

He heard a faint cough from a shallow crater and ran to look over the lip of it. Kikyou lay there, bruised and battered, but her lips turned up in a small smile when she saw him. Inu Yasha stumbled down the slope of the crater, Kagome close behind. His knees slammed painfully to the ground as he fell next to Kikyou, but he barely noticed.

"Kikyou! Shit, we're gonna get you back to a healer, don't worry." His eyes were wide and frantic. He leaned forward to slip his arms beneath her, but she sighed and shook her head.

"I won't survive this," she said weakly. "But at least I know Naraku is dead."

"You know for certain?" Kagome asked softly.

Kikyou gave a slight nod. "He had a hold on my soul. I was unable to defy him without pain. The moment I restrained him, I began to die." She smiled wryly. "Your attack just ensured my death would be quick. He would have had me rot from the inside out. I much prefer this way."

She drew a weak breath, and Inu Yasha felt his insides seize. "Kikyou, no…"

"It's alright…I've been made to do so much wrong in this life…I welcome the chance to be reborn and start again." She smiled warmly. "I missed you."

Inu Yasha closed his eyes and drew her upper body onto his lap. "I missed you too. I never…I never stopped thinking about you. And when you came back…I just wanted to save you."

"I know." She turned her head slightly to look at Kagome. "I'm so happy that you found someone. I can die knowing you'll be alright."

Kagome felt tears spring to her eyes. "Thank you," she said softly.

Kikyou looked back at Inu Yasha. His eyes were anguished and he looked angry and frustrated. "I'm sorry we fought that day. It was a stupid fight."

Inu Yasha tried to respond, but all that came out was a choked noise.

"I," she gasped and Inu Yasha held her more tightly. "I did love you. I want you to know that. Please believe that I did."

He nodded. "I wondered for a long time...but not now. Not anymore."

Kikyou smiled, and let out a long sigh. It was as if the light and life in her escaped with her breath, and she moved no more.

Kagome gasped, and tears finally escaped her eyes. Inu Yasha gently closed her eyes and laid her body back on the ground. He tipped back his head and began to howl mournfully, in honor of a fallen warrior. He was joined by his brother, and the newly awakened Kouga.

The painful sound caused Kagome's breath to hitch, and she broke down into sobs, throwing her arms around Inu Yasha. Distantly, she noticed that the howl had grown in volume greater than the three men could have managed, but was too upset to care.

As it finally trailed off, she sniffled and wiped her eyes. She leaned into her mate, pressing a kiss to his temple, and his arm tightened around her waist.

Finally looking up, she saw that others had joined them from the fort. Inu Yasha's parents were among the group, along with Owen and Padraig. Her father stood next to a wagon that had been hitched up to a team of horses.

The Commander looked at his daughter with such pride and love, she couldn't help but give him a tremulous smile in return.

He raised his voice. "Let's get out wounded into the wagon, and get back to the fort. You've all earned your rest."

Kagome looked at her mate. There were shadows in his eyes, shadows that wouldn't be leaving any time soon. But he gave her a genuine smile.

Inu Yasha leaned over to pick up Kikyou's body. After taking a deep breath, he and Kagome walked towards their friends and family, and a well-deserved rest.

A/N: Not much left now but an epilogue. Hopefully it won't take as long to write as this chapter did.