InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ War's Shadow ❯ Searching ( Chapter 21 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

21 – Searching

The challenge had not been getting inside the mountain. Kagome had simply trailed in the wake of Sesshoumaru and Elif, feeling like some led child. As they had trekked their way up and then down into the bowels of the mountain, through that suffocating aura, each demon had taken turns periodically looking back at her, as though fully expecting her to simply melt before their very eyes.

It had given her great pleasure…and an extra boost of confidence…to show them that, human or not, she would not be so easily affected by such things. It was a strange feeling, though; her spiritual powers seemed to react to the jyaki by layering around her. Her mind absently compared herself to a car’s windshield, with her abilities being the windshield wipers. It was a strange experience, but it was as though the jyaki was parting in order to let her pass, as though it didn’t want to risk coming into contact.

Another boost of confidence. I can do this….

But then, of course, no situation was ever perfect. She had found a new reason to resent the youkai in her company, something she was reminded of when she gave her arm an irritable slap!, ending the life of yet another hungry mosquito…and smearing it across her arm. Gross.

She was almost positive that these were not ordinary mosquitoes, just judging from the sheer number and size of the relentless, ravenous creatures. Kagome had assumed they were just some strange, Feudal-era version…or even youkai mosquitoes for all she knew. She had made the mistake of asking that question of Sesshoumaru, and he had responded with a telling silence and a look that made her certain he was mentally deducting IQ points from her.

Jerk.

She yipped as another gargantuan mosquito paused for lunch, flicking the creature off of her as Sesshoumaru turned slightly to eye her again.

“They’re not even biting you, are they?” Kagome sullenly complained.

She watched as he gracefully pulled one from the air and melted it between his fingertips until not even dust remained.

“Would you?” he questioned with flat disdain, eyebrows raised.

Kagome frowned at the inherent unfairness of that and dropped her backpack off of her shoulders, settling it on the cold, rocky mountain floor. Elif turned to watch with half-hearted curiosity as the human woman rummaged around before triumphantly extracting a strange, cylindrical object.

“Bug repellant,” Kagome announced with as much pride as though she had invented it herself. She promptly uncapped the green can and began spraying it across her arms, releasing a cloud of the chemical in the still, damp air, and prompting Elif to step back, delicately plugging her nose, face wrinkled into an expression of irritation.

Finally it was Sesshoumaru who put an end to Kagome’s gleeful attempt to coat her skin with the stuff, pulling it from her grasp while in mid-spray, face a mask of disapproval as he quickly crushed the can and threw it out of sight.

“That’s enough,” he hissed at her before turning his back and stalking away once more, as though tired of the delay. Taking her cue from him, Elif gave Kagome one last murderous look before uncovering her nose and practically fleeing from the girl.

“Just think of it as a poison attack in a can,” Kagome cheerfully called to the backs of both youkai. Then shoving her arms through her backpack’s straps, she hurried after them.



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He stopped short, ears attuned to the disorienting echo of the sounds that reverberated from within the mountain. Inuyasha pointed an angry finger at Kouga, signaling for the wolf demon to be quiet as he listened. He thought he had heard something, but only the steady, monotonous drip of water from further down the cave passage was coming back to his ears now. He flicked them self-consciously and turned to question Kouga.

“Did you hear anything?”

“Only your stomach growling,” Kouga complained. “Why don’t you go back and let a real demon handle this?”

“As if I’d leave anything that required competence to you, jackass,” Inuyasha muttered.

“Then why’d you follow me, huh? It’s because you knew I was going in the right direction!”

Tired of having to stare at Kouga’s face, Inuyasha reached for Tessaiga’s hilt…then promptly stilled himself, listening as his hearing picked up on a distant banging sound, as though something had fallen to the ground. It was difficult to judge direction, however, because of the echo and the lingering demonic aura that coated the place, throwing off sense of smell. There was also the problem of the multiple tunnel offshoots they kept passing. That bastard could have dragged Kagome down any one of those passages….

“This place gives me the creeps,” Kouga muttered, eyeing the slick rocky walls that enclosed them. The air was heavy with that foreign aura, making it feel as though something invisible was crawling across his skin.

“Then why don’t you run home to your boyfriends? I’m tired of looking at you,” Inuyasha growled. “And while you’re at it, shut up. I’m trying to listen.” His aggravation increased when Kouga deliberately shoved past him, paced several steps ahead and turned his head back and forth to eye two opposing passages.

Inuyasha stared at the back of Kouga’s head for a moment, stiffening when the wolf demon made a sudden movement, but it was just a declaratory sweep of the arm as he pointed to one of the tunnels with smug certainty. “It’s that way,” Kouga pronounced.

“What makes you so sure of that?” Inuyasha barked, eaten alive at the idea that the wolf might have picked up on something that he had missed.

“Man, are you stupid, Dog Crap,” Kouga sighed with false sympathy. “That way,” he proclaimed, gesturing again to the narrower tunnel to the right, “the aura gets stronger. You said Kagome’s here to cleanse it, right? Don’t you think she’d be heading toward the source then?”

“Bastard,” Inuyasha muttered, removing his hand from Tessaiga’s hilt as the sense in Kouga’s words defied argument. But sense or not, it didn’t keep him from fixating an evil glare on the back of the wolf’s head as they turned and headed further into the mountain.




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The day had been seized by a punishing heat, which was only adding to her general feeling of distress. As she walked, moving legs that were becoming more and more unwilling, Rin could feel the sun’s rays beating down onto her head and the back of her neck. It was uncomfortable; she was thirsty, and tired, and worried, and certain that Kanaye was actively enjoying having an hourly execution threat dangled over his head.

The northern army had been hard on him ever since his unfortunate attack on the soldier earlier that morning, but he didn’t seem to mind. She knew from listening to the soldiers around her that they believed it was a sign of his growing submission. She was certain that it was more a sign that he was biding his time until instigating a massacre.

She was inadvertently benefiting from Kanaye’s bad behavior, however. The soldiers were paying little attention to her, less and less so as they went on, and her mind began to work on ideas of escape. She could not outrun them, she was imprisoned by their heightened senses, but she was aware that even their impressive sense of smell fell victim to one thing that was in abundance around them.

Water. She made a mental note every time they crossed a river or stream, head turning to eye the direction in which it flowed. She made sure to be very quiet, almost to shrink in among them and be unnoticed. She did as she was told whenever they asked anything of her. And she waited, but she wasn’t certain that she would be able to carry through with an escape as the situation stood. Her eyes flickered through the crowd until they fell on the soldier that was carrying a pensive, pale Ashitera. The little girl was afraid, and that made Rin feel less confident about an escape plan.

But water sounded wonderful in any form. The back of her neck felt like someone had placed a hot iron across the skin; her throat felt dry and sore. Unlike her youkai companions, she was not built to so easily march her way straight through a day of blazing heat. She wondered how long it would take for Sesshoumaru to finish his mission and realize what had happened.

In truth, she kept anticipating his vengeful descent upon the group. His timing was always impeccable, but this time…something told her she would need to do what she could on her own. Sesshoumaru was immersed in his own problems at the moment; it could be a while before he realized the extent of hers.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard yet another commotion up ahead; a pained scream and a youkai stepping back from Kanaye with a sickeningly twisted arm. Kanaye’s own hands were free once more and he was pointing an irritable claw at the injured soldier, who continued to back away from him as though certain he was about to be pursued by a devil.

There was nothing else. Kanaye calmed once more, generously extended his arms for re-chaining, but no one appeared especially willing to come close to him this time. Rin felt a large form shove past her, knocking her off-balance, muttering words that made her nerves stand on end, a clenching feeling settling into her stomach.

Inochigake motioned for some of his men to surround Kanaye from behind, and the braver ones came forward to grab hold of the youkai, stepping down on his legs until he finally bent and knelt. Two other youkai stepped forward to grasp his arms in an attempt to hold them still, but Kanaye was not fighting them at all, and Rin was growing more concerned by the second. Are they going to kill him…?

“What are they doing?” she questioned the soldier beside her without thinking, but all she received in return was a silent sneer. She turned back to the growing scene, and her fear escalated when Inochigake drew Kanaye’s own sword, then motioned for his men to keep the prisoner’s arms outstretched.

“My only intent is to make sure you face my lord still alive,” Inochigake stated coolly. “It doesn’t have to be in one piece. You have proved to be far too much trouble.”

“Kanaye!” Rin called then, but she was stopped from forward progress by a pair of hands that latched onto her arms and jerked her backward. They’re going to cut off his hands… She had the feeling that the implosion she had been both hoping for and dreading was about to come about; as odd as he was, he certainly would not stand for this, but the serene manner in which he was conducting himself was nerve-wracking.

“As soon as you lower that sword, I’m going to kill you,” Kanaye promised Inochigake, turning a wicked gaze on the soldier at his right, one of the two immobilizing his arms. “And him with you,” he added in a silky whisper, prompting an uncertain look to cross the soldier’s face.

“I’m not worried,” Inochigake replied flatly, his long dark hair tousled by a sudden gust of wind that blew across the tall-grassed field.

Kanaye made no reply to that, and Rin thought it appeared as such a strange scene to an observer; the two youkai were, externally, the antithesis of each other, one dark and rough-looking, the other lighter and more refined, physically. She was certain, however, that their souls were coming from the same place, though she could admit to placing much more faith in Kanaye’s motives.

The sun’s harsh rays flashed off of the blade as Inochigake lifted it, hovered it over Kanaye’s wrists for a moment, and then…it was as smooth and practiced as though they had rehearsed it. Kanaye used his weight advantage to pull the soldier off-balance, placing the surprised youkai between the sword and Kanaye’s hands, and what ensued quickly became a gory mess.

The army looked on in amazement as a shocked Inochigake was quickly separated into two equal halves, having succeeded in nothing but killing his own man. Kanaye turned to eye the other soldiers that had been holding him, and then focused in on one seemingly at random.

Rin watched in awe as he pointed an authoritative finger at that uncertain-looking individual. “You…you’ve just been promoted. Come here,” he said, gesturing the man over to him.

Everyone appeared to be frozen by the sudden lack of a leader, because no one voiced a protest as Kanaye extended his sword back to the man, hilt-end first. “Hold on to that for me,” he requested in an even voice.

As though snapping out of some spell, the newly-appointed leader quickly pulled the sword from Kanaye’s grasp, stepping back and hauling himself up to his full height, as though suddenly deciding that he was, in fact, going to be in charge.

They just took orders from their own prisoner, Rin thought in astonishment, still not understanding what had just happened around her. The new commander turned to look her way and suddenly she was being pulled forward, feet dragging in a futile attempt to halt this unwanted progression. She was not sure what she expected, but it wasn’t what she received.

Shortly barked words found Kanaye’s hands being pulled behind him once more…and this time she looked on in surprise as her wrists were tied to his in a crossed fashion. She noticed that his hands were filthy, covered in grime and drying blood from the skirmishes he had instigated. She was not certain what it was about that sight, but Rin felt suddenly certain that he was behaving as he was for a reason, alternately mild-mannered and poisonously polite…and then blood-thirsty and violent. Perhaps to keep them consistently off-balance…?

“If you snap those again, you’ll take her hands with you,” the newly in-charge youkai warned smugly, making Rin wonder if Kanaye’s bizarre charisma included some strange sort of hypnosis, because this guy now looked as cocky as though Eizan himself had placed him as the leader.

“That’s hardly a deterrent,” Kanaye replied flatly, doing little to assuage Rin’s nervousness.




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She kept watching him. It was unavoidable. Elif’s eyes were fixated to her left and refused to blink. It was as though her mind was determined to memorize everything about him…how he walked and spoke and smelled…and she was fully aware that it was an obsession that was borderline disturbing.

Even so, walking beside and just slightly behind him, she was able to stare unabashedly without giving herself away for the foolish, crush-stricken idiot she knew she appeared to be. It was astounding to her, this childish behavior, since she had never had a shortage of offers from other youkai males, but had also never felt the inclination to react to them with more than politely-disguised disdain.

But this one….

Sesshoumaru’s head began to turn, as though sensing her scrutiny, and her eyes quickly diverted themselves to a careful examination of a rocky growth that hung from the ceiling like a dangled dagger. She felt his gaze brush briefly over her before returning to face forward.

She did feel stupid. And for someone who was so insistent on personal dignity, Elif found herself not caring overly much. That crazed, deprived part of her brain decided that she would be quite happy if things stayed just this way forever. They could wander these mountain passages for eternity and she would be content.

Well, mostly, came the creeping thought as she slid an unwelcome look to the stumbling miko, who whispered a curse that defied the effort at a quiet tone by echoing around them. Sesshoumaru looked up again as the oath rebounded around him and turned a liquid gold gaze on Kagome, who was busy brushing off bruised knees.

“You are quite possibly the clumsiest woman I know,” he informed her.

“I can barely see. It’s too dark,” Kagome explained breathlessly in return. “The air is thicker in here, too. This place is terrible,” she commented with a shiver, shrugging her backpack onto her shoulders again.

“It sounds as though your abilities are beginning to fail you, miko,” Sesshoumaru intoned with light warning as he turned and began walking once more.

Elif turned to watch as Kagome fell quietly back into step. Sesshoumaru certainly had more faith in the woman’s abilities than did she. Or…perhaps not. Elif’s thoughts tumbled over his blatant dislike for his brother. Perhaps this was an efficient way to get rid of the girl? Especially with a child involved; it must certainly be a humiliation for him to see his father’s bloodline degenerate to such a degree…

No, I am beginning to think too much like Father. That is something he would do. Sesshoumaru is much too direct…

Her eyes lit on a familiar passage and she quietly directed, “It’s this way. This leads further inside the mountain.”

He said nothing, and she wondered what he was thinking. Perhaps he believed she intended to betray him. He could very well think that all of this was simply a means to purposefully lead him into a trap. And at one time, she had been very much like that, one who would scheme and plot to get what she wanted. Lately, however, it felt as though that part of her had been expelled; she simply had no inclination to do it anymore, perhaps because she could now see where such behavior had gotten her family, and how it had affected the way he viewed her.

The passage tightened, rock drawing in together, creating a crevasse that was a challenge for even the women to squeeze through. He allowed her to go first, and Elif wondered if that was a sign of suspicion, but she slid through, then turned to wait for Sesshoumaru and Kagome. She listened as he detached his shoulder armor and removed it in order to get through, and once he was on the other side, she noticed that his eyes lit on her appraisingly.

He quickly replaced the armor, his voice coming slow and curious as he said, “I find it difficult to believe that armored soldiers routinely come through this way, Elif.”

She heard the warning tone in that, as apparently did Kagome, who came through with the least amount of difficulty. The miko must have picked up on the same note in his voice, because she briefly lifted her head to look at him, as though trying to judge whether his trust in Elif was waning. Wordlessly, Kagome then worked on reaching back through for her backpack, which she finally grasped and pulled to her.

“The soldiers have been going through a different entrance, Sesshoumaru,” Elif replied truthfully, delicately dusting her hair free of rocky debris. “I would have had to take you around to the other side of the mountain to use that one, and there would have been more risk of running into my father’s men.”

“That would not have been unwelcome,” he replied flatly, then moved to resume the lead.

Elif allowed him to brush past her and then quickly followed. The tunnel was lower here and less worn, so the ground was jagged and uneven and they were all forced to bend often in order to make their way through it. Through it all, she could feel the quickly growing aura of evil; it slithered across the ground like some venomous mist, coated every inhalation of breath.

“It’s gotten much worse than the last time I was here,” she said to the back of his head, fighting the insane impulse to reach out and grasp a handful of the silvery strands, but it kept swaying in front of her vision, mesmerizing her, and so she instead tried to focus on conversing instead.

He, apparently, intended to focus on ignoring her.

“You were right about the human woman,” she said then. “If she was an average human, she would have been long dead by now.”

“If we take too long in doing this, that may still be a very real possibility for her,” he remarked sarcastically. His ears were attuned to the two people trailing behind them, and one of them was breathing as though she had just lost the use of a lung.

“I can hear you both,” Kagome complained. “There’s just no air in here and it’s pitch black.” Exhaling wearily, she dropped her backpack to the ground and pulled out a bottle of water, gulping it down quickly. She scratched miserably at the mosquito bites that pocked their way across her skin, a rash of sores that were reddening into something visibly painful.

“The longer you are in here, the worse it will become,” Sesshoumaru reminded her.

Kagome heard the words, but they told her what she could already feel. Something was sucking at her, that choking aura, surely, as though Eido intended on weakening her in order to hinder her ability to put him to rest. “Then we need to hurry,” she said with false cheer, turning to retrieve her backpack.

They resumed their trek through the dark, sometimes slick terrain, Elif murmuring direction to Sesshoumaru from behind. She was pulling this way out of memory, because it had been ages since she had visited the grave site. She had been very young, and with her father, and he had explained who was buried here and why.

The thought of Eizan made her feel like she was choking, either through anger or sadness or guilt, she could not tell, because as soon as one emotion would pass through, another would come take its place, a distracting warfare inside of her head that would one moment make her look upon Sesshoumaru as her entire purpose for doing this, and the next prompt her to glare resentfully at him for being the cause of it. It was that familiar love and hatred, twisted and melded until it was difficult to think straight.

“You don’t trust me, do you?” she whispered into the dim cave. Behind her, Kagome tripped again in the dark and gave a surprised exclamation.

His head turned slightly to eye her for a moment before turning to face forward again. “I trust very few people.”

“I wouldn’t betray you. I would never betray you.”

“Did you say those same words to Kawahira and Eizan?” he inquired politely.

Pain. “That’s not fair,” she fiercely whispered back.

“Conscience is what it is. It does not have its own sense of fairness. If it did, we would not feel guilt over things that were beyond our knowledge or control.”

She blinked at the blunt wisdom of that, wondering if he was saying it to her or about him. “You don’t seem particularly bothered by your own conscience,” she said ruefully.

“I do not let it rule my decisions. One who makes choices based on guilt or remorse or debt inevitably becomes enslaved to those things. Their conscience rules them when wisdom should prevail.” He glanced at her once more, and this time she thought she heard a trace of humor as he added, “In short, I am not human.”

“I think you may have just insulted me,” she replied, a slight smile crossing her lips. “Are you saying I am behaving like a human?”

“I am saying that you have begun to allow your guilt to rule you.”

“If that is the case, then you are wrong to trust me. If my guilt is the dominant factor behind my decisions, then I could be leading you into a trap.”

“That would be a likely possibility, save for the fact that there is another emotion that consistently overrules the others. You seem to have acquired it for me, though I don’t know why and I cannot seem to rid you of it.”

The smile faded into a frown and she moved to walk faster so that she would not have to trail behind him. “You do know why. It’s been like this for a long time.” She thought back to that day, so long ago, centuries ago, when her father had come for her mother. And he had been there silent, and defiant, and perfect….

…she had been in her mothers arms, and remembered the flurry of leaves whipping past them, a dizzying speed that made her close her eyes and cling more tightly. Their hearts were beating in a similar rhythm, together, pounding, anxious….

Elif did not know why they were fleeing from Father, only that her mother was afraid. She could feel it in the way the delicately-tapered claws were boring into her skin, holding them together as though she feared Elif would be ripped from her arms.

The bright glare of daylight assaulted them as they escaped the copse of trees; there was a horrible, heavy silence, one she would always remember, because it was as though even nature knew what was coming, what was chasing them…

He was her father, and she adored him, but then the image in her mind of a serious and commanding Eizan was replaced with the image of a monster, some sharp-toothed, ravenous beast that was pursuing them, but she did not understand why. Was he angry at her? Or was it her mother? And why run away? Why not stay and let him have his temper?

They slowed suddenly and Elif lifted her head, turning to look as her mother deposited her on the ground. She wrapped her fingers in her mother’s hand, and looked at the familiar house.

It is Inutaisho-sama’s….

But there was no Inutaisho-sama to greet her and tease her about how much prettier she was than her brothers. She would always tell him that that was such a silly thing to say, because boys were not supposed to be pretty, and she would pretend to think about it and say that Sesshoumaru was pretty, even if he was a boy, and Sesshoumaru would become sulky and annoyed at that joke. He was a boy that took himself so seriously, but Elif liked him for that. He did not pull hair or play pranks like her brothers did.

This time, though there was no Inutaisho-sama, there was only Sesshoumaru, who emerged from the house to meet them, all dignity, as though he was grown, even though he was not so much older than she was.

“Is your father here?” her mother’s worried voice questioned.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, young face suspicious as he replied, “He went to take care of a problem at one of our borders.”

Elif felt her mother’s hand tighten around her own, and heard the uncertainty in her voice as she asked, “Would it be all right if I left Elif with you?”

“Mama-“

“Shhh,” her mother quieted her protest.

Sesshoumaru’s eyes flicked toward Elif, and then beyond them both, toward the distant forest. “Eizan-sama is coming,” he announced with suspicion.

“Please take her. I don’t want her with me when I confront him,” her mother pled.

Sesshoumaru smirked at that, consumed by a chilling over-confidence. “You take her. I’ll confront him.”

That was the last thing she remembered with any real clarity. Everything happened so quickly, and she had been so young, it was difficult to recall the proper sequence of events. But what stuck with her most was this feeling that something horrible had descended upon them. She knew that her memories were playing tricks on her, because the day had been so sunny and beautiful, but that moment, when Father had come, she always remembered it as dark, a hellish black, and he always appeared taller and more threatening in that memory. But now…it was impossible to remember what had come first, her mother’s death and then Sesshoumaru’s attempt to fight him…or perhaps the reverse…

Elif blinked, brought back by the sudden, welcome sound of his voice. She lightly shook her head, as though clearing it of that horrible day, and found Sesshoumaru staring back at her expectantly.

“Forgive me. What?”

“Which way?” he prompted once more, tone hinting at impatience.

“It’s that way,” Kagome said breathlessly, coming up behind them and pointing down another passage. “It’s much stronger from that direction. We must be getting close, because I can feel it. It’s getting really bad.”

Elif glanced back at the human woman, who was starting to show signs of struggling in the lethal atmosphere. There was an unhealthy aura surrounding her, one that was not similarly assaulting herself or Sesshoumaru, and she wondered if Eido’s spirit viewed this woman as a threat.

“Leave that behind,” Sesshoumaru suddenly ordered, pointing authoritatively at the massive backpack strapped to her shoulders.

Kagome looked for a moment as though she was going to protest, but then must have seen the wisdom in relieving herself of some unneeded weight. She slid the worn, yellow pack from her shoulders and opened it, pulling from it the quickly-darkening bow that had belonged to Rin.

“I’m returning this,” she told them, and they watched as the dark aura slowly, hesitantly crept away from the bow, repelled once more by her spiritual powers, but this time it looked less like it was fleeing and more like it was giving it a loving caress before departing. “If this is what’s unsettling him, then it will make things easier if we just return it.” Her face turned up to look at Sesshoumaru. “And I think it’s best if I kept it with me.”

He did not argue.



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He had become quite adept at pretending as though Kouga wasn’t there. Inuyasha could hear the sounds of feet pounding right behind him, could smell the dirty wolf tailing him the entire way now that he had shoved himself into the lead, but he was beyond caring for the moment.

This place was a maze. A dark, oppressive conglomeration of dead-end tunnels both natural and not. Air did not flow easily, and so it was difficult to latch onto any scent other than what was directly around him. He could not hear well through the layers of rock. He did not know which direction Sesshoumaru had taken, and Kouga had hesitantly admitted that he was quite unfamiliar with this mountain, as his people had long since observed it as a malevolent place that was better to be avoided.

But he did catch onto something, and he stopped so suddenly that Kouga plowed right into the back of him, unleashing a string of curses at the unforeseen halt.

“Hey, do you smell that?”

“Just you. I’m going to have to wash the stink off when I get out of here,” Kouga grumbled, quickly righting himself and looking around, as though trying to gauge for what had caught Inuyasha’s attention.

Inuyasha ignored him, that faint smell drifting past his nose again. It was like some wretched type of mold…or like something had died and had been left to decay inside this place. And it was definitely coming from one direction in particular.

“That way,” he muttered, eyeing a low tunnel off to the right. It was literally shaped like a dark mouth, stalagmites poking up from the ground like fangs, pointed and covered in a light dusting of something green and fuzzy. He could hear the heavy drip of water that way as well.

“What makes you sure? That aura is just as strong in the other direction.”

“I just know, moron. If you don’t want to follow, I’ll be thrilled to leave you behind.”

“I’m the moron? I’m not the one that let my brother lay me out so he could run off with my woman!” Kouga growled.

Inuyasha whirled then, all jabbing claws and attitude, “I’m gonna lay you out if you don’t quit calling her your woman!”

Kouga smirked at that. “It was spoken figuratively. She’s your woman for now. I’m just waiting for you to die,” he snarled, losing his cool then and shoving his face in close to Inuyasha’s.

“All the more reason to take you with me when I go,” Inuyasha responded, hand falling once more to Tessaiga’s hilt. He stopped, however, when a low sound swept past his ears, a strange whisper, one that began like a low breeze and slowly built…a grumbling sound of displeasure, and it caught Kouga’s attention, too, distracting him from the argument.

“What the hell was that?”

Kouga’s head lifted and turned toward the dark, dank passageway Inuyasha had indicated earlier. The sound grew and faded…from a hiss to a muffled roar and back again…

“There’s definitely something down there,” Kouga admitted.

“Agreed on that,” Inuyasha absently muttered, the argument forgotten as he approached the maw-like opening of the tunnel. His eyes fell to the slick, rocky walls, noticing that there were carved symbols here; they were old and worn, but still visible even if he could not decipher their meaning.

“Do you recognize those?” he asked Kouga, who leaned in to inspect for himself. The low moan rose in volume once more, and this time there was a gust of hot air that blew past them, like an exhalation of breath.

“No. They must be pretty old if I can’t recognize them. I may not be overly familiar with this particular mountain, but I know the people that live around here, and I’ve never seen these kinds of carvings before. Besides, they’re practically worn flat. I bet they’re at least a good four or five hundred-years-old,” Kouga guessed.

“I recognize that much,” Inuyasha stated then, pointing out one image that bore a striking resemblance to Kawahira’s recently-acquired Ryuujin. “And five hundred years ago is close enough. This Eido bastard has been dead for about six hundred years.” He stepped back from the wall, a sly smirk crossing his features. “I’d say we’ve found what Sesshoumaru is looking for.



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The grass was waist-high now and reedy, and her feet were consistently being sucked upon by the marshy land on which she was treading. Rin lifted her head, sweaty and exhausted. Her shoulders were aching from the hours of trailing behind Kanaye, attached to him, her arms extended upward at an awkward angle. It didn’t help that he took quicker steps, longer strides, which were consistently throwing her off-balance, considering the unsettling stickiness of the ground. He appeared not to notice however, because he charged on no matter what she said.

She had tried speaking to him and he had studiously ignored her as though she did not exist. His inattention had prompted her to keep a death grip on his wrists because it made the inevitable loss of footing less painful than tripping with only the chains to catch her fall.

It was nearing sunset. Although the day’s merciless heat remained, the sun was sinking into the finality of a red evening, lowering itself so that night would return. She wondered how much further it was to Eizan’s fortress, though now she supposed it did not matter. Her chance of escape was gone now that she was tethered so securely to Kanaye, whose only complaint was that they were not traveling more quickly.

The idea of meeting up with Eizan was not a welcome one. He could not abide her, that much she knew. She could remember a year earlier when Sesshoumaru had so audaciously brought her to the northern lord’s home, and Eizan had kept a dark, unwelcoming gaze trained on her from the moment he had sighted her. It had been a tense, uncomfortable experience, and that had been before the open declaration of hostilities.

“Kanaye-“ she began again, but was quickly cut off by his snapping response.

“Shut up,” he barked at her in a low voice.

Angry at him and at her situation, her face sank into a dark frown. Her hair was sticking to her forehead and neck, her nose was itching. If there was hell, she was certain that it would greatly resemble this; chained to Kanaye for eternity, unable to scratch her nose, and desperately thirsty.

And the worst part was that her ears kept teasing her. She picked up easily on the sound of rushing water not far ahead. They were about to cross another river, another missed opportunity for her to try and slip away. The wind blew past them then and she noticed that Kanaye tensed suddenly in front of her, a motion she wouldn’t have been able to perceive if she wasn’t forced to stare continuously at his back, but she watched curiously as he lifted his head, as though searching for something.

Is it Sesshoumaru? Is he nearby? Or is this a sign that something worse is coming?

She looked down at their chained wrists, watched curiously as he switched their grips so that he was clutching her wrists instead, and wondered what was going on in his head. She sincerely hoped that he wasn’t intending on snapping the chains again, because she was certain it would mean damage for her…

The roar of the river gained in volume, enough so that she could tell it was large and had a heavy current. There was a bridge ahead, too, because she listened to the echoing thump of the soldiers’ feet as they crossed it. When it was her turn to cross, she looked out over it; the river had cut itself into the land, so it was more that she had to look down at the river than out. The water’s flow was quick and undisturbed, rushing past them as though in a hurry.

Her attention was diverted when she felt the release of metal from around the skin on her wrists. It had been a silent, unnoticed process, but Kanaye had apparently managed to burn his way through the chains that held them together. She then understood why he had altered his grip…the poison from his fingertips….

Her mind was so fixated on figuring out what he intended for her to do now that she was free, that she barely noticed as he slowed his steps, then angled his head so that he could toss a sly, wicked look over his shoulder.

“Tell him to mind his own business,” he ordered without preamble or explanation.

“Huh?” came the intelligent response, but she received no verbal answer. He quickly detached his fingers from around her arms, turned, and gave her a full shove that sent her flailing over the side of the bridge. Air rushed past her ears for an eternity before her back struck the water with a stinging impact. The river swallowed her like some starving creature, but true panic did not set in until a pair of arms encircled her from behind, and she had a sudden flashback of that day months earlier when Kanaye had looked on as she had been dragged off by….

But that was not a concern this time. The arms pulled her back to the surface, carefully keeping them shielded from view by the bridge overhead. A slick, gelatinous hand passed over her mouth as though to keep her from exclaiming her surprise, and she heard a whispery voice say, “Speak softly.”

Rin twisted herself so she could see who it was, and she was astonished to find Isamu gazing placidly back at her, as though encountering flailing humans in water was a daily occurrence.

“He must have sensed you were here,” Rin whispered, understanding dawning as her ears picked up on the sounds of an uproar on the bridge; it was muted, however, by the nearly-deafening river.

Isamu nodded at that, pale eyes turning speculatively toward the bridge. “I suppose he intends to continue with them, then? He is still too high and mighty for his own good.”

“He told me to tell you to mind your own business,” Rin answered wryly.

“Then that answers that,” Isamu graciously replied. “It seems as though we are about to be pursued,” he warned, and Rin’s head swiveled as though in anticipation of bodies to come hurtling down the steep incline that led up to dry land.

“Are you going to fight?”

“Fight?” Isamu questioned with obvious surprise, as though not even clear on the meaning of the word. “My dear girl, I assure you I can out-swim a dog with very little expended effort. I shall leave the violence to your land-locked friend and his appallingly short temper.”



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They had come, literally, out of nowhere. Kagome had been trying to keep an eye on her footing in the dark cave, determined not to do any more damage to herself than she already had from her frequent collisions in the blackness that surrounded her. All she could make out were the shadows of the two individuals ahead of her. She had been relieved of the excess weight of the backpack, but the bow was slung over her shoulder and she could feel it responding to the choking atmosphere. It felt as though she was bringing it home, and something in her mind began to wonder if that was actually such a good idea.

But then the shrieking had started; ghastly, unearthly screams that pierced her eardrums and instinctively forced her to plug her ears. And she supposed this was the worst aspect of the near-blindness she was suffering from. She could not see what they were or if they were coming at her, but she could hear those blood-chilling cries in the dark and the whispery brush of something passing by her face that was quickly accompanied by the razor sharpness of claws swooping down at her, digging at her neck and arms and shoulders. She was able to see a fiery glow of orange eyes spearing at her from the darkness and it was that more than anything that prompted her to shelter her face with her arms.

The shrieks were quickly joined by the slicing sound of claws rending air and flesh, and she assumed that Sesshoumaru and Elif were being similarly attacked. Unlike them, however, she could not see in order to defend herself, and the claustrophobia of it all combined with the pain and confusion created a dull panic that lodged in her throat as an unvoiced scream.

She heard a shouting voice, but didn’t comprehend what had been said. Her ears were too full of those hellish sounds. Just as she was certain it would continue on forever, Kagome was clutched from behind and pushed against one of the walls, another slender body blanketing hers, long hair falling around her in a curtain. Her face was pressed against the slimy rock wall, and the shrieks became more distant as she listened to her own riotous heartbeat and the voice of Elif, who was saying something in her ear.

And then it stopped. As though a switch had been flipped, the air cleared of all noise save her own labored breathing. Her knees were shaking. Elif released Kagome, who made no move to step away from the wall.

“What was that?” she gasped finally, making an effort at slowing her heart. She could feel the bow pressing into her shoulder blade and knew it was still there. “Bats?”

“They were very particular for “bats”,” Sesshoumaru commented, “as they appeared only interested in attacking you.” There was a faint green glow in the dark as he lifted his hand, prompting the fingertips to fill with that fluorescent poison.

It was enough to allow Kagome to see that neither he nor Elif had so much as a scratch on them.

“Clearly Eido is perturbed by your presence,” Sesshoumaru announced wryly.

They only attacked me? Kagome thought, and the weight of the bow became suddenly heavier.

“Can you continue?”

“Yes,” came her instantaneous reply. She was more than ready to continue. In fact, she was even more ready to be out of this place and the faster they moved, the quicker that was bound to happen.

The green light faded. Kagome took an unsteady step away from the wall, only to be surprised when a thin-fingered hand wrapped itself around her wrist, pulling her along.

“Elif,” she said aloud in some surprise.

“I had no idea that humans were as truly blind in such a situation as you appear to be,” the youkai answered stiffly. “It would be inexcusably pathetic if you survived this aura only to break your fragile little neck by tripping or something equally stupid.”

“Er…thanks,” Kagome offered, not sure whether that was meant to be more helpful or insulting.


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Unfortunately for his sense of smell, the scent of death and decay only grew worse. Inuyasha sloshed his way through a slime-bottomed puddle, head spinning with the disgusting odor. It was as though the cave itself was breathing, inhaling and exhaling, and with those motions, the ever-present grumbling noise.

Kouga seemed to be faring just about as well, blue eyes squinted, one hand hovering over his nose as though to filter out the sickening smell. A faint glow was issuing from up ahead, and not a cheerful, relieving glow; one, instead, that was unhealthy-looking, as though the cave itself was swelling from some infection.

Despite misgivings that were becoming more and more pronounced, Inuyasha continued to walk forward. He was still certain that he had stumbled upon what his brother was looking for. Eido’s burial site was nearby, he could feel it, and if he could save Kagome the chore of being forced into helping Sesshoumaru, he was glad to take care of the problem before they managed to find it.

And, apparently, the problem was just as anxious to take care of him. The low, rumbling growl pitched itself into a roar and, suddenly, as though brought on by an earthquake, the ground began to shift and move. Cracks and fissures opened, as though expelling pent up air, but it was in the form of that cursed jyaki Inuyasha recognized so well from Ryuujin. Something sinister-looking evaporated upward from the “ground”, at first a shapeless mass, but one that quickly assumed a semblance of a human form, that of a tall, powerfully-built dog youkai, one that only vaguely resembled what he must have looked like in life, because this version of who Inuyasha presumed to be Eido was red-eyed, his vapor-like “skin” grayed out almost to transparency.

He almost appeared semi-transformed, because his tail was visible, and his hands were gigantic claw-tipped paws. But the face itself retained the “human” appearance, and it was that that gazed down upon Inuyasha and Kouga as though a meal had just been delivered.

“You…,” came that whispery, venomous voice. Bloodshot eyes fixated on Inuyasha with deadly intent, and Inuyasha drew Tessaiga as the apparition took a step toward him. “I can smell him on you. The reek of that dog lord. Inutaisho,” came the hissed name, as though issued from the throat of a serpent. “What conceit there is in that name.”

“Your family doesn’t make friends easily, does it, Dog Shit?” Kouga queried tensely, looking poised for the moment when Eido would lash out.

“We just don’t like mutts and wolves,” Inuyasha proclaimed, bringing Tessaiga around to point intently at the lingering Eido. “And, unfortunately, that’s all I seem to be surrounded with these days.”


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It did not happen often, but he had been surprised. When those creatures had set upon them in the tunnel, Sesshoumaru’s first instinct had been to destroy them; Elif’s had apparently been to defend Kagome once it had become obvious that she was the sole target. He did not understand the motivation behind that. Had it been her desire to please him by taking partial ownership of something that was temporarily his responsibility? Was it confusion and guilt over her role in this conflict? Or was it more of the strange and unsettling change that had been seizing the woman lately?

In her effort to become “nicer”, she was becoming annoyingly complex. She could do what she liked, it mattered not to him, but her unpredictability was what was causing him some concern. He simply did not know what to anticipate from her moment to moment. She would go from pleased and proud to be on his “side”, to morose and guilt-stricken for that same decision, and those feelings would be overridden by her sudden desire to reminisce over shared childhood experiences that were centuries gone.

To put it simply, she was aggravating the hell out of him.

He glanced back once more at Kagome, who was still being led by Elif like a little pet. She did not look well, honestly, and he wondered how much help she would be able to be when the time came. He was surprised by her, though. Considering the circumstances, she had voiced few complaints, had remained focused on the task at hand when most humans would have dissolved into hysterics. After the incident with the cave creatures, she had quickly pulled herself back together, had steadfastly voiced the assertion that they should continue. It had increased his respect for her, surprisingly; it said something about her that she was capable of keeping up with them, wending her way nearly blind through a dark, foreign maze of tunnels, amidst all manner of difficulties.

She wasn’t completely worthless. But, then again, she wasn’t overly useful, either. As long as she was able to complete what they had come to do, he would be satisfied.

He was jarred out of his silent speculation by a sudden shuddering and shaking of the ground and walls. At first he took it for an earthquake, but it continued and worsened until the ceiling began dislodging loose chunks of itself, prompting the three of them to move more quickly through the cave. There was an echoing groan all around them, as though the mountain itself was dislodging from the ground that anchored it.

They spilled out of the tunnel into some sort of grotto that expanded with enough width and height to prompt Elif’s voice to echo resoundingly as she recognized the place for what it was.

“This is the burial site!” she proclaimed, yelling over the cacophony of shifting rock and that endless moaning sound.

There was light here, an old, faded light that was coming from a source he could not determine. It appeared almost to be glowing out of the rocks themselves, or perhaps they were reflecting it. But this place was clearly artificially created, cut into this mountain. The walls were high and smooth, as was the floor which was carved with intricate patterns that included symbols he pulled out of his early education. Northern script, ancient and unused now, but it detailed this place as the burial site for Eido and the weapon, Ryuujin, just as Elif had claimed.

And this place was choked with jyaki; visible expulsions of vapor were consistently released and filled the cavern, as though gathering to escape through the ceiling. The miko’s abilities were certainly waning, because her hand was still tightly clasping Elif’s arm and she was gasping with more difficulty for air that was fouled and poisonous.

The raucous sounds stopped suddenly, pitching the cavern into an eerie silence, almost as though the mountain had been reminded that this place was a resting spot for the dead. Sesshoumaru crossed the cavern, ascending the wide stone steps that led to the grave itself, and as he reached the top and peered out over it, he could see that it did indeed show signs of a recent violation, of a hasty attempt to placate what they knew would be an angry soul once disturbed.

He turned then to eye the two women, but froze when his eyes lit on the figure that was emerging from another shadowy tunnel at their backs.

“Elif,” Sesshoumaru voiced the low warning, tensing at the sudden arrival.

Hearing the tone of his voice, Elif turned her head to watch as Eizan approached them very slowly, eyes fixated on her with an unreadable stare. It was the blankness of it that was so disconcerting. He was always at his worst when he was neither angry nor happy, but seized by that pleasant calm.

His eyes slid from Elif to Kagome, and then a polite smile crossed his lips. “Miko, I am afraid that this situation has now escalated beyond your abilities.”