InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ What Are You? ❯ Chapter Fourteen: End of All Hope ( Chapter 14 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter Fourteen

End of All Hope

Naraku and I put on a good front for Inuyasha. As the battle progressed, though, I grew angrier with my half-brother. He was so irksome, so idiotic. I really couldn't stand my little brother, so there was no real acting involved when I suddenly turned on him and ran him through with Tokijin. He was so unprepared, so unexpecting. It was a moment I would cherish for the rest of my long life. The way his blood had filled the air… The way he had gasped in surprise and pain. Such a pleasant moment for me. I would even go so far as to call it divine. Inuyasha had used the Wind Scar, and I was behind him. When he was distracted, I had injured him. I treasured the moment I had ran up behind him and drove the blade through the fire-rat fabric, piercing the flesh of his back and mingling with his intestines, then breaking free again from his stomach. His lips parted to gasp, eyes widening. Tetsusaiga fell from his hands, tumbling away, rolling a little down a slope, farther away from him.

I pulled out the blade. My little brother fell to his knees, holding one hand to his chest. I turned toward Naraku and came for him. He made a hasty escape, tossing a bit of banter my way, inviting me to come after him. I wondered if it was really all for show. He really did want me to come with him, but he knew what my answer would be. He knew that he was next. He would be running now, so I had to be quick about this.

Inuyasha looked up at me. He reached out for Tetsusaiga. In one quick movement, so fast that he could never have seen it coming, I cut off his arm at the elbow. He screamed. I smiled. Now he knew how it felt—how I had felt. I had grown to be a very bitter demon. “How does it feel, Inuyasha?” I asked him. He dove for his sword. I knocked him away from it.

This was the end of all hope Inuyasha would ever have for life. I was the end. I swung my sword once, cutting his head clean off. I turned away before the body hit the ground with a dull thud, more blood spilling onto the earth. I took Tetsusaiga's sheath and went to the sword. Carefully, I put it in the sheath, reminded of the barrier every time I touched it. I put the Tetsusaiga with my other two swords. I had a fine assortment of swords now, didn't I? Quite a strange collection indeed.

For once, I was grateful for not having two arms. If I did, every time I accidentally brushed my left arm against Tetsusaiga, its barrier would react and scorch my flesh. As it was, though, I was fine.

I took to the air, hunting down Naraku. He would die today. Today, and no other day.

Kagura was the first to confront me. She didn't seem to want to though. In fact, it was just a show of fighting, and she let me kill her. She opened herself up to my attack and let it fall upon her. But it was all right. She was free too now. She had became the wind. That was what she said as she died, anyway. “I am the wind… I'm finally free,” she whispered as her body faded into nothingness. A cool breeze lifted my hair off of my shoulders, and it smelled like Kagura—like Naraku. It changed directions. She was showing me the way. I nodded my head in an expression of gratitude to her for helping me.

Kanna was up next. I was feeling a little insulted at all this, and I really didn't have the time for it. I destroyed her as well, as quickly as I could, headed for my victim. It took me over an hour to find him. He was inside his usual barrier, but I broke it down with the Tetsusaiga, even though it cost me a burned palm.

No matter. This was the end of all hope. For him, for Inuyasha.

And it was the beginning for me.