InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Wicked ❯ Paying the Piper ( Chapter 30 )

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

Chapter 30:  Paying the Piper

Inuyasha could feel the tension in the air as the souls of Naraku's victims almost vibrated with hunger and excitement – and Naraku in dread filled horror.  He, too, could feel the almost overpowering air of death and suffering he was about to experience.

“It's time to pay the piper, Naraku,”  the hanyou crooned, eyes just as red as his father's and brother's.  

Totally inappropriate to the moment, Naraku's mind grasped onto that very odd fact – Inuyasha, when his full demon came out to play, was completely uncontrollable.  So why not this time?

“W-why are y-you not attacking everyone, I-Inuyasha?”  he managed to get out.

Mattaki answered.  “As a last question before you die, I will answer you, spider.  It is because I, as his sire, can tame his demon, and keep it under control.  Wasn't that what Tessaiga, which is my fang, did for him?  How much more capable am I, the living father, to do the same thing?”

Well, Naraku thought hazily, at least my last bout of curiosity was filled, and with that thought, his last, painful minutes on this earth dragged him down into more agony then he'd ever felt, finally causing his mind to shut down.

The first one to strike was Sesshoumaru.  Allowing his dokkasu to gather, he held his poison hand over Naraku's private parts, and let it drip down onto the selected area.  The only disappointment was that the spider was unable to scream – at least out loud.  He was sure the hanyou was screaming inside.

“This is what happens when you take something that belongs to an inu, Naraku.  One hopes that you will take this lesson into the next life – it might make that next one a great deal safer.  Of course, that is if you even receive a next life, which is beginning to look doubtful.”

With that, he stepped back, and Mattaki took his place.  “For me, you are the thing that harmed my sons, in two very different ways.  And then you harmed my mate – and for that, you have bought your fate.”

Holding up one clawed hand, he reached down and slowly cut out Naraku's eyes, ignoring the spattering blood and writhing body of the spider.  “This is to symbolize that you should have kept your greedy eyes to yourself.”  With that, he stepped back, and it was Inuyasha's turn.

Moving forward slowly, the hanyou studied the destroyed body of his greatest enemy.  It was so pathetic. “If you hadn't been so greedy for power, Naraku, your end would have been a lot different.  Instead, you took the power of the kami in your hands and tried to rule all with it.  Only, in the end, the kami brought you low... and now you lie here in terrible agony, waiting for the final blow.”  

Coming up to lean over his body, Inuyasha slashed Naraku's throat, and watched as his blood splattered everywhere.  “It's judgment day.  And may the souls of those you harmed make you scream for all eternity.”  

He turned away from the dying spider and walked out of the cave, not needing to watch him die.  It had been gruesome, but deserved, and Inuyasha was happy with that.  He didn't feel any need to gloat about the spider's end – he was simply pleased that it was now over, and he need never fear Naraku's interference again.

He remained standing there even as he felt a tremendous release of spirit energy;  one could feel the building rage getting ready to explode as Naraku finally passed on.  

No... he didn't envy the spider at all, nor did he pity him.

Still, as that building rage exploded, taking Naraku's dark soul with it, Inuyasha shivered, glad that he had learned his lesson about power and greed before it ever came close to an ending like this one.

Finally, his brother and father stepped from the cave, and without turning around, Inuyasha asked,  “What did you do to his body?”

Sesshoumaru answered.  “I used my poison – there is nothing left of him, or half the floor, either.”

Inuyasha nodded.  “Good.”

He inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh, clean, cold mountain air, and then let all of the tension, fear, hatred, and loathing towards Naraku out as he exhaled, letting his shoulders slump in the relief of no longer having to look forward to battling the spider or his minions every day.  It was like the weight of the world was finally lifted off his shoulders.

“So... now what?”  he asked, feeling oddly adrift now that he no longer had a quest, a purpose.

Sesshoumaru answered.  “We go about life, hanyou.  There is always another thing to do.  I am certain something will present itself to you if you are patient.”

Mattaki chuckled from his place behind his two sons.  “That is true, Sesshoumaru.  Very true.  I already have plans... and would like to get to the doing.  Come, Inuyasha,”  he said, holding out a rather imperious hand for his youngest to take.  “I will see you at some point, Sesshoumaru.  Be well,”  he finished, even as his son gave him a curt nod and formed his cloud, lifting off and heading back to his ward and retainer.

Inuyasha looked back once to the unremarkable cave that had been host to Naraku's death, and found it fitting that he would be forgotten by history – forgotten by the world.

In death, he was the one thing he'd feared more than anything else...

Obscure.

-wWw-

As he took his last breath, Naraku could feel the cold, dead hands of the hundreds of souls that he had sent into the afterlife, and he screamed as they tore at him, plucked at his eyeless sockets and open mouth, and began shredding his soul.

Maddened, insane with agony and fear, the being once feared by those above no longer even knew himself – all he knew was suffering and agony.  Passed back and forth to all the different souls that had come for him, each one had something different they wanted to do to him.

He quickly learned that even in hell, and being a soul with no physical form, you could still be raped, you could still be tortured – the only difference was, you couldn't die...

Because you were already dead.

And so Naraku went to his reward for all the evil that he had perpetrated on earth – an eternity of rape and mutilation that he could never escape from.  

Sooner or later, the soul of the one once known as Naraku, would flitter away into nothingness, forgotten.

Forgotten on earth, in hell, and even by himself, Naraku went wailing into the void.

-wWw-

Kagome could feel her mate's return quite a bit before he actually arrived, and stepped outside to meet him.  

The moment he landed, setting Inuyasha down, she spoke.  “He's dead now, isn't he?”  

Blinking in surprise, Mattaki ruefully accepted the fact that she had gotten one up on him.  With a sigh, he said,  “Yes.  It's all over.  How did you know?”

“Miroku's wind tunnel disappeared.”

“I see.  Well, as I said, it's all done.”

Shaking her head, she said,  “No... it's not.  There's still Kanna, and Byakuya to get.”

Inuyasha frowned, totally having forgotten them.  “Yeah...”  he said slowly,  “where did those two get to?”

“Who are these two you have named?”  Mattaki asked.

“They are incarnations of Naraku.  He created them using the shikon,”  Kagome answered absently.  “And something else, too, Inuyasha... Kohaku.”

“Fuck!  I forgot about that,”  he said, slamming his fist into the nearest tree.  He could be dead, he could be alive, and he could be anywhere.  How the hell are we gonna find him?  Or at least, what happened to him?”

“Hold a moment.  Explain – who is Kohaku?  And why are you both so worried about him?”

“Keh.  Kohaku is Sango's little brother.  Back in the beginning of all of this, Naraku set a trap for the slayers, and, taking control of Kohaku's mind, forced him to slaughter his father and all the rest of his family, except Sango.  Kohaku was seriously injured at the time, and he had to use a shard of the jewel to keep the boy alive – and under his control.”

Kagome's expression was definitely unhappy as she said,  “It's my guess that he's gone... Naraku was too malicious to ever let him go free – even if he lived through the taking of the shard.”

Just then, Sango stepped out of Kaede's hut, having heard their discussion.  “I think I know where Naraku left him,”  she murmured.  “The one place I would be sure to visit that was also empty of life.”

Kagome's expression mirrored her regret, even as she said softly,  “Your village.  I think we need to go there and lay him properly to rest.”

Sango nodded, tears in her eyes but shoulders held straight as she accepted that her brother was dead.  “I will gather Miroku, and we'll take Kirara.”  She looked over at Kagome.  “Any who wish to come are welcome.”

Understanding in her eyes, she merely nodded, knowing that Mattaki would not begrudge the delay in returning to her time.  “We'll wait right here for you, then.”

Within a few minutes, the entire group was standing outside, ready to go support Sango in this time of need.  They all hoped that Naraku hadn't left the boy in shreds or done something horrible with his remains – it would be just like him to do so, though, and they knew it.”

As they all took to the skies, silently thinking to himself about that very possibility, Mattaki decided to make up some excuse and go into the village first to make sure there were no traps, or gruesome displays.

Sango shouldn't have to deal with that, on top of everything else.

-wWw-

The trip wasn't a long one by air, and before they all knew it, they were approaching the haunted ruins of the once-vibrant slayer's village.  Both inu could tell by scent that Naraku had, indeed, been here – and recently.  Setting down, Inuyasha met his father's gaze, then said,  “It isn't safe to go in yet, Sango, so please, stay here and me and the old man'll  go check it out, okay?”  

She merely nodded, not having the fortitude to argue.

Kagome watched her mate and best friend head straight into the village – though cautiously.  She was pretty sure she knew the reason why Mattaki wanted to go in first, and she could only feel saddened at Kohaku's fate.  She almost wished she could rip Naraku's balls off and feed them to him, not surprised that Mattaki picked up on her thoughts, though he didn't find them amusing.

Whatever it was that had been done to the young boy had her mate's teeth on edge, and she could feel his anger vibrating through the bond.  The only comfort she got was his insistence that Naraku had indeed paid greatly for his crimes before he died.  And apparently, even after death, all the souls that he was responsible for harming were simply waiting for him to pass to then get their vengeance.  

All she could think was “Good!”  No one deserved it more than that bastard.

When Inuyasha saw what Naraku had done to Kohaku and left for Sango to find, all he could do was wish he could go back to that cave and torture that bastard some more.

He had been flayed open and pinned to the wall of what had once been his and Sango's home.  He wanted to vomit, at the smell, and the visual.  

Mattaki said nothing as his son retched into the grasses at the back of the house, knowing that this was someone his son had known, making it all that much harder to see what had become of the boy.  

From the lack of any significant blood on the ground, Mattaki was certain that he had been killed elsewhere, and then brought here.  It also seemed to him that the boy had already been dead when this had been done to him – the expression on his face wasn't of pain and suffering, but of sadness, and oddly enough, peace.

“There is some small comfort, Inuyasha, in this,”  Mattaki said,  “I believe he was already dead well before this was done.  Look at his face.  I think... Naraku took the shard from his back, and that was what caused his death.  This was just staged to get one last horrific blow in to Sango's mind.  It was meant as mental and emotional torture.”

Inuyasha nodded, then, firming his shoulders, said,  “Let's get to it.  There's no way I want Sango to find him like this.”

Mattaki merely nodded, and the two set to work.  Getting him down was the hardest, but once they had him off the wall, they were able to find something to wrap him in so that Sango wouldn't know what had been done to her younger brother.

Taking him once he was wrapped and laying him out near the graves of all the others, they headed back to the rest of the group, taking note of Miroku's comforting of the slayer.

“I'm sorry, Sango... he's there.  I wish there was something I could do to change things for you...”  Inuyasha trailed off, grief for his friend clear on his face.  Kagome and Kikyou both moved over to hold the emotional slayer, giving her much needed support.

Kagome caught her mate's covert look, and knew in that moment that what they had found in the village had indeed been horrific, and she was grateful that Sango had been spared that, at least.

“Come, we should get him settled before dark, Sango,”  Mattaki said gently, and the grieving slayer nodded, before straightening her shoulders and marching forward like the warrior she was.  She had pretty much known that her brother was gone, so it wasn't a surprise, but there had always been that hope in the back of her mind...

That was dead now, and it was time to face reality with strength and fortitude as her father had taught.  She was the only one left, now, to uphold the traditions of the proud taijiya, and she would.

Proud of his ladylove, Miroku stayed back a little, letting her do what she needed, but offering her his strength when she needed it.  Despite his lecherous nature, he was well aware that there were times that it was not appropriate, and this was certainly one of them.

Mattaki led them to the boy's remains, and then he and Inuyasha began to dig another grave, not even having to be asked.

“Miroku,”  Sango murmured,  “Would you say a blessing for his spirit?”

The monk nodded, his face set.  “As soon as the grave is ready, I would be honored to, Sango.”

It didn't take all that long to dig a grave, especially as it was two inu that were doing it, and then, in a touching service that had pretty much everyone with tears in their eyes, the young boy whose short life had been so horrific was laid to rest so his soul could finally find peace.

No one was overly surprised when Sango and Miroku decided to stay there for a while, and said their goodbyes quietly.  Since those two would be staying, it left Inuyasha to take Kikyou and walk back slowly.  Oh, Mattaki could have carried all of them, but Kagome put a bug in his ear about this being a good time for the two to talk and get everything settled while no one was around to interfere.

Mattaki nodded, and within moments, it was done, waving goodbye to her best friend, she watched nostalgically as he had Kikyou climb on his back the way she herself always had in the past.  It saddened her that she never would again – things had changed so much and so fast that she could almost barely comprehend it.

The jewel was whole, purified, and hidden away, Naraku was gone...

“We still don't know what happened to Kanna or Byakuya!”  Kagome exclaimed.  “I completely forgot about them what with Kohaku and all,”  she said, manner becoming subdued again with sadness for her friend and her ill-fated brother.

“They are of no serious moment, Kagome,”  Mattaki said as he wrapped her in his pelt to avoid the chill of the early evening air.  Kagome couldn't help but enjoy the beauty of the twilight sky in all its glory.  It was so much more beautiful from up in the sky...

“I suppose not... but I would still feel safer knowing where they are and what they're doing,”  she sighed.

“We can search for them in a few days, mate, do not worry so.  The time for peace has come – so I want to see you relaxing the tension you've been in for some time.  The future is ours, love, so sit back and enjoy it.”

Kagome nodded absently, still focused on the breathtaking sunset colors washing across the western half of the sky, while the eastern sky showed brilliant stars beginning to peek out.  For some reason, that beautiful sight, and the warmth of being held by her mate, caused all the tension of the last few weeks to drain out of her, and suddenly, she was so tired she could barely stand it.

She was absolutely ready to go home, and rest.

-wWw-

Back on the other side of time, Mattaki hopped out of the well, and instead of putting his mate down, he continued to carry her, and Kagome didn't even argue.  It was a sign of how tired she truly was, and Mattaki smiled down at her, noting her relaxed features and thick lashes laying darkly against her cheeks.

After a moment, he looked back up, and took note of some of the damage from that fight with Kage a few days before.  With a sigh, he decided that on the morrow he would repair what had been damaged so that the old man wouldn't have to.  He wasn't cut out to be doing labor like that anymore.

Kagome didn't even open her eyes as he neared the door to her house, simply murmuring instructions to just go into the house, and then take off their shoes in the genkan so as not to mess her mother's immaculate floors up.  Once that was done, she pointed to the kitchen, and her rather amused mate shook his head at her.

“Enjoying the ride, Kagome?”  he asked, a smile apparent in his voice.

“Mmhmm,”  she mumbled, still not opening her eyes, even as the scent of food coming from straight ahead caught her attention; her nose began to twitch busily at the smell.

Mattaki couldn't help it, he laughed.  “And here I thought I was the inu in this relationship, little mate,”  he chuckled, and Kagome flushed, finally opening her eyes to give him a little glare as he made it into the kitchen where her family was just about to eat.

They were quite happy to see the duo, and quickly, Mattaki's armor and swords were banished to Kagome's room, and they were seated at the table, the large inu regaling her family with anecdotes of their time in the past.

Everyone was quite glad to hear that Naraku was finally dead and gone, unable to hurt anyone again, and that Kagome wouldn't be running off first thing in the morning to go spider-hunting again.

That evening was spent just enjoying the first tension free night with her family she'd had since the whole thing had begun.

-wWw-

A/N:  And we are a step closer to the end, peoples.  Just another couple of chapters on this one, and we'll be done!  Then I can dig the next inupapa/kag fic out of its folder and start posting it.  Hope everyone has enjoyed this story as much as I did!

Amber

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