InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Y Cyfnewidiad ❯ Brwydr ( Chapter 6 )

Y Cyfnewidiad

Cyhiraeth

Story Summary: Sesshoumaru has always looked down upon humans, but what happens when by some cruel twist of fate, he is forced to become one. And as for Inuyasha, is this a dream come true, or his worst nightmare? Sess/Kag

Chapter Summary: Inuyasha fights demons again-demons that have their power, that is. Naraku plots, briefly. Rin wrecks havoc, sort of.

Chapter 6: Brwydr

Stifling a yawn behind her hand, Kagome wearily watched as the headman described the youkai that had been recently troubling the village. Belatedly, she wished that she had been able to get more sleep the night before. Looking around at the others, she concluded that most of them were thinking the same thing.

Miroku was standing several feet to Kagome's left. Well, maybe standing wasn't the best terminology. He was leaning heavily on his staff, vacantly watching the headman in a way that made it quite clear that he didn't hear a word the man said. Kagome was somewhat surprised that the monk wasn't making any advances on Sango-she was standing right beside him, likewise supported mostly by Hiraikotsu.

'That, if nothing else, shows how tired he is.' Kagome felt slightly guilty for accidentally keeping them all up most of the night. Even Shippou, who was for the moment on Sango's shoulder, seemed rather listless.

Well, it was too late to do anything about it now. It was likely that Sango and Miroku would not even be needed anyway in slaying whatever demons were attacking the village, Kagome decided as she turned her attention to Inuyasha. The half demon did not look especially tired-but when did he ever?-and could probably handle any trouble they were likely to face by himself.

'He certainly looks about ready to,' Kagome noted, recognising the somewhat irritated expression on the hanyou's face as he convulsively tapped his claws against the hilt of Tetsusaiga. Despite his twitching hands, however, Inuyasha somehow managed to keep his attention focused completely on the headman.

'Though that's probably not because he thinks the man's speech is at all interesting,' she decided, since surely the headman's speech was anything but. Kagome hadn't exactly been keeping track of the length of time the village leader had been talking, and quite honestly couldn't remember more than two words he had said so far.

No. Inuyasha was obviously not paying attention. He was probably trying his best to ignore the newest member of their small group, who for his own part was leaning against the wall of one of the houses, looking thoroughly bored with the entire operation.

Something had happened between those two, Kagome decided. Late last night, maybe an hour or so after she and Sango had stopped talking, the hanyou had stomped into the room, mumbling something under his breath, 'bastard' being the only word that Kagome actually caught. She had wisely chosen not to press him, figuring that he had probably just been speaking with his brother.

She could only imagine how that conversation had gone.

When morning finally came, Kagome was somewhat surprised to find Sesshoumaru resting outside the headman's house, and finally consciously realised why she had been unable to sleep during the night: after seeing Inuyasha in such a sour mood, she had half expected to find parts of the elder brother scattered across the forest.

Resignedly, Kagome had anticipated to suffer through several more 'heated arguments,' to put it mildly, before breakfast was through. To her surprise, however, Inuyasha had seemed quite content to leave his brother alone. Since Sesshoumaru had appeared just as willing to leave things as they were, Kagome found herself hoping against hope that the two of them had made some sort of peace during the night.

After several minutes she realised that such hoping was in vain. Each brother was effectively pretending that the other did not exist. Faced with this icy, unnatural silence, Kagome realised just how much she was beginning to miss the arguing and fighting. 'They're acting like a pair of small children,' she decided, becoming rather annoyed by the whole situation.

'Some things never change,' Kagome thought wryly, finally turning her attention back to the headman's hopefully almost completed speech.

"They are monstrously powerful beings… Have killed at least a dozen villagers…" the headman was saying, though to Kagome's slightly feverish brain, he seemed more excited than horrified.

'Feverish… Hm, am I getting sick?' That would be a wonderful conclusion to this entire misadventure, she decided. 'Inuyasha would just kill me if I made him go back to the village now…

'I wonder what Kaede would think,' she speculated, imagining the likely inevitable meeting between the old miko and Sesshoumaru.

"Kagome, are you alright?" a voice beside her asked worriedly, and despite herself, Kagome jumped in surprise. She turned enough to see Sango standing beside her. 'When did she show up…?'

Probably Miroku hadn't been quite as tired as she had originally guessed, though Kagome had not heard anything that would indicate a meeting between Hiraikotsu and the monk's head…

Kagome shook her head in a vain attempt to clear it and gave Sango a wavering smile, "Yeah. I think so."

Sango seemed less than convinced, but clearly chose not to press her friend. She simply watched Kagome uncertainly before turning back to the headman. With a sigh and more than a bit of effort, Kagome directed her attention back towards the village leader as well. "They are horrible, hideous creatures… Can spit fire…" he was warning them now.

'Warning… It seems more like advertising,' Kagome decided, her brain irrationally creating a television commercial starring this somewhat ridiculous headman and his demons.

'They'll think I'm crazy if I laugh out loud,' Kagome accurately concluded, shutting her eyes for a moment. 'Damn it, I'm completely useless in a fight now,' she realised, pressing her fingers against her temples, where she felt the beginnings of a throbbing headache. 'If only I had been able to sleep.'

Thanks to a pair of dog demons-even as he was now, Kagome couldn't think of Sesshoumaru as anything else-however, that had been quite impossible.

She was snapped from her rather dazed state when one of the dog demons apparently reached the end of his patience-'not that he had much of it to start with.' Inuyasha, looking more than slightly irritated, finally interrupted the headman's string of monster-worship, "Look, old man, we'll slay your stupid demons. Now where the hell are they?"

Kagome was not the only one to be snapped back to full consciousness when Inuyasha decided to open his mouth. Both Sango and Miroku looked slightly more alert, and the small kitsune leapt from his perch on Sango's shoulder into Kagome's arms. Even Sesshoumaru, who was still leaning against a wall somewhat removed from the rest, twitched slightly.

'Did he almost just fall…?' Kagome wondered with some amusement, realising that Sesshoumaru's expression was basically the same whether he was intensely bored or falling asleep on his feet.

The headman blinked a couple of times. "Oh… Their nest is at the bottom of the mountain just beyond the village," he said, pointing vaguely in front of them.

"Good," Inuyasha said. His claws finally stopped twitching as he drew Tetsusaiga. "Well, let's go."

He was not having a very good day.

In fact, his whole week had been rather miserable.

Shifting the Shikon no Tama in his hand, Naraku was quite conscious to the fact that he almost had the whole jewel-and the powers that would come with it-in his grasp. There were now only a few left to collect, most of which were in places where they could be easily gathered.

Despite this, he was not in the best of moods.

Ever manipulative, Naraku liked to have every variable accounted for and all things clearly set in the places he had assigned them. Unfortunately, at the moment everything was spinning out of control. A few days earlier, he had sent Kagura to obtain several shards for him. The witch had not yet returned, leading him to wonder just how openly defiant she would dare to be. Perhaps if she had discovered what he already knew, the incarnation would finally show her true loyalties.

In that case, he would be forced to destroy her.

His mind focused on that most recent discovery he had made, as he tried to decide just how he would handle this newest development.

Sesshoumaru was no longer a threat to him. Although Naraku himself had had no part in the taiyoukai's downfall, he was hardly displeased with the outcome.

However, one aspect of the matter bothered him very much.

There was someone wandering around Japan-someone whose identity was hidden from him-who was undeniably incredibly powerful. Even Naraku could hardly conceive of the amount of power necessary to accomplish such a deed.

Naraku now had an extremely formidable enemy…

Or a very valuable ally.

As soon as Kagura returned-assuming she was still on his side-Naraku would send her to ascertain which of the two was the case.

"Well, where are they?" Inuyasha asked nobody in particular as he mulled over the words the headman had spoken. Or at least, the words that he had listened to.

'He said something about breathing fire… So they're some sort of dragon youkai, I guess. Not as if I haven't fought anything like that before… no way in hell these things are gonna be harder to kill than Ryukotsusei.' Still, the prospect of fighting dragons was not one that he found overly pleasing.

But Inuyasha had to admit to himself that he could definitely use practice with the bakuryuuha. If these youkai really were as dangerous and powerful as that stupid headman would have them believe, they might make for decent targets. "I'm assuming," he heard Miroku begin from behind him, "that the youkai are in that cave."

Inuyasha turned around and passed his eyes along the rocky cliff, stopping briefly at the entrance to a dark cavern. He didn't know too much about dragon demons-if that was even what these were-but could only guess that they lived in caves. It seemed logical… "Yeah, Miroku, but most demons come out and attack you before you get to their dens," Inuyasha commented distractedly.

"Well, we might as well just walk in and exterminate them…" Sango suggested calmly, eyeing the cave opening herself.

"That's the plan," Inuyasha agreed, turning back towards the cave entrance. This was all wrong; Inuyasha sniffed at the air suspiciously. Something about this situation smelled strange, and he could hardly even pick up the distinctive scent of a dragon.

"You mean to enter a dragon's lair without a well thought-out plan?" a cool voice behind him commented, the tone slightly disbelieving.

Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha forced himself to ignore his half-brother. He had already tried talking with the idiot, and long since realised that it just didn't work. Maybe he could still drop the bastard off of some cliff…

No, that wouldn't work. If Kagome ever found out… Well, Inuyasha probably wouldn't be walking for a while if that happened. "Damn it. Why can't I just concentrate on the stupid demons?'

"Inuyasha has beaten a dragon before," he heard Kagome say defensively.

"The beast had been sealed for fifty years," his brother pointed out evenly.

'Who the hell cares?' Inuyasha thought resentfully, once again managing to remain at least outwardly calm. 'Forget about the shards, we've got to figure out what happened to Sesshoumaru first… Then I can get the damn moron out of my face.' Quite pleased by his decision, Inuyasha took a step closer to the cave's entrance, and jerked back quickly when a jet of fire launched itself at his face.

"Damn it! There's something in there!" he hissed, holding Tetsusaiga out in front of him. Strangely, he still could smell nothing at all.

"Well, what did you expect?" Kagome demanded, her voice halfway between amused and annoyed.

"Yeah, well… I can't smell the damned things," he hissed in reply, squinting in the direction from where the spout of flame had come. No one commented about his answer, but he swore he heard his brother snort derisively. 'Damn fool, it's not like he could actually smell anything.'

The thought was driven from his mind when several small objects flung themselves at him, accompanied by a few more streams of fire. Inuyasha jerked out of the way and swung his sword in the direction one of the streams had come from, aggravated that he was still unable to smell the damned things.

A shrill shriek told him that he had made contact, but Inuyasha did not have time to celebrate his victory. His nose twitching at the unpleasant smell of smoke, the hanyou leapt away from another, weaker spout of flame and clumsily swung his sword again. A second screech indicated another enemy down, and Inuyasha realised that there was only one more to go.

Although he was still half blinded, Inuyasha was able to quickly dice up the third small assailant, and nothing but an eerie silence remained. The hanyou blinked convulsively and waited as the smoke cleared. 'That was much too easy,' he decided, amazed at the ease with which he had destroyed those dragons. 'The way the old man was speaking, I thought that they would be powerful. These were the things bothering the village?'

He was somewhat disappointed. A difficult battle would have helped to alleviate some of the frustration he was feeling. Obviously, he was going to have to look elsewhere for such a challenge. 'Well there's still Naraku…'

Almost against his will, Inuyasha felt his eyes widening as the smoke finally dissipated. The creatures lying on the ground, his fierce assailants… The largest was maybe three feet long. The other two were quite a bit smaller still.

Baby dragons…?

"Quite impressive," Sesshoumaru remarked dryly.

He had tried to stay calm and found that it simply wasn't going to happen. He knew that he and his friends hadn't always had the most harmonious relationship, but Inuyasha didn't think that he could stand much more of these acerbic remarks. He spun around, his resolve to simply ignore his brother suddenly shattering.

In that instant, all hell broke loose.

The second Inuyasha saw his brother's eyes widen in surprise, he realised that he had made a serious mistake. A moment later, he heard Kagome's surprised shriek, "Inuyasha! Shards!"

'What the hell…?' A moment earlier he had smelled nothing, and now the distinct scents of several different dragons filled the air. 'Damn it, damn it… Why couldn't I smell it before…? What are these things?"

He twisted back around, drawing Tetsusaiga as he twirled, instinctively feeling that it was already too late.

Inuyasha was hardly slow, but he was nowhere near as fast as the adult dragon that had just launched itself at him. He turned just in time to see a huge brown tail crashing towards him…

And then he saw nothing at all.

She watched as the sun slowly began to rise over the horizon, bathing the world in its brilliant light.

Turning away from the brightness, the young woman moved away from the door and quickly returned to her own rooms, wondering what she was going to do today. If her luck held, her servants would soon be returning-she had expected them several days ago and wondered what could have been taking so long. Assuming they finally arrived, she would be able to put to rest some of the fears that had plagued her, and live some semblance of a normal life.

At the moment, however, her life was hardly worth living. Her days were filled with memories of the past, and her nights with terrible possibilities for the future. Everything she had accomplished over the years would be worth nothing if this final desire was not fulfilled.

The woman turned to look at herself in the full-length mirror that stood behind her, and was almost surprised at what she saw. She wore the red and white kimono that had long been associated with priestesses, and though she currently and efficiently played the part of the miko, she was in reality something far different.

She pulled her eyes away from her outfit and focused her attention on her face. Her hair was still as dark and full and luscious as it had been when she was twenty. Her skin was as youthful and flawless. But she was no longer twenty, or anywhere near.

'How long has it been… I can no longer remember…'

The sound of footsteps from beyond her room distracted her, and the seemingly young woman reluctantly tore her eyes away from the mirror. Banishing the slight frown that threatened to appear on her face, she moved towards the doors and slid them open. Upon recognising Tsukimo, the lord of the castle where she was presently residing, she hastily lowered her eyes.

"Ah, Seigiko-san," the lord said, relief evident in his voice. "That niece of yours is wrecking havoc with the servants again."

'Niece?' Oh, right. The little girl. Seigiko forced a smile on her face, "I will see to her immediately, my lord," she promised sincerely.

Tsukimo nodded slightly, his eyes hardening, "See to it that you do."

With those final words, the lord moved away from her and left Seigiko in the company of her own thoughts.

'Niece.' Seigiko would have liked to have had a niece, but as far as she was aware, that was not the case. A daughter of her own would have been nice as well, but after all the arcane magic she had explored-that of both human priestesses and demons-she doubted that it was even possible. She did have a couple of nephews, however, though she had never seen them.

The girl was most definitely not her niece. Until about a week ago, she had never even known that the child existed. But when she had returned to Tsukimo's castle, Seigiko had known that the lord would not appreciate being forced to accommodate a stray child of unknown origin-Tsukimo was not the kindest or most hospitable of lords-and thus the girl had become her adopted niece.

Who she really was, Seigiko had no definite idea.

With a sigh, the woman left her rooms and moved towards the servants' quarters, deciding to adhere to her hastily stated promise. She only hoped that in the meantime, the child would not grow bored and decide to begin tormenting some of Tsukimo's warriors instead. Only the gods knew where that would lead to…

"Ah, Seigiko-sama!" a servant cried, running towards her. "Your niece…"

"Relax, Ayuki," Seigiko suggested calmly, recognising the servant. "What is she doing?" she asked, an amused smile gracing her face.

Ayuki hesitated for a moment to catch her breath. "At present," she finally managed, "the girl is forcing all of the cook's children to race her. It is something of an improvement, however, considering what she was demanding before…"

Seigiko stopped listening for a moment as she tried to remember just how old the cook's 'children' were. The youngest had to be no less than twelve years old, and if she remembered correctly, the eldest was just under twenty. And how many were there again? Five, she believed. What a mess the kitchen had to be at the moment…

"My lady…" Ayuki questioned, clearly realising that Seigiko's mind was elsewhere. As soon as the servant concluded that she had the lady's attention again, she concluded, "My lady, it is as if she had never been in a castle before!"

"A human castle, perhaps not," Seigiko mused quietly. By the slightly confused look on Ayuki's face, she realised that she had not spoken softly enough, but shook the thought away and moved forward. "Arigatou, Ayuki. I shall deal with the child."

The confused look on Ayuki's face was quickly replaced by one of relief and happiness. Bowing low to Seigiko, the servant turned and ran the rest of the way down the hall towards whatever chores awaited her.

'The cook, hm?' Seigiko pondered, moving again in the direction of the kitchen. On her way, she met several other servants, though none of them chose to address her directly. Seigiko was hardly surprised, she was not the most popular person in the castle. Her mysterious powers tended to drive away the majority of people, and her secretive nature repelled most of the rest.

She came to a stop right outside of the kitchen, and looked outside in time to see her 'niece' surrounded by five older children-'I was right, there are five.'-who were watching the girl with some degree of amusement or exasperation on their faces. The little girl seemed to be in the midst of an animated conversation, her words spewing forth so quickly that what she was saying was anyone's guess.

The young woman stood there watching everything for several moments, feeling the beginnings of a smile tugging at her lips. 'A smile… when was the last time I did that?' Not for the first time, she found herself wishing that the girl was in fact her niece. 'Though it's not as if she has anywhere to go now.'

"Seigiko-sama!" a voice called out, pulling her from her thoughts. The woman turned to see the cook watching her avidly, his expression halfway between trepidation and hope. 'He fears me, but he needs his children to help him in the kitchen.' Seigiko found it somewhat ironic that in this situation, the little girl seemed to be more of an obstacle than she herself.

"Don't worry. You'll have your children back in a couple minutes," she reassured him.

"Arigatou, miko-sama!" the cook said, a smile breaking through his somewhat fearful expression. As she walked towards the children, Seigiko wondered absently if she had made another unneeded friend.

She shook the thought out of her head and turned back to her current mission: tear the young girl away from her new friends. "Rin!" she called out, moving nearer. "Come over here!"

Upon hearing her name, the girl looked up and smiled widely. "Seigiko-sama," she greeted, running towards the older woman. Seigiko briefly noted the decent quality of the clothes that she wore, and concluded that her former guardian had treated her with great care.

Seigiko found that notion quite unsettling.

"Seigiko-sama, is Jaken-sama here yet?" she asked quickly.

"No," the elder woman replied uncertainly, not quite sure who this 'Jaken' was. It hardly mattered, however. It was a question she had heard perhaps a hundred times in the past, paired with another. She already knew what the next question was going to be, and was somewhat surprised that for once the order had been switched.

Rin's face fell somewhat as she asked her next question, "Then Sesshoumaru-sama isn't here?"

"Sesshoumaru has not arrived," Seigiko replied coolly, her words laced with acid.

"Oh…" Rin sighed. After several seconds, her curiosity overcame some of her melancholy. "Do you know Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked brightly.

"I know Sesshoumaru," Seigiko replied, her tone as dark as before.

Seigiko did her best to ignore the words of praise for her lord that poured from the little girl's mouth. She had heard all these words a thousand times in the past, and knew that every last one was false. How such nonsense could be spouted from the mouth of such an ingenuous child, she did not know.

Rin stopped speaking for long enough to see that Seigiko was no longer paying attention. The girl frowned slightly before starting, "But Seigiko-sama…"

"Rin," Seigiko interrupted calmly, knowing that she was going to have to somehow break the fascination this child had for the cold-blooded demon lord. 'I'm surprised she survived living with him. The gods know that bastard destroys everything he touches.' Seigiko was still searching for some sign that this child's apparent innocence had already been horribly corrupted.

However, she had not yet found any indication.

All the same, Seigiko knew that Rin adored her lord. As much as she would like to slander the damned dog demon, she couldn't make herself break the girl's heart. So she could only hope that in time, Rin got over her obvious infatuation and entered into normal human life.

"Rin…why don't you live among humans?" Seigiko finally asked.

For a moment, the girl looked puzzled. "Why would Rin…why would I"-she corrected, using the first person-"live anywhere else? I have Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken-sama and Ah and Un…"

Seigiko shook her head before interrupting the girl, "I mean why were you travelling with demons in the first place?"

"Oh! The wolves came and then…" Rin suddenly stopped talking and simply stared at Seigiko, quite unwilling to say more.

The woman sighed, knowing that she was unlikely to get any more information out of the girl. In the long run, it didn't really matter. 'I mustn't forget. As sweet as she is, Rin herself doesn't matter in the long run. I must follow through with my plans. I've worked towards this for so long, I can't let anything get in the way. I must…'

"Seigiko-sama!" a voice yelled, interrupting her train of thought. Both the woman and the child looked up to see another of Tsukimo's servants running towards them. "Seigiko-sama, you asked to be informed when a carriage and several men led by a man named Haru arrived…"

"Haru is here?" she demanded, cutting him off.

The servant nodded, "Hai, Seigiko-sama."

For the second time that day, a smile crossed Seigiko's face. So, her own servants had finally returned. Of course, it was not the servants themselves who she was pleased to be seeing. They were only mercenaries, and the type of people she would not trust with the most innocent of her secrets. Of course, none of Seigiko's secrets could be considered innocent…

But secrets hardly mattered anymore. Her servants were back. The day she had been waiting for what seemed like her entire life had finally come. Slowly, the woman pulled a slender bell from her kimono. This, one of the tools of her trade, was far from an ordinary chime.

She looked down at the young child beside her, the beginnings of doubt gnawing at her stomach. There was no way she could allow Rin to see what was about to happen. Eyeing the servant, Seigiko wished she had taken the time to learn this one's name as well. All the same she addressed him, "Please take Rin to her rooms."

Once again, the servant nodded, "Hai, Seigiko-sama."

For a moment, she watched as the two shapes moved away from her and receded into the background, and wondered what sort of questions Rin was putting to the servant. Then all such thoughts were driven from her head as she turned and quickly made her way to the spot where she knew Haru and the other mercenaries were going to be waiting…

With her prize.

And there he was: Haru, a young and relatively handsome man. He had come to meet her, clearly leaving the carriage and what lay inside to be guarded in the distance by his men. Extinguishing the smile that threatened to cover most of her face, Seigiko all but ran towards the mercenary, "Haru," she greeted him, trying without success to stop her eyes from flickering in the direction of where she knew the carriage had to be.

"My lady, Seigiko-sama," Haru replied, something akin to awe dancing in his eyes. Yes, Seigiko remembered that she had told these fools that she had the powers of a demon. It was not entirely a lie, even if it had misled creatures such as these.

"Where is he?" she asked, eagerly moving past him and in the direction of the carriage that she could not yet see. 'I have waited so long, I would have thought that I could wait a bit longer. But now that it's finally come, I know that I can't…'

"Um, Seigiko-sama," Haru murmured, looking away. "He, um…"

As if it had never been, every last trace of her glee simply died away. She fixed the mercenary with a stony glare, "You don't have him?"

"I… no, my lady. We do not."

"I told you, I would accept no excuses. You had enough men to stop any and all bandits."

"I… we didn't run into bandits, Seigiko-sama."

"No?" she asked, her voice suddenly dangerously cool. "I don't believe that an army could have learned of these…circumstances."

The mercenary looked at her blankly, and belatedly Seigiko remembered that she had not divulged any information to these men, considering it too risky. She had simply given them a description and then set them after their prey. Finally, Haru found an adequate answer. "It was one person…"

"One person?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well, there were more than one, but only one fought us."

"A group of highly trained mercenaries was thwarted by one man?"

"Seigiko-sama," he began, his tone edging towards beseeching. "He was half demon."

"Half-demon?" What hanyou would have any interest in what she was trying to do? As far as Seigiko knew, the only half-demon that could possibly care about any of this should be solidly on her side, but either way the question was moot. That hanyou did not even know that she existed.

"Hai, Seigiko-sama. A hanyou, a dog eared man with long white hair."

That certainly fit the only description she had of him. "Inuyasha," she murmured softly, every last bit of happiness she had ever known quickly seeping away from her. She had not wanted to make an enemy of the young hanyou as well, but it seemed that she had no choice anymore. She would let nothing stand in her way, not an innocent child and definitely not a half-demon.

She turned her attention back to the small bell that lay in her hands. If worse came to worse, she could use her greatest abilities on the hanyou as well. Perhaps she should in any case.

But the prospect filled her with no pleasure.

A/N: About 5,000 words, which means one of my longer ones, and without the added length of a diary entry (I'm too tired now to add one in)… How many hours of straight writing? Why do I feel like I'm still in school…? I realized I have almost no idea how to write Naraku, which is why that's about 300 words. Anyway, you can expect the next chapter in about three weeks (that's the next time I can upload anything onto the Internet). Didn't think I was going to be able to finish this chapter, I guess getting my rooming information from college put me into a good mood…! Once September comes, you can yell at me about updating whenever you want. ^_^