InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Y Cyfnewidiad ❯ yr achubiaeth ( Chapter 7 )

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: Kagome hasn't got a clue what's going on, and there's apparently a little bit of a philosopher in everyone, even Inuyasha...

Chapter 7: yr achubiaeth

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed, watching in horror as the dragon hurtled itself from the cave. She took a panicked step backwards, vaguely wondering how such a huge, burdensome creature could move so quickly. It was not quite so big as Ryukotsusai, but not far from. Then she sensed them…

"Shards!" she cried, mentally counting how many the dragon had: three, two of which were imbedded in its legs.

That would explain the speed. Even while she shouted her warning, Kagome knew it was too late. Inuyasha was undoubtedly quick, but the momentum was with the dragon that had already launched itself at the hanyou's unprotected back. `Damn it! If he and his brother weren't always hurling insults at each other, he wouldn't have been caught off guard!'

Of course, it made no difference what Kagome thought about the brothers' feud. She watched as Inuyasha spun around, finally recognising the danger much too late, and managed to avoid the dragon's deadly claws. But before she could warn Inuyasha, the dragon's huge tail had swung around and collided with him.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked again as the hanyou toppled to the ground, unconscious…

Or worse.

Still in a state of shock, she jerked forward towards the hanyou, intent upon helping him despite the clearly enraged dragon that hovered over his still form. As she lurched forward and despite all the impromptu training she had ever had, her bow slipped from numbed fingers. Sounds of the chaos around her never quite reached Kagome, as her attention was solely focused upon Inuyasha.

In the background-though considering how oblivious Kagome was, it could have been in entirely different world-Sango and Miroku were desperately trying to fend off a pair of frenzied dragons, though they realised they were unlikely to last more than a minute against the demons. Hiraikotsu proved to be barely more than an irritation for an adult dragon, and while Miroku's kazaana had more effect here than it had had against Ryukotsusai, there were two dragons.

Another voice barely penetrated Kagome's consciousness, ordering the monk and the demon exterminator to seek cover, claiming that the dragons' sense of sight was too poor to be able to find them if they hid themselves. Kagome didn't hear the instructions; she didn't hear much of anything. In her mind, all that existed at the moment was Inuyasha, about to be torn apart by dragons.

She was taken completely by surprise when something crashed into her from behind. Shutting here eyes tightly, Kagome felt jagged stones cut into her flesh as she rolled several times and finally found herself wedged into one of the mountainside's crevices. `What was that…?' She whimpered softly at the pain shooting up her back, and hoped she wasn't too badly hurt.

Kagome shifted slightly, and managed to pull away from the sharp rocks behind her. She tried to move forward a bit more, and found that she couldn't. Kagome knew she wasn't paralysed, simply, for some unknown reason, unable to move.

For a few seconds, her overwhelmed mind tried to grasp this concept.

Then she remembered Inuyasha.

Kagome's eyes jerked open and she swallowed an exclamation of surprise when she found herself unable to see. She blinked her eyes rapidly, wondering how such a fall could have rendered her blind. Maybe paralysis wasn't such a farfetched idea after all. "Quiet," a voice hissed against her ear and Kagome realised just why she couldn't see or move.

Something-no, someone-was pressed against her, blocking the light and holding her crushed into the jagged side of the mountain.

`Why didn't I notice earlier?' Kagome wondered. Most people realised immediately when they were shoved against another person. Then again, most people didn't have to deal with crazed dragons and half dead best friends at the same time…

Once again, the thought of Inuyasha pulled her out of her daze. "What…?" she tried, beginning to struggle. Inuyasha needed her help-Kagome couldn't bring herself to acknowledge that he might be beyond aid of any kind-and she didn't even know what had happened to the others…

"Do you not understand, miko? Be quiet. Those dragons are practically blind, but they have decent hearing," he said in a voice that could barely be considered a whisper. Kagome went limp, knowing better than to argue with Sesshoumaru in such a situation, though she wondered briefly why he had bothered to "rescue" her at all, which seemed to be the case.

"But Inuyasha…" she whispered back.

"The hanyou is not so weak that such a blow would kill him," Sesshoumaru replied with neither uncertainty nor pleasure in his voice. `Of course not,' Kagome thought disparagingly, `it's not as if the mighty Sesshoumaru is ever wrong… and he'd probably be happy if Inuyasha was dead… Well, maybe not…'

Kagome shook the unflattering thoughts out of her mind. "Oh," was all she managed to say aloud, feeling slightly stupid. Of course Inuyasha was alright. He had had worse injuries of course, and could certainly survive a simple fall-unless those dragons decided to eat him, of course…

"But…"

"He will survive a bit longer. They eat live meat," Sesshoumaru replied softly with perhaps a touch of humour in his voice. It was as if he knew what her question was going to be before she asked it. How he did that, Kagome couldn't begin to guess. Unless, perhaps, his thoughts had been along the same lines…

Giving up on trying to fathom Sesshoumaru's mind, Kagome finally realised what exactly he had said. `And that's a good thing?!' Kagome marvelled, opening her mouth to voice the sentiment. However, a hand clamped over her mouth cut her short. "I said, quiet," he murmured softly, and Kagome realised he was losing patience.

`Sesshoumaru has patience?' Kagome wondered irrelevantly, biting back a squeak of indignation. If that were the case-and if so, it was news to her-Kagome knew better than to test him. She knew a dangerous and violent person when she saw one, and doubted that it made much of a difference whether he was demon or human.

`Where are Sango and Miroku and Shippou?' she asked herself, straining her ears to hear what was happening beyond. She wished she had paid more attention to what was going on in the few seconds before Sesshoumaru shoved her into this less than comfortable alcove. If they were fighting outside, they would need her help…

Not that she would be much help in any case, Kagome decided, wondering what had happened to her bow. Her arrows were still in their quiver; she felt several of the arrowheads digging into her back alongside some of the sharper mountainside rocks. Kagome was distracted from the thought of her friends and her weapon when the sound of claws scraping on rock caught her attention.

Her blinded eyes went wide. Another small whimper was smothered by the hand over her mouth.

"Relax," Sesshoumaru commanded softly, and Kagome nodded slightly, trying to focus on her breathing instead of the admittedly stupid dragons that were at present searching for them. She hoped Sesshoumaru knew what he was talking about, and that these dragons were practically blind and would pass them over. Of course, if anyone was an expert on different species of youkai, it was him.

`Relax, Kagome. Relax,' she told herself, knowing that she had been in much worse situations. Of course, Inuyasha had been able to help her in the past… `Inuyasha.' The dragons might have trouble finding her, but they would have no difficulty whatsoever locating Inuyasha…

`I can't worry about that now. He has some time… well, I hope he does. Ah, I can't worry about this! Relax…' Clearly repeating the word "relax" over and over was not getting the job done. But what else could she do?

After a moment, Kagome grabbed the hand clasped over her mouth and felt it slowly loosen. It was his left hand, she realised with a start. `I had forgotten about that. When did he get that arm back? And how?' She shook her head briefly; this was hardly the time for such thoughts.

Of course, any other thoughts would be much worse.

How long could it take for a group of blind dragons to decide there was nothing to look for and leave? Kagome could only guess. She was vaguely surprised that Sesshoumaru had chosen to wait the dragons out instead of trying to destroy them head on. `But then again, there's very little he can do as a human, at least until he figures out how to exist in this new form.'

Inuyasha would not have hidden. Kagome knew from experience that he was as reckless in his human state as he was as a hanyou, perhaps even more so. `Then again, what does that really prove? That Inuyasha doesn't have as much common sense?'

As much as she hated to admit it, Kagome realised the truth in that statement.

Slowly, the hand over her mouth pulled away altogether, and she felt the one-time demon lord shift slightly. She looked up questioningly at where she imagined his face would be (if there had been any light), wondering if perhaps the danger had passed. But when she tried to move, his hand tightened around her upper arm.

"Be still; they are not gone just yet," he commented softly.

"How can you tell?" she whispered back.

"They are blind, but not completely brainless." Kagome nodded again, wincing slightly at the pressure on her arm. After a moment, his grip relaxed somewhat. Kagome sighed and tried to shift her weight so that the jagged rocks did not dig into her back. But the only place to move was closer to her unlikely protector…

`Kami-sama, I wonder what Inuyasha would say if he could see this,' Kagome thought wryly, knowing full well what Inuyasha would say, and most likely, do. But the thought of Inuyasha did little to comfort her at the moment; Kagome had no reason to believe that the dragons would leave him alive.

Finally, Sesshoumaru pulled away and light flooded the small niche. "They're gone?" she finally managed, blinking at the brightness.

"They are," he replied, getting to his feet quickly and brushing the dirt off of his clothes. `Typical,' Kagome thought dryly as she stumbled rather gracelessly out of the alcove behind him. She squinted against the light, searching for some sign of her friends.

"Where…?" Kagome began, looking around, but broke off as Sango and Miroku quickly moved towards them, looking about as dirty as Kagome herself had to be. Clearly they had hidden in the same manner as she herself had.

"So they are blind?" Miroku asked, glancing around briefly as he and Sango crossed the distance to Kagome. Sesshoumaru had already moved to stand apart from the rest. In fact, he had moved over to the spot where Inuyasha had fallen.

There was no one there.

"Almost," he replied shortly, scanning the ground carefully.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome murmured softly.

Sesshoumaru bent down and brushed one all-too-human hand across the ground, "There is no blood," he commented curtly. "He is probably still alive."

"Why would dragons want him alive?" Miroku asked.

Finally finishing his examination of the ground, Sesshoumaru rose to his feet and glanced towards the entrance of the cave without replying.

"They eat live meat," Kagome answered quietly, echoing Sesshoumaru's earlier words. Shippou-who, considering the amount of dirt on him, had been hiding with Sango and Miroku-jumped into her arms, a look of pure horror on his face. "Kagome…" he began to wail.

Sesshoumaru glanced briefly towards the kitsune before returning his attention to the cave's mouth. He was worried, Kagome finally decided as the former taiyoukai walked towards the entrance. She glanced towards Miroku, her misgivings obvious in her eyes.

A look passed between the two, and then Miroku moved forward to follow the one-time demon lord. "Sesshoumaru…" he began warily.

Sesshoumaru turned around to face the others, and Kagome finally saw a glint of metal in his right hand. A rather big piece of metal that she couldn't believe she had missed before…

Tetsusaiga.

A frightened squeak emitted from her throat before Kagome could prevent it.

Sesshoumaru turned his attention towards her, and a vaguely displeased smirk crossed his face. "You are surprised that I can hold this, miko?" he asked, briefly flaunting the sword.

`I shouldn't have been… not really. A demon couldn't touch the Tetsusaiga, but he's not exactly a demon anymore. But still…' she shook her head, trying to dispel the image of Sesshoumaru using the sword against Inuyasha. As much as she tried to prevent it, whenever she thought of Sesshoumaru, memories of his many battles against Inuyasha still came to mind first.

"He can hold it, but he cannot wield it," Sango said, directing a particularly hostile glance towards Inuyasha's brother. Clearly she was remembering the same sorts of things that Kagome was.

"Theoretically, at least," Miroku commented thoughtfully, closing the distance between himself and Sesshoumaru. "Though Inuyasha never wielded it to its full power as a human…" He broke off, looking up at the one-time demon with an expression of barely concealed guilt. As far as they knew, the fact that half demons transformed into humans once a month was no more than a legend in the youkai world…

"I know of Inuyasha's transformations," Sesshoumaru commented, his attention still fixed on the Tetsusaiga.

"Yes, well…" Miroku continued, looking significantly less comfortable.

"It will not transform for me," Sesshoumaru said bluntly, effectively cutting Miroku off.

Everyone's attention was momentarily concentrated on Sesshoumaru, but he appeared unaware of it, still staring at the sword. "Ironic," he finally remarked softly, almost to himself. "I am finally able to hold the Tetsusaiga, but I do not have the power to use it."

He looked up and appraised Kagome quickly. She fidgeted under his gaze, wondering what exactly he was thinking. `It can't be anything good… That seems like the sort of look he gives something when he's wondering how messy killing it would be…' Then again, as far as Kagome knew, he looked at almost everything that way.

Without warning, he tossed the sword to her. Kagome squeaked in surprise but managed to catch the thing. "It seems to respond fairly well to you," Sesshoumaru noted, still watching carefully as she held the Tetsusaiga out in front of her as if it were a live snake about to bite her.

"I don't know how to use a sword!" Kagome shrilled, her eyes shifting quickly back and forth between Sesshoumaru and the Tetsusaiga. He couldn't actually expect her to fight with this, could he? She was only human herself… a miko, perhaps, but that made little difference. What did he mean, it responded well to her? `Is he thinking of that first battle, when we found the sword and he tried to kill me…'

"Clearly," Sesshoumaru stated dryly, cutting off her reverie. "But you can easily hand it over to Inuyasha."

"What…?"

"Once inside the cave, you will need to do no more than that," he explained after a moment. `Inside the cave…?' Kagome repeated to herself, realising that Sesshoumaru planned on going after Inuyasha. For a moment, she wondered why, before deciding that she shouldn't be so surprised.

"Um… isn't there still a small problem?" Kagome asked. Seeing the withering glance that he threw her way, she continued quickly, "I mean… how are we going to get past the dragons… there are a lot of them, and, well…"

"It should not be too hard…" his gaze moved from her to the bow still lying forgotten several feet away, "assuming you can hold on to your bow."

Kagome flushed but did not protest; dropping the bow had been exceedingly stupid. "So you expect me to shoot at the dragons and get the Tetsusaiga to Inuyasha?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Um…" Kagome broke off. Certainly she was skilled enough with her bow by now to be able to do that… well, she hoped so, at least.

"Sesshoumaru… how much of an effect will arrows have, considering hiraikotsu did nothing?" Miroku asked carefully.

For a moment it seemed that Sesshoumaru was not going to answer. Kagome was taken by surprise when he finally did. "Purification is effective on all youkai," he grudgingly admitted, though Kagome herself had some doubts about that statement, remembering the times she had shot arrows at him. Sesshoumaru continued, "And these dragons have a weakness…"

"A weakness! Why didn't you tell us this before we came up here?" Kagome demanded, all timidity forgotten.

Predictably, Sesshoumaru didn't appear at all repentant, "Apparently I credited the hanyou with more intelligence than he in fact possessed," he said shortly.

"Hey! Inuyasha…" Kagome began to protest, but Sesshoumaru quickly cut her off, "Inuyasha's sense of planning is abominable. He should have been sure of the dragons' weaknesses before rushing to the offence. Obviously, he was not.

"The hanyou has more bravado than common sense," Sesshoumaru concluded disapprovingly.

"And yet you mean to save him?" Miroku asked, eyeing the former youkai warily as if unsure of his intentions. Kagome understood his feelings, there was obviously no love lot between the brothers, and Sesshoumaru clearly considered Inuyasha to be an idiot; he just said as much. Why would he want to go into the cave to save him when instead he could be rid of his brother forever?

Kagome frowned at the coolly blank stare that Sesshoumaru levelled at the monk. Obviously, there was more to the situation than met the eye. But then again, when was there not?

A slight smile flickered across Miroku's face as he shut his eyes thoughtfully, and murmured softly, "Well, I suppose I have my answer."

Sango and Kagome both shot him a somewhat bewildered glance, but the monk didn't seem to notice. Instead, he fixed his eyes on the former taiyoukai-eyes almost but not completely devoid of the former wariness that had filled them. Kagome found herself wondering to what sort of revelation he had come.

"So… what sort of weakness do these dragons have?"

He had always disliked the darkness.

As a child, the coming of the night had sometimes scared him. Stories told other children about bandits and monsters were frightening even to the child of a youkai, perhaps especially so since he of all people knew the truth of such tales.

Logically speaking there was very little for him to fear at night. Even as a child, a mortal bandit could not have done him much damage. And other demons, of course, were a danger, but they were just as perilous by day.

Of course, pure darkness meant more to him than just night. Pure darkness meant no moon, and no moon meant…

Well, it sufficed to say it was not his favourite time of the month.

He had always disliked the darkness, but as it slowly bled away, Inuyasha realised that some things could be even worse.

Being stranded in a dragons' lair, for example, unarmed and unable to move. `Where is Tetsusaiga anyway…' Inuyasha wondered with a vague sense of unease, `and what the hell happened?' He remembered coming up from the human village to defeat the dragons that plagued it, but couldn't quite recall what had happened on the mountain. Only darkness…

It was not especially dark in the cavern. With the thin ray of light that entered, Inuyasha could easily make out his surroundings. Three dragons… not exactly an armada, but apparently enough to knock out a hanyou. They didn't look too bright either, Inuyasha decided. They all seemed to be sleeping.

`Maybe I'm not their meal,' he second-guessed his original assumption, `usually you eat something before you sleep, unless…'

Hard as he tried, Inuyasha could not shake out of his mind the picture of all of his friends dead and eaten by the dragons that lay sleeping in front of him now. They were demons, and from what the headman was saying, voracious ones at that. There was no way he would be alive right now unless they had somehow already sated themselves.

`No. There's no way… They can't all be dead,' Inuyasha tried to convince himself. They had come through too many dangers together… sure, they hadn't exactly beaten Naraku yet, but they were still alive… or at least had been. `No, they are still alive. There's got to be some sort of explanation…'

But there wasn't.

`No. It's not possible… They're not weak. Kagome had her arrows, and Sango was so strong and well trained, and Miroku… And Sesshoumaru, he's a bastard… but he wouldn't let…'

Inuyasha's frenzied thoughts shut down before they were fully formed. They were all human. As much training as they had, they were still basically defenceless compared to him, and look at all the good his abilities had done…

Even Sesshoumaru.

No. Especially Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha knew how helpless he always was on that one day of the month, that main reason he sometimes feared the darkness so. In this new form, there was no way that Sesshoumaru could defend even himself, let alone anyone else…

They were dead.

All of them.

Sango. Despite having lost everything that she cared about, the taijiya had not lost her mind, her heart, or her soul. Even in the harshest battle, and despite the vengeful streak that because of Naraku would mar her forever, there was still some innocence in her. Was this how her quest for revenge (and possibly love as well) was going to end: in the belly of a worthless dragon?

Miroku. The damnable lecherous monk sure had a hell of a lot of faults, but altogether, he was a decent-well, decent might be pushing it-dependable sort of guy. Inuyasha had never decided how much of his antics were no more than a façade, a mask to conceal the pain and despair that the knowledge of his curse had brought him. Now he would never know.

Shippou. Just a child, deprived of the chance to grow up and decide who he really was. A demon, by birth, but different from most of the demons Inuyasha had ever known. Even if he had been able to, Shippou would not have left the others. He was almost worthless in battle-this Inuyasha knew from experience-but when he was older… It was useless to think now of a time that would never come.

Kagome. She had been called the reincarnation of the woman he loved, but was she more as well? Although he had never told her in as many words, Inuyasha loved her. Or at least he thought he did. He loved her face, her powers, her kindness, her spirit… Everything that reminded him of Kikyou. But finally, at what seemed to be the end, Inuyasha realised something. She might have been similar and even possessed the same soul, but she was not Kikyou, and would never be. Did he love her for the reminder, or for herself? That knowledge was lost to him forever. Even the girl who had overcome time could not overcome death.

And then there was Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha hated his brother-for as long as he could remember, he had always hated that arrogant, cold-blooded bastard. But somehow, the thought of Sesshoumaru dead bothered him as much as the deaths of all of his friends. He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't help himself. Why did he hate Sesshoumaru so much? Was it simply because his brother hated him? Or was there more to it…

`Do I really even hate him?' For the first time, Inuyasha let himself think about it. Now, when it was too late to do anything, when he himself probably didn't have long to live, Inuyasha could question their relationship. Any regrets he had would be short lived now, so there was no reason not to consider it. Did he hate Sesshoumaru simply because he sensed that Sesshoumaru hated him?

And why?

Inuyasha was not a philosopher, but he could remember hearing once that in essence, there was really no difference between love and hate. Rather than being opposites, they were two sides of the same coin. Both required such strong emotion, that in either case, one had to give a part of oneself to another. One could never simply hate without a reason…

He had never really believed it before. He had never really even thought of it before. But now… Inuyasha wondered. Could you love someone you hate? Could you hate someone you love?

Could you hate someone because you love them?

Whatever life-altering conclusion Inuyasha might have come to was shattered, for in that instance, one of the dragons awoke and quickly began to edge nearer to him.

Inuyasha would have fought it to the last, but even as the dragon reared over him, he was still completely incapable of any movement whatsoever.

Then he remembered something.

He realised just why the thought of being without Tetsusaiga had filled him with such dread.

There was a choice after all, but it was a terrible one: he could lose his life…

Or his soul.

But there really was no choice.

There never was.

As the demon blood surged to protect him, Inuyasha thought he vaguely recognised several voices in the distance, coming nearer, but as the world vanished in a haze of red, he couldn't be sure.

A/N: Ooo… that felt really good at the end. Okay, okay, so I have a thing for cliffhangers. Since I wanted to get this out now and not sometime next week, it's neither betaed nor proofread, so if there are any problems with spelling, grammar, me forgetting what happened in the last chapter since it's been so bloody long, random foreign language inserts (not including the Welsh), please tell me. By the way, it's 1:00 in the morning; I usually don't write this late at night. Who am I kidding, I would have died laughing last year if someone had told me that this would be normal for me… I'm so sorry about the delay. First was the rest of summer, when I knew I couldn't update anyway. And then college started, and whenever I wanted to write, it turned out that I had a paper to write… or a hundred pages to read for World Politics, or both…sadly, that's not too much of an exaggeration. But for a little while, at least, updates should be more regular… I have Thanksgiving break in November, which means free time, and then over the Winter I should be able to write something… I hope, at least. After that, we shall see… let's see how much work is in a philosophy class or two… Feel free to yell at me, I won't take offence.

reviews:

HeavenlyDragon You're right. They need to talk. They will, don't worry. Well… I'm not going to give anything away… actually, I don't know enough yet about where I'm taking this to give anything away…

insaneAUTHORESS I am so sorry I took so long. And yes, evil miko, though this one is going to be a bit more than that…