Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction / Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Mayakashi ❯ Chapter 35 ( Chapter 35 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Bleach, or YuYu Hakusho, or any of the anime/manga characters.

Warnings: Angst, Violence, Language, Gore

Forger

 

“Death isn't guaranteed without instinct, Kagome.”

“For me, it is. Do you realize how many times instinct has been the only reason I'm still alive?” she asked, shakily rising to her feet.

“Would the soul return if the dagger was fixed?” Kurama asked in response.

“It's possible. I've never heard of a Zanpakuto that didn't rematerialize good as new… Man, this is supposed to be a break from all the drama,” she sighed.

“It's only the first day, Kagome,” he said with a smile. “As for your Zanpakuto, I believe there are a few capable masons in Yomi's city. Perhaps we should try to fix it and see from there?”

“You're trying to calm me down. It's working,” Kagome sighed, her tremors alleviating somewhat. “I think fixing her is a great idea… But now I've got a problem.”

“Oh?”

“Tsuki. I can't let a mason I've never even talked to handle her, and I can't meet a youkai mason who might be hospitable towards a pseudo-demon with a baby.”

“That is a problem,” Kurama agreed.

“Do you think… Would you possibly stay here, with Tsuki?”

“Are you sure that's wise? I'm not exactly a compassionate person,” he said, eyeing her curiously.

“I know… But I trust you. I trust you enough to keep watch over my daughter and son, and keep them safe. So, will you do it?”

“I'd honestly rather not. It's not that I mind watching them,” he quickly added, seeing her hurt and shocked look. “Rather, I don't know that it's a good idea for you to go alone, even if you have as much power as you do. There are many… unsavory sorts in Yomi's city.”

“You make a good point… What if I swear to be as inconspicuous as possible?”

Kurama met her gaze, seeing the hidden fear in her over what might happen to her without Kumori's portion of her soul. Reluctantly, he nodded, giving a sigh.

“I suppose if you mask yourself, it can't do much harm… But only if you swear to come back. If you're not back by nightfall, I'm coming looking for you.”

At that, Kagome's heart skipped a beat, seeing the protective shine in his aura. With a smile, she leaned forward, pulling him into a searing kiss.

Finally, she broke it off and stepped back, turning toward the city.

“Thank you, Kurama. I'll make sure I make this up to you,” she said before taking off…

 

Kagome sighed, roaming the streets. It had been probably close to two hours that she'd been searching for a mason now.

“Excuse me, miss,” a high, grating voice said, breaking her from her revelry.

Quickly, Kagome turned to see a tall, scaly youkai, his face a mask of curiosity.

“Yes?”

“I've heard there's a hanyo going around the city looking for a mason. Would that be you?”

“A hanyo? Well, I'm not exactly a half-demon, but yeah, I'm looking for a mason. Preferably a swordsmith, if possible. Do you know where I can find one?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” he said, smiling. “Have you ever heard of the old buzzard Totosai?”

At that, Kagome's eyes widened, casting about as though she'd find the old youkai behind them.

“Totosai is here?”

“Yep. C'mon,” he said, waving her down an empty side-street.

After a few minutes of walking, they came out into a narrow alley, and Kagome found herself staring at ten other, clearly stronger youkai. And every one of them was giving her a look that made her skin crawl.

And then, as they surrounded her and effectively trapped her in the confined alley, she realized what was happening. Because she hadn't had her animal instinct of danger, she'd just been led straight into a trap by several youkai. Of course, it wasn't a problem, if she could break up their numbers…

“Umm… What's going on?” she asked, the fear in her voice not as faked as she'd have liked.

“Hanyo shouldn't be roaming around freely,” the tallest and ugliest sneered.

“Okay… As I was explaining to your friend just now, I'm not a hanyo,” she said with a frown, as though annoyed.

“You ain't a normal hanyo, I'll give ya' that. What the hell are ya', anyway?”

Kagome glared at him, her body coming up to as tall as it could and she hoped this would work.

“I'm a Mazoku.”

The group was silent for a second, and then they broke out into laughter.

“You're a Mazoku!? That's rich! She's tryin' to imitate that Urameshi brat!”

“Well, this is fun. Were you serious about the swordsmith Totosai being here?” she asked, glaring at the snake youkai.

“What an idiot! Yeah, he's here, but you ain't seein' em,” another of the youkai sneered.

“Oh? Why not?”

“Hanyo need leashes to be allowed in this city. Seein' as you don't have a master, we'll have to fix that.”

At that, Kagome turned to the youkai who'd spoken, her lips pulling back in a snarl.

“Touch me, and I'll take your head off before you take another breath.”

That had been the wrong thing to say. As seen when all ten suddenly launched at her, snarls and bloodlust filling the air.

Kagome reacted instantly, her claws taking off the head of the first youkai to touch her, as promised. And then, she cut another from head to sternum. The eight survivors reached her, then, and she found herself quickly overpowered due to the enclosed space.

Finally, she received a blow to the head, her senses leaving her the next second as she dropped limply to the ground…

 

Slowly, Kagome came awake, sensing unfamiliar, angry youki surrounding her. As her eyes came open, she found herself looking right at her swords, lying on the cold stone floor of the room.

she attempted to move toward them, and quickly realized why her arms were numb; they were strung up in chains. She quickly gave them a pull, but her extremely high amounts of strength received no results but noisy metallic clangs.

A low, throaty laugh filled the room, and her head swiveled to find the snake youkai staring at her, eyes shining in amusement.

“They're youki-infused chains. You won't be able to break out of em' with that meager hanyo brute strength. And what the hell were you thinking, anyway? You've got a sword that's so chipped and rusted that it'd be safer to use it as a toothpick than a weapon. And a weird, broken dagger. We didn't even bother taking them.”

“I can see that,” she murmured.

“You should learn not to speak unless asked a question, bitch,” the youkai growled.

“Why? I didn't know I was back in time,” she bit back, glaring at him.

At that, he crossed the room in a flash. She tensed as his scaly hand smacked across her face, twisting her head to the side, but she quickly returned to glaring at him, blood dripping from her split lip.

“Oh, feisty, huh? I'm sure whoever buys you will fix that quick,” he growled.

At that, Kagome's eyes widened. It took her a few seconds to realize with a start what he meant. And she realized it the same time she realized her shirt was missing, thankful she'd worn a sports bra to train.

“So… I'm being sold…”

Her eyes narrowed, and her lips separated to reveal two rows of sharp, jagged fangs, flashed in a feral snarl.

“I'll break out of these chains. And then, I'll take the heads of you, your friends, and any other fucking youkai that gets in my way,” she snarled, the venom in her voice making the youkai take an involuntary step back.

And then, he came at her again, smashing her face hard enough that she was almost positive he'd done some kind of lasting damage to her cheek bone. When she yet again returned to glaring death at him, he let out a feral laugh and hit her stomach, making her double over in the uncomfortable grip of the chains holding her.

“You should learn to take it like a good little bitch. Maybe that smart mouth of yours won't get you killed with whoever buys you.”

A noise above them had Kagome's eyes widening, and she fought an urge to whimper.

“Where are we?”

“Oh, you heard that?” he asked, looking up with a cruel smirk. “We're in the basement of a local brothel. This is where the special merchandise is kept. And you're all alone, so you'd better learn to act nice, or a broken jaw won't be the worst thing you deal with.”

At that, Kagome began pulling on the chains with new vigor, distracting the youkai as she slowly let her youki flow into the metal, slowly rotting her shackles inside-out.

She became distracted when the door opened and in stepped a small, hunched youkai. The sight of Totosai had her gasping, her mind filling with hopes that he wouldn't recognize her and give the idiot youkai a reason to really hurt her.

“What'd ya' want me for?” the old man asked, frowning at the youkai at Kagome's side.

“This bitch had a weird dagger with her. It looks like it could be useful. Think ya' can fix it, to see if it can do anything?” the guard asked.

Totosai hunched over and lifted the dagger, examining it with a frown.

“I can fix it no problem. But that might not be the best idea.”

And then, he turned, and his eyes widened for just a second at the sight of Kagome before returning to the youkai.

“If she has a dagger like this, then you'd be better off keeping heavier guard over her.”

At that, the youkai pulled a hammer, seemingly from nowhere, and let out a blast of fire onto the blade.

Kagome doubled over, agony drawing gasps from her with each new second.

Totosai looked up from the blade and, minutely, gave her a wink before his face morphed to one of cruel sadism.

“It's what you deserve, if you've used this thing,” he bit out coldly.

Just then, several more youkai came into the room. In the back of the group was a large, hideous cross between a snake and a very ugly insect youkai, large, bulbous eyes flashing to Kagome.

“The customer's here. He wants to sample the merchandise,” one of the youkai stated as the grotesque monstrosity stepped forward.

The agony was suddenly overpowered by horrific dread with ever step the youkai took.

“Wow. This is a hanyo?” the youkai asked, his voice like grating metal. “She ain't too bad.”

His lips twisted in what could've been a sneer, making Kagome's stomach turn as she pressed herself as far from him as possible.

Fresh waves of pain took her, and Kagome temporarily blacked out. When she came back to, the youkai's grubby claws was wrapped around the fabric of her bra, and was pulling up. As the fabric lifted, her entire body began to tremor.

And then, the pain ceased, and her eyes widened as the empty feeling she'd had, consciously or not, since Kazuma destroyed her Zanpakuto vanished. And then, her eyes narrowed, power flooding the room in brilliant flares of light…

 

A/N:

Okay, there's the newest chapter. Sorry that it seems to just be one thing after another in this story, with no rest. After this, though, Kagome's definitely going to need a well-deserved rest. As always, hope you've enjoyed, and will continue to do so, and will leave your opinions, be they positive or negative. See you next time!