Author's Note: First the usual disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi does, blah, blah, blah, we all know the drill. Now that's out of the way, welcome to my first Inuyasha story. Reviews positive or negative will be greatly appriciated. This is based entirely on the english dub of the Inuyasha tv series and movies. It's post tv series, but pre-final act. Almost all my Inuyasha lore and terminology will be from the english dub (using "Wind Tunnel" instead of "Kazaana" for example). Sorry if that offends Inuyasha purists, it's just what I'm used too.
"All right everyone! There it is, let's get him!" Sango shouted as she enthusiastically rode Kirara into battle with her Hiraikotsu held high.
Her companions quickly followed, but without the same level of energy. If anything, they were just glad to have finally found their target. When they first heard the reports of unexplained disappearances of villagers and slaughter of caravans traveling through the woodlands, they had no idea that would be the start of one of their longest and most miserable demon hunts, where their main obstacles would be the elements and boredom. It had been four days since they had began their search through giant forest, yet neither Inuyasha's superior senses nor Miroku's ability to detect demonic aura had been much help until now. But Sango appeared more driven and determined then ever to find the source of the attacks, driving the group onward through harsh conditions, a role normally filled by Inuyasha.
It seemed to everyone that Sango was driven by some hidden motive, beyond her usual desire to slay demons and find Naraku, especially since there was no evidence of Naraku's involvement in this endeavor at all. Yet she wasn't giving any clues as to what this motivation might be, and even Miroku was baffled by her seemingly endless vigor in accomplishing the mission. She seemed so determined to find whatever demon was responsible for the attacks that Miroku had hardly any chance to get close to her, let alone act in his usual lecherous manner, something he vowed to make up for once their task was complete. But now they had finally found what they were looking for: A huge carnivorous plant Youkai, roughly 20 feet high and a width too long for immediate measurement, and with vines that seemed to stretch endlessly throughout the forest. At the center was something that resembled a head mass, complete with a giant mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It was surrounded by trees and foliage that made for a natural defensive barrier, enabling only a small angle for a direct attack. This presented a serious challenge, but there had been no time to formulate a battle plan. Inuyasha and his companions were all worn out from their long journey through the treacherous woodlands. They had been traveling almost non-stop with minimal sleep and their food supplies were dangerously low. The demon had to be dealt with now, before they were too exhausted to continue their pursuit.
"Yeah that's the spirit Sango!" Shouted Inuyasha. "About time we got some action. Hey Kagome, does this thing have any jewel shards?."
Kagome paused for a moment of deep thought before responding. "Yes! Be careful Inuyasha, I sense two of them, right in the center of its brain!"
"No problem Kagome, I'll turn this overgrown garden weed into compost! Wind Scar!" Inuyasha swung his mighty Tetsaiga forward, sending the powerful energy wave sweeping toward the towering plant monster. But before it could reach it, suddenly a virtual wall of vines and plants sprung up out of the ground in front of it, effectively absorbing the entire blast. The vines were torn apart by the impact of Inuyasha's wind scar, but it didn't get trough them and the monster remained intact, while the vines and plant life quickly regenerated within seconds.
"Damn," Inuyasha muttered under his breath as he readied himself what he quickly realized was going to be a more difficult fight then he was expecting.
An attack from Sango's Hiraikotsu, with the advantage of coming in from a high altitude, faired slightly better, tearing through a newly regenerated vine wall as it sprung from the ground and going through, managing to make contact with the monster's body. But the collision with the vine wall was enough to throw off the impact and it returned to Sango's hands after it inflicted a minor wound, which was almost instantly healed. With great disappointment, Sango saw it was not incapacitated in the slightest way as she steered Kirara back around preparing for their next move.
"Looks like I'll need to handle this" said Miroku as he ran forward, preparing to remove the seal from his wind tunnel. "Stand back everyone, I'll suck that vine wall into oblivion, then you will be free to-"
Before Miroku could open his wind tunnel or finish his sentence, a huge stream of poison shot out from the plant demon's mouth, forcing him and everyone else on the ground to dive out of the way. The poison attack just barely missed Miroku, leaving a trail of dead bushes and ground vegetation in its wake.
"Hold back Miroku, this thing is poisonous!" Shouted Sango from above as she quickly donned her slayer's mask. "You can't use your wind tunnel here."
"Most unfortunate", Miroku grumbled. Picking himself up off the ground, he turned to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, it appears we must hack through this demon using more conventional means."
Inuyasha needed little encouragement. He was already charging forward with his Tetsaiga ready to tear through anything in his way. But before he and Miroku could get close, suddenly dozens of seeds shot out from a spot on the plant demon's body and immediately implanted themselves in the ground. In a matter of seconds, the seeds sprouted into miniature versions of the youkai, roughly 6 feet tall, but still somewhat menacing.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Shouted Kagome in surprise. "Even my mom's green thumb can't grow plants that fast!"
"Ah who cares?" Inuyasha responded casually as the newly spawned army of humanoid-sized plant demons charged at him, "They're nothing we can't handle"
This time Inuyasha's prediction turned out to be accurate. A throw of Sango's Hiraikotsu mowed down the majority of them before they got anywhere near the group, while a few swings of Miroku and Inuyasha's weapons easily mopped up the rest.
"See wha'd I tell yah?" Asked Inuyasha. "Now we can get back to-oh shit not again!"
Inuyasha's boast was cut off by another round of seeds launched from the beast, once again instantly spawning into a plant demon army. Grudgingly accepting the turn of events, Miroku and Inuyasha charged forward to clear them out again, leaving Kagome and Shippo behind them in apparent safety. But the rear area of the battleground turned out to be less safe then expected. As Kagome watched the warriors hack through the new hoard, suddenly a thorn covered vine sprung out of the ground and went straight for Kagome.
"Look out Kagome!" shouted Shippo, who had noticed it just in time. In desperation, Shippo lept in front of the oncoming vine and grabbed ahold of it just before it's thorns could tear into Kagome's flesh, managing to use his forward momentum to push it out of the way. But it quickly switched to Shippo as it's target, pulling up, wrapping around Shippo's tiny neck, and slamming the Fox demon into the ground where it proceeded to strangle him.
"Shippo!" Kagome shouted as soon as she turned to see what happened. "Hold still, I'll get it!" With great speed, Kagome pulled an arrow from her quiver and fired with precision, nailing the vine with a hit that severed the part holding Shippo. Gratefully sucking in air, Shippo recovered and rushed to Kagome's side. In one regard, his small size had been an asset. Despite the direct contact with the vine, not a single thorn on it had touched him
"Good shot, Kagome. Where'd that vine come from?"
"I don't know, but it looks like there's a whole lot more of them"
Sure enough, thorn covered vines were springing up all around Miroku and Inuyasha as they hacked through the hoards of youkai plants coming from their main target and avoided getting caught by blasts of its poisonous breath, giving them even more obstacles to deal with. It seemed as if the entire forest was coming alive to repel Inuyasha and his companions
Flying above the battleground on Kirara while providing long range support with her Hiraikotsu, Sango grimly assessed the situation on the ground. The giant plant demon had proved to be far more formidable then she expected and things were getting out of hand. What she assumed to be a feral beast operating on animal instinct was acting more like an experienced field general with an army of troops and arsenal of weapons at his command. It seemed to have a counter for every type of attack they had, and with an endless supply of smaller youkai warriors along with the ability to regenerate it's severed vines almost instantly, it looked as though it could keep this fight up all day, something Sango and her companions certainly could not do while at their prime, much less after being tired from a long journey. "Has it been deliberately leading us deep into the forest to wear us out in a battle of attrition? Has my iron resolve to find the creature led the us to our doom?"
Meanwhile back on the ground, Inuyasha and Miroku were in the thick of fighting, swinging their weapons through a seemingly endless stream of vines and plant troops that were replaced almost as fast as they were cut down, while also having to dodge constant blasts of the main Youkai's poison. "Inuyasha, our situation appears to be deteriorating" Miroku pointed out. "We need to get through it's defenses before we're overwhelmed."
"Leave it to me Miroku. Wind Scar!" Once again Inuyasha sent a powerful energy wave running along the ground toward the towering plant monster, but this time he followed behind it at full sprint. As expected, a defensive wall of vines and plant life sprung up to absorb the blast, but now Inuyasha was right behind it to follow up with a strike that would take out what remained.
"This wall's coming down!" he shouted as he lept into the air. "Iron Reaver Soul Steal-arrgh!
Inuyasha's battle shout instantly turned into a cry of pain as giant thorn tipped vines suddenly shot out from the damaged plant wall and tore into his body before he could carry out his attack. The others could only watch in terror as one vine ripped through his shoulder blade while another gored into his lower chest area. The vines completely impaled through his body, suspending him in mid-air for a few seconds before flinging him off with tremendous force. Inuyasha hit the earth with so much momentum that he skidded along the ground for a great distance before finally crashing to a halt against a tree near Kagome's location.
Kagome screamed in horror and imediately rushed to his side, but she wasn't the only one. Suddenly nearly every spawning plant demon coming from the main one's launched seeds headed straight for Inuyasha, now completely ignoring Miroku. This enabled him to easily plow through them with his staff, but there were too many for him to stop them all.
"Inuyasha's now out of range of the Plant Youkai's poison breath, so he's sending all his expendable reasources to finish him off." Observed Sango from her position above. "That's exactly what I would do. This thing really does have intellegence of a commander."
Though badly wounded, Inuyasha managed to drag himself to his feet just in time to see the hoard of plant troops moving to him. "G-G-Get back Kagome" he said weakly as he pushed Kagome away from him. "Blades of Blood!"
With the last of his strength, he collected the blood flowing from his wounds and used his demonic blades to cleave through the oncoming attackers. Then he crumbled to the ground, no longer able to stand as the poison in his body and gaping wounds were too much to overcome.
With Inuyasha now incapacitated, the giant Youkai continued sending newly spawned warriors and thorny vines in his direction, but Miroku continued to cut them down while Shippo's illusion magic distracted the remaining ones enough for Kagome's arrows to pick them off. From her position above them, Sango watched as Kagome worked to protect the downed Hanyou, firing her arrows as fast as she could draw them and pull her bowstring. Sango was impressed with her courage, but knew the situation could not continue as Kagome would soon run out of arrows.
"One of these days I'm going to have to teach her how to use a melee weapon." Sango thought as she directed Kirara down to the ground. "Her lack of formal training and limited supply of arrows does tend to make things difficult".
As soon as Kirara was low enough, Sango jumped off and made a perfect landing on both feet while drawing her sword before she hit the ground. "Kirara! Protect Inuyasha and the others!" Without waiting to see her order acknowledged, she immediately rushed to Miroku's aid.
"Ah Sango, how nice of you to join me." said Miroku as he kept fighting through the hoard of poison vines and newly spawning plant troops. He was concerned to see his beloved demon slayer get deeper involved into what was starting to seem like a losing battle, but practical enough to know her intervension was necessary. "I could certainly use your blade at my side, as events have taken a turn for the worst".
Sango could understand his viewpoint. In addition to losing their strongest warrior, she could see Miroku was getting tired. His robes were drenched in sweat and his exhaustion from constantly dodging attacks and swinging his staff was obvious. "I know, but hang in there, we'll turn the tide" she replied as she cleaved through a nearby vine that attempted to wrap around her body. In reality she was desperately trying to come up with some way to break the stalemate, as she knew they could not hold out much longer.
Fortunately her decision to use Kirara to protect Inuyasha turned out to be a good one. Kirara's flaming claws easily killed all poison vines and plant warriors that got past Sango and Miroku, enabling Kagome some respite. Suddenly she realized what needed to be done. "Shippo, those seeds are coming from one spot on the Youkai's body. A hit with an arrow of purification might stop them. But I'll need to get up high to get it over that vine wall. Can you take me up with a stable platform?"
"I'll handle it Kagome," Shippo said with confidence, glad to be given such an important role. "Transform!" With a blast of his fox magic, Shippo morphed into a giant Balloon that slowly started to ascend. "Going Up!'
"That's perfect Shippo!" said Kagome as she hopped on. Then she turned to Kirara. "Kirara, try to keep that monster distracted. I'll be a sitting duck on this thing...no offense Shippo"
"Sheesh, this is what you asked for isn't it?" Shippo muttered. "Just don't miss."
While Kirara, Sango and Miroku fought to protect Kagome and keep the Youkai's attention focused on them, Shippo kept going up until he reached an altitude Kagome thought was sufficient. "Alright that's good Shippo. Now keep me here and try not to throw off my aim. I don't think I'll get another shot at this." Kagome took out an arrow an lined up a shot, doing her best to focus on the one spot on the demon's body where the army spawning seeds were coming from. Thinking of the badly wounded Inuyasha and how his life and her companions were depending a good hit, she honed in on her target and let her arrow fly.
"Hit the mark!" she shouted as the arrow soared to its target. The giant plant Youkai saw it coming at the last second and tried to raise it's defensive wall, but by the time it noticed it was too late. The arrow soared over the vine wall and struck in the exact spot Kagome was aiming. Just as Kagome was hoping, her arrow had the desired effect. In an instant, there were no more seeds coming from the Plant monster, meaning no more army at its command. All it had left were it's thorn covered poison vines, which the combined force of Kirara, Sango, and Miroku quickly shredded, chopping them up faster then they could regenerate.
"What a deadeye!" Shouted Shippo in delight. "We did it Kagome!"
"Let's just hope the others can finish the job," Kagome replied. With her mind still on the downed Inuyasha, her voice lacked the same level of encouragement. "Now take me back down, I've got to tend to Inuyasha."
Meanwhile, Sango could sense victory within their grasp. Kagome's plan had worked brilliantly and now it was up to her and Miroku to take advantage of it. "Alright Miroku, now's our chance!" You ready?"
"Indeed I am," replied Miroku, mainly just hoping for a quick finish to what had already almost left him physically drained. "Come, let us drive it from these lands!" With that, he threw several enchanted sutras at the giant demon. As expected, it's defensive vine wall rose up to absorb them, but they burned into the wall on impact and took out a huge chunk, leaving a massive weak spot that Sango was able to exploit before it could regenerate. She immediately followed up his attack with a strike from her Hiraikotsu, which plowed right through the weak point, creating a gaping hole.
At once, Kirara, Miroku, and Sango charged at the hole at a full sprint, going so fast that Sango didn't even bother to catch her Hiraikotsu as it returned. Instead she let it soar past her where it lodged in a nearby tree trunk. Once again, thorn tipped vines flew out from the plant wall, attempting to rip through them as they had with Inuyasha, but this time everyone was ready for it. Sango cut through the vines with her sword and arm blade, mowing them down so effectively that she barely broke stride, while Kirara helped take out the ones going for Miroku.
In an instant Miroku and Sango were past the giant Youkai's defenses and ready to strike. In desperation, it attacked with a blast from its poison breath, but again Sango and Miroku were ready and dodged it as they sprinted in for the kill. Finally getting close enough, Sango and Miroku lept in the air and drove their respective weapons deep into the Youkai's head mass. It lurched in response, sending both warriors tumbling off, but the damage was done. Within seconds of hitting the ground, both of them looked up in time to see the inert husk of the once mighty demon collapse and dissolve into the earth, leaving behind the twin jewel shards Kagome had mentioned at the start of the battle.
Miroku and Sango could only stare as what remained of the demon for a few seconds as they caught their breath. Then assured of their victory, they waved their weapons in the air and cheered as its corpse dissolved into the ground.
However, their celebration quickly came to a halt as they remembered Inuyasha. Regaining their composure, they hurried over to their downed comrade where Kagome already was already doing the best to tend to his wounds with her first aid box. It soon became apparent their victory had come at a very severe price.