"A Fateful Night", Part 2: Demon Strike!
Grunt
RRRIP
"Oh! Mmm… Ooh…"
"Hey, are you two done in there yet?" yelled a very grumpy hanyou.
"Owww!"
"Almost, Inuyasha!" Sango gave a final tug, then sat back.
"That better?"
"Sigh… much better. Thank you, Sango."
"Any time… your wound will stop bleeding soon. I know it hurt to pull the bandage so tight, but it should stay in place."
Miroku opened his eyes, and blinked away the tears that had started to form. The two of them were huddled in the entranceway to the cave the giant demon bird had emerged from not long before.
He shakily got to his feet… a little lower, and the bird's beak would have pierced my… he shook his head. Now was not the time for such thoughts. "Inuyasha! Have you retrieved the jewel shards yet?"
"Not yet… I can't see where they landed, and Kagome insisted that we both stay here to protect you!" He huffed again and turned away as Sango stood.
He's secretly glad to stay, thought Miroku. I know he cares too much about us to leave us alone. Shippo had told them about how Inuyasha had cried when he had thought that he, Sango, and Kagome had been killed by poison made by Mukotsu of the Band of Seven. He was fairly certain that the tears were mostly for Kagome… but only mostly. Of course, Inuyasha was not one to easily reveal his inner-most feelings, and so denied the event fervently… his usual denials ended with a lump on Shippo's head and an annoyed Kagome yelling "SIT!"
Ah… good times… He casually stretched out his right hand to give it a taste of its favorite rump…
WHAP!
"Don't you ever give it a rest, monk?" Sango sighed as she stalked away.
" Heh heh… I guess not!" He grinned goofily as he followed her out of the cave. "By the way, where's Kilala?"
"I think she went after Shippo when he was swept off the cliff," said Kagome. "I'm sure they'll be fine!"
"Well, enough jibber-jabber, let's get those shards!" groused Inuyasha. He hunched over to allow Kagome to climb aboard the Hanyou Express. In a whirl, he dove over the side of the cliff.
Sango and Miroku followed, and peered over the edge. A sudden rush of frigid air nearly toppled them both over the edge, but Miroku quickly stuck his staff into the ground next to them, and was able to hold them both in place.
He looked in the direction the gust had come from, and dove to the right, pulling Sango with him. A jagged ice spear thudded to the ground where they had just knelt.
"Not bad, human!" boomed the humanoid demon who floated above them. He leveled a long, glowing spear at the pair. "But you are in our way."
"And just who do you think you are!" yelled Sango, hoisting her Hiraikotsu.
"I? I am the demon Kurimaru!" his spear pulsed, and icicles shot from the tip.
Sango ducked behind her boomerang while Miroku spun and twirled, deflecting the spears that approached him with his staff.
"Is that the best you've got?!" laughed the monk. "I've seen much worse in my day!"
"Careful, you fool!" Sango hissed. "I don't want to have to re-bandage you!"
"I assure you, that will not be necessary, my dear Sango."
"INDEED NOT!" roared Kurimaru. "The dead need no medicine!" His spear glowed again, but this time a white-blue ray of light sprang forth. The pair separated, dodging to either side as the ground beneath them became coated in a sheet of solid ice. He swept the spear back and forth, covering the ledge and the cave entrance in feet of frozen water.
"We can't keep this up!" panted Miroku as he and Sango met and stood back-to-back. "Kneel down right now!"
Sango crouched down as Miroku began to chant. The spear's ray swept over them, but the ice congealed on the barrier the monk had quickly raised.
"Ha ha ha!!" Kurimaru cackled. "You will make a fine meal come spring!"
He stopped as he heard a horrible strangled shriek from over the cliff. Kurimaru gave a furious roar: "BROTHER! NO!!"
Beneath the thick ice, Miroku and Sango couldn't hear the demon's rapid departure.
xxxxx
Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Kagome were engaged in a fight of their own. A humanoid demon calling itself Aisumaru had sensed the jewel shards and had come to claim them.
Damn! thought Inuyasha. Why now? It's almost sundown! He was currently occupied in bounding from one tiny ledge to another, avoiding the demon's ice attacks. Fortunately, each ice spear that thudded into the face of the cliff provided him another jumping-off point. Unfortunately, with Kagome on his back, he couldn't get his right arm clear to draw the Tetsusaiga!
"Kagome, I'm going… to have to try… something…rather dangerous," he barked out as he executed a series of rapid hops in a zig-zag pattern.
"What?" responded the young girl.
"When I say so, let go!"
"WHAT?"
"JUST TRUST ME, YOU STUPID GIRL!"
"FINE! BUT IF I FALL AND DIE, IT'S YOUR FAULT, YOU JERK!"
"Whatever… NOW!"
Kagome clenched her teeth and released the man she loved at the precise moment he leapt off a ledge. Inuyasha, released of his burden, sped away from the cliff on a beeline towards Aisumaru.
"I have you now, fool!" bellowed the ice demon as he raised his pair of three-pronged sais to release another barrage of ice shards. Inuyasha just smirked and spun while drawing his own blade.
"TETSUSAIGA!!" The giant fang emerged from its magnolia-wood sheath and neatly severed the demon's head from its shoulders in a spray of ichor before Aisumaru had the opportunity to react. Aisumaru's lifeless body began to dissolve, but Inuyasha was moving far too fast to stop… as he had intended. His powerful legs coiled like springs, and then released… using Aisumaru's body to propel himself back toward the cliff, he neatly caught Kagome's waist in the crook of his left arm and carried her with him.
"Inuyasha… that… that was amazing!!" she cried as they landed. "I never knew that you knew the laws of physics so well!"
"Kagome…what is Fizz-icks? This is the Rengoku District. Besides, I was just bouncing off him like I'd bounce off a falling rock…"
(Sweatdrop) "Nevermind… I'm just glad you came back for me."
"You actually thought I'd just let you fall to your death?"
"No, you JERK! I didn't see any way that you could save me, but I trusted you anyway! How could you think so little of me?" she shrieked.
Inuyasha bit back a sharp retort. Something doesn't smell right…
"YOU MISERABLE WRETCHES!! YOU SLAUGHTERED MY BROTHER!"
Inuyasha scratched his head gently with a clawed finger. Where did that come from? I know I've heard those exact words before… His nose directed his sluggish brain to get the heck out of there, you idiot!! A split-second later, a volley of thick ice spikes sunk deep into the cliff where they had been standing.
I'm getting really, really tired of being a Hanyou jumping-bean, thought Inuyasha as Kagome screamed and clutched at his robe; she hadn't had time to get a decent grip. Alighting on a ledge, he tucked the girl behind him protectively and faced the new foe.
"What do you want?" he snarled.
"You dirty rat… you dirty rat… you killed my brother!!"
"Umm… I'm not a rat… I'm a dog… well, half-dog… and I took a bath last week…"
"Silence, fool! I, Kurimaru, shall avenge my little brother's death!" The demon swooped down, his spear shimmering with a dazzling evil light.
"Dammit! Get back, Kagome!" shouted the beleaguered Inuyasha, knocking one thrust after another aside.
Seconds stretched into hours as the two demons dueled in the sky. Tiring, Inuyasha began to overextend his parries and was viciously skewered through his side. He howled in pain as he felt flesh being ripped from his ribs while Kurimaru spun him around like a rag doll; finally the demon flung him headlong into the cliffside, spitting him through his stomach on an ice shard that had lodged there. Tetsusaiga slipped from his grip and lodged in a crevasse.
"Now, you filthy rat, you just stay there and watch while I devour this little mouse!" Kurimaru snarled as he turned to Kagome.
"Eep!"
"My, my… don't you look delicious…" he smiled wickedly, revealing three rows of razor-sharp teeth. He hovered before her, idly twirling the spear between his fingers and licking his lips hungrily. "Now, should I start with the head, or the legs? Mmm… brains and eyes are nice, but then you won't feel much pain, now will you? Legs it is, then." He reached for the petrified girl.
"BLADES OF BLOOD!!" Ruby crescent-shaped blades sliced through the air between the demon and the girl as Kurimaru tumbled backwards, losing his grip on his spear in the process.
"Oh! You still have some fight left in you, eh rat?"
"Feh. As if a low-class youkai like you could possibly have any hope of killing me," spat out Inuyasha. Blood dribbled from his lips and dripped from his claws as he stood once more between Kagome and the demon. "Don't you even dare try to touch her again!"
"I do as I please… half-breed." His eyes glinted. "Yes, already I can smell the human in you. Tonight is your night of weakness, is it not? All I have to do is wait for the sun to set, and you will both become my prey." His laugh echoed off the mountainside, causing rocks to cascade from above.
"Kagome," Inuyasha muttered. "Can you put your sacred power into any object, or only an arrow?"
"I don't know… I've never tried before…"
"I need you to distract him, just for a moment… act like you're going for your bow, but stop and throw something at him instead. All I need is a second."
"You got it."
Inuyasha took a deep, shaky breath, inhaling more blood even as he did so. "Kagome! Get your bow!" He crouched, and then sprang up to the large ledge above, Kagome clinging to his chest.
As Kagome scrambled to the cave entrance, Kurimaru pursued her with an outstretched hand. "Get back here, wench!" As planned, Kagome stopped short, rolled to one side, and came up with an object in her hand, glowing brilliant violet. She launched it at Kurimaru with all her might…
PFFF – ZAPP – CRACKLE
The snowball plastered itself across the demon's face as the spiritual power within it dissipated. He howled furiously.
"What have you done to me, wench! Return my sight to me!" The demon flailed about in vain as Inuyasha rushed towards him, golden claws preparing to unleash the final blow.
"IRON REAVER SO… ohhhhh!" WHAM. Inuyasha's blood-slicked feet slipped on the smooth ice covering the ledge, and he crashed to the ground.
"Inuyasha!" He looked up at the sound and saw Kagome smoothly gliding across the ice towards him. Time seemed to slow down. How can she move like that? She looks every bit an angel…
But the thrashing ice demon was not yet done. "I hear you, rat and mouse! I cannot see, but I will avenge my brother nonetheless. Now DIE!!" As he spoke, his body transformed into to clear crystal, and then splintered into millions of shards that flew in every direction.
"KAGOME, GET DOWN!!" With no hesitation, Kagome flung herself headlong to the ground. Yet Inuyasha watched helplessly as hundreds of icy teeth sunk into every inch of her body from the soles of her feet to the back of her head. Several ice blades ripped through Inuyasha's ears, and his screams of agony mixed with Kagome's as he writhed in pain.
As blood dripped down staining his hair, Inuyasha rose to see Kagome lying on the ice before him, perfectly still. "Kagome… no… I…"
She stirred. "Ohh… my back…"
"Kagome!" He sprang to her side.
"Inuyasha? I'm… so cold…"
"Just hang on, Kagome… I need to get you off this mountain and back to somewhere safe and warm before the sun sets!"
He scooped her up in his arms and scrambled down the cliff, completely ignoring the mysterious giant lump of ice on the ledge and pausing only to scoop Tetsusaiga into its sheath. I can't worry about Sango and Miroku… or anyone else. I can't let Kagome die, even if everyone else does.
He rushed toward the forest, trying to go as fast as possible without jostling his precious cargo. Even as he passed the tree line, the wind which had been swelling rose without warning and let loose its icy load. He did not get far in before the wind began to buffet him from side to side. In the corner of his eye, he could see the last rays of the waning sun as it sunk below the horizon. No! Not now!
The transformation was usually painless… but not this time. His bleeding dog-ears disappeared and were replaced by bleeding human ears, even as his silvery hair turned jet black.
Damn! How does Miroku ever put up with this sort of pain? As he pressed on, Inuyasha idly wondered if he should ask the monk, should they meet again. He'd probably just say it's just one more way to train the body. He smirked. That's probably why he doesn't mind Sango's slaps…
Kagome began to shiver violently in his arms. Risking a quick look back, Inuyasha saw red spatters in the snow. Gotta hurry… need to find someplace warm and dry… Please, Kagome… stay with me!
He pressed on into the gathering gloom as the wintery wind nipped at his heels.