Disclaimer: The characters of the anime InuYasha are the property of Takahashi Rumiko/Shogakukan and Yomiuri TV Sunrise 2000. I do lay claim, however, to Eadoin and Aine.
Chapter Eleven: Trapped
Sesshoumaru had barely vanished from sight before Eadoin was at his cousin's side. His eyes were full of concern as he put his arm around her trembling shoulders. 'Aine?' he asked, softly.
Aine looked up at him. 'Danú, Eadoin...' she swallowed, fighting the nausea the dark magic was causing her. 'Whatever that power is, 'tis warped...evil. Eadoin... it can't be ignored!'
Eadoin nodded. 'I know, a stór... I know.' We should at least investigate. His expression determined, the bard gently released her and quickly strode to the site of the now cold fire-pit. He retrieved the pack containing his harp.
Meanwhile, InuYasha was staring at the outcropping above them, his breathing rapid and deep and a frown of concentration on his face. Kagome ran to the half-demon, their companions on her heels. 'InuYasha?' she asked. 'What happened?'
'Something really dark – from out of nowhere. Can't any of you feel it?'
Miroku nodded, his tension evident as he ran his hand through his short, black hair and stared at the steep slope above them. 'I can sense a forbidding shadow now, but it's very faint. I can't be certain of the direction...'
'I can,' growled the half-demon. 'It's the same direction as the scorched earth. It's got to be connected to the fireball somehow.' It's too much of a coincidence for it not to be, he thought. Damn! What is it? It almost made him feel ill.
'And Sesshoumaru has gone after it?' asked Sango.
'Even if he has,' stated Eadoin, as he passed Aine her healer's satchel, 'we can't assume that he'll destroy it. Something so corrupt... Your brother may need help, InuYasha.'
'Huh! Sesshoumaru won't thank us for interfering.' said InuYasha. Nevertheless, he agreed with the Dé Dananns – the aura was getting stronger as they spoke, and could not be ignored. They had to get up there. He looked at the trail. 'The road is supposed to take us right to the site of the explosion, but we'll lose a lot of time. We'll take the direct route.' He crouched down.
'Get on my back Kagome.' He looked from Aine to Eadoin and made a decision. 'You too!' he said to Aine.
Aine hesitated only a second, then, with an encouraging nod from Kagome, followed the girl's lead and wrapped her arms around InuYasha's shoulders. In spite of her apprehension about the ever-growing foul aura, the healer could not fail to be astonished, and a little alarmed, as the hanyo, running and leaping in great bounds, easily carried them both to the top of the escarpment.
Meanwhile, Miroku and Sango had leapt onto the transformed firecat's back; a frightened but determined-looking Shippo was already clinging to the large feline's thick ruff. 'Come with us, Master Eadoin,' cried the monk. In seconds, they were airborne and following InuYasha.
Sesshoumaru covered the distance to the blast site in a matter of minutes. His golden eyes flashed as he took in the sight that awaited him.
Vile magical energies were emanating from a gaping hole in the centre of the scorched earth and rock; black tendrils of smoke extended from the cavern and enveloped his servant. Jaken neither moved or spoke – he was either dead or unconscious. The stench now permeating the area made it impossible for even the taiyokai's sensitive nose to be certain which. Rin was holding onto the kappa's clawed hand and trying to pull him out of the smoke's embrace while Ah-Un reared and snorted behind her. The protective dragon was obviously impeded from coming any closer to the child, though the dog demon detected no barrier.
The little girl turned her head and saw Sesshoumaru. Tears of relief sprang to her eyes. Though it had only been minutes since the kappa had been snared, it had felt like hours to the child. Jaken hadn't moved any closer to the cavern, but Rin was very frightened for the little demon. His eyes had rolled up into his head and his beaked mouth hung open slackly.
'Lord Sesshoumaru! Master Jaken's hand is so cold!' she cried.
The dog demon charged. He didn't understand the full nature of this magic, but the tendrils that held Jaken stank of putrefaction and the rank odour of sulphur. This thing must have some connection to the Netherworld. Sesshoumaru was no more than a blur as he leapt to Rin's side, his clawed hand reaching for the hilt of the Tenseiga. He opened his mouth to command Rin to stand clear as he began to draw the sword which was the bane of the undead, preparing to slash through the noxious, roiling smoke and free his servant.
However, as fast as Sesshoumaru could move, this time, it was not fast enough. Dark psychic energy surged around him with the speed of thought. The Tenseiga had been withdrawn no more than a hand-span from its sheath before his arm has immobilised by coils of black smoke. More vapours wrapped around his neck, just as they had held his servant. Jaken slumped to the ground, limp and still, discarded by the entity in the cavern in favour of a more desirable prey. A telepathic roar of triumphant laughter echoed in the dog demon's mind.
A blue light flared at the demon's waist as a familiar voice whispered in his mind. With its master's life in imminent danger, the sword's protective warding had activated. However, the bonds of smoke held fast.
Sesshoumaru was trapped. Inside his mind, another voice spoke, the satisfaction in its tones so evident that it almost purred. So, inu yokai, did you think you were a match for me? You are helpless, demon, and I've waited long enough for prey such as you. Now, let me taste your fear, as I consume your body and soul...
Rin watched, horrified, as the smoke now writhed about the demon who was her protector.
'No!' she screamed. 'Let go of Lord Sesshoumaru!'
A relieved Aine (who had determinedly avoided looking down during their ascent) had let go of InuYasha once they had reached the top of the escarpment, concluding that the half-demon would make much better time with only one passenger. Instead, she had traded places with Miroku on Kirara, the monk having stated his intent to pursue InuYasha on foot and cover his friend's back from the ground. Though a human, Miroku was a fit runner and could push his body beyond normal limits through the use of his clerical powers – he had proved himself capable of keeping up with the half-demon in the past, at least over short distances, and he was soon on his trail.
The dog-eared youth sped through the mountain forest, Kagome holding tightly to him. InuYasha had picked up his half-brother's scent as soon as they had entered the trees, but now it was barely perceptible in the miasma which was spreading toward them. The smell of burnt ground was giving way to the grotesque reek of death and decay.
'It's gaining power' he said to Kagome, speaking over the wind that whipped by them. 'I can feel it just ahead of us.'
The trees started to thin and a clearing rapidly became visible between the trunks. Then, they heard the cry of a child: 'No! Let go of Lord Sesshoumaru!'
What...? wondered InuYasha as he halted in the clearing. Kagome jumped from his back. 'InuYasha, look!' she cried.
InuYasha was looking, but he couldn't believe his eyes. What kind of dark magic was in that rank smoke, that it could catch and hold his powerful older brother around the neck like a rabbit in a snare?
Never in his centuries of life had the taiyokai encountered such a foe. He had faced death in battle, but never before had he been held trapped and impotent, unable to launch even a basic defence. He truly could not move and was at this thing's mercy. His anger rose at being in such a predicament – his eyes began to turn blood red as his demonic power, his yoki, rose within him. Sesshoumaru had not transformed into his true form in many months, but the giant white dog now strained to break free. He opened his mouth in a snarl, his bared fangs beginning to elongate.
Again, that hateful laugh resonated in his mind. And then, unbelievably, his yoki began to decline. He felt his power being drained out of his body and his eyes and fangs returning to normal. Forks of a sickly green light spiralled and sparked through the bonds of smoke as the consciousness in the cavern fed, and Sesshoumaru felt an emotion he had only rarely experienced in the past – a faint chill of fear.
The entity tightened its grip on the demon, preparing to pull him into its core. Once it had the demon within the cavern, it would devour him completely.
But, though Sesshoumaru could feel the pull of the coils, he did not move. He realised then that the Tenseiga's barrier was preventing him from being drawn physically into the cavern. However, though his body was anchored by his sword, the dark being that had ensnared him continued to feed steadily from his jaki – the source of his demonic power – and he could do nothing to stop it. And, since Tenseiga ultimately drew its strength from his jaki, he knew it was only a matter of time before its protective barrier weakened and failed.
Young Rin, meanwhile, had not left the dog demon's side. She didn't know what to do next. Master Jaken could not be revived, and now the black smoke had Lord Sesshoumaru. Rin remembered the hate-filled voice she had heard in her mind when the smoke had held the kappa. Did that awful voice want to take Lord Sesshoumaru away from her as it had threatened to do with Master Jaken? No!
The child didn't hesitate – she ran to the tall demon and, kneeling on the ground, wrapped her small arms around his left leg, clinging to him as she had to the kappa. Again, the creature in the cavern set out waves of psychic energy fuelled by anger – that cursed human child again! Even if the sword's barrier failed, it knew the demon's body was anchored by the human.
Sesshoumaru felt the child's grasp. He visualised Rin being drawn into the enemy's maw with him.
'Rin,' he spoke through gritted teeth, every word an effort. 'Leave...now...'
Rin always obeyed him. Always.
The child gasped as she heard the demon's order to go. But, if she did, what would happen to him? 'Lord Sesshoumaru...?' she whispered, uncertain and afraid.
She uttered a wail that came from the depths of her heart, and held on to his leg even more tightly.
'No! No,' she cried, tears running down her face, anguished at disobeying Sesshoumaru, but more terrified at the prospect of losing him. 'If I let you go, I'll never see you again! I know it!'
InuYasha could sense Sesshoumaru's demonic aura flaring and knew that his brother was about to transform. He then gasped, and his golden eyes widened in shock as the demon's yoki subsided just as rapidly. 'It's stealing his jaki...' he said. He turned to the astonished girl beside him. 'Stay back here, Kagome.'
As InuYasha ran toward Sesshoumaru, the Tessaiga began to rattle in its sheath, responding to the power of its brother sword, the Tenseiga. The Tenseiga must have erected its protective barrier, thought InuYasha. That means Sesshoumaru's life is actually in danger...
The last time the half-demon had seen that barrier in action, the brothers had been facing Sounga, the demon sword of the Netherworld. The wrathful blade had unleashed a powerful attack, just as InuYasha had been charging it. As the hanyo passed him, the dog demon had swung his arm, grasping InuYasha and pushing him back. 'You're in the way!' was all Sesshoumaru had said as, drawing the Tenseiga, he had stepped in front of his half-brother and received the full force of Sounga's assault on his sword's barrier.
InuYasha paused several paces behind the trapped inu yokai and shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He had never let himself believe that Sesshoumaru had acted to protect him then, no matter what his companions had thought at the time – and he didn't doubt that his older brother would have been the first one to deny such a charge. But, regardless, he'd be damned before he would let Sesshoumaru be one up on him.
The half-demon drew the Tessaiga, the rusted blade magically enlarging into the huge, powerful sword that was his father's legacy to him. He scanned the bonds of smoke, searching for its wind scar, that point where the vortex of a demonic aura swirled and collided with itself and through which the Tessaiga could cut. But, to his surprise, there was none to be seen.
Huh! thought a determined InuYasha. Guess I'll have to cut through the smoke itself! The Tessaiga began to glow red as its barrier-disrupting powers were called forth.
Kagome had pulled an arrow from her quiver and took aim as InuYasha was drawing his sword. She didn't want to think about what could be strong enough to imprison Sesshoumaru and steal his power, but she had to try to help him – Rin's anguished cry had pierced her heart. And, in spite of the times he had fought InuYasha in the past, she simply could not stand by and watch the taiyokai die in such a manner. Gleaming with the bright, purifying energy of a priestess, the arrow flew towards the smoke tendril wrapped around the dog demon's neck... to no effect. Though it had made a hole in the vapours as it passed through them, the gap instantly closed.
Meanwhile, Kirara and her passengers had landed at the clearing's edge behind Kagome. Eadoin, Aine and Sango leapt quickly to the ground while the little kitsune peeked fearfully over the demon feline's head. 'InuYasha has drawn the red Tessaiga!' exclaimed Shippo. 'He's going to attack a barrier.'
Eadoin drew his own sword and, speaking rapidly and rhythmically, pointed it at the churning arms of murky smoke that were growing larger by the moment. His sword began to resonate with a ringing sound as he used it to read the magic in front of him; he inhaled sharply as he confirmed the nature of the creature within the cavern from which the smoke issued. Eadoin had hoped – prayed – that his suspicions would be proved wrong. 'That's no barrier,' he observed grimly.
Recognising the danger now facing the half-demon, Eadoin cried out to InuYasha to stop his attack, but the youth had already leapt at the smoke, his great sword raised high.
Aine's head was pounding as she dismounted. Here lay the source of negative readings she had been feeling. Its nature was so much the opposite of the healer's that her body ached with its proximity. However, despite her pain, her ability to perceive life energy still let her rapidly assess what she saw before her. Sesshoumaru's powerful life-force was fading rapidly – his power, his very life was being stripped from him, manifesting in the charges of eerie green energy which were moving through the black, vaporous bonds into a gaping hole in the mountainside.
Her heart clenched when she saw the human child grasp the demon. Then, she blinked in realisation for, as the little girl held fast to Sesshoumaru, the drain of his energy slowed and the smoke's evil aura diminished ever so slightly. And, though they flowed about her, the child's life-force was not being affected by the vapours.
'The child inhibits it...' she whispered, understanding.
Sesshoumaru strained to look out of the left corner of his eye, seeking the source of the arrow which had just passed in front if his face, and saw his half-brother charging with the Tessaiga. He didn't have the breath to warn him. Again, a triumphant laugh rang in his mind as the power within the cavern gathered itself and sprang.
The dog demon saw that InuYasha didn't have a chance to react. One second, the hanyo was attacking, and the next he was imprisoned by the smoke wrapped around his arms and neck, only a few paces from him. Though their father's fang was still gripped tightly in his hands, it was useless to the half-demon. He, too, was trapped.
A/N: Yes, a cliffhanger. Let's me know who's reading, ;). Shall I post the next chapter?
