The hebi youkai were like an endless wave; every time one was cut down, another two would take its place. 'The snakes must have been going easy on the village if they are this many in numbers,' Miroku thought, Shakujou a golden blur over his head as he decapitated several hebi youkai at once. 'Did they really just want to draw out one houshi?'
"Damn, we're gettin' nowhere!" InuYasha shouted, dispatching the Kaze-no-Kizu toward a particularly annoying group of youkai, satisfied when the fading shrieks signified said group's destruction. "How many of these fuckin' things are there?"
"More than we could ever count," Sango gritted out, using her Hiraikotsu as a shield while she stabbed viciously with her katana, striking a hebi youkai right in between its livid red eyes.
Dokuga, who had been lurking in the shadows, chose this moment to appear, his dimmed eyes more angry than before. "How dare you ssslay my kinsssfolk?" he shrieked, lobbing a huge ball of what looked like saliva at them.
"DUCK!" Sango leaped forward, managing to knock Miroku into InuYasha, sending all three of them tumbling to the ground as the ball of poison splattered against the trees behind them. A few seconds later, the trees groaned and collapsed to the ground, their trunks eaten away by the corrosive poison.
"Holy shit," InuYasha cursed, his golden eyes sweeping over the bubbling sludge that had once been several healthy tree trunks. "What is that?"
The trio turned back to Dokuga and the thinned-out crowd of snakes surrounding him. They were all turned to him, their faces curious. The rest of the hebi youkai were obviously waiting for Dokuga to give them orders. "The poissson of Dokuga isss ssso very potent," the green snake hissed. "You ssshall sssuccumb to the poissson, and then my ssson Dokukan will be avenged!"
"Oh, yeah? Just tr-" A tingle of awareness suddenly shot down the hanyou's spine, making him whirl around and scan the treeline. But there were no snakes behind him; they were all crowded around Dokuga. Yet something was wrong, something was different...
Something had happened...
"You dare to turn your back on Dokuga?" Dokuga hissed, lobbing another ball of venom at InuYasha's back. He whipped around, swinging Tetsusaiga as he did so. The ball of venom hit the youkai katana and split into two smaller balls before taking down another few trees between them. Tetsusaiga's blade was unmarked, though, as InuYasha swung it over his head to point it at Dokuga.
"Sure I dare," InuYasha taunted, "Cuz I know you're a fuckin' coward who hides behind his own clans-folk!"
'Gotta try to wrap this up quickly,' he thought, 'Gotta make sure everything's okay back at the village!'
"HOW DARE YOU, FILTHY HALF-BREED!" Dokuga launched himself forward, scattering his kin like ninepins as he careened toward InuYasha, mouth gaping open and fangs dripping with poisonous venom. InuYasha squared his shoulders and dug the heels of his feet into the ground, readying himself for the snake's charge. Dokuga's blunt head hit the flat of Tetsusaiga's blade dead on, making the katana jerk about violently in the hanyou's hands. He held on tight, however, and brought the blade swishing upward, narrowly missing Dokuga's head as the snake dodged, the skulls that made up his crown splintering into pieces thanks to the youkai katana.
"That toy katana isss nothing compared to MY power," Dokuga jeered.
"Tetsusaiga, a mere toy?" InuYasha growled. "Well, I was gonna play nice and give ya a chance, but I think I've fuckin' changed my mind!" Tetsusaiga's blade glowed brightly for a few seconds before transforming into what looked like a multi-faceted diamond. InuYasha glared at Dokuga, daring him to come forward.
"Jussst becaussse your blade isss prettier doesssn't mean I'll hold back!" Dokuga howled, charging forward again. InuYasha smirked at him.
"This blade," he said, raising Tetsusaiga over his head, "is not about looks! Koungousouha!" As the battle cry left his lips, InuYasha brought the Tetsusaiga down hard. The diamond spears tore through the night, ripping apart the snakes sitting either side of Dokuga. As for Dokuga himself, three glittering spears were driven into his chest. The giant snake keeled over and lay motionless on the ground, blood bubbling around the spears in his chest. The hebi youkai that remained all decided that they would rather camp out back at the mine than face the three blood-stained, grim-faced warriors again. So they turned tail and slithered away, hissing fearfully as they retreated.
"We should go after them," Sango said.
"Why should we do that?" Miroku asked. "It was Dokuga's anger at losing his son that drove the hebi youkai to attack. Now that he's dead, the tribe have lost their leader, and with him their fighting spirit."
"Yeah, whatever," InuYasha said distractedly. "Let's get back to the village. I wanna check on Kagome." Miroku and Sango looked at each other and rolled their eyes good-naturedly. No matter how much InuYasha denied it, they knew that he loved their miko friend, and would always worry about her in the midst of battle, no matter where or when she was.
When the threesome arrived back at the village, the headman rushed over to them, his face drawn and worried. "Are you three all right?" he asked urgently.
"We're fine. Also, we have dealt with your hebi youkai problem," Miroku said, putting on his best 'give me all your valuables' face.
"Good. I was afraid that houshi had gone to where you were and complicated things for you," the headman sighed.
"Houshi? What houshi?" Sango asked, brow furrowing as she slanted a glance at Miroku.
"He did not tell me his name. He wore robes of brilliant red and deep black, his staff was adorned with a six-pointed star and he wore an aged sugegasa on his head-wait, where are you going?" the headman cried. InuYasha ignored him, tearing into the headman's hut with an almost despairing look on his face. 'Tôjirô! That was Tôjirô! Dammit, he must've been following us and I didn't even notice! Kagome,' he thought urgently, 'Please be all right, Kagome!' With increasing impatience, InuYasha punched the reed mat hanging in the entrance, darting frantically into the main room of the headman's house.
As soon as he entered, the hanyou's nose was overwhelmed by the smell of gunpowder that oozed from every inch of the room. It smelled like a smoke-bomb, or maybe fireworks; both of which were common kitsune-youjitsu tricks that Shippou used, especially when he needed to make a quick getaway. Underneath the gunpowder scent, InuYasha could smell Shippou's scent, though it vanished the moment it reached the door.
What really made him freeze up was the fact that he could smell Kagome. Not the cat-Kagome, but the true Kagome, that was, Kagome in her human form. Her sweet scent was almost like a drug to the deprived hanyou, and if it hadn't been for the tang of fear that was woven into it, he probably would have spent several minutes just sitting there, letting the faint wafts of scent drift through his head. (As it was, he had no time for something like that, regardless of the fear-stench.)
'Kagome transformed back into a human...but she was so afraid...' InuYasha sniffed more, trying to find another scent amidst the gunpowder smell, eyebrow furrowing in concentration. There was something familiar, something he couldn't quite put his finger (or rather, nose) on. His hackles raised as his nose finally nailed down a smell he had committed to memory after the events in the city.
It was Tôjirô's scent, and it was positively drenched in fury.
'Dammit! He WAS here! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Kagome, I hope you're still here, or I swear right now that I will not rest until I fuckin' GUT that damn houshi!' InuYasha's claws dug into the wood of the floor as a deep snarl rose up in his throat.
"InuYasha!" Sango's cry broke through the hanyou's vengeful thoughts, causing him to jump up and tear out of the hut, hoping against hope that Sango had found Kagome, and that she was safe and sound.
When he got there, InuYasha saw Sango gently cradling Kirara in her arms, her thumb carefully circling a livid burn-mark in the center of the nekomata's forehead. Miroku was standing next to her, his hand on her shoulder, Shakujou cradled in his shoulder since he, too, was holding something in his arms. Without looking up, Miroku addressed InuYasha. "Sango and I think Tôjirô has taken Kagome-sama away from this place while we were fighting the hebi youkai clan. Also, he's seriously injured Kirara and cursed Shippou." InuYasha was about to ask what Miroku meant when he said 'cursed,' but then he saw the small fox in Miroku's 'free' hand. It was stirring slightly, but it was clearly unconscious.
"Damn that houshi to Hell!" InuYasha swore, his fist flying into the nearest hard object-which happened to be the wall of the headman's hut. "I fuckin' hate how he thinks he can just jerk us around like this! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT!" he howled, making Miroku and Sango jerk back in alarm.
"InuYasha," Sango tried to soothe, "We need to come up with a plan. Tôjirô is a crafty houshi after all, and he's-"
"I don't care about any of that! Kagome's in that youkai-hater's clutches, baka! Our first priority is to get her back. I am NOT about to fuckin' lose her again!" InuYasha snarled, his fist balling up so tightly that his claws nearly punctured his palm.
"InuYasha, my friend, I know you're upset," Miroku said reasonably, shifting Shippou to the crook of his elbow so he could hold Shakujou in his hand, "but we don't even know where Tôjirô has gone."
"He couldn't have gotten very far," InuYasha snapped back. "He's just a fuckin' human, an' you humans ain't exactly the fastest animals in Nippon."
"No, but if he had a horse, he could get pretty far," Sango shot back.
"What makes you think he had a horse?" InuYasha said derisively.
Sango pointed over to one of the huts directly across from the headman's hut. There was a wooden post directly outside of it; much like the kind that InuYasha had been tethered to back in the city. "I'm positive that there was a horse there when we left to go into the forest," the taijiya stated. "And Tôjirô is a houshi who believes he's on a holy quest to destroy all youkai. He would have seen it as a necessity, rather than a crime...I think."
"That is a likely possibility," Miroku agreed. "This is the man who was eager to destroy a young woman just because he thought she was a dark miko. Horse theft probably seemed like a little thing to him."
"Damn," InuYasha growled, pacing about like a caged wolf. "Then where the hell would he have gone?"
"Well," Miroku said thoughtfully, looking up at the moon, "If you were Tôjirô, and you had just taken your sworn enemy's treasured woman," here Miroku ignored InuYasha's sputter of indignation and his bright red face and went on with, "not to mention the various and sundry youkai that wander Nippon, where would you go?"
A few minutes of silence passed, in which InuYasha became more restless as the other two showed no sign of ideas or battle-plans.
"...I would go to a place where I felt safe," Sango finally whispered, her eyes distant. "I would go to a place where I thought no evil could reach me, a place I called home."
Only a few seconds passed before Miroku and Sango both said "Tsukikage Shrine" in perfect unison.
"But that place is miles from here!" InuYasha snapped, ears flattened against his head. The humans could tell that InuYasha was quickly running out of patience (if, indeed, he'd had any patience in the first place) and that they needed to start moving quickly if they were to spare themselves from InuYasha's impatient wrath.
"It probably wouldn't seem so long on horseback," Sango pointed out. "If he travels nonstop, I would give him at least half a day."
InuYasha considered this. "If we set out now," he said slowly, "then we'd get there first."
"True, but you forget one thing, InuYasha," Miroku said sadly.
"What the fuck is that?" InuYasha hissed, eyes flashing with anger.
"We don't know which way the Tsukikage Shrine is from here," Miroku pointed out. "We only know where it is in relationship to that one village, and if we went there now, it could be a week before we find Kagome-sama, and by then it would be far too late to help her."
InuYasha looked shock for the smallest space of a few seconds; shock that quickly translated into anger. Froth forming around the edges of his mouth, ears flattened against his head and eyes opened to their widest, the hanyou lifted his head and screamed his frustration to the sky. No words, just the long scream of a wounded animal, a yowl that echoed off the surrounding forest and reverberated in the village. InuYasha needed no words to convey just how upset he was; upset that Tôjirô had stolen Kagome, upset that Shippou had been turned into a fox, upset that Kirara had been wounded, but most of all, he was upset that he had once again failed to protect Kagome. Miroku and Sango both looked stunned beyond belief as a few rivulets of blood started streaming from InuYasha's clenched fists, courtesy of the sharp claws tipping each of his fingers.
A few seconds of stunned silence passed, in which the humans stared at the hanyou's tense back. Then an idea came to the youkai taijiya. "Um...InuYasha?" Sango asked.
"What?" InuYasha replied irritably, turning around to face Sango. His eyes were both angry and depressed, his voice slightly hoarse from his unexpected screech.
"Do you think you would be able to track the scent of the horse that was tied up at that post?" the taijiya asked.
"Yeah; so what?"
"Then...isn't that a way to find both Tôjirô and the Tsukikage Shrine?"
For a few seconds, the men were both mute, their bodies rigid with stunned disbelief. Then, InuYasha turned to stare accusingly at Miroku.
"...Didn't think of that," Miroku said weakly. In a flash, InuYasha had darted forward and punched Miroku's head as hard as he could without killing the houshi. The end result was Miroku sitting on his knees, tears in his eyes as he clutched his throbbing head. "That...was not...necessary," Miroku groaned.
"Shut the fuck up," InuYasha growled back. Before the houshi or taijiya could come up with a retort, the hanyou had already darted over to where the horse was tied up and had gotten on his hands and knees, sniffing the ground with a fierce determination.
Meanwhile, the small fox in Miroku's arm gave a low groan and stirred, his eyes moving restlessly underneath his eyelids. "Shippou?" Sango said, moving and taking the fox out of the still-stricken Miroku's arms. "Are you okay?" The fox gave a low moan and opened its eyes, revealing brilliant emerald irises. In no time at all, the fox had started yapping excitedly, gesturing with its snout and paws toward a spot on the ground where the grass was burned slightly. "Yes, we know Tôjirô took Kagome away, Shippou. We're going to go after him," Sango reassured. The fox looked relieved, then he seemed to notice his new body. He started yipping again, although this time he sounded upset. "I'm sorry, Shippou," Sango murmured. "We couldn't get here in time to help you."
Even as the words came out of her mouth, Kirara gave a low, pained mew and turned in Sango's arms, her eyes fixing her with a pained stare. "Kirara!" Sango cried, holding the nekomata close to her chest. "Kirara, I thought you were dead!" The nekomata mewed again, although this time she sounded angry. She squirmed out of Sango's arms and became a fireball. Then, Kirara roared to the sky as she took on her battle-form, the burn-mark on her forehead vanishing as her muzzle twisted into a snarl. Sango considered for a few seconds, then she leaped onto Kirara's back, placing Shippou on her head as she reached down and dragged the still-groaning houshi into the place behind her. "I'm sorry to push you, Kirara," she told the nekomata, "but we need to find Kagome-chan." Kirara nodded resolutely.
InuYasha, meanwhile, was almost at the outskirts of the village, moving more swiftly as his nose became more used to the scent of the horse Tôjirô had stolen and rode out of the village. "C'mon, you slow bakas!" he shouted behind him as he got ready to run. "We've got a houshi to beat up!"
"Just go; we'll be right behind you!" Sango shouted back. InuYasha gave one sharp nod, then he was off, tearing across the landscape like an arrow that had been released from a bow, silver mane glimmering in the moonlight as it whipped out behind him, a faint dust trail rising up from his pounding feet. Sango gritted her teeth as Kirara soared through the air. She hoped that the wounds they'd gotten during the fight with the hebi youkai wouldn't impede their encounter with Tôjirô. Not only that, but InuYasha was still recovering from his fight with Kouga, and the battle with the hebi youkai hadn't exactly helped his wounds much. (Though the thought of Kagome in danger seemed to be working wonders for him.)
'I hope that everything will turn out all right,' Sango prayed fervently. 'Though that's rarely what we get in the end.'
Far behind the racing group, the corpses of the hebi youkai lay in the venom-scarred battle-field, their faces fixed in gruesome death grimaces as the stink of hebi youkai blood brought in all sorts of flesh-eating creatures.
Then a pile of bodies began to shift about, wriggling and jostling like there was something trapped beneath all of them. Then, one body tumbled to the ground, followed by another, and another, and yet another. Like some mythical sea-beast, Dokuga slowly emerged from the mass of corpses, his dim red eyes maddened with pain, blood frothing around his fangs as he pulled himself out from the bodies of his dead kinsfolk. "Human foolsss," he hissed, wrenching himself painfully from the pile and rearing as far as he could, the spears in his chest glittering in the moonlight as he displayed his green hood to the surrounding woods. "Did you really think that Dokuga would die ssso eassily? I will not ressst until I get my vengeance!"