Chapter 25 Kohaku's Battle
Sesshomaru turned away from his little brother and fled into the trees, his beautiful face as emotionless as it always was despite the pain and rage clawing at his heart.
His long-held plans for Inuyasha and Koga were impossible now, but, for some reason that he was wary of examining to closely, he couldn't bring himself to care.
No, it was more then that. He felt almost ill with guilt that he had made them at all.
He gasped softly, his eyes widening as he came to a sudden stop in the middle of a large, open expanse of grass.
Was this it then?
Were his emotions starting to return to him slowly because he was finally close to finding Naraku and ending his curse?
He inhaled through his nose, drawing air into his lungs as he scented the currents on the breeze, stiffening when he did indeed smell Naraku's foul-stench.
He channeled his rage and hurt into resolve, using it to keep the scent firmly in his mind as he started running again.
He vowed that this time, he would kill Naraku and all his minions and remove the curse that the white-haired Kanna bitch had placed on him so that he would be unable to feel emotions as others did.
Not that he particularly wanted his emotions back, but, it was a matter of pride.
He couldn't allow anyone to live who had taken anything from him or his reputation as an emotionless demon-badass would be compromised and all the other demons would think that they could take whatever they wanted from him without consequence or fear of his swift retribution and vengeance.
Sesshomaru came upon the castle less then three hours later, his golden eyes cold with displeasure and hate as they fixed on the large, sprawling castle in the valley below him as the wind blew his long hair around his face like a silvery cloud, making him look like an avenging angel as he descended the hill slowly.
Such was the force of his rage that he shattered Naraku's considerable protection-fields easily with one swing of his only remaining arm, raising his own shield to keep all of the castle's inhabitants confined to its many rooms so that he could destroy them at his leisure.
Then, he closed his eyes, scanning the surrounding area with his senses, shocked to discover that Naraku's heart, and the one that he had forced to protect it, were also within.
Apparently he had called the boy back because he had plans to change it's location.
Well, delaying it's relocation would be the last mistake that the pieced-together, disgusting bastard would make.
In this lifetime, or any other, since he knew how to prevent him from coming back after he killed him.
He entered the castle, scanning the rooms with his senses methodically as he traveled the hallways.
He turned left into a room with a partially-open door, stunned to see that the creepy, silver-haired infant that was the otherwise useless husk that housed Naraku's heart laying in the middle of the floor alone.
Kohaku sat with his back against the wall at the very edge of the room, his brown eyes emotionless as he looked at Sesshomaru.
"Are you here to kill the b-" the boy began, cutting off his words with a clearly-pained grimace before continuing. "To destroy it?"
"Yes. Are you intending to try to stop me?"
Kohaku shook his head, his delicate-looking hands fluttering in his lap helplessly.
"No. If it does die, I get what I want, you get what you want, so why would I? But, if you don't mind, would you wait until I turn away? I've tried to distance myself from it, because I know that's it's evil, but it hasn't been easy, so I'd rather not watch you."
"Perhaps I could do that," Sesshomaru agreed pleasantly, slightly-puzzled by his request. "If you tell me what it is you gain by letting me destroy it."
"Freedom," Kohaku answered simply.
"Whether by Naraku's death, my own, or both, I do not care. I just want out. I can't do this anymore. I'd rather die then serve him, and he knows this. It's why he cruely keeps me alive. The only reason. You can give me peace. So, no, I will not fight you. I can not."
Sesshomaru nodded in wordless-acceptance of his explanation, watching the boy turn away to face the wall, not surprised when he cried out in pain as he drew his sword.
Kohaku whimpered in pain, curling his slender, frail-looking body into a ball when Sesshomaru drew his sword and stepped forward toward the mostly-defenseless infant, shuddering as Naraku's consciousness invaded his, trying to force him to bend to his will.
*Stop him, Kohaku* he whispered in his mind silkily.
*Protect the baby. Do you want him to die? After you have cared for him, nurtured him all this time? Protected him? Do not let him do it. Save your baby, Kohaku, save him*
"I can't," he moaned, shaking as he tried to fight the pain.
"He'll kill me... He's to strong for me... I can't save him..."
*Yes, you can. Do it. Save him*
"I can't," Kohaku whimpered, hissing in pain as Naraku pressed him harder, tears of agony trailing down his face at the sense of loss that he felt knowing that the infant would die.
"Please... Let me go, please... Stop hurting me... Just let me die!"
*Never* Naraku hissed, his presence spreading throughout his pain-weakened mind malevolently.
*You are mine to torment. Mine to control. Mine*
Sesshomaru listened to the one-sided exchange as he stood above the infant with his sword raised over his head, not needing as much intelligence as he had to fill in the blanks, shocked when Kohaku stood up and drew his weapon.
He thought that the boy had had things under control, but perhaps he was mistaken.
Then he understood when Kohaku swung it over his own shoulder, slicing his back open, dropping the dripping weapon and digging around in the wound with his hand, blood covering the wooden-floor steadily as he searched for the jewel-shard, finally locating it.
He swayed on his feet, watching through fatigue-blurred eyes as Sesshomaru stabbed the infant through the chest, pinning it to the floor, wrapping his fist around the shard tightly.
A hideous-shriek rang throughout the castle as the thing that housed the heart of Naraku was pierced, and Kohaku smiled, the coldest smile that Sesshomaru had ever seen before as the echoes of the death-scream continued to sound out it's agony.
"Fuck you, Naraku," the boy said through teeth gritted with pain.
Then he yanked the shard free from his back, smiling and closing his eyes as his blood started to pour out onto the floor-boards faster, his expression one of complete and all-encompassing peace as he collapsed forward at the demon-lord's feet.
Sesshomaru knelt down beside him, reaching out with his arm, bracing the boy against his chest and rolling him over carefully.
His small face was pale, his shoulder-length brown hair limp and dirty from neglect, and the older man knew that he was dying as he stroked his hair and face gently with his single-hand.
For some reason the thought of that happening bothered him greatly, so, without really thinking about what he did, he drew the sword that his father had left him from it's sheath carefully, waiting patiently until the lesser-demons that had come from the under-world intending to claim Kohaku's soul after he was dead appeared around them both.
He slashed through them with his blade, watching them dissolve into myst with barely-discernible shrieks and growls as he stood up with Kohaku cradled against his chest tenderly, sheathing his sword and drawing his tokijeen from his belt, sealing Naraku's heart with his power as he left the room.
His golden eyes were watchful and wary as he went from room to room sealing away all the bodies so that Naraku wouldn't be able to come back through any of them.
Kagura, Hakudoshi, the other half of the infant that had housed the half-demon's heart, Entei, Hakudoshi's demon-horse, the bitch-Kanna who had dared to curse him, and, finally, the disgusting pieced-together body that the evil that was Naraku had dwelt within.
He carried the still-unconscious boy out of the building, relieved to see that he didn't seem as pale in the moon and star's light, sealing off the castle against any but himself as he vanished into the nights concealing shadows silently.