Innocent Demise

Bleeding from multiple injuries, her ears still ringing, Sango rested against a cave wall while Yasuhiro checked her injuries. Her uniform was shredded in multiple places, revealing bleeding and torn flesh that soaked into what remained of her clothes. After gazing at Yasuhiro's handsome profile for a few seconds, Sango closed her eyes and rested her head on the stone wall, willing the aches and pains to the back of her mind. There was still more to do, more enemies to face, children to save. She hoped the kids were alright. She hated that Naraku would dare endanger the young and helpless, but what could she expect from the vile hanyou who had slain her whole family before her eyes, using her little brother as his instrument of destruction?

A lump formed in her throat at the thought of Yasuhiro's children meeting the same fate as her family and village. They had to save them. Instead, they were wasting precious time on her injuries. Before she knew it, she was begging for his forgiveness. "I'm sorry, Yasuhiro. I'm so sorry."

Midnight blue eyes turned to her, mirroring his confusion as he paused in his inspection. "Whatever for, Sango?"

Sango swallowed in an attempt to clear the ache in her throat. "It's my fault. If I hadn't been dumb enough to get wounded, we wouldn't be wasting valuable time in finding your children. You asked me for help to save them, instead all I've done was slow you down. If either of them are hurt, I couldn't live with myself." She almost sobbed out the last, hating the thought of them hurt, praying it wasn't so.

She watched as compassion and understanding filled his eyes as he lifted a large hand to cup her left cheek, his thumb stroking her flesh in a gentle caress. "It's not your fault, sweet Sango. You are not the one who put them in such peril." Self-recrimination filtered across his expression and voice. "It was my failure to protect them that has led us to where we are now. If they are harmed..." He cleared his throat as a wet sheen filled his eyes. "If they are harmed then it is not your fault but mine."

Reaching up to place her hand over the one that cupped her face, her heart ached for his pain. All she wanted was to take his away. She shook her head at his words. "It's not your fault," she repeated his words to her, "but the one who stole them from you. You can't blame yourself for the evil deeds of another."

He smiled, but it was not a happy smile. "I meant only to comfort you, now it seems I am the one in need of comfort." Careful of her injuries, he moved his hand from beneath hers to wrap behind her neck while the other went around her back, drawing her into his chest for a small embrace.

Instead of fighting him as she usually did, Sango rested her forehead against his chest, giving comfort as well as receiving it. They sat like that for only a short time before Yasuhiro pulled back and cleared his throat as he again took a look at her wounds.

Without meeting her gaze, he said, "Forgive me. I know you do not wish for my touch."

Now she felt like a complete jerk.

"No, it's okay. Don't worry about it."

They both were silent as he poked and prodded her injuries. It stung, but Sango made no complaints as she sat, unmoving, under his gentle touch.

A minute later, he said, "Your injuries do not seem life threatening. Most are pretty shallow and have already begun to stop bleeding." He finally looked at her, his hand reaching up to gently caress her ear, causing her to shiver ever so lightly. "How is your hearing?'

Feeling uncomfortable by her reaction towards him, Sango lowered her gaze to his chest. "Everything still sounds a bit muffled, but I think I'm alright." She met his gaze as determination stiffened her spine. "I can still fight. We have to keep moving."

His small smile did strange things to her fluttering heart.

"You are truly an amazing woman, Sango." Then he stood and offered his hand to her, gently pulling her to her feet when she readily grasped it. "Allow me to carry you. We shall make up for lost time if I were to travel at full speed."

Though she really didn't want to show any weakness by being carried, Sango reluctantly agreed as he first lifted her hiraikotsu to once again place it upon his strong back, before hosting her up into his arms where she was way too aware of his body pressed against her own. She closed her eyes and gripped the front of his haori in a fist as the cool, cavern air blasted her when he took up speed, racing through the dark caverns in search of his sons.

Deeper into the cave they traveled, their passing all but unseen by Sango as she kept her eyes tightly closed against the strong winds that constantly buffered her face, so she wasn't aware when a light ahead steadily grew larger, brighter. When she finally became aware of the glow, Yasuhiro was already slowing then stopped all together.

Raising her head from where she had hidden her face in his haori, Sango turned her head and blinked rapidly as her eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness compared to the soft, green glow of the tunnels.

Yasuhiro silently placed her back on her feet and handed her hiraikotsu back into her capable hands. Holding the heavy weapon pulled painfully on her wounds, but Sango forced herself to ignore the discomfort and focus on the cavern around them. For the most part there wasn't much to see but a few large boulders, a small pond, and what seemed like hundreds of candles that gave off no smoke as they burned. Sango knew they were most likely demonic in nature and practically impossible to extinguish the flames unless the magic was cut off.

By habit, she looked for all points of entry, but found none other than the one they stood before. Finally she focused on the only occupants in the center of the space near a large rock that had been carved into a crude chair. What looked to be a woman was kneeling before the make shift seat in a beautiful kimono of yellow and pink with a white crane design. She could not see the woman's face as it was hidden by her long, unbound, black hair, her face pressed into a young boy's neck as she held him close to her body.

At first Sango couldn't decipher the small sounds coming from the woman as her hearing was still damaged, but by the shaking of her shoulders, Sango knew she wept. Her inspection took no more than a handful of seconds, but she felt the man beside her tense.

"Noboru," she heard him say. Even her damaged ears could pick up the ache that low utterance held.

He took a step forward, determination burning fierce in his expression, but he paused. She knew why a second later when the woman's sobs reached her battered ears. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

She wasn't talking to them, but to the child she held cradled almost lovingly in her arms.

When Yasuhiro again advanced, she was right beside him.

"Woman," Yasuhiro's voice echoed with his restrained anger, quieting the woman's sobs as she seemed to freeze at his commanding tone. "Return my child to me."

Sango tensed, her hand tightening upon the strap of her weapon, ready for anything that may occur. The woman may seem harmless, but she was taking no chances.

A beautiful, tear stricken face rose from the small boy's neck, to gaze at them with a tortured expression. She was silent as if she had not understood his command.

"Hand over Noboru to me, now! Where is my other child, Minoru? What have you done to him? Answer me, woman!" demanded Yasuhiro. Sango could hear his anger escalating, feel the aggression emanating off of his tense body. Still he advanced in long, angry strides, and Sango stayed beside him, refusing to let him go into danger alone. She had his back. She would not fail him.

"Stop! Stop right there!" the woman cried, her arms tightening around the boy who still did not move and was silent. Sango was worried about his lack of response, hoping he was merely unconscious and not dead. She knew not where Minoru was, but she prayed he, too, was safe.

They both halted their advance when the woman held the boy tighter, afraid she meant to do him harm. They were still several feet from her kneeling form, too far away to grab the boy and attack.

"Where is Minoru?! And who are you?" Yasuhiro again demanded.

His worry for his children was tangible, and Sango's heart ached for his worry. It was obvious his children meant a great deal to him. If she could, she would see them returned safely to his arms. He had already lost his wife, she would hate to see him lose any more of his loved ones if she had anything to do about it.

Tears fell from the woman's huge gaze, sorrow like a heavy mantle around her. Her voice was low, but it carried to Sango's ears as she listened in growing dread.

"I do not have a name any longer as I am undeserving of the distinction. I am known as the futa-kuchi-onna."

Two-mouthed woman, Sango thought in confusion, but her dread did not lessen.

"I didn't mean to," the futa-kuchi-onna whimpered. "I only wanted to take care of them; I love them! But I got so hungry..." A low keening sound escaped her lips as she said the last.

"What?" Sango said in dawning horror at the same time Yasuhiro hollered, "What have you done!? By God, speak!"

A new voice echoed across the cavern, sly and insidious. "Eat the boy, futa-kuchi-onna. Can't you feel how hungry we are? The other was not enough to satisfy us. Eat him!"

Sango looked around them hurriedly, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. There was another enemy? How had they not seen him? Where was he hiding?

The futa-kuchi-onna whimpered pitifully and shook her head. "Please, no...don't make me."

"We are hungry. Feel our hunger. Eat him, eat him!"

"Where are you, coward? Show yourself," Sango demanded, trying to keep one eye on the futa-kuchi-onna and another on the cavern around them, but she saw no one else. Where was the other voice coming from?

Again the futa-kuchi-onna whimpered, even cried as her hair moved on its own, wrapping thick, black strands around the unmoving child, to lift him from her now slackened grasp and into the air above her head. Then she leaned forward, curling into a ball, which showed them the back of her head. A gapping mouth with two rows of sharp teeth split the back of her skull, its slippery, pink tongue outstretched towards the boy as he was lowered to the second mouth.

"No!" Yasuhiro bellowed, charging forward too fast for her to track.

Before he could sever the binds that held his child, strands of the black hair flew at him. He swiped at them in an attempt to knock them out of his way, but they were harder than they appeared. Like a sword, one pointed strand bounced off his strike, gouging a long, bloody slash in his forearm while another embedded itself in his thigh until Sango could see it come out the back.

He drew back before more strands flew at him, intending to impale him through his heart. Blood splattered on the ground as he jumped back then up into the air, going for an air attack. Sango saw that the boy was about to be swallowed up, so while he distracted the hairs, she let loose her hiraikotsu. It flew from her hand and connected with the hair holding onto the boy, freeing him. As he fell towards the gapping mouth, Yasuhiro ignored the danger to himself, allowing multiple strands to pierce his flesh, to grab his boy's arm and draw him to his chest. But he was trapped, unable to move away as the weight of both his own and his son's body forced him farther down the strands that impaled him. Blood spilled from his wounds, running down the black hair like water.

"Yasuhiro!" Sango yelled, throwing her weapon again as more strands came at the defenseless kelpie who refused to release his son to save himself.

Hiraikotsu severed the hairs, freeing him as he fell on top of the futa-kuchi-onna, who cried out from the impact. Yasuhiro was quick to jump away from the tangle that was the woman's hair which seemed to regenerate at an alarming rate.

"I must have nourishment!" the second mouth bellowed.

The futa-kuchi-onna rose to her hands and knees to glare at them both before setting her wrathful stare on Yasuhiro. "The child is mine! I will eat you, instead, and I won't have to hurt him."

She stood and launched herself at him, her hair flying around her, reaching towards Yasuhiro to grab him once more. Yasuhiro wrapped an arm around Sango's waist unexpectedly and jumped a few yards away from the futa-kuchi-onna.

The futa-kuchi-onna turned to nail them with her wrath and desperation.

"You cannot have him! You don't understand. I need him more than you. Ever since I had been punished for neglecting my step-child from my husband's previous marriage for my own, everything was taken from me! Because the child died from starvation, I was cursed with a second mouth behind my head, telling me to eat and eat. But it wasn't food it desired, only living flesh, and I was compelled to eat my children," she sobbed, lifting her hand to cover her mouth at the remembered horror. "Once I was unable to accept a child not my own, now I know the error of my ways, but every time I try to take one as my own...I..."She couldn't seem to say the awful truth her listeners where coming to understand.

"No...Minoru!? You ate him?" Yasuhiro asked in a tortured whisper.

The futa-kuchi-onna covered her face, hiding from the truth of his words, but Sango and Yasuhiro didn't need her verbal confirmation. It was all too clear.

An agonized cry erupted from Yasuhiro, filling the cavern with his pain and sorrow.

Sango's heart broke for him. To lose a child...even she had no idea the pain he must be feeling. She had lost many in her life; a child of her own was not one of them as she didn't have any. But she could understand the torment he was going through. They had both lost something precious to them by the hands of another.

She lifted a hand to place on his shoulder in comfort, not knowing what to do or say to take away some of the hurt. When he felt her touch, he turned his midnight blue gaze on her, and she saw the tears he shed. They fell down his angular cheeks to fall from his chin. Her lungs seized at the sight.

Then he was handing over his child while they heard the futa-kuchi-onna talking with the second mouth on the back of her head. "Take Noboru. Keep him safe," he told her huskily, his sadness clogging his throat.

Tears stung her own eyes as she held his child close. To see such a proud, strong man cry was a heart-wrenching sight, one she was far from immune to. She didn't question him or demand he let her help him fight. He sought revenge on his son's murderer. She would not come between him and his goal. She understood the drive, the need, to strike back at the ones who have wounded you.

Cradling Noboru in her arms, she watched as Yasuhiro charged the futa-kuchi-onna who seemed to have come out of her pain enough to meet his attack with the cries of her second mouth to feed it. The woman may be human slow, but her demonic hair was not. It lashed out at Yasuhiro, who dodged and continued towards the futa-kuchi-onna until he was upon her.

He swung, aiming for her face but her hair was faster, wrapping around his wrist. His leg swung out, his thigh connecting with her rib cage, the crack of bones echoing through the chamber. Sango winced at the sound, right before the futa-kuchi-onna wailed in pain. She cringed, holding onto her side as she fell to her knees from the agony. Apparently her body was still human, frail and weak. But her hair was another story.

The black strands shot out and hit Yasuhiro in the chest like a hammer, sending him flying back where he landed on the stone floor with a thud. Sango had sucked in her breath to call out his name to see if he was alright, but he was back up on his feet. Blood smeared the ground where he had fallen, a testimony to the wounds he had previously suffered.

They did not seem to slow him down as he charged again, dodging and jumping out of the way of the steel-like hair, trying to get closer to the futa-kuchi-onna's body. He slashed at strand after strand, hacking at the black substance until a dark pool of hair surrounded him.

He saw an opening and lunged, intending to beat the shit out of the one who took his child's life before he killed her when a wave of severed hair covered him, pushing him back. Sango watched in horror as Yasuhiro was bound tightly, his arms forced to his sides, his legs unable to kick out as he was levered above the crying woman curled tightly into a ball on the cave floor, whimpering from pain.

"I will devour you!" the second mouth stated loudly, bringing Yasuhiro closer to its gapping mouth.

"Yasuhiro!" Sango cried, taking a step towards the fighting pair, fearful she was about to watch his death, and cause Noboru to lose the last of his family.

Instead, water shot out of the pool only feet from the combatants, dowsing the futa-kuchi-onna in the frigid liquid. Just as the second mouth was about to take a chunk out of his flesh, ice glazed over it, including the hair that bound him, and the woman on the ground, her wails abruptly cut off as she was turned to ice.

Jerking against his restraints, Yasuhiro shattered the hair with his violent struggles to land smoothly before the frozen figure. What Sango saw next made her tense, her breath caught at the ferocity of his actions.

He lashed out, pummeling the immobile form. Shards of frozen flesh flew around him as he struck his fists repeatedly downwards. Every strike was magnified in the cavern like breaking glass. Slowly, Sango approached him. Coming to stand to his left, she saw that he had smashed through the futa-kuchi-onna's skull and chest cavity all the way to the cave floor. Still, his fists continued to strike unabated, the stone beneath breaking under his assault. He didn't seem to realize he no longer struck the ice covered enemy, but the ground below, blood welling on his bruised knuckles, yet still he continued as if possessed.

Kneeling beside him, resting the small body of his son on her bent knees and an arm around his shoulders to keep him against her chest, Sango leaned forward and rested her hand on the back of his before he could strike out again. He paused, but he did not turn to look at her. Worried, hurting for him, she whispered his name, hoping he would come out of his inner hell and back to her.

His head turned towards her, all emotion wiped clean from his expression. Sango was unnerved by his lack of reaction as he obviously didn't recognize her, his eyes far away. Lifting her hand, she cupped his cheek, and spoke to him, trying to reach him.

"Yasuhiro, come back to me. The enemy is dead; you have to come back now. Your son needs you."

He blinked at her words, then a second later reality came flooding back into his beautiful eyes. He glanced down at the damage he had wrought upon his enemy, then to his bloodied knuckles, before settling on his sleeping son's face. His own seemed to crumble instantly and she saw more than heard his breath catch.

Tear glazed eyes rose to meet hers and before she knew it, his arms were wrapping around her back. He rested his head on her shoulder, his breath heavy against her exposed skin, fanning a shallow wound on her chest with moist heat as he held her close, his son cocooned between them.

Sango was unable to move away, her heart unwilling to leave him in his time of great sorrow as his shoulders heaved, sobs wracking his muscular body, shaking her with the strength of his anguish. He tightened his hold, turning his head into her neck. She felt the warmth of his tears fall down her neck, and all she could do was return his embrace. She wrapped her free arm around his back, his blood soaking into her sleeve to mix with her own, but she ignored it. She rested her forehead on his broad shoulder as she held him while he cried his heart out. But he was not alone in that as tears fell silently down her face.