The sound was simply obliterating, shaking the very rocks around them, causing the cliff, as well as what remained of the mountain behind them to collapse, knocking into the three.

The force blasted them backwards into the shattering mountain, and Sesshomaru was quickly ripped from InuYasha's grasp with startling suddenness, yet InuYasha had no time to think. His immediate priority was to protect she who did not have the strength to protect herself.

Everything was lost in this mind-shattering blast of white hot noise, one could not even guess as to the length, nor any longer to the direction known as "up" as they tumbled under the forces, end over end, being constantly hit with a barrage of boulders.

Sound was lost, InuYasha could find no chance of a hand- or footing, all that was attempting to bury them held no perchance.

It seemed to last an eternity in that endless second, and even when there was silence everything continued to move.

Directions scattered to the wind, light and dark mixed to the point of no return, and chaos and confusion reigned, like a die being shaken by the gods and thrown.

Yet it faded slowly, plunging everything into darkness, with still the occasional pebble finding a place to rest.

It wasn't for several of these seconds did InuYasha realize it was over, and he found himself on his forearms and knees, an incredible weight across his shoulders.

He shifted slightly, discovering he was up to said forearms in loose dirt, braced at right angles against the sheer weight of the boulder, and mound of loose dirt piled behind it, which seemed to have every intention of crushing him. He was hunching over a familiar-scented figure, who was curled loosely, her hands still providing what little protection they could to her ears. He was attempting to peer through the darkness that was normal, albeit shaded daylight as he tossed off the weight that felt like a slab of solid stone and rolled off of her, allowing her to unfurl.

A dust cloud enveloped them momentarily, choking and even more blinding. It seemed to take an eternity to settle. He lay spread-eagled on the ground, stretching as far as his fingertips would permit, before pulling his sleeve over his nose as he attempted to breathe normally.

It was here he noticed that everything had settled, he could pick up no scent from the gods that had so previously overwhelmed his senses, as well as the mountain. He could also pick up, since he paused to notice, the faint scent of Sesshomaru in the distance, yet he did not smell agitated.

He opened his mouth to say something, however no sound came out, and he frowned, sitting up and feeling around blindly for the girl he had just released, and encountered something fabric.

He had a moment of panic in that instant, one for the fact he could neither see or hear anything at all, leaving him in a world of darkness and empty silence, and the other for noticing Kagome had not moved from where he had been protecting her from the explosion and subsequent landslide.

Hands suddenly seized his own, of which where carefully finding their way up to the girl's face, and one was raised to what was clearly their goal, and he wrapped his other arm around her.

They lay like that for a moment, he holding her gently at arms length, before she pried one of his hands free, and traced a character onto his palm lightly with a fingertip.

Dazzle.

Very, very slowly, he could make out rough outlines in the darkness, he recognised the subtle damage the explosion itself had caused.

Again he tried to speak, but failed, he realised that his ability to speak was not lost, however his ability to hear it was gone.

However his sense of smell was ever present, and he could not find the scent of his brother, however his logic was sound.

If he and Kagome could survive it, then Sesshomaru would most certainly live to tell the tale.

The darkness was fading a little more, if he tried hard, then he could make out the difference between the face of Kagome and the rocks behind her, and he enfolded her carefully, for she was shaking.


Sorry guys, short chapter. It's surprisingly hard to make a moment barely two minutes long into a chapter! Ah well, hope you can forgive me. Next chapter we'll get to look at exactly what went down, instead of just "crap there are gods fighting, lets gtfo of here!"