A/N: Hello again! I'm back with a new chapter. Like I said in the previous chapter's end-note, this chapter is action packed. Also, I will warn you that it's not quite like the manga, but you'll see where the difference is when you get to it.
But first off, a big thanks to mothedman, MoranaAsteria, victoria cullen35, Racershane, and SweetSnow01 for favoriting my story; welcome to the fave-fam.
Next, a big thanks to Kagz419 and Guest for your reviews, and to Guest who asked about Rin: Rin first appears in vol. 14 and we are currently in vol. 10, so it's gonna be a while before she appears in the story.
Lastly, thanks to all of you for taking the time to read my story and to those of you who has this fic on their Alerts.
Warnings: Mentions of blood.
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha: this series and all of its wonderful (and gruesome) characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I do, however, own Aiko and her background story, and plausible other OCs that may appear throughout this series (I've not completed writing this story as of yet).
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Chapter 26 – Dokufun and Miasma
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"I'm talking to you, InuYasha," Miroku said in a firm manner.
We had been walking for hours through the forest west-bound of the taijiya fort.
"Why don't we take a little rest, huh?" Miroku added to his first announcement.
"Hnn?" InuYasha said in askance, turning around to look at the hōshi.
His face became a bit harsh when he answered Miroku's question: "You're the one who wanted to go to the castle and talk to the guys there."
That was true… When we had been to the cave at the outskirts of the village, Miroku suggested that we headed for the castle where the other taijiya had headed to on a mission, to see how they fared. And that was where we were headed now. Through this forest we were in now, which was quite overgrown. It made the air inside it feel warm and humid.
"I'm just saying, if we continue walking like this, Kagome-sama wouldn't be able to handle it," Miroku said resolutely.
"Miroku-sama…" Kagome muttered, sounding surprised.
This made me look over at Kagome, and I could see that see indeed looked tired. Small droplets of sweat covered her forehead which made her black front locks plaster itself to it.
"You tired, Kagome?" InuYasha asked her.
"Well kinda…"
She looked crestfallen when she added: "I didn't sleep much last night…"
That statement made me feel guilty. Hearing her say that she didn't get much sleep made me believe that it was my fault. Because I hadn't been able to eat before this morning and hadn't come back until late last night.
"So, I'm tired, and hungry as well," she added in a pondering manner, looking at InuYasha with begging eyes.
"Wha…" InuYasha began like he hadn't expected her to say what she did.
But after just a second, he looked at her with a hard look and said: "You're such a selfish girl."
This made me look at him with anger. Kagome was anything but selfish.
"Huh!" Kagome said surprised, then her beautiful face morphed into one of anger and she yelled at him: "What's with you?! I've been putting up with it until now!"
She moved into his personal space, leaning her face in close to his while she continued to yell: "Besides which, I'm just an ordinary human girl, aren't I! If I tried to follow your pace, I'd die!"
InuYasha looked shocked when she yelled at him right in his face. Like Kagome's verbal assault wasn't enough, I added in a yen of my own. With my left hand, I slapped it against the back of his head, physically saying that I didn't like him making Kagome upset. His head moved forward with the movement of my slap against his head.
"Auch!" he exclaimed and rubbed the back of his head.
He looked at me with his right eye – his left eye was closed – and looked like he was about to yell at me as well. But he didn't get a chance to do so.
"Pay a little attention to other's needs," Shippō said in a belittling manner, sitting on Miroku's left shoulder with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest.
Miroku looked almost angry when he said: "Don't try anything fancy! Like, say: 'I love you', or 'I'm in love with you'."
I looked at Miroku with bewilderment; when had InuYasha said anything like that?
Myōga squeaked in surprise and then jumped up on InuYasha's nose.
"InuYasha-sama! When did you say that?!"
This clearly aggravated InuYasha.
"SHUT UP!" he yelled at Myōga, making him jump off of his nose in fright.
Suddenly Kirara perched herself on my shoulder and looked in the direction we were headed towards before this unexpected conversation had begun. I looked in the same direction as Kirara was. The sound of something fast – which sounded like it was cutting through the foliage of the forest – was coming from that direction, approaching us quickly.
And then it emerged, or rather, the giant object tore through the trees like they were easy to cut through. On instinct, I dug down, narrowly avoiding it. My hand landed on top of Kirara's head, to keep her down while the object flew over our heads.
A scream of fright came from Kagome and I felt panicky for her safety. Before I could react, I heard the object fly back towards us, though this time it was far over our heads. I righted my position and hastily shifted my gaze over to look at Kagome. A sigh of relief escaped my lips. InuYasha had reacted quickly and had made sure that she didn't get harmed. He was standing protectively over Kagome, with a hand on her upper back. Then he stood up and looked in the direction from where the object had originated from.
I looked in the same direction as well and saw the object being caught by a young woman. It was a giant boomerang that had cut down the trees, clearing out the path between us and the woman.
"So, you're that bastard InuYasha, huh?!" the woman asked, though her voice was muffled by the mask she had over her mouth.
She looked like some kind of fighter. With her black jump suit of some kind, and protection gear covering her shoulders, elbows, hands, abdomen, knees, and shins. All the protection gear was pink, giving her outfit a feminine vibe. She had a wakizashi on her left hip, secured in place by a red sash. I could only see her eyes on her face, which were a brown color, the rest was covered by the strange mask she was wearing. She had long dark brown hair which was tied up into a tight ponytail. In her right hand, she was holding the giant boomerang.
"I'll exterminate you!" she then exclaimed; her voice filled with hatred.
"What…" InuYasha said with surprise, then Myōga added just as surprised: "S-Sango-san!"
Kirara mewled nervously on my shoulder, and I couldn't help but wonder if she knew the fighter from the taijiya village.
"Is she from the taijiya village?" Kagome asked Myōga in a rough tone.
"Kew," came Kirara's timid mewl, like she was saying that she knew the woman with the giant boomerang.
Then the woman threw her boomerang at us, yelling: "Hiraikotsu," when she released it.
On pure instinct, I jumped out of the way when I saw the boomerang heading towards us. At the same time, I heard Myōga shout at InuYasha.
"InuYasha-sama, don't fight with Sango-san!"
Which InuYasha responded to in kind: "This ain't the time for that!"
Then he roared: "Tessaiga!" shortly followed by a might *clang*.
I glanced over my shoulder at InuYasha and saw that he had drawn Tessaiga, the weapon had turned into its great fang form. The Tessaiga and the boomerang were locked with each other, but the force from the boomerang was so great that it managed to push InuYasha backwards a few feet. His naked feet uprooted the undergrowth with thick dust billowing up in the process.
Then I heard Miroku yelled with bewilderment: "The Tessaiga was pushed back!"
At that moment, InuYasha managed to repel the boomerang, which flew up high into the air. I couldn't help but be astonished with the strength of the woman.
"Doesn't look like we can talk things over, does it?" InuYasha bit out with irritation.
My gaze shifted back to the woman who had attacked us and saw her catching her boomerang, once again holding it in her right hand. Her left hand was clenched into a determined fist while she looked intently at InuYasha.
Quickly I glanced down at Kirara on my left shoulder and whispered to her in a hurried manner: "Get to Kagome-chan!"
She mewled at me, then jumped off of my shoulder and ran over to Kagome like I had told her to do. I then let my hand rest on the tsuka of Ōginsairensā, ready to draw it if needed.
That's when InuYasha moved the Tessaiga over his right shoulder, letting the blunt side of the mighty fang rest lightly on his shoulder.
"Wench, why are you attacking me?!" he yelled at the woman.
"Shut up, hanyō!" the woman sneered back at him, obviously not wanting to talk to him.
Why was she so determined to fight InuYasha?
We had never met the woman before…
"I want revenge for all the villagers!" she yelled fiercely and threw her boomerang once again, the weapon heading straight towards InuYasha.
Revenge for all the villagers? I thought in puzzlement. Did she know that the taijiya village had been attacked and that no one, but Kirara, had survived?
The boomerang tore the earth up in front of InuYasha. He yelled up in surprise, trying to avoid the weapon.
"We need to do something about that weapon!" I could hear Kagome shout with urgency, shortly followed by Miroku hastily saying: "Got it."
Then he yelled: "Kazaana!" and the tell-tale of wind howling filled the air around us.
I quickly jumped away from the range of Miroku's Kazaana before it could tug me towards him. My gaze shifted over to the boomerang that was pulled off-course. It twisted around in the air, heading towards Miroku's open palm where his Kazaana resided.
But then, to my horror, buzzing from dozens of insects filled the air and then I saw giant wasp-like creatures surround the boomerang, flying towards Miroku's Kazaana. I could feel the wasps' yōki, and that's when I realized that those were Saimyōshō; the same insects that Naraku had lend to Sesshōmaru. So, Naraku was involved in this shenanigan! I should have known.
"Naraku's poisonous insects!" Kagome shouted in disbelief.
"Don't Miroku! If you suck them in the poison will get you!" Shippō shrieked fearfully at Miroku.
I suddenly felt another yōki, which resided behind the woman. Quickly, I swept my gaze back towards her, and that's when I saw him: Naraku. He was crouching down behind the woman, wearing a white baboon cloak like he had done when I had met him the first time.
Deeming it as a good time, I drew my ōdachi from its saya and held it up in front of me with both of my hands on the tsuka.
Then I sneered with vehemence: "Naraku!"
The boomerang flew back into the woman's welcoming hand, once again holding it at the ready in her right hand – prepared to throw it at us once more.
I felt a deep-running hatred for Naraku; he was the reason behind all of our problems involving the Shikon no Tama. The yōki that resided deep inside of me stirred to life, ready to course through my veins and empowering me at a moment's notice. I knew that he was behind the attack on the taijiya village! He had to be! There wasn't any other who could have done it.
He simply was a manipulative bastard who was hellbent on ending InuYasha's life and get the Shikon shards. I was more than certain that he had manipulated this young woman into fighting InuYasha. I had to take him out!
"This ends here and now!" I heard InuYasha roar in anger.
My attention was purely on Naraku, trying to come up with a plan on how to bring him down.
"Finish him quickly, Sango-san. The effect won't last much longer…" Naraku said in a calculating tone, directing his words to the woman in front of him: Sango.
She sneered in reply: "I know that!"
Then she threw her boomerang at InuYasha, yelling: "Hiraikotsu!" when she released her mighty weapon.
But InuYasha avoided the boomerang, jumping over it and Sango, while he raised the Tessaiga over his head.
"Naraku!" he roared while he swung his weapon down in a fluid motion towards Naraku, ready to cleave him in one hit.
Yet, at the last second, Naraku disappeared from the spot and InuYasha only met the earthy ground with his blade. I tried to scan the area for Naraku's yōki, but my attention turned to InuYasha once more when he yelped out. Sango had thrown a chain at his right ankle, pulling at it to impair his movements.
She yelled angrily at him: "Your opponent is me!"
InuYasha quickly got up from his prone state and bellowed back at her: "You wench! Get out of the fucking way or I'll kill you first!"
This was no good, we couldn't get to Naraku while Sango kept fighting against InuYasha!
Sango raised her right arm, ready to throw her boomerang at InuYasha again. That was when I decided that I had to divert her attention away from InuYasha, so that he would be able to go after Naraku.
"Just you try!" she yelled at him and released her boomerang.
I struck then. While I sprang into action, I sheathed my ōdachi and tried to grapple her. I came up from behind her and wrapped my arms around her torso, forcing her arms down in the motion. Then I wrapped my hands around the other's wrist, locking her in place with a tight grip. She struggled incessantly when she felt my arms around her while I tried with every bit of strength I had in me to immobilize her.
"What are you doing?!" she yelled at me wrathfully, struggling ever harder to get out of my hold.
I grinded my teeth against one another; she was strong and made it harder for me to hold her down.
Groaning into her ear, I bit out: "We aren't your enemies! Naraku has been deceiving you!"
"You're lying!" she sneered bitingly at me.
"I'm not!" I roared at her, still struggling to keep her grappled.
"Naraku was behind the attack on your village!" I bit back at her.
She kept struggling in my hold, and I could feel my fingers slip from my wristlock; I wouldn't be able to hold her down much longer.
In a hasty manner, I growled into her ear: "He made those yōkai attack your village. Only so he could get the Shikon shards you kept there and to pit you against us!"
My fingers slipped and her right hand was now released. I tried to grab her hand while I yelled at her in desperation.
"For Kami's sake! We buried them all! To give them peace!"
I only just registered that her free hand dug in under her protection pad over her abdomen and pulled something out from it.
"Fuck…" I bit out through clenched teeth and let completely go of her.
I tried to jump away from her. But before I could get away, she tossed the object to the ground…
"Dokufun!"
It hit the ground and a thick gas sprung up from the ground. It surrounded us completely and I gasped in surprise. Before I could do anything, I had breathed in the gas and felt it fill my lungs. They began to burn with a sharp pain, taking me off-guard. I coughed, trying to expel the burn in my lungs, but it made me only breathe in more of the gas, making them burn even more. My legs gave out under me, and that's when I realized that it was poison I was breathing in to my lungs. I began to choke on the gas and knew that if I didn't get away from this gas cloud, I would die by asphyxiation and poisoning. But I couldn't get my muscles to work with me.
Suddenly, the yōki that had been at the ready when I had seen Naraku sprang into action. It coursed through my veins – feeling like ice ran in my veins – and directly to my lungs. I could feel how my yōki fought against the poison within me, trying to clear my lungs so that I could breathe again. Yet it seemed like it wasn't enough to overcome it. I felt my mind become hazy with the poison slowly creeping into my head. It felt like I was going to pass out.
Then to my astonishment, even more yōki erupted from deep within me. In an instance, I felt it overcome the poison within me. But the yōki that now ran throughout my body seemed to overwhelm me. I couldn't contain it. Every fiber within me vibrated with the extreme power of my yōki, quickly taking over my body. When the yōki reached my head, I felt it take over my mind. I grew numb, yet at the same time, I felt a single-minded purpose take form: Kill Naraku!
That's when I heard his voice: "… I'll be waiting at the castle."
My muscles moved on their own accord, and I got up from my semi-prone position I had been in. In the same motion, my head snapped in the direction from where his voice had come from.
At first, all I could see was the thick poisonous miasma that surrounded me. But then I zeroed in on his yōki. His yōki was like a ruby haze that surrounded him as well as the Saimyōshō he was surrounded by. I didn't give a single thought to the Saimyōshō, though I knew that they were basically insects. Yet, they didn't give me the sense of fear that I was used to get from insects.
It was quickly pushed out of my mind as I jumped out of the miasma that was surrounding me. There was so much power in my legs that I soared up into the air, almost like I was flying. But I knew that I couldn't fly, which quickly got proven when I felt gravity kick in and push me down to the ground again. Just when my toes met the ground, I kicked off of the ground again and soared into the air once again.
I had no idea of where I was headed, only that I was following Naraku's yōki. There was only the thought of killing him coursing through my mind. I was gaining in on him.
When there was only a few feet left between me and Naraku, I felt an approaching yōki. I didn't need to turn my head around and look at the newcomer to know that it was not an enemy. My feet touched the ground one more time and I jumped up into the air. This time, I prepared to swipe my claws at Naraku. Flexing my fingers, I zoomed towards him at an incredible speed. Then I attacked. My right hand swiped at him in a downward manner. Slashing through the Saimyōshō who happened to be in the way of my attack. My claws tore into his bamboo pelt, making the cutoff pieces of it scatter with the wind. He looked at me; I could feel how his attention shifted from getting away and over to me. While in midair, I grabbed a hold of his pelt with my right hand to pull me up towards his torso. In the same motion, I prepared to slice at him with my left hand, my claws already prepared to slice him to pieces.
Though it seemed that he had anticipated the attack. As I was about to slash at him with my left hand, he grabbed a hold of my left wrist to parry my attack. But my reactions were incredibly fast. What felt like slow-motion, I let go of his pelt I had grabbed with my right hand and curled it into a fist. While he was still parrying my left-handed attack, he didn't have time to react to the right-handed fist. My fist connected with his face and I could feel how the bones underneath his skin groaned with the impact. A satisfied smirk appeared on my face and I felt my yōki flare up with exhilaration.
Then I felt how the air around us shifted, indicating that we were about to fall down. I quickly moved my body. My right hand moved away from his face and over to his left shoulder, which I used as a platform for the maneuver I was about to do. I pushed against his shoulder, forcing him to turn in the air so that he would fall head first to the ground. Within the same instant, I pulled my knees up towards my chest and placed my feet against his chest. Fueling my yōki into my feet, I pushed them against his chest, forcing him to fall to the ground at a rapid speed. At the same time, I pushed myself away from him, tearing my left wrist out of his grip. I could see how he fell towards the ground, my sight functioning like infrared vision; I could see the ruby haze – his yōki – that surrounded him move away from my person.
In midair, I made a backwards somersault, to then let gravity take me down to the ground. I landed in a semi-crouched position; my right foot met the ground first, making the earth compact with the impact and forcing my knee up towards my chest. My left foot was the next appendage to land on the ground, which got forced to the side by gravity, though I used the gravity-induced movement to my advantage. I swept it behind me in a sideways arc that tore at the earthy surface and made dust rise from the ground. My left foot came to a stop behind me, forcing my heel upwards so that I was standing on the front of my foot, with my left knee almost touching the ground. My landing ended with my hands touching the earthy ground on either side of my right foot. I could feel how my claws tore into the earth to stop my body from being pushed backwards. When I was steady, I whipped my head up and looked at the place where Naraku should have landed.
But to my dismay, he hadn't crashed into the earthy ground like I had hoped for. Instead, he was now standing about twenty feet away from me. He was in a light crouch and had his focus solely on me. His yōki revealed to me the form he had taken. Thick and wiggling roots had emerged from underneath his baboon pelt.
"Aiko," he said in a faux pleasant manner, "what an unexpected surprise."
I stood up from my semi-crouched position, a grim expression on my face.
Just then, the before-approaching yōki landed behind me and a pair of feet landed on the ground beside it.
"A-Aiko-san…?" the newcomer asked with uncertainty.
Recognizing the voice, I turned my head to look over my shoulder. Though I didn't see Miroku, I knew it was him. Instead of seeing his corporeal form, I saw an aura emerge from within him, which wasn't a yōki. The aura appeared to me as a grey colored haze. Beside him, stood the yōkai I recognized as Kirara. She was in her fighting form and her yōki rolled off of her as a sapphire colored haze.
My gaze swept back to look at Naraku again, seeing the ruby haze rolling off of him in waves. Further away from him, I registered a dozen yōki moving away from us, but I didn't give them more attention than that. I zeroed in on Naraku again since he was the nuisance that needed to be dealt with first. I heard a pair of feet hastily move over to me. Though, before they could stop up beside me, which I felt was their intent, I moved my left hand out to the side like a signal for them to stop. They stopped immediately, yet I could feel that they didn't want to do so.
"Aiko-san! You can't fight him on your own!" Miroku exclaimed desperately at me.
I kept my eyes on Naraku, but this time, I chose to speak to the hōshi.
"Stay back," I said in a calm voice that was laden with my yōki, "There's poisonous miasma within his body."
Kirara growled fiercely, seeming to be unhappy about the situation. Then I heard Naraku laugh villainously at my calm statement.
"So, you can sense that, hmm? But it's not like that's gonna help you, Aiko. After all, it's poisonous, like you said," Naraku said in a calculating manner.
At his statement, I gave him a confident half-smirk. His poison wouldn't be able to faze me – my yōki would make sure of that. I flexed my fingers, showing off my claws. And then I charged him. I knew that he anticipated my attack, but that was my intentions.
He shot his roots after me, which I dodged with ease. But what I hadn't anticipated was for him to continue extent his roots. I could sense the yōki in them and knew where they were headed. That's when I heard Kirara roar fiercely at the same time that Miroku exclaimed when he blocked one of the roots that had targeted him. He had fooled me into believing that he would fight only me and had used me as some kind of perverse decoy. I became filled with rage which fueled more of my yōki throughout my body. His actions made me hate him even more; he had no sense of honor!
"Did you really think I would fight fairly?" Naraku taunted me.
I didn't stop up in my charge – I could only hope that Miroku and Kirara could defend themselves until I had destroyed him.
When I was right in front of him, I could feel his yōki shift and I knew that even more roots had appeared from underneath his pelt, attacking me. With my razor-sharp claws, I sliced through them easily. Then I extended my hand, claws at a poise, ready to strike it through his chest.
But to my horror, I heard Miroku cry up in pain, indicating that Naraku had gotten through his defenses. Miroku's cry made me waver in my attack. This gave Naraku an opening that I hadn't meant to give him, and he took advantage of it. A rogue root wrapped itself around my throat, trying to squeeze the air out of me. I groaned with the discomfort of feeling my windpipes being constricted. My hands landed on the root around my throat, trying to loosen its constricting grip. Then he chuckled at me while he extended his root out and away from him, creating distance in between us so that I couldn't reach him.
"You think that you can defeat me so easily, Aiko? Even with your yōki, you aren't a match for me!"
Just as he had said that, I felt multiple stings into my neck. It felt like I was being pierced by thorns. Then I felt those thorns release his poisonous miasma directly into my bloodstream. I cried out when it felt like my veins were on fire. My yōki flared up even more, fighting off the poison he was giving me.
Another sinister laugh came from Naraku, thereafter he said: "Intriguing. It seems like your yōki is able to fight off my poisonous miasma… But I do wonder how far that ability goes…"
Even more poison was released into my veins and this time I roared in agony. My yōki kept growing in power and I could feel how my body had difficulty to contain it. I closed my eyes, trying to keep myself together while my body felt like it was on fire and coming apart.
That's when I registered that my yōki was transforming my body; my fangs elongated to such an extent that they were unable to fit in my mouth. Opening my mouth, another roar tore up through my throat while my fangs seemed to grow longer still. Then I felt how my claws became longer and sharper still. The pain in my body was almost overwhelming and I could feel my consciousness begin to slip.
No! I couldn't let myself succumb to Naraku's poison!
With the remaining willpower I had left in me, I tore my claws into the root around my throat. When I did this, I let my yōki flow through my claws and into the root. I could sense how my yōki tore through his yōki within the root. The pain within me lessened with the action of pumping my yōki into the root, yet immense pain was still rippling within my body.
I was surprised when I felt the root combust with the force of my yōki. The thorns that were jagged into my skin dissolved and I was now free of the root, no longer being strangled. I gasped with the release and felt the air rush into my lungs. Then I felt how my knees connected with the ground underneath me; I hadn't even realized that I had been held up in the air by his strangling root. Breathing heavily, I tried to overcome the pain within me. At the same time, I tried to reel in some of my yōki. With the amount of yōki running through my veins, I wouldn't be able to decimate Naraku.
While I worked on containing my yōki, I felt a yōki most welcome. InuYasha had arrived. With him here, we would definitely be able to take down Naraku. When it felt like I had enough control over my yōki, I got up from the ground and jumped backwards. I ended up standing beside InuYasha.
Though to my discontent, I could feel how my body felt weakened. The amount of yōki that had run through my body had taken its toll on my body. We had to end this quickly before I would succumb to exhaustion.
"Aiko?" InuYasha said in a questioning manner.
I knew what he wanted to ask me, and I glanced over at him with a tired gaze. When my eyes rested on his form, I could see his yōki shining in a silvery color, but it seemed somewhat blurred. While I looked at him, I saw how his corporal form became clearer while it seemed that his yōki was simpering down. We were losing time!
"Alright for now… We need to do this quickly!" I said in a resolute manner and shifted my gaze back to Naraku, hardening my glare.
His corporal form seemed to become clearer as well.
"InuYasha, still alive, huh?" Naraku said in a calculating manner, then added: "It seems, Sango… failed to bring you down."
"Naraku… You bastard! You sent a swarm of yōkai to the taijiya's village and destroyed them."
I could hear the harshness in InuYasha's voice when he spoke to Naraku.
"Heh… All I did, was to call the taijiya-fighters to the castle…" Naraku said in a deliberate manner, making a pause for dramatics, "… and send the yōkai a message."
"You bastard…" InuYasha sneered in response.
"You were after the Shikon shards in the village?" Miroku exclaimed with anger.
The longer this conversation continued, I would end up being unconscious when we got to the fighting. My body trembled with fatigue and I was forced down to my knees. I let my fingers dig into the ground in aggravation, feeling how my claws were slowly retracting.
Someone squatted down behind me, and I felt a pair of hands landing on my shoulders. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that it was Miroku. He didn't say anything; he only looked at me with concerned eyes.
"Oh… You're well informed," came Naraku's words, spoken in a faux surprised manner, "Yes… in the midst of that chaos, taking them were simple."
His words were pissing me off to no end, and I let myself become angry. The anger fueled my yōki once more, withholding the fatigue I was feeling for the time being. Gently, I pushed Miroku's hands off of my shoulders and slowly got up from my kneeled position. I was ready to tear out Naraku's heart.
"Naraku!" Sango shouted, her voice filled with animosity and skepticism, "The yōkai at the castle… was that also just a trap?!"
I looked over at where her voice came from. She was kneeling right beside Kagome near a tree. That's when I scented her blood. She was bleeding profusely.
"Of course," Naraku said calmly, "Also… I was simply dealing with the taijiya before they became a nuisance in the future."
This clearly angered Sango, as well as me.
"YOU ASSHOLE!" she yelled and got up from her kneeled position, her boomerang at the ready.
I could see how the blood dripped off of her when she got up and got confused with how she withstood the pain she truly must've been in. But then, in the next second, she flinched and fell down to her knees. I could see the pain within her eyes.
"Heh, had you continued to believe InuYasha was your enemy, you would have died content, thinking you had completed your revenge…" Naraku said in a taunting manner.
At his taunting words, I whipped my head back to look at him, and without giving any thought, I charged him. I could sense InuYasha right beside me, doing the same thing as I was.
"YOU'RE ALWAYS DOING THAT! TAKING PEOPLE'S HEARTS AND…" InuYasha yelled at Naraku with innate fury.
Naraku jumped away from our charging forms. Though InuYasha easily followed his movements, it threw me off course. I wasn't in the best fighting condition anymore, and I knew that when my yōki was drained, I would lose conscience. Even now I could feel my yōki depleting rapidly.
"What's the matter, InuYasha? Does it remind you of what happened with Kikyō?"
Naraku was taunting InuYasha, which resulted in InuYasha cutting his head off while he roared: "CUT THE CRAP!"
Naraku's head flew away from his body, landing a few feet away from it. Even though his head was cleaved clean off of his shoulders, I could still feel his yōki flowing freely within his body and decapitated head. This wasn't over yet…
"Fu, fu, fu," Naraku's head laughed and then his body began to move on its own accord.
InuYasha just managed to jump out of the way of a slamming root. Then multiple roots shot through the air, heading towards InuYasha and Miroku… and me. I only just managed to duck under the roots headed towards me. My body felt heavy and sluggish when I moved. But I had to get rid of Naraku. While I kept dodging the roots targeting me, I tried to focus on where his yōki was at the strongest. This situation reminded me somewhat of when we were fighting Yura of the Hair. Her body had after all just been a puppet itself, and no matter what harm we did to it, she had continued to fight just as strongly. My guess was that something similar could be applied to Naraku. With his head severed, he should have been dead. Yet his head was still laughing, and his body was slamming and charging its wiggly roots after us.
It was difficult to zero in on his yōki while I had to dodge these attacks. That's when I decided that I needed to get out of his reach and give myself some time to focus. Fueling some of my quickly depleting yōki into my feet, I jumped up high into the air. This seemed to do the trick. With the little time I had left before I would come back down to earth, I zeroed in on his yōki, concentrating hard on figuring out where it originated. Like a beacon, his chest seemed to shine the brightest. His yōki resided where his heart should be.
I got you now!
With the last bit of my yōki, I turned in the air and charged at him, flying through the air like a projectile headed for his chest. I stretched my right hand out in front of me, my claws at the ready. I came closer and closer, but I could feel how my claws were retracting with every feet I came closer to my target. I had run out of yōki.
"Gin!" I exclaimed in a panic, fearing that my actions had been a folly.
I came closer still, but there was no response from her.
Closing my eyes, I screamed my lungs raw with desperation: "GIII~N!"
Just when I was a few feet away from Naraku, I felt her within me. It was like I had woken her from a long slumber. But when I felt her, I felt my yōki spike, warming my entire body up like I had been doused in fire. My nails turned into claws, ready to tear through his chest with my gravity-induced velocity. I opened my eyes with relief and that's when I could feel my claws dig through his baboon pelt and in through his chest. I struck true.
It was like time slowed down while my hand tore through Naraku's chest. I felt how the pelt and every fiber and tissue parted for my advancing claws. Then they met something wooden where his heart should have been. I could feel how his yōki tried to prevent my claws from cutting through the wooden object. But it was unsuccessful to prevent the inevitable. My claws slashed right through the wooden object. In the same instant as the object was cut in half, I felt how his body crumbled underneath me. Then I came crashing down to the ground, not having planned out how I would land.
I could feel how Gin's yōki tried to protect my body from the inevitable skittering across the earthy ground I would make, but it wasn't enough. Stones and dirt tore at my clothes, tearing holes into them and scratching my skin. It hurt and I screamed with the pain I felt of being scraped over the majority of my body.
What felt like an eternity later, I finally came to a stop. My body felt broken and unrepairable. The agony that coursed throughout my body was enough to make me die and I welcomed the exhaustion and darkness that enveloped me.
A/N: That's that for now. How was it? I bet none of you expected Aiko to go "feral", so to speak. What's your theory? I'd love to hear what you think about this change. Anyways, that's that for now. Stay safe everyone.
A/N – a few glossaries:
Dokufun – Poison dust.