Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust
Summary: This oneshot is the fifth in an anthology series focused around popular tv tropes for a trope bingo challenge!
Sesshomaru finds himself in an unwinnable battle and when Inuyasha comes to assist, he must commit a loathsome act.
A/N: Hello Readers! Back to the traditional Canon-verse we go! Probably hit another AU next oneshot!
Warning: Things got kinda dark and detailed in this one – wasn't my original intent but I ran with it. So, be warned that there are graphic depictions of horror.
Here we go!
ENJOY!
Tropes: No Immortal Inertia/Take Up My Sword/Tranquil Fury
The perpetual night drenched forest was alive with dark magics.
The once peaceful woods had been transformed into a lurking predator stalking wary prey. Crimson moonlight seeped through the foliage casting long shadows that twisted grotesquely under the spell. Tree branches reached out hungrily with greedy, skeletal fingers. Vines slithered with the sole purpose of ensnaring a victim. Carrion creatures tracked relentlessly with glowing ruby eyes – from deer to wolves, rabbits to foxes, birds to bats, the corpses of beasts hunted.
Sesshomaru careened through the forest with lethal grace and murderous intent. Silver hair and pelt flowed behind him like a banner, while red-tipped sleeves looked less like dyed silk, and more like blood under the enchantment. Black cuirass and spiked pauldron glimmered under the blood moon's vile luminosity, and was accented by his acid-green youki; it snarled around him like a manifested fiend.
The inudaiyoukai was a darting wraith, a spectral demon who avoided the clutches of the forest on swift booted feet. He sprinted through the thorny underbrush, leapt over a spitting river, and wielded his youki whip with deadly precision against all the creatures that attempted to waylay him. Dark blood seeped from gashes across his body staining the pristine white of his silks into a macabre pattern of gore.
Citrine eyes ice, teeth bared in sneer, he bolted.
His predicament was caused by two things.
Blatant curiosity...
...and boredom.
A mysterious aura had beckoned to him, coaxed him through the rolling roots and behemoth branches of the tremendous trees. And – having nothing better to do at that particular point in time – he followed the aura's call through the forest until he came upon a great camphor that loomed larger than the rest. He peered into a blackened hollow and within saw an ancient urn made of bone, ruins etched across the cistern. Sacred sutras littered the inside of the tree and prayer beads were wrapped tightly around urn's lid, securing it shut.
The aura begged to be released from its apparent prison.
For a brief moment, he considered ignoring the call, turning on his heel and returning to his wanderings. But then, his curiosity reared its ugly head and spurred him to not only pull the urn from its hollow – but also remove the prayer beads. The sutras crackled threateningly, but his youki easily set the pieces of paper aflame, effectively nulling their purification abilities.
As soon as the beads dangled limply in his hand, the urn exploded in an outpouring of grey ashes and magic. The once refreshing forest became malodorous with the stench of decay – it reminded the Lord of a graveyard. A wicked voice cackled maniacally around him.
"At last! Freedom! Come, let me see the face of the fool who released me!"
Sesshomaru growled at the insult and prepared himself to destroy the figure manifesting before him.
The ashes swirled in a cyclone and as it dissipated, a corpse was left in its wake. The cadaver stood on rigor mortis legs, ashen skin mummified and clinging to gnarled bones. Its face was lipless and noseless; two burning ruby eyes set deep into its skull, glittering above rotted teeth pulled into a perpetual ghastly grin. Its ebon hair was snarled and long, and it pooled among skeletal feet in a dull heap. Nails were elongated to the point of curling, tinged yellow with age. Breasts hung from the carcass as deflated bags of skin; crusty nipples pointed towards the ground. Around its neck hung a crystal ouroboros on a frayed leather cord.
And still the corpse laughed.
It took one shuffling step, then another, until it stood before the Western Lord. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and glared at the creature that stank of fetid rot and dark sorcery.
"My, what a beautiful specimen you are. An inudaiyoukai, if my eyes do not deceive me, and an old one at that," rasped the cadaver.
Sesshomaru wanted to scoff, a thousand years was hardly old in terms of his kind who often lived well into the millennia. His fists clenched at his sides, itching to return the creature back to the hellish pit that it crawled out from. But his damn curiosity got the better of him.
"Who are you?" commanded the Lord.
"How rude of me!" The corpse gave a stiff bow. "I am Princess Suzuka, celestial thief and avid avoider of death. Sealed away for the crime of wanting immortality, can you believe that?" The ruby eyes rolled dreadfully in their sockets. "Hmm, perhaps you don't. Your kind do live incessantly long lives after all. And you don't even have to try." She raised her emaciated arms and dark magic swirled around her knotted fingertips. "Honestly, it makes you the perfect candidate for my enchantment."
Sesshomaru leapt back to put distance between them. As he landed, onyx energy burst from the Princess in an explosive beam that seemed to suck the life out of everything it touched. The nearest trees withered and died, vegetation crumbled to dust, and animals became petrified carrion. The beam of dark magic enveloped the forest in its tainted grip, absorbing the life energy of all those that died within. Then, a sinister crimson moon rose in the afternoon sky that blocked out the sun in its entirety and threw the world into darkness.
All the while, the corpse laughed and Sesshomaru watched raptly as the Princess went through her own transformation.
As the life energy of the dying forest made its way to the cadaver, she became more alive. Her body gained muscle mass and fat stores, breasts became overflowing and pert, and her skin looked less like a dehydrated husk and gained a suppleness to it – the coloration that of creamy milk, pale and smooth. The skeletal face filled out, maintaining the high cheekbones, and regrew a button nose and rich full lips the color of mulled wine. Her hair shone with renewed vitality, gleaming silkily under the wretched moonlight, and nails became obsidian manicured claws.
Yet the ruby eyes remained, the glowing orbs zealously fixated on the Lord before her.
With a flourish of more magic, she encased her body in a dark crimson kimono the shade of dried blood. The embroidered pattern depicted a scene straight from hell – burning fires, screaming souls, and youkai torturing the unworthy – the neckline plunged scandalously, and she kept her feet bare, toes dug into the rancid soil. The crystal ouroboros hung between her voluptuous breasts.
She gave the tense Lord a once over. His right hand rested on the pommel of Bakusaiga, his lip was curled in a sneer, eyes narrowed. Sesshomaru's youki swept the clearing in a supernatural wind that rustled the dead branches of the nearby trees.
Princess Suzuka cocked her hip and threw up her hands. "Well, shall we do this the easy way – or the hard way?"
Sesshomaru drew his sword and she sighed dramatically. "So be it, the hard way it is."
More magic flowed from her fingertips and before Sesshomaru could even blink, a dozen onyx beams shot out and sliced across his body. Blood oozed from the wounds as the beams consumed his life force. Pain shot through him like a fiery brand, and he had the staggering realization that she meant to devour the years from him.
The sorcerous licked her lips and moaned. "Oh my dear, you taste delectable. I will gladly take every year that you've lived to keep for myself."
Wasting no time, he drew his sword and swung the blade – using the youki wave to send his own bursts of acid-green energy at his adversary. The youki exploded around the sorcerous, but as the dust cleared, she was unharmed. The Western Lord lunged with sword in hand, a snarl ripped from his lips as he intended to rend her in two. Magic or no, the blade was the perfect weapon to decompose the she-witch back to her corpse-like state.
He brought the sword down on nothing but air and, as he looked around the clearing, he saw that he was surrounded by a dozen grinning Princesses – each one identical in their appearance. Sesshomaru growled and slashed at the nearest body, it crumbled to ash that coated his boots in grey streaks. The same occurred for the next two he dispatched, and the next, until the entire area stank of a crematorium.
There were no witches left to kill and her voice cackled through the forest – the sound coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once. There was an electrified buzz and more onyx beams shot down from the sky, piercing him. He let out a roar that shook the trees and fell to a knee, panting, sword tip anchored into the moldy ground. He felt drained and an unfamiliar exhaustion wracked his body.
That was when the first icy claw of fear burrowed itself into the Western Lord.
This creature possessed a dark magic with which he was not familiar. To add to the mess, he was unsure if the other-worldly forest and blood moon were an illusion or not. The fact that he could not decern his current reality only added to the noxious disquiet that loomed within him.
Sesshomaru felt another crackle of energy and he rolled to the side with sword in hand, dodging the magic by a hair's breadth. He needed more time to come up with a plan, to better understand his opponent and what her potential weaknesses were. And for that to happen...he needed to retreat.
And so, for the first time in Sesshomaru's very long life, he sprinted away from battle with proverbial tail tucked between his legs.
The Princess' maniacal laugh followed him while he fled; black magic skittered through the wilderness in his wake. He dodged skeletal trees who lunged for him with sweeping branches. Avoided vines that laid in wait to ensnare him. Decimated reanimated corpses of creatures that stood in his path – with sword and whip and claws. Still, more black beams came for him with relentless abandon, slicing into his skin, stealing his years – weakening him. The blood moon hung heavily with a nightmarish gleam.
'There has to be an end to her control of the forest, but where?'
The Western Lord picked a direction, northeast, and bounded with defiant fury, determined to find a way out.
~oOo~
"Do you guys feel that?" asked Inuyasha, amber gaze whipped to the south.
The pack had been on their way to Kaede's village for a rest. After a grueling, multi-day battle against a horde of fire demons relented no promised jewel shard, they were spent. Another bad lead. The closer they got to completing the Shikon no Tama, the more false information they seemed to receive. Every day another rumor would reach them of a shard, and they would have to decide if it was worth the trek or not. As of late, desperate for any type of lead, they always made the trek. It was exhausting.
"Yeah, I do. What is that?" said Kagome. "It's making my skin crawl, it feels like –"
"Death," completed Miroku standing beside her. "And a lot of it. Whatever is creating that aura is enshrouded in death and dark magic."
Sango's grip on hiraikotsu's strap tightened until her knuckles were white. The aura, it felt familiar somehow, but she couldn't remember where she recognized it from. A memory niggled in the back of her mind, but remained elusive.
Shippo perched himself on Miroku's shoulder, tiny paws gripped the monk's robes for balance. "Inuyasha, do you think it's a jewel shard?"
"Feh, only one way to find out." He took off in the direction of the dark aura.
"Inuyasha! Wait for us!" cried Kagome, but he was already out of earshot, eating up the distance in leaps and bounds. She made a frustrated noise and stamped her foot. "Why is it so hard for him to wait for us!"
Miroku chuckled. "He is as eager as always, my dearest Kagome. We cannot fault him for being overzealous in finding the remaining shards."
The miko sighed. "No, I guess not. It's just super annoying."
Sango started off towards the south. "We're wasting time chatting. Let's go."
Kagome and Miroku shared a confused look at the slayers tone, but hurried to follow their friends.
~oOo~
The reek of decay increased with every step he took toward the south; the rotten breeze caused his sensitive nose to crinkle, and he breathed through his mouth to better avoid the stench. The menacing aura troubled Inuyasha greatly, and he skid to a stop before an undulating, obsidian barrier that had ensnared a vast portion of forest. He covered his nose with his sleeve, dog ears pinned flat to head.
Not soon after, his friends joined him, panting. The monk tapped is staff against the barrier and it pulsed threateningly with evil magic. The group shared a look.
"Kagome, why don't you give your reiki a try."
The miko gave a determined nod, summoning her holy power into her fingertips. With a burst of pink light, she shot her reiki at the black barrier...nothing happened. Kagome frowned.
"I thought for sure that would work," she said as she chewed her bottom lip.
"Hey guys, check this out." The slayer was kneeling a ways off, fingers digging beneath the barrier.
"What is it?" asked the kitsune, kneeling behind her. "It smells horrible."
The slayer nodded. "That's because its corpse ash and I know exactly who is causing this." The group waited patiently for her to expand. She stood, dusting her hands on her slayer uniform, before meeting their expectant gazes.
"Her name is Princess Suzuka, a dark sorceress who craved immortality. She spent her life perfecting her dark art to help her in her quest. She was known for having a penchant for youkai, absorbing their life force and adding their years to her own. For each year a being had lived, she was able to convert into a year of potential life for herself...or so they say. From what I remember, the slayers were dispatched to take care of the evil Princess. Unable to kill her outright, they sealed her away in an urn and secreted her remains into this forest. I remember my father taking me here as a warning. I think someone unleashed her. This whole thing is her doing."
Inuyasha sighed. "So, no jewel shard, shit."
Sango shrugged. "Probably not, but her reign of terror would be tremendous. Best to stop her now before Naraku gets ahold of her."
Kagome shivered at the thought.
The hanyou drew his sword, Tetsusaiga transformed into its full fang, blade glowed red. "I'm gonna cut the barrier, then we head in. Ready?"
"Inuyasha! Wait! Sango just said they didn't know how to kill her outright! We have to come up with a better game plan than just running in there and hoping for the best!" Kagome threw her hands up in the air, exasperated.
"Ain't no time for that! Go! Red Tetsusaiga!" He leapt at the dreadful barrier, slicing through its mass like a knife through a bloated carcass, then flew into the darkness.
Before the rest of his pack even had a chance to move, the barrier sealed shut behind him.
"Inuyasha! No!" cried the miko. She turned to her friends who were making themselves comfortable at a nearby tree. "What are you guys doing? We need to go after him!"
Sango shook her head. "There's no way into the barrier, Inuyasha apparently had the only means of entering. All we can do is wait...and hope for the best."
Kagome ran a hand down her face and grumbled, "I hope the reckless idiot doesn't get himself killed."
~oOo~
Inuyasha found himself in a waking nightmare.
Gone was the sunny summer afternoon he had been in moments before and in its place was a chilling landscape of terror. Nothing in his wildest imagination came close to concocting the horrors he was witnessing within the barrier. The pitch-black night coated him like an oily second skin, making his flesh crawl and the fine hairs on his body stand on end. An immense crimson moon hung despairingly in the sky, casting eerie shadows throughout the skeletal forest. Dark magic permeated the air and reeked in a combination of burning flesh and sun-rotted corpse.
A twig snapped to his right and he swiveled to face the sound, hands gripped the sword's hilt to a painful degree. A bear lumbered forward, fiery eyes burning bright. Inuyasha growled as he got a good look at the creature. The hanyou may have considered the beast unusual, with its glowing eyes, but the gaping hole in its side spewing entrails nixed that line of thought. Its shaggy body dropped squirming maggots as it shambled forward, mouth dripped viscous strands of bloody saliva.
Not wanting to let the creature any closer, he slashed across its body with a mighty swing, cleaving the beast in two. It let out a ferocious roar as it collapsed. But, instead of stilling after its death throws were complete, the separate pieces of the bear still attempted to drag itself to the hanyou. Its hefty paws jerked to gain purchase on the soft ground.
"What the fuck is going on here," whispered Inuyasha. "This ain't right...Shit...Where are the others?" So distracted was he by the change in landscape, he had completely forgot about his friends. He walked to where he knew the barrier was, where he entered the forest, but when he reached out to touch it, the black forest continued without end.
There was no more barrier.
His friends either hadn't made it through behind him or were lost within the lurid nightmare.
"Fuck!" He sheathed his sword and palmed the back of his neck. The corpse of the bear continued to growl and drag itself toward where he had begun to pace. "Goddamnit this was a terrible idea. I'm so fucking stupid, why the hell am I always running off without waiting for backup!"
Unable to stand being near the moaning creature for another second, and worried that his friends were lost, he took off into the forest.
~oOo~
"Wind Scar!"
Another five emaciated wolves with ruby eyes perished under the attack. Inuyasha panted heavily, body covered in sweat from a combination of running for his life, and fear. Everything in the forest was out to get him, from the vegetation to the toxic waters to the carrion creatures - they wanted him dead. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of his friends or this alleged Princess, but that didn't mean they weren't out there...somewhere.
The last six wolves circled him, snarling – their mouths deformed – they padded on fleshless feet. Already, the bodies of the ones he had destroyed were dragging themselves closer to their prey. The only way he managed to truly kill them was to attack them with enough force, they turned into dust. The Wind Scar had proven to be more than a little useful in this situation.
As one the beasts lunged for him and Inuyasha prepared for their onslaught. There was an explosion of acid-green youki and a whip of light and the wolves were dispatched. Inuyasha lowered his arm, that had protected his face from the blast, and gazed confusedly at the person he least expected.
Sesshomaru was almost unrecognizable. He had a dull sheen to his features, clothes covered in slashes and drenched in blood. His typically immaculate pelt was matted with gore and viscera, a section of which seemed to be missing entirely. But those qualities seemed minor in comparison to his face – the infallible Lord of the West seemed panicked, citrine eyes wide with fear.
He panted nearly as heavily as Inuyasha as he said, "Hurry! We must keep moving!"
Then he dashed away. Inuyasha blinked, sheathing his sword, then hurried after his brother.
"What the hell are you doing here?" asked the hanyou. "And what happened? You look like shit."
Sesshomaru glared, wiping sweat from his eyes. "I released a plague upon the land. I have been attempting to curtail her conquest but have been – unsuccessful."
Inuyasha dodged a maple the reached for him. "Shit. This was your fault? Sango said it's a dark magic user – no one knows how to kill her, that's why they sealed her away."
"Yes well, unless you have suddenly obtained the ability to seal souls, we must find a way to destroy her."
"Any ideas?"
Sesshomaru's whip beheaded a giant boar with razor sharp tusks, rancid blood spurted from its neck as it bellowed and collapsed. "She uses her dark magics flagrantly, we will need to engage her with caution, that much I am certain."
"Alright. I noticed that the corpses don't get up if they're pulverized into dust. Maybe if we combine our attacks at full strength, we'll be able to obliterate her."
The Western Lord considered as they both leapt over a crevasse, it housed a hundred different hands in a hundred different states of decay. They stretched desperately to grab them as they sailed over the edge.
"Very well, as I have no better course of action – we shall follow your plan."
"How do we find her?"
Sesshomaru sighed. "We merely find a place and wait."
~oOo~
The locale for their battle was an immense clearing surrounded by the corpse-like trees. Sesshomaru's reasoning was that at least here, they would have a clear line of sight and wouldn't have to worry about the forest trying to attack them. Unable to deny his logic, Inuyasha stood with his back to his brother, and waited.
The horrendous moon cast the clearing in a repugnant glow, washing everything into a pinkish hue. Laughter echoed throughout the clearing and Inuyasha's eyes went wide as he searched for the owner of the voice.
"I see you have brought me another morsal to consume, how kind of you." A woman had seemingly appeared from nowhere. Her putrid death scent made Inuyasha gag. Sesshomaru glared. "Another inu youkai...a hanyou?" She gasped, ruby eyes alight, "And kin at that! Marvelous!" She cackled. "Not as old as you, handsome, but old enough."
She circled the two inu, kimono train dragging behind her. "Let's waste no more of my time – GIVE ME YOUR IMMORTALITY!" she shrieked and the air grew thick with magic as she launched herself to float above the clearing.
The ground shook and the brothers tightened their grip on their swords, widening their stances to better maintain their balance. Thick roots and vines emerged from the ground and a creature clawed its way to the surface. Its head was a skull of an elk with massive, proud antlers tipped in lichen; ruby eyes glinted angrily. Its exceptionally tall body was willow thin, skin made of diseased tree bark and moss – a Kodoma. The typically kind tree spirit had been twisted into a monster of malice.
The Kodoma roared at the inu and charged with speed that did not match its thin frame. It blurred across the clearing and swiped its thorn-like claws at the brothers. They split apart, and away, dodging the beast. The Kodoma gave them no time to recuperate, lifting its arms it controlled the nature within the clearing. The vines and roots surged up like tentacles to strangle the life from the inus.
They dodged and darted from one safe spot to the next, slicing at the thick vegetation when they got too close. The Kodoma raged at each swipe and focused its attacks on Sesshomaru. The Lord, already weakened, snarled fiercely as his sword blade locked against the creature's claws. It bellowed as it tried to disarm him, pushed against the blade until Sesshomaru's feet skid across the dirt.
"Wind Scar!" The clearing lit up with slicing winds and piercing light as Tetsusaiga's attack decimated the clearing. The attacking roots and vines coiled and seized before they burst into dust and ash.
The Kodoma threw its weight against Sesshomaru, breaking his guard. And before the Western Lord could recover, a barrage of onyx beams rained down from the sky, enveloping both him and the Kodoma in its painful light. He howled in agony.
"Sesshomaru!" screamed Inuyasha, dashing across the clearing.
But it was too late.
Sesshomaru lay prone on the upturned earth, unmoving. The Kodoma had shattered into fragments of wood and bone, ruby eyes dimming in its skull as it vaporized. The hanyou lurched to his brother's side, unsure of what to do. He knelt beside the Lord and shook his shoulders. To his horror, a chunk of which parted ways from Sesshomaru's body and crumbled to dust in Inuyasha's hand. "Bastard! Sesshomaru! Get up!"
Sesshomaru slowly opened his eyes and met his brother's gaze. "Inu-yasha," he rasped. "This...this is the end for me. I – I can no longer fight." His left arm, only recently regrown, disintegrated within the silk sleeve.
"Fuck, this can't be happening."
"For what it's worth...I'm sorry – for how I treated you. It was...unfair…cruel."
"Shut the fuck up. You're gonna be just fine, we just have to get you out of here and find help."
The Lord shook his head and his face fragmented like a cracked mirror. "It is up to you – to finish this," he gasped. "Take...take my sword. The mantle falls to you now, brother." He lifted his right hand shakily which still clutched Bakusaiga, fingers shifted to ash.
"I can't," said Inuyasha desperately. "You don't know what you're talkin' about. Get the fuck up!"
"Fool! Take the sword and finish this. This is my...final...wish."
"Goddamnit, no!"
"Father…would have been…proud." Sesshomaru closed his eyes.
With a cry of panic, Inuyasha watched as his brother's body fell apart at the seams. He crumbled to dust, body collapsed in on itself into a horrendous grey mound. As the breeze picked up, Sesshomaru's ashes were scattered throughout the clearing. All that remained were his physical possessions – pelt, clothes, armor, and sword.
Sesshomaru was dead.
And in the end, Inuyasha didn't even say goodbye.
With trembling hands, he reached for his brother's sword and Bakusaiga pulsed wildly in his grip, accepting its new master.
"A thousand years of life! What a wonderful accomplishment!" called the dark Princess Suzuka from above. She watched the proceedings with bored amusement, twisting a lock of hair in her fingers. "Probably would have lasted indefinitely if not for yours truly." She grinned.
The breeze blew Inuyasha's silver hair around his shoulders, ruffled bangs covered his eyes as he stared at his brother's remains. The wrapped hilt felt sturdy in his hand. Slowly, he stood to face the sorcerous who stole Sesshomaru's life. Princess Suzuka narrowed her eyes at the transformation she was witnessing. The hanyou's eyes bled until they were enshrouded in vermillion, and a pair of jagged magenta stripes slashed his cheeks. Fangs and claws elongated and a blue crescent moon anointed his forehead. His aura was a powerful cyclone of hate and rage.
Inuyasha continued to stare at the she-witch with unbridled fury.
She prickled at his gaze. "So, it seems you want to join your brother in the afterlife. Who am I to deny you? Your measly two-hundred and fifty years will be another drop in the bucket of my burgeoning immortality." Summoning her dark magic, she sent a volley of onyx beams at the hanyou, cackling.
As the dust cleared, she lowered herself to get a closer look at Inuyasha's evaporating body. It was a mistake. A fierce kick to the stomach sent her flying across the clearing; her landing dug furrows into the ground, such was the force of the assault. She gasped for air as she crawled from the trench.
"You dare attack me!" she hissed.
The clearing was empty.
She whipped her head behind her just as another kick shot her into the air. Inuyasha followed her trajectory, face an icy stoic mask, he rained blows on her with untold retribution. She shrieked, hovering, and sent writhing onyx tentacles from her body. They moved through the air with chilling dexterity and Inuyasha dodged the attack, landing on his feet, before slashing with Bakusaiga. Channeling the hanyou's red youki, the sword sent out an explosion of power that intercepted the tentacles, shattering them. Inuyasha launched himself into the offensive, struck out with dagger-sharp claws, and the dark Princess cried out as her left arm was severed from her body, it turned to ash before it even hit the ground. It regrew in a swirl of dust, she panted, eyes wild.
Inuyasha's vermillion eyes were infernos as she landed in the desecrated clearing. Not waiting for her next move, the hanyou closed the distance between them, Bakusaiga held at the ready, and threw his entire being into the final assault. He was a whirlwind of pain as the sword cut across the witch's body from every angle. Each slice infected her frame with his formidable youki through the sword, negating any regenerative proprieties she possessed. She screeched like a banshee, twisted and shot onyx beams blindly in hopes of hitting him – it was a futile endeavor. With a final burst of strength, Inuyasha cut the dark Princess from shoulder to hip, the crystal ouroboros necklace shattered in the process.
He somersaulted backward and landed in a defensive stance.
"No!" shrieked Princess Suzuka, "You bastard! You filthy half-demon! NO!"
As the remnants of the necklace disintegrated in a detonation of pitch-black light, the sorcerous swayed precariously. She screeched and weaved drunkenly towards the hanyou, clawing at her face. With every step, her body shifted from beautiful ruby-eyed woman, back to putrid corpse. Kimono fell to her feet into a stinking heap of rotten cloth. Blood gushed from her orifices in unending rivulets. Skin shriveled and dried into dust. Flesh and muscle sloughed off her bones in wet chunks. She wailed and cursed and howled as she neared Inuyasha with outstretched arms; her body, a damp skeleton, ruby eyes ablaze in her skull.
All immortal inertia lost. she fell before the hanyou in a heap of bones that burst into flame and ash. Her strangled cries faded into the wind. The horrendous blood moon sank beneath the tree line and the late afternoon sun forced its rays back into reality. The darkness receded and Inuyasha was all that remained after the ordeal. The forest's life force had been consumed and, although the black magic no longer forced it to do its bidding, there was no saving the sullied land.
Ignoring the pile of ashes at his feet, he walked to where his brother's possessions lay. He knelt, shaking fingers caressed the tarnished pelt. "Goodbye…brother."
Gathering Sesshomaru's belongings, he left the tainted forest.
~oOo~
"Hey, the barrier is disappearing! Inuyasha must have done it!" called Kagome, clapping her hands in glee.
The others looked up from the picnic they shared and frowned. The barrier had gone, but the forest within was in shambles. The line where healthy forest and diseased woods met was a clear indicator of where the barrier had been.
"What happened to the forest?" whispered Miroku.
"Better question," said Sango, "Who's that?"
A figure walked toward them. Clad in red fire-rat robe and armor, a blood-stained pelt was wrapped around his right shoulder. Two swords rested comfortably on his hip. Silver hair was pulled into a high ponytail and a blue crescent moon stood proudly on his forehead. Amber eyes were grief-stricken as he strode through the husk of a forest to the group. In his hands was a bundle of dirty silks.
"Is that – Inuyasha?" asked Shippo, leaping down from the tree branch he was situated on.
They all stared. As the figure neared, and his identity was confirmed, they all crinkled their brows in confusion.
Kagome neared her friend with hesitant steps. "Inuyasha, what happened in there? Did you defeat Princess Suzuka?"
The hanyou looked askance, unable to meet their inquisitive gazes. "Yeah…I did," he murmured. "She's gone for good so we won't have to worry about her ever again."
"That looks like Sesshomaru's things…" said Sango. The question was implied.
Inuyasha's hand pressed Sesshomaru's silks to his chest, the other rested on the hilt of Bakusaiga; he swallowed thickly. "He's dead. She finished him off before I could help. He left me his sword with his dying breath. Said – said my father would be proud." His voice cracked and Kagome rushed in to hug him, careful of the newly donned armor.
"Oh Inuyasha, I'm so sorry," she cried. "I know the two of you didn't always get along but still…he was family."
The hanyou returned her embrace and buried his face into her hair. "I still have family," he said quietly. "Just wish things hadn't turned out the way they did."
After a moment's pause, the group gathered their things and returned to their quest for the jewel shards. They would later dub the battle ground as 'Sesshomaru's Forest,' and Inuyasha buried his brother's silks in the clearing. It wouldn't be long until the tainted woods were rejuvenated and green life reigned supreme once more. Seemingly overnight, a massive, everlasting Sakura tree with twisted boughs bloomed in the clearing. It was said that if one sat beneath the tree under a crescent moon, a giant white dog would lay amongst the discarded flower petals and howl mournfully into the night. A ghost of its former glory, living on in obscurity.
A/N: I killed Sesshomaru! OMG I never thought I could do it but I did! Forgive meeeeee! Five oneshots down six to go! I swear I'm going to do all 25 tropes before the May deadline! I am determined! hehe Let me know what you thought of this story!
Next prompt is: Synthetic Plague/Quarantine with Extreme Prejudice/Sole Survivor! Another triple Whammy!
Thank you for reading!
3FF