People died everyday.
Warriors, elders, children- no one was safe from the icy grasp of the grim, but there was something agonizing about gazing down at the man you swore to marry as some vile, loathsome, black hearted, thing licked his blood from its claw and chuckled, "Nuisance."
When a monk's life was reduced to a word. To 'nuisance' it was somehow, suddenly, different. She watched on in grim bewilderment as Miroku's anger turned to fear. His hands grappled at his chest in an attempt to staunch the outpouring of blood that would claim his life, "Sango."
His last words were her name.
Fury turned her language foul and she imagined that the harsh words that left her tongue like poison coated darts could deal their own kind of damage. Fury made her feel a million times bigger, a million times badder, and that confidence screamed for her to scoop out his glowing red eyes with her bare fingers, to bite through his femur with her very own jaw. But his skin was too tough and his face too far away. She was nothing more than a flea upon his foot, throwing her boomerang like a tantrum as she screamed her discontent.
"Move," InuYasha slammed into her, sending her tumbling through the dirt with more force than intended. He was worth noticing. Ryukotsei sent blinding beam after blinding beam after the pinprick of red that swung tessaiga with deadly accuracy, tearing the beast apart bit by wretched bit. He threw himself to the left as lightning split the earth into chunks, obliterating the matter -her matter, her fiancé- as if his body were nothing more than a soap bubble left over from the night's chores.
Something in her mind snapped like something tired and brittle and worn and she became reckless. She dove into harm's way, swinging her boomerang with careless inaccuracy. If it collided, fine. If it returned, fine. When she was faced with a choice between swinging her useless swore into the grey scales of his foot or retreating, she threw her whole body forward. To dive for the boomerang or retreat, to hurl her discontent like rocks upon a ragged breath or to save her strength, at every turn she led with the fire in her gut. Every attack brought her closer to a world with Miroku and -as far as she was concerned- it was only a matter of getting to the other side.
Her wrath was cut short, however, as Ryukotsei finally noticed her. The beam that was aimed at her crackled and hissed, but she launched Hiraikotsu at his neck without a care in the world. She hoped he choked on it.
A bark- or maybe a roar- exploded from the otherside of the Worm that stole everything from her and the beam went off course at the same moment A-Un barreled into her, forcing her to climb onto his back or be dropped from the sky like a baby bird. The space she once occupied was enshrouded in dust and light and her heart pounded with a malicious kind of glee, knocking about inside her chest like a butterfly in a jar. It felt good to be a target, -she wouldn't be underestimated in a fight of demons. No matter how her blood raged with the thirst of her own bloodlust, she wouldn't force him to be the steed she rode into would be no one to care for Rin if her actions had consequences and she'd long since outlived that level of selfishness.
"Find the others and get them to safety!" She leapt off of his back once she'd recollected her boomerang and landed on the bleeding, white dog that drooled clumping, hissing acid. He paid her weight no attention as he dug his claws into the dirt, hunkering down as he avoided one gaseous attack after another. "Any idea how to kill this thing?" Her grip on hiraikotsu faltered when he took flight. His torso was too big to balance on and his speed made it difficult to center herself, but his recklessness-
It matched her own.
More lightning, more gas- the battlefield was quickly becoming nothing more than a mess of smoke and ash. Even her gas mask couldn't protect her from the noxious combination the two demons cooked up. But what did she care? She'd never felt such mania- such absolute madness- and it was intoxicating.
InuYasha cried out from a hundred feet away, but she couldn't see through the screen, couldn't tell if her friends were alright. She wouldn't lose anyone else.
Sesshomaru lunged without warning, sending her weapon off to the left and burrowing his teeth into the snake's leathery scales. His reward? Thick, black gas that sent him staggering backwards, keening and trembling. Never did she expect to see the day Sesshomaru's strength waned, but the dog became a man before her very eyes as he choked up black blood and slime.
"Slayer," his leg was angled in an unnatural direction and his shoulder completely unhinged from the rest of his body, but he seemed unconcerned with that minor inconvenience at the moment. If she were any more lost in the throes of insanity she would say that he'd been inspecting her. His gaze flitted over her in a way that was neither unbothered nor unconcerned as he insured she had not been damaged. Moment's later, she understood why. "You will save Rin."
In all her years knowing Sesshomaru, he'd never given a death talk. Even when Magatsuhi had burrowed tentacles into the hard shell of his turtle shell armor and -incidentally- through his heart he never fought with anything other than unyielding and unabashed confidence. The grim set of his jaw made her nervous for her friends. From the moment he crashed into the clearing and tackled their assailant, she'd been depending on him to get them out safe.
It never occurred to her that he wouldn't be able to.
"Don't you dare," her voice trembled as she moved to help him up, only jumping back when he snarled at her. A caged animal in every regard. "Let me help you."
But he refused, "The venom is going to paralyze me sooner than later. We must be quick." He'd never spoken in plurals, never asked for the help of another soul, and she didn't know if this was mutual respect or desperation.
"Quick in what? You can't keep fighting like this! Let me get you out of here-."
His eyes blazed and -while she wasn't convinced he'd hurt her- she didn't want to take the chance, not until she could finish out that snake. He ran his acid coated hand along the blade of her sword, "When we get close enough, you plunge your weapon into one of the open spaces. It should stagger him enough for you to escape with Rin."
Escape with Rin. Care for Rin. She didn't know where he got off thinking that she would care for his ward in his absence, nor did she understand why he thought he was allowed to die and then burden her with life. His audacity staggered her- and she pushed closer, refusing to be bullied by a dying dog for a moment longer.
"Escape?" She blocked him, rising to her full height and embodying defiance, "He killed my fiancé! I'm not running until that ugly bastard is added to my hiraikotsu!" At its mention more brilliant bolts came splitting the Earth into messy, uneven chunks and she watched in disbelief as her weapon was reduced to ash. Hysterically, she thought, that makes two things. It wasn't funny, but she giggled. Sesshomaru, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned with her outbursts. If anything, they seemed to amuse him in a time of certain death.
"Yes," he knelt so she could climb onto his back, and held her in place with his dislocated arm, "escape. Get out of here and bring InuYasha's body to my mother. She'll likely be able to save him. I'll weaken him. He'll finish him." It sounded like suicide and -at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite- she refrained from mentioning it.
"And what about Rin? She still needs you- who is going to care for her if you die?"
He didn't miss a beat when saying, "You will. I spared your life the day we defeated Naraku and I am sacrificing myself for the sake of you and your friends. So you will care for her."
The audacity.
"I vowed to not live a day without Miroku by my side."
"Your thirst for death does not concern me. For so long as she needs you, you will care for her."
She held on tight as he evaded blinding beams of lightning with stunning precision, trying to argue despite the indignation that knocked around inside her chest.
"Now-." Thoughtlessly, she took his cue, using all of her strength to plunge her sword into the provided gash. His pain made something twisted inside of her preen. She hoped it burned. She hoped that every moment he spent breathing would be marked by shrieked -a blessed sound- and swung his long, dragging tail with reckless abandon.
Sesshomaru took the brunt of the hit, wrapping her in his arms as his back and head slammed against the oak behind them.
It creaked from the pressure, losing a host of leaves, and toppled backwards with a deafening crash.
"Shit," her internal gloating had been cut short, minced and diced by the reality that their opponent was more than some second rate miscreant. Sango shook his shoulders, noting how -instead of his useless, cracked armor- his flesh had absorbed most of the impact, leaving her -essentially- untouched. Sesshomaru, however, struggled to open his eyes as his head lolled, like a tired pendulum. "Are you alright?"
He took too many moments to answer and she rolled with him when Ryukotsei turned his full attention on them once more. Again, she pushed, "We have to get you out of here." But he resisted her efforts to tug him onto her back, too proud to be saved by a human woman.
Too intent on saving the life she wanted to throw at that snake's feet in a petulant little fit.
His limbs trembled under his command, but -eventually- he rose. The blood that dripped from his nose and mouth was endless, like the water that trickled along the sides of stalagmites.
"Once more."
Instantly, she refused. There was no guarantee he could see anymore as the glassy, unfocused quality of his eyes had yet to fade. "You can't take another hit like that-." She was beginning to wonder who was the unhinged one.
Sango reached out for his hand, content to drag him after her, but he stood his ground, raising his hoarse voice to force his point.
"I've already ingested too much poison." He spit the words as if he were explaining the universe to an imbecile. There was nothing more to say when clenched his trembling fist, trying -unsuccessfully- to shake off the tremors and pulled tenseiga from his hip. There was nothing else that could bear the caustic slime and she winced as her only shot at saving Miroku began to melt in front of her very eyes.
"Now swear to me, that you will care for Rin."
"You're not going to die-."
"If I die, promise me you'll take care of her."
Sango didn't like being pressured into doing things, but there was no time to be stubborn. Finally, hesitantly, she snapped, "Alright!"
He blazed with energy, pouring the last vestiges of his power into his next attack.
Ryukotsei's attacks were less focused this time around, but desperation made him more dangerous. He swung his three fingered hands without precision, sending devastating attacks left and right -heedless of his target's position.
She saw her opening as Sesshomaru dodged a particularly vicious attempt to fry them midair, "can you get me to his face?"
The question must have distracted him, because one of those reptilian grabbers sent them flying off course.
"Fuck." Such a simple, biting word, but she found herself scandalized regardless of the situation. She'd never heard him curse before, after all. His breathing was ragged as he pulled his trembling, bloody hands from his face, "Get him in the eye and run. After this, I don't think I can help you anymore." He made quick work of the worm's defenses, worrying less about dodging and more about getting her to the top before his body failed him once and for all.
Ryukotsei howled when the melting sword went deep into his eye. He staggered and roared, sending beams of blinding light up in the air, as he scrambled to pull the melted chunk of bone free of his face. They landed upon His shoulder with a heavy thump.
"Alright?" It was a stupid question considering the way he swayed and then she was faced with his golden eyes widening in agony as he -injured and uselessly broken- forced her beneath him and protected her from the strike of lightning that rushed to meet them.
He collapsed off to the side of her, sliding down the sloped shoulder of their opponent. His weight was harder to bear when he was unconscious, but she plunged her dagger into the reptile's neck and held tight to his torso and her makeshift handle.
"Kirara!"
Ryukotsei's quaking, however, was making it all impossible and her hold on Sesshomaru faltered. It was Kirara's lucky catch that saved them both from becoming messy splatters on the torn earth below.
"We need to get out of here."
An unnecessary reminder as A-Un held the others on his back as he waited patiently for Sango to maneuver them free of the lightning. Low hanging branches provided cover as they raced away from the battle, away from Miroku, and they didn't stop until they came across a hidden cave with a yawning entryway. She'd barely registered that they were alive and- she shook that intrusive thought away before settling on alive when Rin's eyes caught the broken and battered form of her Lord.
She hopped off of A-Un's back and rushed over to the broken demon that Sango cradled so delicately. Even the smallest movements could jostle his splintered bones and puncture his pulverized organs. "Is he-," Sango was glad that she'd avoided asking if he was alright. It wasn't something she could answer anyway. "What happened to him?"
There was worry in her young face, fear and relief.
A selfish emotion, if she did say so herself. To be able to feel fear at all, for there to be chance- it made her sick. It made her hateful. It made her terrible. Rin was fifteen, she wasn't a fighter, and her protector was unmoving in the arms of a near stranger, taking shallow breaths as she was forced to look on completely helpless. To be jealous that she got the chance to feel that-
It was sick and it was cruel. She was cruel.
"It would take an evening to explain." Bubbling, oozing, blackness was festering within his many open sores. "For now, I need you to take these bottles and collect enough clean water to flush these wounds."
She handed over her dagger- her last bit of protection- and sent her with Shippo as a bit of extra muscle. It was only once the children were gone that Sango asked, "How's InuYasha?" She was using the water they'd stored at their hips to try and clear out some of his more terrible wounds, preparing to spray them clean and stitch them back together. Kagome was busy with her own first aid, shamelessly stripping her fiancé and setting to work.
"Not great," was all she managed, "he was trying to protect me… and…" she sucked up the tears and started suturing the gash that stretched along the length of his chest. "What happened to Miroku? Did he escape?"
Sango didn't want to talk about Miroku.
"Sango."
But Kagome had never been one to take a hint.
"Where is Miroku?"
Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry. It would only blind her and make her stitching that much more difficult.
Instead, she turned it off, stuffing it down for another day. "Somewhere I'm not. Let's just leave it at that for now."