Chapter Sixteen
Touya hit the ground with a pronounced thud. Their foe was quicker than he looked and seemed prepared for anything they threw at him. He watched as Jin came in from the sky like a bullet, tornado fists at the ready only to have Kenshiki reach right into the eye of the tornado and grab hold to stop him abruptly. Jin's body absorbed the shock of the rotation, spinning out of control as the creature thrust him back and sent him sailing into the nearest tree. He struck the trunk with a sickening crack and fell gracelessly to the earth.
"Honestly, is that all you have for me?" he taunted. "I expected more from you three. Especially you, Kurama. I've heard so many tales about the great Youko. How depressing."
Kurama wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand and spat, narrowing his eyes on the beast in frank speculation. He shouldn't be this difficult to fell, to be blunt, and Kurama found himself wondering about the source of the creature's energy. There was something unusual about it and him, and the fox was having difficulty pinpointing his weaknesses. That he seemed so preoccupied with Youko was similarly off-putting, in the fox's opinion.
"You obviously know me," Kurama engaged, rolling quickly to the side to miss the blast of energy aimed for his head. "Yet you share so little of yourself, friend. Perhaps we could resolve our differences in civilized conversation."
Kenshiki smiled brightly and laughed as he caught the seed spiraling toward him like a bullet in his hand without missing a beat. "You know, I think I'm rather going to like you," he said, eyes dancing in amusement. "You're planning something of course, but I like your style. So much more refined than this brute."
He sidestepped neatly to miss Jin's assault, summoning the great ball of light from his palm with an exaggerated sigh. "You know I really would love to stay and chat, but I do have somewhere to be."
He let the orb fly, sending it straight into the wind apparition's chest as he rounded from his previous attack. Jin cursed as the light sank into his body and melted into nothing, eyes wide as he glowed from within briefly and then returned to normal just as quickly.
He cast a glance to Touya, who eyed him with growing concern. "Jin?"
The demon stumbled, momentarily dizzy and reached out to steady himself against the trunk of a nearby tree. "I dunno, lad," he said, perplexed but shaking it off. "Not much of a boom there, ya know."
Kenshiki grinned, and Kurama grew concerned. "What did you do?"
"Oh, you'll see soon enough," he replied, amused. He concentrated and pulled another orb of light from his palm, spinning it on the tip of his finger before launching it at the ice apparition, who dodged nimbly out of the line of fire.
Kurama cracked his whip but missed the beast by centimeters, striking the ground behind him with enough force to rend a crater in the earth and rain dirt and rock down upon them in its wake. The fox frowned, launching his attack once more as Touya himself loosed his shards of winter. Kenshiki leaped forward, springing end over end gracefully as the thorns and ice riccocheted at his feet and hands with each turn but did not strike.
Kurama's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he dropped his whip to rush his foe, hoping to throw him off in hand-to-hand combat. However, just as he came within striking distance, Kenshiki waved his hand in front of his face, and the fox realized his mistake. The orb he'd previously unleashed on Touya made its way around, meeting its mark between his shoulder blades with calculated precision. Kurama staggered as vertigo overcame him briefly and his body glowed then diminished as the light melted into his body.
Kenshiki smiled when the fox met his gaze, and gave a mock two-fingered salute. "I'll see you again soon, my friend."
The creature hurled dark energy straight into the ground, vanishing as the light exploded all around them, and the ground shook in its wake.
Kuwabara broke the surface of the water with a great heaving gasp, flailing and desperate to escape the creatures writhing and screaming in the depths below. He sputtered and cursed, shoving the sopping orange mess of his hair from his eyes and spinning wildly in the river, searching all he could see for signs of life.
"Botan?!" he cried, kicking violently beneath the surface to stay afloat. "Botan?! Miroku?! Somebody, answer me!"
The young detective's assistant jerked, startled when he felt something grip his ankle and squeeze. Kuwabara rubbed the water from his eyes hoping to see one of his comrades surface next to him; his hopes were dashed when he realized it was another soul seeking to pull him under. The teen growled in frustration and summoned his spirit sword, bringing it down in a great arc and cursing at the resistance he met beneath the water. The creature dodged it easily and swam in a figure eight between his legs, searching for an opening to capture him once more as Kuwabara swiped back and forth with his weapon.
"God damn it!" He cried, angry and terrified of being pulled under again. Kuwabara took another swipe, and the creature wailed like a vengeful siren as his spirit sword made contact, darting away momentarily. He took the opportunity for what it was and kicked hard, swimming with all the strength he could muster as he held his sword in his grip and pulled himself along in the water with one arm, splashing loudly and hurling himself gracelessly toward the shore.
Just a few more feet, he thought, struggling against the weight of his own body to reach solid ground. Kuwabara could swim, but truthfully it wasn't his forte. He was growing tired moving against the current, his clothing saturated and heavy as lead.
Kuwabara slowed and collapsed forward as his legs grazed the riverbed, and the detective's assistant absorbed his sword, dragging himself onto the bank by his forearms. He rolled over to his back, breathing labored and exhausted as he lay in the mud and rock, silt filling his shirt with each wave lapping against the shore.
He remained there on the riverbank, unmoving for several long minutes as he listened to thunder roll in the distance and the rain slow to a drizzle. When at last he could breathe, Kuwabara stood, his backpack emptying itself of water as he rubbed the wetness from his eyes and squinted in an effort to see as far down the shoreline as possible.
"Botan?" He called out again, turning in a complete circle as he strained to hear any kind of response. "Botan? ... Shippou? ... Miroku?"
Nothing.
He wouldn't panic. He wouldn't. Kuwabara began to pace nervously, wringing his hands as he tried to decide the best course of action. "C'mon, man," he said to himself. "Think. What would Kurama do?"
"My guess is he wouldn't pace a hole into the ground wondering what he should do."
Kuwabara jumped and drew his sword once more as the familiar figure shimmered into form before him, the deep baritone a frightening reminder of incidents the young detective would much rather put behind him. Kuwabara shuddered as the light gleamed off the dark surface of his sunglasses, knowing that the demon stared at him openly from behind the rims.
"What the hell are you doing here, Toguro?" he asked, glad when his voice didn't break under the pressure of stress.
The spirit quirked his lips ever so slightly, amused though Kuwabara failed to see anything remotely funny about the situation. Quite frankly, he'd hoped never to cross paths with the Toguro brothers again. Ever.
"You can put that sword away," Toguro responded, taking his fingertip to the edge of the spirit blade and pushing it away as he walked in a close circle around the boy. He stopped, clucking his tongue as he openly studied the sopping mess of a Spirit World warrior. The spirit arched a brow from behind the glasses. The boy had changed somehow; he could feel it.
He grunted, nodding to himself as he arrived at some unknown conclusion. "I'm going to help you."
Kuwabara looked like he'd swallowed a bug. "You're going to what?"
"Help you," he affirmed, ignoring the detective's clear discomfort. "Unless you'd rather do this alone. Your friends might to be harder to find than you think. Provided they're alive, of course."
"Where are they, Toguro?" Kuwabara asked urgently, his sword still drawn. "You better tell me what you know right now, punk!"
The demon peered at him over the lenses of his sunglasses, annoyed but willing to indulge him for a moment. "I know that if they're anywhere, it'll be at the mouth of the territory of Nix. Provided they survived, that is. More importantly, I know that you'll never get there on your own."
Kuwabara swallowed past the desert in his mouth, apprehensive. "Why?" It was a valid question, given their history. Everything in Kuwabara's experience screamed that he shouldn't trust this demon. "Why would you help me?"
The spirit looked thoughtful a moment, then turned pensive eyes on the detective, removing his glasses with a sigh so that he could look at him directly. "You helped me, once upon a time."
And indeed, he had. It was only through Kuwabara that he'd been able to pull Yusuke into drawing his true strength and facing him in a proper battle. Only then had he been able to leave the living world on his terms. He owed them both, truth be told.
Kuwabara let the spirit blade relax at his side, understanding dawning upon him like the rising crest of sunlight at daybreak. "Alright," he agreed. "But you try anything funny and you're dead, pal. Again."
Toguro slipped his glasses back into place. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Inuyasha blinked, wincing as the light flooded his vision when they stepped into the 24-hour pancake house not long after daybreak. Halogen lights bounced off the sterile white walls and tables, making it difficult for the hanyou to look directly at anything, thus he opted to retreat behind the dark lenses of his glasses once more. Still, having been literally in the dark for days, Inuyasha would take whatever he could get.
He didn't understand what had taken him so long to heal, and if he was being honest with himself, it frightened him. Even now his sight hadn't fully returned, but at least he could see something, blurry and distorted as it was. The grouchy hanyou would never openly admit it, but he was thankful the old woman had stepped in to teach him a few techniques to help him not only function, but fight if needed. He'd bitched the whole time, of course, but Inuyasha could tell a significant difference and knew that even after his sight was fully restored his abilities would be heightened even more.
It would come in handy for when he tore out the throat of the son of a bitch who'd murdered Kagome's grandfather and taken her family.
His family.
It was something else he'd never admit aloud, but Inuyasha had loved Mrs. Higurashi and Souta just as his own mother and little brother. Even the old coot had a special place in his carefully-guarded heart. They had taken him in without reservation or fear. It didn't matter to them that he, the tainted-blood half breed bastard, had nothing to give them in return, nor was he always kind. Still, they cared for him.
Inuyasha felt the weight of grief crushing the air in his lungs as Genkai relayed the phone conversation she had with the detective, and he'd dropped to the ground, his knees suddenly weak. It was a pain he'd not truly felt since the death of his own mother.
The old psychic had been gracious enough not to say anything, though he knew she had caught him in a moment of weakness like no other.
Inuyasha drummed his claws on the table in their booth impatiently, and Genkai blew across the top of her coffee doing her best to ignore the irritable hanyou's nervous habits.
"They'll be here soon enough," she said, taking a slow sip from her cup. "Best to keep your focus on what lies ahead."
"They should have been here by now," he grumbled, fiddling with the spoon she'd used to stir her coffee. "It's been too damn long. We should go find them."
"You'll stay put, pup," she demanded, taking another long, slow sip of her coffee. Inuyasha growled, irritated by her lack of a urgency.
"I'm telling you," he began, lip curling as he leaned forward to eye her blurry form from over the rim of his sunglasses. "Something's wrong."
"Of course something's wrong, idiot," Genkai responded, not at all intimidated. "The girl's just lost her grandfather, and her mother and brother are missing. Demons are taking over the whole damn world and we're not anywhere close to being ready to do anything about it. There's a whole lot wrong. Getting your panties in a twist about it and going off half cocked isn't going to do much to fix it, though."
The demon huffed and crossed his arms, sitting back against the seat hard and uttering his trademark "Feh," but he didn't belabor the point by arguing further. He could play nice. For now, anyway.
The bell above the door at the front entrance tinkled, and Inuyasha stood abruptly, knowing already who stepped inside.
"See," Genkai gloated. "Patience is truly a virtue. If you'd get your head out of your ass and employed a little once in a while, you might surprise yourself."
"Whatever, you old hag," he griped, working his way out from the wide horseshoe booth. He frowned, smelling the salty musk of tears from across the room.
The detective walked in behind her, his hand resting gently upon the small of her back as he guided her into the room. He did not miss the way she tensed and arched away from his touch at the sight of the hanyou, but he was willing to let it go for the moment.
"Inuyasha," she choked, voice strained as she stopped before him and began to cry once more.
"Shh," he soothed, reaching out to feel for her hand and bringing her into a fierce embrace upon finding it. "Don't worry, Kagome. We'll find them, I promise. We'll get your mom and Souta back. I swear it."
Yusuke clenched his jaw at the way the dog demon rubbed her back affectionately, knowing that despite what happened between them just a few hours before, she wasn't his. She had pulled away from him, though he sensed her regret as she did. She placed her hands firmly on his chest and put the distance between them with a gentle push, and she begged him just to let things be.
The damnable misery of it was that now that he'd opened Pandora's box, Yusuke didn't know if he could. But, he promised he would try nonetheless.
It was damned hard though, watching the mutt paw all over her.
"I know you will," she whispered. "I know. We just ... we need to plan, and we need to hurry."
But Inuyasha was strangely quiet all the sudden, and when she tilted her head back to look him in the face, he brought her back to his chest quickly and inhaled deeply. His eyes narrowed in on the detective.
"You son of a bitch."
Hiei stirred with a grimace, blinking dust from his vision and trying to force the splitting headache creeping in on him to dissipate by sheer will alone. Holy hell. What happened?
He felt a strange tugging at his leg and blinked again, working to focus his eyes in the darkness. The night pixelated and rolled as he adjusted to the absence of light, but after a moment he managed to single out the slayer on her knees before him, wrapping a crude bandage around his busted calf. He flexed his left hand, realizing that it wasn't the first set she'd applied when he felt the fabric around his wrist and forearm; the fire apparition looked himself over then, finding there were few places she hadn't wrapped at this point.
He coughed and clenched his teeth so hard they might have cracked beneath the pressure at the intense pain that shot through his body, and her head whipped up in the darkness, her human eyes struggling in the darkness to read his face.
"You broke several bones in the landslide," she spoke quietly, all business. "I've managed to set a few, but you shouldn't try to move."
"They'll heal," Hiei groused, summoning fire into the palm of his hand. The cavern lit in a soft glow, and the exterminator exhaled gratefully as she set back to her work, glad for the assistance now that she could actually see something. The fire apparition watched intently, noting that she could probably use some of the attention herself. He could see the hateful, bloody gash that ran the length of her face in stark detail against the pale cream of her skin. He noticed the way she favored one arm as she wound the gauze she kept in her armor around the length of his leg and wondered if she might have broken bones of her own.
"I know," she said, a wry smile quirking her pretty lips as she continued her ministrations regardless. He didn't fight her on it, to her surprise, and Sango worked in silence to secure the last of his bandages, letting her hand rest briefly on his ankle as she struggled to find the right words.
"You saved me," she said quietly, eyes fixed on the ground. "Why?"
He grunted incoherently and Sango thought for a moment he would not answer her, though at least a part of her didn't really expect that he would. She chanced a glance up into his face and was surprised to find him looking back at her, fierce red eyes gleaming in the darkness. Her breath caught at the intensity with which he held her gaze.
Heartbeats stretched on into moments, and the two studied each other in silence, trapped in the electricity of the undercurrent that ran between them. She swallowed hard and he sighed softly, the first to look away.
"We are allies," he finally answered. "It's something even I can understand and appreciate."
She met his gaze once again, hoping he would see and understand the sincerity of her words. He could have no idea what he'd really done for her in the moments before their fall. He didn't just save her from her brother's blade, he'd spared her brother. The fire apparition was far from patient or kind, and frankly he killed as he saw fit. Yet, for reasons she could only guess at, he'd handed control of the situation over to her. Hiei had trusted her enough to let her try, and Sango found that she was profoundly affected.
"Thank you, Hiei-sama," she said politely, bowing slightly in a show of respect.
Hiei flushed, uncomfortable with the gesture. "Get up, girl," he grumbled. "Don't read too much into it. Besides, you need to dress your own wounds."
True enough, she supposed. Sango gently moved his foot from her lap, and attempted to stand, hissing when she lost her balance and caught herself on the rocks with her injured arm. "Damn it," she swore, clutching at her forearm as she leaned against the earthen wall.
"I see your grace is still in tact," he drolled, and the exterminator shot him a withering look.
"Yes, well at least I can move," she taunted, earning a clipped "hn" in response. The slayer smiled, satisfied. That shut him up.
She lowered herself onto a particularly large boulder and set to work on her own injuries. The bandages were crude but effective, and Sango nodded to herself as she finished, happy with her field dressing. Her father would have been pleased.
"What happened with your brother?"
She turned her attention to him once more, startled at his curiosity. She hadn't expected it from him, truthfully, though he'd managed to figure out her relationship with Kohaku. Jin, yes. Kurama, maybe. But not Hiei.
"Why do you care?"
"Don't avoid the question," he answered pointedly. "I let him live, now I want to know why."
Fair enough, she supposed, and she swallowed past the knot already forming in her throat as she recalled the series of events that brought them all together. It was just as painful now as it had been then, and Sango found it difficult to know where to start. She hadn't spoken about it in so long, maybe not ever. Not fully, anyway. Even Inuyasha and Kagome hadn't wanted an explanation, they already knew just by being involved with her.
"It was his first extermination ..."