Update (May 2021): Chapter edited and lengthened!
Chapter 64: The Dreaded Ninmenka, Part Two
"Rgh...rhh...r-huh?"
Hardly any time has passed since Tōkajin the inhuman sage had unleashed his fury against the new moon Inuyasha, and the latter's comrades become entrapped in an enchanted box garden while meeting a group of fellows training as the former's disciples, unaware of what fate really had in store for them save one dismal samurai...
Thankfully, the currently black-haired silverette hadn't died from the assault...but would reawaken in a new area of the hidden mountain mansion that is anything but safe.
M-Mrh...What's this?
Looking down at himself, he sees that his body is encased in a series of large, green thorny vines pinning him against the lower base of the demonic Ninmenka Tree...
"You've awoken, I see?"
Inuyasha directs his sight towards Tōkajin, the latter's body having reverted back to normal.
"You."
"Now I understand: you're a half-demon."
"If you're gonna kill me, do it now!"
The sage returns to his task of storing away several human-faced fruits into a pot as he replies,
"Demon power is good nourishment for Ninmenka. With you in the broth, it'll bear the Fruit of Longevity more quickly."
"Forget it!"
Inuyasha immediately tries struggling against the vines, but stops short as he feels the thorns cut into his arms...
"Hurry and make your demon powers return. (Turn) And yes, feel free to keep struggling. If your thorns pierce your skin, it'll make it that much easier to extract your juices."
"Damn you...!"
The powerless half-demon found his gaze trailing the rest of the dark room as his temper stabilizes...before spotting a familiar little bottle sitting on a nearby table.
That's the bottle Coraline uses to keep the jewel shards in!
He looks back at Tōkajin, noticing three shards in his stomach...
He quickly puts two and two together.
"(Glare) Tell me what you've done with the owner of the Shikon-no-Tama shards!"
"Owner?...I haven't seen any owner. (Pats his stomach) I found these."
"Don't play innocent with me! You stole those from Coraline!"
"Coraline?"
"The girl who had the jewel shards!"
That caught Tōkajin's attention, and not in a good way.
"(Grin) A girl, you say?!...Tremendous news! A girl inside my house."
He begins walking out of the room, but not before adding,
"The demon tree Ninmenka loves women, too...and the younger, the better!"
The sage lets out a menacing laugh as he begins his search, leaving Inuyasha to struggle while thinking frantically,
Coraline! I'll find ya! Just keep hiding 'til I do!
...
...
It wouldn't be long before Tōkajin reenters the room with the miniature box garden...
"Let's see. I found the shards somewhere around here...Hm?"
He looks down into the small-scale greenery, realizing,
"She must be in my miniature village."
Coraline's POV
After we did some more brainstorming, we all finally came up with a plan to escape the mini garden thanks to some certain items my brothers had been carrying in their rucksacks...
"Yous sure these'll be powerful enough?"
"Yep. Shuji and a few buddies of his have been experimenting with cherry bombs for a while, tryin' to see if they can make the explosion more powerful for...reasons...The ones me and Besa have are a few of the prototypes."
"I see...an' where exactly are they being 'tested'?"
"You remember some of those weird holes in that one area of the abandoned factory district we found one day?"
I feel my eyes bug out in realization:
"Tha's wha' caused them?!"
"(Nervous smile) Yeah, at least that's what Shuji's told us. They never do it during those hours of the day when civilians may or may not see the cherry smoke clouds. They're careful about that."
"Riiiight..."
Hoooh, the things me acquaintances ge' into...
Swallowing down any further questions regarding legality, we decide to put these modified cherry bombs to practical use, giving a couple to Shippō so he could plant them atop a nearby cliff...
"Coraline! Everything's set over here!"
"Good work, lad!"
I then turn to Miroku to ask,
"All set?"
"I'm ready when you are."
"Good. (Turn) Give Shippō the wave, Freeman."
"Right!"
He waves his hand in the air to signal our fox demon friend to set the bombs ablaze...
"Fox Fire!"
(Foom...BOOM)
Despite their size, the cherry bombs do their job in loosening the boulder up top, and sending it rolling down the cliff face through the cherry smoke cloud...My brothers high-five with a cheer as Shippō calls down,
"Miroku!"
"(Rattle) Wind Tunnel!"
(Whoooooooosssssssssshhhhhhhhh...)
Using the vacuum of the black hole, Miroku causes the boulder to roll down faster, and Besa calls just as it reaches close to our vicinity,
"Heads up!"
We all scramble away just as the boulder smashes against the wall...The dust clears, and we see that the giant rock made it through, leaving a large enough hole to escape from the garden!
"It worked! We broke through the wall!"
...But just as we all begin cheering, I hear the young lad cry out in fright, and turn my gaze upward.
"...What the hell?!"
Following my sight, the others cringe defensively at seeing a giant eyeball!
"There she is!"
She?...Oh! Me! Damn!
A giant hand then swoops down in my direction...
"Aaah!"
"Sis!"
Freeman and Besa come over to try and get me out of the hand's path...
(Grasp)
Bu~t end up being snatched up with me...Apparently, karma hates us today...Anyway, we're lifted out of the mini garden as the figure exclaims triumphantly with a laugh,
"Found her. Excellent!"
...The hand opens up, and I hear the person remark,
"A young girl. She's filthy, but she's sure to please Ninmenka...But what's this? Hmm...These two young men: their skin pigment is rather unique. I wonder if Ninmenka might also be interested in something, exotic?"
I open my eyes with a grimace from the force of the hand, and look up to see a fat bloke with dark green hair and clothes like a hermit.
...This guy hasta be Tōkajin...
"This has been a fine day: an unusual half-demon, a young girl, and two young dark-skinned men all in a few hours. By tomorrow, I should have the Fruit of Longevity!"
Half-demon...Inuyasha!
I glare up at Tōkajin and ask firmly,
"Where is Inuyasha? I know he's here!"
I move to a stand with help from my brothers, they too feeling anxious and angry.
"Answer me! Is 'e or is he no' hurt?!"
"Where is Inuyasha?!"
"If you did something, fess up now or face our wrath!"
No POV
As Coraline, Freeman and Besa confront the inhuman sage, Shippō and Miroku take the opportunity to escape out of the garden...Looking up at the teens, the fox demon and monk each comment,
"Listen to Coraline and the twins chew him out. Not a sign of fear."
"That comes from experience, I suppose..."
"Hey! Answer us!"
"We'll knock you flat if you don't!"
"Is everybody deaf in this place?!"
Growing annoyed by their tones, Tōkajin shifts his hand and grasps all three teens into his hand tightly.
"Rgh!" "Aah!"
"Ugh!"
"Pipe down, and go to sleep!"
With their ability to breathe properly being compromised, it hardly took a minute before the modern-born souls pass out with strangled cries simultaneously...
"Coraline! Freeman! Besa!"
Miroku quietly shushes Shippō, and they bound after the grumbling sage to rescue their friends.
Inuyasha's POV
A bit of time passes, and I continue my attempts to break away from these vines regardless of my current disadvantage...
"I can't stand it!"
Human bodies are so weak and vulnerable...
I've lost too much blood. I'm starting to get dizzy...
"Still alive, are we, half-demon?"
I look up, and force my vision to refocus on Tōkajin as he tosses some familiar-looking garments aside to the floor...
Coraline's clothes!...And, those look like the twin's clothes too!
She...They...They couldn't be!
"Where's Coraline, Freeman and Besa?! Tell me where the girl and the twin boys are!"
He ignores my question and comments,
"Extracting nourishment has become very bothersome since you broke my gourd."
"Extracting nourishment?!"
"...Why the angry look?"
"Where's, Coraline?! You animal!"
"Ooh, I see. You're expression says it all...You're in love with that filthy girl...You'll see her soon enough, inside my belly, that is. You will both become a part of the Fruit of Longevity, along with those two boys with the dark skin, and I will relish in every last bite!"
Curse, this, bastard!
He gives me a toothy grin and laugh, and I yell in seething anger,
"Despicable!"
Curse him to hell!
Letting out a war cry, I try to reach out and claw at Tōkajin, pulling the vines out a bit from the ceiling...
"You're wasting your time. You cannot escape those thorny roots."
Like these things'll fuckin' stop me!
...Coraline...If this bastard really has hurt you and your brothers, I swear I'll rip him to shreds!
No POV
Unbeknownst to either party, Shippō and Miroku managed to hitch a ride inside the pile of clothes...They peer out from Freeman's sleeveless shirt, and the fox demon immediately looks up at his companion with worry.
"Inuyasha..."
Miroku says to himself,
"Being this small, I don't know how effective my Wind Tunnel will be...but here goes!"
(Whooooooosssshhhhhhhh...)
The monk releases his cursed power, and despite being of condensed size at present, the vacuum of wind is still powerful enough to pull at the vines!...Once they loosen, Inuyasha puts in all the strength he can muster to finally break free from the trap...Unfortunately, this action would cause the entire ceiling collapse onto him and Tōkajin!
(CRASH)
...Luckily, our currently human half-demon isn't buried alive, and lifts himself off the ground to start limping towards the door.
"Cor-aline..."
"Wait, Inuyasha!"
"Huh?"
He looks down and sees the tiny monk and fox demon.
"Miroku? Shippō?"
"Coraline and the twins are down in the basement."
"What happened?"
"Well..."
Coraline's POV
"Mmm...Mm-n-huh?"
I feel my eyes flutter awake after having the air squeezed out of me by that jerk Tōkajin...and the first thing I notice as my senses refocus is a strange, sweet scent.
"Wha...What is tha'? (Sniff) It, smells like green fruit tea..."
When I'm fully conscious...I realize I'm sitting in a pool of water that may very well be tea with Ninmenka fruit floating around me...and, that, I'm...naked.
"Gah!"
(Splash)
I hurry to cover my chest out of modesty, and dart my head around the room.
"Wh-Wha' the hell?!"
Of all the bloody scenarios ta wake up to, why must it be the naked kind?!
"Rgh..."
"Gh..."
Picking up on the light groans of two others, I return my gaze to a frontward position, and see that my brothers were in the pool too...and, also undressed...
"Freeman?...Besa?"
"C...Cor?...What's goin' on?"
"Urh, where are we?"
"Um, I'm no' sure...but, yeu migh', w-wanna look down..."
"Hm?"
They do as I advise...before cluing into their wardrobe malfunction.
"What the frag?!"
"Crap!"
Hands slap the water as they cover their-ahem, lower areas (not that I can actually see anything...), before they look back at me and notice my lack of clothing.
"...You too?"
"Uh-huh."
...Freeman then sighs and calmly shrugs,
"Well, this could be more awkward. At least we're naked in front of people we know and not total strangers."
"Riiight..."
"Sure..."
...I suddenly turn my gaze to Besa's wrist as it re-emerges from the water, and see that it still holds the band containing his Seven Light shard.
"Uh-h!...Yur Seven Ligh' shard; it's still on you!"
"Huh?"
He looks down, and widens his eyes a bit at seeing the item in question.
"...So it is. (Turn) Freeman, do you still have-"
"Yeah, I can feel it on my wrist...Why are they still here? One would think Tōkajin would strip them from us."
"Hm...Maybe the shards acted on their own accord and blocked him."
"...Yeah, I guess that's a good enough theory."
Freeman then turns a glare up towards the ceiling and wonders,
"Speaking of the bastard, where is Tōkajin now?"
That's a good question...
A' least me brothers and I are still together...
But, if we're here...then where's Miroku, Shippō, and-
(Crash)
"Coraline!"
Upon hearing his voice after the door is smashed down, I immediately scramble to a stand and whirl around with a relieved smile.
"Inuyasha!"
...
...
We stare at one another for a few minutes...until I remember I'm not wearing any clothes.
"Oh!"
I quickly squat back into the water with a heavy blush erupting on my cheeks...
Well tha' was embarrassing...
But you know wha'? Devil to modesty.
Swallowing down whatever insecurities were threatening to bubble, I stand up again and move out of the water towards Inuyasha's direction.
"...Inuyasha? Are you alrigh'?"
"Keh, these are just scratches."
He then shucks off his fire rat kimono and tosses it to me to catch, his own face about as red as mine.
"C-Cover up. It's torn, but it's better than nothin'."
"(...Nod) Thank yeu."
Inuyasha then moves to stand up while asking my brothers,
"What about you two? Are you guys alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine."
"Though I'd like to know where Tōkajin is so I can kick his ass for stealin' our clothes."
I laugh a bit at Freeman's spirited response...before rushing to Inuyasha's side when he suddenly collapses.
"Inuyasha! (Kneels down) Inuyasha?"
...Mo dhia. Those wounds...he mus' be so exhausted...yet he came all this way to see if I was okay.
My eyes water a bit, and I mutter before embracing his back,
"You always figh' so hard, whether demon or human..."
...It was then that Miroku and Shippō pop out of the injured man's black hair, the former quirking with a sheepish smile,
"Uuuh, this wouldn't be bad timing, would it?"
I felt my face blush anew, and let out a small yelp just as my brothers scramble out of the water and cover me with their arms and Inuyasha's kimono, glaring at the monk all the while.
"Oi! Watch it, Miroku!"
I let out a breathy sigh with a small smile:
Protective brothers at work.
Small Time Skip, No POV
Eventually, Tōkajin wakes up from being knocked out by the chaos caused by the miniature Miroku and full-sized Inuyasha, and the former begins walking down the stairs to where he believes his targets have gone.
"They won't get away...!"
Meanwhile, our heroes and heroine have moved into the room with the miniature box garden, with Inuyasha propped against a wall to rest, while the tiny fox demon and monk watch him from atop his arm.
"Looks like Inuyasha's in pretty bad shape..."
"You're right; his injuries look pretty serious. We really shouldn't try to move him."
Freeman and Besa were standing by, having finished dressing up in two knee-length dark green kimonos they found in a pile of armor.
"...This feels really awkward wearin' dead men's clothing..."
The latter twin doesn't disagree with the former as he readjusts a piece of rope he's using as a makeshift obi sash.
"I know, but it's either this or go streaking. Unfortunately, our rucksacks and weapons weren't on us when we got nabbed by Tōkajin, and as long as he's alive, the miniature garden's spell will probably stay in effect indefinitely."
"So in other words, we gotta kill the bastard and the spell will die too?"
"That's what I'm hoping; not just for our sake, but for those men too...Maybe once they're outside again and suck in some fresh, saner air, their senses will return...but that's a big maybe."
"Yeah. Only god knows how long they've been stuck in there...Hm?"
Attention then focuses on Coraline as she reenters the room after refitting Inuyasha's kimono so the sleeves were tied around her waist and her arms hanging out the slits on the shoulders.
"I don' sense Tōkajin too close-by, so we should be able t' jouk 'im if we stay quie'. Inuyasha, are y' able to get up?"
"Mmh, I think so...Is it morning yet?"
She kneels by him and replies,
"No, it's dark as ink ou' there...Wait: you're no' intendin' to figh', are you?"
"You know the answer to that."
"Lúdramán! Yeu can't with those injuries!...Our only option righ' now is to keep our distance until you become half-demon again."
Inuyasha grunts, but chooses not to argue...Coraline then found her gaze wandering to the adjacent wall, locking onto a bow and quiver set...She walks over and takes it for her own hands.
I'll hafta do whatever possible to protect everyone until daybreak.
Ach, if only I hadn't taken off ShatterSoul in th' box garden...and me bag...and poor Lumos.
...An' me knife's probably wherever me clothes are, bu' I haven' the time to hoke for 'em.
Pretty soon, our group of six makes it out of the house and onto the cliff nearby the Ninmenka...Freeman lets out a low whistle and mutters,
"Damn, that's a long way down. There's no way we can climb down fast enough."
Besa and Coraline each add,
"Not to mention Miroku, Shippō and our forgotten things need to be returned to their normal size...and those men we can't just leave behind, lost cause or not."
"An' Lumos w's st'll in me own bag, poor craytur. He's probably panickin' over our well-bein'..."
Inuyasha then mutters,
"I've got a plan..."
But Coraline immediately catches onto his train of thought.
"No' gonna happen!"
"But I haven't even told you yet!"
"You're gonna tell me to escape with Freeman and Besa alone, right? Forget i'!...Besides, I can' leave me blade and partner behind. Tha'd be a dick move on me par'."
...Suddenly, an old voice calls them from behind.
"Is someone there?"
They all turn around, and spot a potted flower with the face of an elderly man sitting near the base of Ninmenka.
"Did you escape from the box garden?"
Coraline nods,
"Auy...Uh, who are yae?"
"I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was Tōkajin's mentor."
"So tha' would make yeu a sage as well."
Inuyasha grasps the humanoid flower by their stem with an angry look.
"What were you thinking?! How could you let that animal become a sage?!"
Coraline chastises him and forces him to let the flower go, the latter explaining,
"Oh, it was not I who made Tōkajin a sage...It was Ninmeka."
Besa asks,
"The tree did it? Why?"
"It happened about a month ago..."
(Flash)
Turning back the clock, we return to an afternoon when a younger and thinner Tōkajin was lazing under the Ninmenka tree while complaining about the occupation progress.
"Ugh. I can't stand this training day in and day out! There's gotta be a faster way than this to become a sage."
...He then finds a shard of the Shikon-no-Tama laying near him in the grass.
"What's this? (Picks it up) Huh, who cares? Can't eat it."
He tosses it over his shoulder, and the shard lands in the bark of the Ninmenka tree...
"Aaah, a Shikon-no-Tama shard. Thank you."
The young sage-in-training scrambles to his feet, startled by the deep voice.
"A-uh! W-Who said that?!"
"I am Ninmenka."
The tree surrounds itself in a red glow, before asking Tōkajin,
"You there. Do you wish for a sage's power?"
The addressed body nods nervously, and the tree orders,
"Then eat my human-faced fruit!"
Though a bit skeptical, Tōkajin prepares to do so, plucking one of the strange peaches off a branch...
"Eat, and you shall possess the Arts of the Sages."
(Munch...)
"Excellent. Swallow the seeds too, and you shall have power, a sage's power!"
(Flash)
"When one eats the human-faced fruit of the demon tree, one becomes a slave to Ninmenka. Tōkajin obeyed the tree's command to turn me into fertilizer, so it will bear the Fruit of Longevity."
Miroku then asks from atop Besa's left shoulder (Shippō being on Freeman's right),
"Master Sage, who transformed you into a plant?"
"The fruit alone isn't enough for longevity...You see, the fruit has to be soaked and made into a potion, and only I have knowledge of such a process."
"Which is why I let him live."
The group turns around with a shared gasp, spotting the inhuman sage emerge from his home, his body once again encased in stone.
"We meet again. So this is where you escaped to."
Coraline curses,
"Shit. The power of the shards is increasin'...!"
The humanoid flower then says to Inuyasha,
"Tōkajin is no longer human. You must slay him."
Said dark-spirited fool proclaims,
"That's right; I'm no longer human. Humans spend their miserable days slaving in the mud, then grow old and die! My parents both lived and died like that! I refuse to live such a weak, senseless life!"
The taller of the two redheads couldn't hold back her disgust towards the enemy.
"Yeu, sleeven bastard! All you've done is sacrifice innocen' lives to increase yur chances of longevity! That isn' strength; tha's just sick and wrong!"
"I am more powerful than anyone you have ever known, and that is why I can take advantage of the weak! Can't you understand even that?!"
Tōkajin then swings his staff and sends a vine whip at Coraline, who is shielded by Inuyasha.
"Watch out! Agh!"
"Ah!"
They fall back, and the girl calls her companion's name as the twins cringe on the defense.
"Damn, he got hit good..."
"There's gotta be a way to defeat this creep!"
Tōkajin laughs,
"Ninmenka made me strong, and since I've taken in the shards of the Shikon-no-Tama, I have become invincible! I shall have the Fruit of Longevity, and turn weaklings like you into fertilizer!"
Coraline growls,
"Yeu, boar!"
"Stop, Coraline..."
She focuses on Inuyasha, who manages to push himself to a stand.
"Inuyasha, wait. You shouldn't move..."
"He wouldn't understand your logic."
He leans on a tall piece of pottery as he continues his train of thought.
"I'm a half-demon. I know only too well how weak mortals are, and I understand his desire to become strong...but that's where the similarities end, you disgusting excuse for a human!"
"How dare you lecture me, especially in your condition!"
"It's, easy..."
Inuyasha then picks up and throws one of the pots at the monster sage.
"Let me demonstrate!"
With Tōkajin distracted, the blackette in red leaps forward to try and grab the jewel shards embedded in the other.
I've gotta get the shards before they melt into his body!
(Punch)
Unfortunately, he's knocked away before he could even touch the sage, crashing into another pot of Ninmenka fruit! Coraline cries out her friend's name, and her brothers note the fruit spilling onto the ground.
"Ugh, more of those creepy-looking peaches..."
"To think of their origins is even worse..."
The sage flower then says,
"You must drink a mouthful of that potion there."
"What potion?"
Inuyasha then locks his vision onto the deep magenta-purple liquid that spilled out from the broken pottery...
"Tōkajin made it. It is an imitation of the secret Longevity Potion, but it's effective enough to heal flesh wounds."
Coraline asks,
"But won't i' make the drinker a slave to Ninmenka?"
"Not as long as he doesn't eat the fruit. Now, drink up, if you wish to be saved."
Inuyasha nods slightly, and prepares himself to drink it...only to stop when Tōkajin jeers,
"Drink it. It should be more entertaining if you were a little more lively."
"...You want more lively? We can provide better than your stupid potion!"
"Huh?"
The twins move beside their friend on both his sides, and brandish their wrist bands holding the Seven Light Crystal shards.
"Uh! You guys, still have your crystals! How?"
"No idea, but we think they may have blocked Tōkajin from touching them while we were unconscious."
"We can figure it out later, but right now, let's get you healed up."
(Sheen...)
The pieces of the fabled gem glow, bathing Inuyasha in a similar light as his injuries begin to fade away...
"Why on earth would anyone drink something that grew from the soil of fresh humans? That's disgusting!"
"Yeah, only a desperate fool like you would be crazy enough, not Inuyasha!"
"...Guys..."
Once the injuries had healed enough for the currently human half-demon to move, he stands up while the twins collapse on their hands and knees in exhaustion.
"Nh! You guys okay?"
"Hah-h...yeah, we'll be fine."
"(Grim smirk) Now kick Tōkajin to Hell."
"Right."
Said sage laughs and jeers,
"Half-demon, you'll regret not drinking the potion."
"Kuh, I don't need that stuff...not while I've got friends who can do the job better."
The twins look at Inuyasha in surprise, before smiling in appreciation...
"And thanks to them, (dash) I can beat you senseless!"
"Wretched fool!"
Tōkajin unleashes a vine whip, which surrounds the opposing blackette and distracts him long enough for the monster sage to grab him by the neck and pin him to the ground!
"Hehahaha, it looks like you're all talk and no action!"
Inuyasha curses internally as Shippō comments on the sidelines,
"He's powerless in his mortal body!"
Miroku adds,
"And with my size, the Wind Tunnel won't do much good either. (Turn) Plus Freeman and Besa are too exhausted."
...Coraline forms a determined look, and draws an arrow at the ready.
"Then it's all on me; I'll save Inuyasha!"
The flower sage remarks,
"It's useless. Tōkajin can't be brought down with an arrow."
"Who says it'll be jus' any old arrow? I'll send this bast'rd t' Hell!"
All I need do is aim fo' the shards...
She surrounds her being in her signature icy blue aura, an act that surprises the humanoid flora.
The Sacred Aura around the bow and arrow...Who is this girl?
"Tōkajin!"
Said sage looks up in Coraline's direction...but then-
(SNAP)
"Uh!"
The bow breaks in two!
"...What jus' happened? Why did it break?!"
"Hahaha, that bow and arrow of a vanquished soldier can never work on me!"
Inuyasha struggles, crying out Coraline's name in his head before ripping off a thorn from the vine.
"I'll teach ya, not to be so confident!"
(STAB)
"AAAAGH!"
Tōkajin is stabbed right in the eye and falls back, allowing his captive to somersault away.
"W-Why you...!"
The flower sage then says to Coraline,
"Hurry, girl. You must slay Tōkajin now."
"(Turn) Hm?"
"Use this as my way of making amends."
The humanoid plant then fades away in a white glow, leaving behind his form as a bow and arrow!...Coraline picks it up as Shippō exclaims,
"He turned into a bow and arrow!"
"The old sage...He gave up th' last of his strength to help us."
"Coraline!"
She snaps back to reality at Miroku's call, and gasps before grabbing her brothers to scramble away from the charging Tōkajin, who slams Inuyasha into the base of Ninmenka's trunk.
"I'll tear you limb from limb!"
The redhead then spots the glow of the jewel shards:
...There. Righ' through his back and stomach!
"This is i'; you're finished, Tōkajin!"
(Twok...TOK)
"Aaaaarrrrrgghhh!"
The force of impact from the empowered ammunition blasts the jewel shards right out of the sage's stomach, as noted by Inuyasha.
The jewel shards!
They embed the Ninmenka tree's bark, just as the bow crumbles into dust in Coraline's hand.
"Uh!...Mm, (closes her eyes) thank yeu for your aid, old sage. May you find peace."
"You, wench! How dare you!"
Tōkajin - now back to his original form - charges at the redhead who robbed him of his extra power, trapping her between him and the cliff edge!
"...Get down, Coraline!"
(THWACK)
Tossing away caution and common sense to the wind, Inuyasha charges their way and tackles the monster sage with all his might...But, the force of strength would be so great, that the human half-demon went tumbling off the cliff with Tōkajin!
"Noooo! Inuyasha!"
...Coraline!
"Inuyasha! INUYASHAAA!"
The echo of the redhead's scream follows the duo as they plummet downward. The sage jeers at his opponent,
"Serves you right! Your mortal body will never survive this fall!"
The latter doesn't reply aloud:
Maybe not...but at least Coraline is alive...
Back up top the cliff, the mentioned girl's eyes begin pooling with tears.
"(Sniffle) I-Inuyasha..."
Feeling their sister's growing anxiety and sorrow, the twins move to get up and walk her way...That's when Besa picks up on an odd sound:
"Huh?"
...A ping.
He turns around, and widens his eyes when he watches the tree absorb the jewel shards, then push the source of energy down its trunk and into the roots!
Uh! What's it doing?!
...Wait...Tōkajin exchanged his freedom for power once he ate from Ninmenka...
And if the fruit is born from the flesh of humans...
"Hh! Could the tree have really been...?!"
Just as that Brownlee comes to a horrifying conclusion, the roots of the demonic plant suddenly shoot out of the face of the cliff further down, grasping Inuyasha and Tōkajin!
"Ninmenka! Y-You're rescuing me?!"
"No such thing! I simply don't wish to lose such precious nourishment!"
"Whuh?!"
Before the young sage could make sense of this new development, he's pulled into a sea of vines which encase his body...and kill him instantly, leaving behind a source of flesh for the Ninmenka tree to craft into a bulbous plant-like body!
"Aahahahaha, at last, I am able to move! Freedom is mine! I have ample shards of the Shikon-no-Tama, and I am all powerful! Now, half-demon...become one with me!"
The roots shoot towards Inuyasha and wrap around his body...
But just when it looks like the end, sunlight finally streams over the horizon.
Damn...daybreak at last.
"Hehahaha, I never expected to capture a half-demon as well. Nothing can stop me now!"
"(Muffled) Don't be so sure."
(...Glow, SLASH)
As soon as his half-demon form returns, the silverette breaks free of the vine cocoon with his dog fang sword!
"Prepare to die, Tōkajin! Or should I say, Ninmenka?"
"Just try and slay me, half-demon!"
The tree demon attempts to attack Inuyasha with its vines, but misses, allowing the latter to close in for a counterattack.
"You asked for it! See how ya like my Wind Scar!"
(Swing, SLASH)
"OWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHRRRGGHHHHH!"
(BOOM)
And with one chaotic explosion of plant matter, the demonic presence of the Ninmenka tree is no more...Inuyasha lands on a rock edge, and he catches the jewel shards before they could be lost to the carnage.
"Alright!"
...Now to head back and reassure my friends I'm still among the living.
Back up top the cliff, Shippō and Miroku's bodies emit a soft white glow, before returning to their normal sizes.
"Finally, we're back to normal again!"
"Tōkajin must've died, and that's what ended his spell on us...Those men in the box garden have probably reverted back as well..."
"...But what about Inuyasha?...Is he...?"
Coraline feels a shiver of fear run down her spine at the young fox demon's hesitant question.
...No...
Miroku grimly comments,
"When Inuyasha fell, it was still dark out...Daylight hadn't broken yet...I'm afraid there isn't much hope."
Shippō immediately fears the worst:
"Whaaaahh! Inuyasha is gone forever!"
But the other redhead refuses to believe it.
"No...No, he's no'! Inuyasha is alive; I know he is!"
"B-But he was so badly hurt, even after Besa and Freeman used their crystals, and n-no mortal could survive a fall like that!"
Miroku kneels down and says to the little fox as he's taken into Freeman's arms,
"Don't cry, Shippō. Let us pray for his repose."
Coraline pleads the monk to refrain from spouting the probable reality.
"No...please, Miroku..."
"Inuyasha left behind no regrets when he passed on. He wanted to save you, even if it cost him his life."
"...And who said my life's worth savin'?"
The young Croft suddenly stands up, directing all her anger at herself as she shouts with tears in her eyes,
"I'm no' worth dyin' over, Inuyasha! How can yeu die for someone like me, a weak human girl who barely has 'er life together?! I'm no', worth it compared to yeu!"
Once she was through, she sobs freely, and Besa hugs her from behind in an attempt to calm her down...Unbeknownst to them and the others, Inuyasha had reappeared behind them in the distance, his hazel-gold irises widening slightly from what he overheard.
...Not worth it? Is she crazy? Of course she's worth it!
Meanwhile, Miroku and Shippō each say,
"Yes, he was indeed foolish."
"Y-You said it! Inuyasha was the biggest fool of all!"
Freeman tries to dispel the sorrowful mood.
"Come on, guys, can't you be a bit more sympathe-"
"Hey!"
Having listened to all he could take, Inuyasha finally cuts into the conversation bubble.
"I'm gone for five minutes, and look what happens to all of ya! So, who are you callin' 'foolish'?"
Whirling around, Shippō leaps onto the silverette's shoulder with an overly relieved expression.
"You're alive, Inuyasha! You're alive!"
Freeman wanders over and lifts the fox demon off while quirking,
"See what happens when you jump to conclusions too quick? (Turn) Glad to see you're still tickin', Inuyasha."
Miroku quickly tries to cover his doubt:
"I knew you'd survive that seemingly fatal fall. No, really, I did!"
Inuyasha merely 'kehs', and Coraline slowly turns around to look at the returning form, her eyes filled with small tears and a smile of relief on her face.
"...Thank dhia..."
"I ain't so easy to knock off! How can you think of anything so incredibly stupid?"
...A shiver runs through the girl, before she rushes over to hug the half-demon tightly and shouting with her face muffled in his chest,
"Don' you ever scare me like tha' again, you hear me?! I almost though' yeu were dead!"
"Wha-?!"
She pulls back, trying to keep herself from sobbing all over again.
"(Sniff) You were pushin' yourself so hard, a-and, with all tha' was going on..."
Still not quite used to having anyone - nevermind a woman - crying over him, Inuyasha replies with a frown and non-tactful tone,
"Stop blubbering. I'm alive, so what's the big deal?"
...Coraline's next response is of the unexpected variety: she leans in towards Inuyasha's face...
(Chu)
"Guh!"
And kisses his cheek! The silverette is floored with shock, as were the others, the twins going as far as exclaiming,
"Did Cora just...!"
"Yep; she kissed his cheek...I did not see that coming."
Coraline pulls back as she fully registers her spontaneous actions, and pivots to one side with her hands covering her blushing face.
Oh...My...Gosh...I kissed his cheek!
Where the hell did tha' come from?!
"C-Coraline?...!"
"Hn?!"
She peers through her fingers to stare shyly up at Inuyasha, his frozen expression slowly thawing away from the heat of his own heavy blush.
"Wh-Wh-Wha...?"
"...I-Inuyasha, I..."
"Nice one, sis!"
"Huh?"
Freeman slings an arm around his sister's shoulders, cheeky grin on his face all the while.
"About time one of ya made a first move."
"First mo-Wha' the hell are yeu talkin' about?!"
"Oh come on, do I really have to spell it out?"
Coraline's blush immediately goes from embarrassed to angry, and she pushes her brother's arm off before saying in a dangerously calm voice,
"...You've go' ten seconds to run."
Freeman gulps, before turning to try and run for the house with his sister in hot pursuit.
"Get back here, ya eejit!"
"Please don't kill me!"
Watching them go, Shippō comments from atop Besa's shoulder in mild surprise,
"Well this is new: usually it's Inuyasha who gets in trouble with Coraline."
The Brownlee with cornrowed hair facepalms with a sigh and replies,
"Yeah, I wish I could say this was the first time Freeman tweaked her buttons, but that'd be a dead lie right there."
He looks up from his hand and adds while looking at the silverette's features,
"...On a different but not completely unrelated topic, I have a feeling this new development in Cora's and Inuyasha's relationship isn't gonna be dropped quietly."
Miroku nods in agreement:
"Indeed...Hopefully this won't deter their relationship, but instead strengthen it."
As they discuss this, Inuyasha watches Coraline run after Freeman with a mix of emotions on his face, the dominant being...confusion...He touches his cheek where she kissed him, and wonders to himself,
Coraline...why did you, do that?