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ABC Thought
Chapter 18
7th floor
The big hall down here is not much different from the one above due to the structure of this Okiya for every floor is the same. Multiple of broken furniture's and bodies of townsmen are scattering all over the place while the only ones left standing are the Geisha and Maiko. Surprisingly, they all seem to be perfectly fine, both physically and mentally.
Aware of our presences, they remains still on their spots and not making any move. As if waiting for our first acts.
Figured that these women aren't normal, we stand on our guards and slowly move forward. As usual, Inuyasha would take the lead with Kagome and Shippou, Sango and Miroku by his side. While Sesshomaru walking just nearby and having me behind him.
Shippou approaches to the bodies lying on the floor one after another to check for survivors. Only to find their skins have turned ice cold.
"They're all dead!"
Assumed they have failed to save even a single soul, Kagome's face darkened. "Are we too late?!"
"There must be some survivors left downstairs needing for help, let's hurry." Sango eases her.
"That would mean we have to get pass these ladies first." Miroku speaks up to us.
"Feh! Leave them to me!" Inuyasha smirks and leaps up, summoning some powerful energy waves toward them. "Kaze no Kizu!"
And instead of getting swept away by the force, the women just dodge them easily and giggle at each other. We're all confused about their strange attitude until we see Inuyasha's energy waves hit the wall behind them then bounce straight back at us.
"Eh…?"
Fortunately before those things can get near to where I'm standing, Sesshomaru has already taken me with him and jumped out of the way. While Inuyasha's gang struggle to block the attack with their weapons.
"Uwahh!"
Once the waves fully disappear, Shippou trembles in fear as the others panting heavily, almost having a heart attack.
"Huff…Huff…That was close"
As if things aren't complicated enough already, Sesshomaru just has to mock the little brother for his careless action.
"Hmph! Your stupidity has never ceased to amaze me, Inuyasha."
"Bastard, What did you just say?!"
Like an old twig, he snaps easily and turns his sword against him. What's coming has to come, they face against each other as if they're long-term enemies.
"Fuck you! I'm going to take you down right here and now, along with those bitches!"
His warning only makes Sesshomaru wants to taunt him more. "Come at me, little brother."
The tension between them goes on rising. While the others sigh hopelessly.
Seriously, will we actually have a chance to make it out of here alive without them fighting for once?
Out of all the people. Why does it have to be Sesshomaru to be stuck here with Inuyasha?! Well, I do have to admit that it is me who is at fault for this to happen but still...
"Would you two stop it already?!"
Fortunately we still have Kagome in our groups to knock some senses back into their heads, by pointing at the Geisha and Maiko at the front and reminding them about the dangerous situation we are in.
"This is not the time for us to fight! Our enemies are right over there!"
Thankfully, Sesshomaru and Inuyasha cool their hot heads and we all turn our attentions back to the women in the hall.
"Azusa-sama said that she would reward whoever had their heads. Sorry dearie, but you all is going to die here!"
One of the Maiko chuckles. Gathered into one line, they jump to us all at once.
"Tough luck for ya! Because my head isn't that easy to take like other weaklings!"
Inuyasha leaps forward and aims at one of the Geisha's head, however she easily evades his assault.
"Heh, heh, too slow..."
The woman smirks fades once feeling a sharp pain at her back. She stumbles and falls onto the ground. For some reasons her strength's being drained away. Then she realizes that her chest has been pierced through from behind by an arrow, which belong to no one else but Kagome.
"That girl…She's a Miko!"
Amazed by her magical power, I give her a thumb up. "Nice shot, Kagome-chan!" and she nods.
"Minami onee-sama!"
Worried, the other women rush to the Geisha's side and growl in anger once finding that she's dead.
"You all are going to pay!"
In instant their beautiful milky human legs are replaced with a bunch of long sharp, hairy black bug legs while behind their backs grow out something round and big in black color that look similar to a spider's abdomen. On their faces, two large jaws have appears with plenty of piercing fangs and their eyes turn red as blood.
They snarl, slowly move toward to us. And everyone, except Sesshomaru, shouts in shock.
"Spider?! They are Jorogumo?!"
So they are Jorogumo, I guess everything is starting to make sense now.
"Prepare to die!"
They all charge at us with murderous aura and quickly, everyone but me and Shippou runs up to confront them. Even Kirara transforms into a larger self to give them a hand. This time, the Jogorumo shoots out tons of silks and spread them all over the room to bind their enemies.
"Watch out!" Sango alerts us and clears the way with by her giant boomerang, with the help of Kirara's fire.
Miroku stays beside her trying to cut them off with his Shakujo. "These things sure are tough."
Meanwhile, I run around in a small circle to avoid getting caught by the white thread. Luckily Sesshomaru still spare some seconds to slash away any thread aiming at my direction while fighting with the other youkai.
"Kyah!" Having both of her legs stuck into the thick threads, Kagome yelps and trips onto the floor. Within a heart beat, Inuyasha has come to her side for the rescue. "You okay, Kagome?!"
"I guess it's time for me to use this."
Miroku steps forward and removes the rosary on his right hand. As he's about to open the Kazaana however, sound of buzzing bugs are heard behind the women and he halts.
"Saimyosho?!"
The sight of the giant bees surrounding the Jogorumo causes them to gasp in shock.
"Could it be that Azusa's actually working for Naraku?!"
Simply by hearing Naraku's name, something inside Sesshomaru awakes all of his senses like a charm and he frowns, his grip on Tojikin tighten.
After finish clearing the hall, Miroku, Sango, Kagome and I search around for survivors yet our efforts have gone relevant.
"Does he really have to go this far just to kill us?" Kagome's face darkened by the deadly scene in front of her.
Sesshomaru, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be affected by this and dashes off to downstairs. Leaving everyone behind to deal with the leftovers.
Shippou watches Sesshomaru in thought, somehow is confused to see him acting much slower than before. Usually he wouldn't bother staying behind to help us fighting. I wonder if there's something here holding him down…Is he trying to protect someone?
…Is it because of that girl? Shippou glances at the short haired girl standing beside him and tilts his head. Well I guess that make sense since she's traveling with him.
"Pheh! That just gives us even more reasons to demolish this whole hell hole!"
Inuyasha declares confidently and rushes downstairs, not going to lose the race against his bastard brother.
Despite Kagome calling for him to stay from behind. "Inuyasha, wait! Jeeze, he never listens!"
Having no choice, we all rush downstairs in hope to catch up with the two stubborn male Inu youkai. And it seems that Sesshomaru has already done most of the work for us by clearing more than half of the enemies while making his way down, leaving only around 2 to 3 of Jorogumo behind who were lucky enough to survive from his massacre.
"That fucking bastard! I can't lose to him!"
Inuyasha is the only one in the group who isn't pleased about this.
"Well at least he's helping you, right?"
I comment about not having to deal with many youkai is suppose to be good thing. Only to have the guy growls back at me. "Cheh! I don't remember ever asking for help!"
Jeeze, Would the world end for them if they don't think ill of each other at least once or something?
5th floor
There's still no trace of Sesshomaru but more human's and Jogorumo's corpses on the floor. As usual, the others go on fighting while I stay safely from behind and watch, somewhat feeling guilty for not being any useful to the group.
If only I have a Naginata with me…Maybe I'll be able to help, even if just a little...And just how far did Sesshomaru go already? Has he always been this fast?
While making my way through the sea of body parts, a cold rough hand suddenly grabs my right ankle and I instantly lose my balance. Ends up falling flat on my face.
"Ow…ow!"
I groan painfully and and looks behind to check, shocked to see a villager man who is somehow managed to stay alive within the chaos.
"S..S-save…save me!" He pleads, laying on his stomach and coughing out blood. "P-please… I…don't want to die…"
So much blood, I have to do something to stop the bleeding before it's too late! Immediately I open my backpack and search for a first aid kit.
"H-hang in there, mister!"
Before I even have the chance to clean the wound however. A Jorogumo jumps down right in front of us and stabs the man in his back, instantly killing him.
Horrifying things just keep coming at me one after another as Jorogumo pulls her sharp black leg out of the corpse, pointing it right at my face, letting the red warm liquid dripping onto the surface of my skin slowly.
"You're next…"
Her maniacal laughs sends a chill down my spine that I almost burst out in tears. Quickly, I try to crawl my way out yet my legs have given out of strength to do so.
"H-Help...!"
I open my mouth to scream for help but my voice doesn't comes out. Laying there on the floor and watch the woman, who is about to end my life, helplessly.
Just about for the spider leg to reach to my neck, a line of purple light appears from behind and pierces through the Jorogumo's chest. Destroying her upper part.
"Grreekk!"
She let out a horrid scream before collapsing onto the wooden floor right next to me.
"Are you okay, Senpai?!"
Kagome rushes over to my side to check on me. Sweating heavily, face and hands are as cold as ice, I try to take a deep breath to calm myself before answering her. In a cracked voice.
"Y-Yeah..."
As soon as the words get out of my lips, tears start racing down to both of my cheeks. Against my own will and Kagome gets even more worried.
"But senpai, you are crying. Are you sure about that?"
Quickly, I wipe the tears and blood off my face then gets up on my own. Trying to act tough before her because I do not want to slow everyone down, yet still haven't stopped trembling.
If only I was stronger, none of this could have happened…If only…
Somewhere within the Okiya
"Azusa-sama! What is the meaning of this?! Could it be that the rumors about our Okiya are truth?!"
Chiyo, who is being tied by the spider silk on the ground, asks the woman standing in front of her for some explanations.
Getting annoyed of the girl's voice, Midori approaches Chiyo to seal her mouth with even more silk.
"Hush Chiyo! Can't you see that you are bothering Azusa-sama?"
While Reiko smirks at Chiyo's ridiculous expression.
"My, what a noisy girl. This is why I have been disliking you ever since."
2nd floor
"There you are, Sesshomaru!"
Inuyasha yells once he finds the guy standing alone in the middle of the big room, which is suppose to be Azusa's room. Exhausted from all the running, I lean onto the wall nearby to catch a breath.
It's strange, there is not even a single Jorogumo or Saimyosho presences in sight. Unlike any other floors we've gone through. And after checking every corner of the room yet can not find an exit, Sango calls out.
"Kagome-chan, there's no more staircases left."
"So we're stuck after all?!" Panicked, Shippou runs in circle. Hugging Kagome's legs for safety.
"Hmm…There's something odd about this room."
Miroku keeps his cool and steps further inside to investigate. With Kagome following him from behind.
"Yes, I feel it too...Could it be…?"
She stops beside Sesshomaru, pulling out an arrow to aim at the floor some inches in front of him and shoots. The ground starts to react, exploding some lightning and reveals to be a hidden entrance with staircase leading down.
"Good job, Kagome! And this time I'm going first!"
Inuyasha charges up ahead without looking back.
Just as I'm about to follow, someone grab my arm from behind to stop me from going. Confused, I turn around and find that it's Sesshomaru.
"You seem unwell."
Therefore he claims, once again his sudden concern causes me to lost for words.
"I-I'm alright, really..."
However, Sesshomaru holds me back when I attempt to take another step.
"Stay here. And wait till I come back."
Hearing him demands, I protest and yank my arm back. "No way!"
His eyes to widen in shock since this is the first time I openly refuse to listen to him.
"I'm not going to sit still when Kagome and everyone else is fighting youkai down there!"
Then I run straight ahead, not leaving him any chance to say anything or blocking my way.
Inside the basement.
"Oi! Stop stepping on my foot! Dammit!"
Inuyasha yells, coming with a sound of something hard get hits.
"Ow! Inuyasha! Why are you hitting me?!"
Shippou cries when being punched on the head for no reasons and Kagome starts apologizing.
"I'm sorry Inuyasha, it's just too dark..."
After that is a sound of someone's cheeks being slapped hard along with Sango's murderous voice. "Miroku…!"
And he laughs wryly, doesn't seem to be ashamed for one bit. "Heh heh…"
Meanwhile I'm trying to keep my balance between the narrow walls. As always, the dark isn't fond of me and I end up tripping on the footsteps. Luckily, Sesshomaru, who is walking just right behind me, has reached out his arm in time to catch me before I fall and drag the entire group down with me.
"T-Thank you..."
We pause for a little until he let go and walks ahead of me.
"Be more careful next time."
I hear him murmurs when passing by.
Soon we finally reach to a huge double wooden doors with two torches by each side of the rock wall. Doesn't feel like waiting, Inuyasha pushes the gate wide open to step inside. "Oi! Azusa, we're here!"
Behind the old creepy door and staircases is actually a fancy room that has a long red carpet on the floor that leads straight to a huge golden chair, which Azusa is sitting on. Scattering on the ground are human bones, spider webs and sack of white eggs, huge ones. Placed in the middle of each side of the wall there are torches to light up the place.
"Greetings my dear guests. I hope my daughters didn't cause too much trouble for you"
Standing at the highest spot of all, Azusa welcomes us with open arms.
"Cheh! They're nothing! If you want to kill me, you shoulda prepared more properly!"
Inuyasha's mocks back.
"Who are you?"
Kagome asks and Azusa chuckles, taking the chance that everyone has gathered to introduce herself more properly.
"I am the head mistress of the Jorogumo clan resides in this town, known as Amegumo Azusa. It is I who built this Okiya years ago and the mysterious rumors about this place were also originally mine. Together with my lovely daughters, we take advantage of men sexual desires in order to lure them into this place and feed on their delicious fleshes."
"But why did you have to spread out the rumor? Wouldn't that be ruining your business?"
Somewhat unclear about her motivation, Shippou raises his voice.
"Curiosity killed the cat. Men just love mysteries, don't you think so?"
She says, her gaze shift from Inuyasha to Sesshomaru, also Miroku.
So Azusa did that so she could attract men who are not interested in the Okiya services. Clever.
"Then what about me?! Am I also a youkai?!"
Chiyo cries in despair and the woman shakes her head. "Oh no my dear. You are simply a human girl whom I took in when still a baby due to one sympathetic moment of mine for killing your parents on that rainy night, 15 years ago…"
"Is this some kind of a joke?! the Azusa-sama that I know would never kill innocent people…You would never kill my parents, right?!"
Chiyo refuses to believe such cruel reality. "Please! someone please tell me that this isn't the truth…"
"Midori? Reiko?" Turning to her so-called-good-friends, she begs for them to show a bit of mercy to her soul yet only receive an absolute silent.
Finally realize that her whole life has been nothing but a sweet illusion, Chiyo flops down and stares at the ground mindlessly.
Curious about her strange reaction, Midori approaches and notices that she's crying while muttering something that only herself can hear. "Hmm… I suppose she's broken. And here I thought she would eventually take the news well. How sad."
"Would you cut all the crap?! Azusa, what is your relation with Naraku?! Did he give you the Saimyosho nests?!"
Angered at how they treat the girl poorly, Inuyasha yells.
"Yes, it is Naraku who provided them to me. And it's also him who informed me about your arrivals."
The woman holds out the bee's nest lying on her palm for us to see. Recalling to some days ago, Naraku had appeared and offered her his aid to destroy their the potential threats.
"What's more, he even promised me a piece of Shikon no Tama if I successfully have your heads."
After hearing those naive word of hers, Inuyasha bursts out laughing. "Naraku promised you the jewel?! Hah! Idiot, you just got yourself tricked!"
"Hmph! even if he doesn't…You all still going to die for messing with my nest!"
"Pheh! It was you who asked for it to begin with!"
Inuyasha points Tessaiga at her and taunts. "Come and get me!"
Therefore his overly confident earns a deadly glare from Midori. "Arrogant worm!"
And Reiko's mischievous grins. "I kinda like him, he seems fun to toy with~"
"Oh, did I mention to you that Saimyosho nests is not the only gift I receive from Naraku?"
Azusa gestures her hands around like making a sign. "Come to me, my pets!"
Immediately the whole room rumbles and something breaks through the wooden floor from below. Revealing to be two giant red and black centipedes. Then both Midori and Reiko swiftly jump onto each centipede head to take control over them.
As for Azusa part, she has gotten out her human shell and turned into a eight-legged, hundreds of red eyes giant black hairy spider, carrying two big jaws and long sharp fangs.
Also, did I mention that this thing even have spiky thorns on its back?
"Eekk!" Kagome and I hug each other in disgust after witnessing her marvelous form. While Chiyo just sit there holding her head lifelessly, not bothering to know what is running around her.
"Good! The more the merrier!"
Inuyasha becomes even more excited at the sight of strong enemies in front of him and leaps up with Tessaiga in his hands, attempting to be the one to strike Azusa first.
"You're not going to touch Azusa-sama when I'm still around, Hanyou!"
He ends up being whacked violently to the wall by the red centipede, which is under Midori's command, on the left side. Worried for his safety, Kagome rushes over to him as Sango, Miroku and Kirara run ahead to confront the red centipede.
Figured that this would be a complicated battle, Sesshomaru orders me to stay behind before charging forward to get Azusa. Though he's soon be stopped half way by the black centipede on the right side.
"Your opponent is me, dearie."
Reiko chuckles, waving her finger at the handsome man and not letting him through that easily.
Sesshomaru dashes to where she is and swings Tokijin. However, Reiko has jumped out of the centipede head to avoid the assault. Now that he's wide open, she fires white threads at Sesshomaru to slow him down. So that black centipede can smash him onto the ground with its body.
Alright, let's see if there is anything I can do to help. While the enemies are being distracted, I back off slowly with Shippou to find a safe place. Yet only having a few steps away, the eggs around us start to hatch and more spiders jump out. Eventually block the entire path, including the wooden double doors .
"Hiiieee!"
We both yelp in disgust as the hatchlings begin to chase after us, and we have no choice but to run back to where the others are...
"Cheh! You wanna play huh?! Fine, eat this!"
Inuyasha leaps up onto the air again to deal a long slash at the red centipede's head. Only to have his sword immediately bounced back due to its super hard shell. "What the?!"
"No matter how much I hit that thing. The shell just won't budge, not even a single scratch!"
Sango alerts her group members and notice that Sesshomaru's also having some difficulties to destroy the giant bug.
"Guys, guys...! S-Spiders, more of them!"
Hearing my desperate call from afar, Kagome spins around. She flinches by the sea of black spiders chasing after me from behind. Quickly she fires the arrow to my direction to destroy some yet more and more of them just keep coming up.
"There are too many! I don't think I will have enough arrows for this!"
Then Miroku's steps ahead to open his Kazaana to suck them all in. Only to have Saimyosho appeared once again to stop him. "Damn it!"
"Uwah uwah. W-What are we going to do?!"
Shippou flutters, hiding behind Kagome's legs when the bugs start getting closer and slowly gathering us into a small circle in the middle of the room.
Soon after Sesshomaru lands next to me, still not leaving his eyes off the giant black centipede on the right. Inuyasha also has returned back to Kagome's side, keeping his Tessaga firmly against the red centipede on the left. Miroku, Sango and Kirara quickly regroup with us and we are now having our backs facing each other.
From further ahead, Azusa and the two girls are laughing at our hopeless efforts.
"Heh heh heh, Now be good and stay quietly while I devour every single one of you…"