Chapter 38
Dying to Live
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
It was fortunate that their monstrous foes really were not very intelligent, Kohaku thought to himself as a trickle of sweat rolled down and stung his fatigued eyes.
Still what they lacked in smarts, worryingly, they made up for it with terrifying resilience.
Therefore the last so many minutes had passed dramatically, as their little group fanned out from from the western wall of the village hall. Somehow, they had contained the monsters' attack and mainly kept them on this side of the building. This was really something, as Kohaku could see his companions were not really that well trained to hold off hordes of demons with minimal resources like typical taijya trained to do. He was aware they had landed some pretty great hits, and he wouldn't expect less from those who had helped fight against Naraku. However, he already planned, if they survived this, that they would have some practice to do, coordinating attacks and managing multiple foes one-on-one-
Kohaku gritted his teeth, as he bounded past the snapping mouth of a beast. He narrowly managed to flip the kusarigama's chain around its thick neck. Can't get distracted now! It could be a lost leg or something worse, if he wasn't careful. He inwardly reprimanded himself and yanked with all his might to take the angry creature to the ground.
Thunk, splurt, the sickle end of the kusarigama thrust across the back of the prone monster's neck. Acrid smelling black blood flew gruesomely across the front of Kohaku's neck and core and mingled coldly with his sweat. Unfortunately, his blade had not found any real purchase to slash through the unnatural wolf's neck and instead only left a nasty gash. Distractedly, Kohaku fumbled his grip on the weapon's chain. Forcing himself to dart back, the slayer freed the kusarigama's chain, nearly missing a bite to his Achilles' tendon in his retreat.
With a frustrated curse, Kohaku forced himself to stop and catch his breath. Carefully, he glanced over past where Hachi remained too far back from their attackers to do any real good; instead, he feebly murdered the air with his kaiken dagger. Then, Kohaku noticed Ginta.
On the other side of the raccoon-dog, their wolven allies were doing much better. In his periphery vision, he observed, as they teamed up to run at one of their possessed, former comrades. Though it probably hurt them to do it to one they had once known, in unison the brothers tore at its chest dangerously with their kujang blades. Just like the hits Kohaku had scored though, the same thing: the blades cut, but not deep enough for meaningful damage.
Respiration back under control, Kohaku spun neatly and decked another wolf hard with the heavy weight on the kusarigama's chain. In the moment the beast was stopped from the beating he gave it, he turned and powerfully back kicked it upside the head. It yelped and rolled away in confusion. Those of its mates that had been too close to it, found themselves bowled over, as the kicked wolf flailed stupidly into them. Kohaku shook his head wearily.
While the monsters in front of him regrouped, he took a look at Shippou, who stood on his opposite side from Hachi, Ginta and Hakkaku. Shippou was not doing too badly with his cudgel, especially since Kohaku did not even know that he knew how to wield it. With wide swings, he was able to batter two or three of the beasts about their skulls in one turn. It seemed to shake the beasts but they kept coming back for more.
Then something changed, as Shippou raised two fingers to his mouth, as if he was about to shush the monsters. A tiny whisp of verdant green flickered between the digits, as the fox blew gently with his signature magic leaf. Kohaku watched as the weapon in the kistune's hands shuddered, and the end flailed about having become a chain whip. With heavy steel bars in between the chain-links, the flail had two thick wooden ends now. The end that whipped through the air at the beast between Shippou and Kohaku wrapped around the wolf's front leg.
In a snap decision, Kohaku drew out the second sickle that was sheathed on his back and charged the beast stuck in the kitsune's flail.
"WAIT, and hold'im, Shippou!" Kohaku shouted, lunging into the attack with both kusarigama's sickle and the second sickle out. While Shippou held the creature's leg, Kohaku flew in with speed that in his exhaustion he didn't know he still had. He closed the sickles on the wolf's trapped leg as hard as he could.
The blades sliced in on the creature's leg. For a moment, Kohaku feared it wouldn't work, but then the blades met and severed the leg clean off at the joint.
"Yes!" Shippou gasped and then hooted, just as amazed as Kohaku.
Falling off away from the wolf in opposite directions, Shippou and Kohaku dropped back in awe as the severed leg tumbled away. The zombic wolf whined and snapped its jaws through the air, incensed at its attackers.
"EWWW! Its legggggg!" Hachi cried out in disgust beside them.
"Hey, look at that!" Ginta cheered, leaping back from drop kicking a snarling monster in the head, while Hakkaku blocked two more attacking beasts from the other side.
The amputee wolf still hobbled powerfully on its other three legs while black blood flowed from the hacked off joint. They looked over at it while the fight continued. The monster was obviously bothered by the loss of its leg, though it was still fighting disturbingly well.
More importantly though, the leg did not appear to be mending. "Look it can't grow back right away! And it looks like no miasma present!" Kohaku shouted over the din of the fighting.
Inspired, Ginta and Hakkaku dove in together on a wolf in front of them. Ginta slammed his two kujang blades down into the beast's haunches. While dark blood sprayed about, Hakkaku swooped in with his two kujangs and lopped off the monster's front paw. Once more, they watched, and again thankfully, sensed that no miasma came out.
"Ugh, I kinda feel bad doing this to one of our former pack members," Hakkaku cringed, as the wolf fell back banging into the others around it while it registered shock at the severed limb.
"I agree, brother," Ginta replied, trying to overcome his sense of horror as well. As a wolf tried to leap past him toward the village hall, he swiped it out of the way with both kujang blades out. The wolf screeched and rolled away dumbly before circling back again to attack from the group. "It's not them anymore though, and this looks like the only thing that can stop them now."
"I have to believe Kouga would agree. They're no longer themselves. We're left with no choice: we have to destroy them before they cause any more harm," Hakkaku grunted, as he kicked another attacking monster upside the head. The creature stumbled back, its zombified brain jarred.
Kohaku swallowed hard as he listened to their allies making up their resolve. This was still getting extremely tiring though, and cutting off all their legs was going to take a while...
As if on cue then, a loud whinnying scream from the stables sounded, and a horse's back hoof blasted through the wood paneling. Splinters flew all around. Inside the villagers screamed at the sound.
"NO!" Shippou shouted, dashing over to use some quick fox magic to patch the hole in the wood with a spell-enhanced scarf. Right then the horse slammed the structure from the inside again. The building's structure lurched scarily.
Shit, how can we speed this up? Kohaku cursed. He forced a cluster of the now frenzied wolves back with several flicks of his sickle blades. Black blood stunk of decay all around.
Kohaku's breath hitched. He turned suddenly to witness a wolf jump directly within reach of Hachi. Gripped in a grey paw, the kaiken blade instantly drove into the monster's right eye.
Hachi screamed like a little girl, as the slayer quickly darted to his side, though Hachi had already done the dirty work. Smelly, demonic blood spurted onto the racoon-dog's face, as he yanked his dagger free. The stabbed monster reeled chaotically from the wound to its eye.
An idea suddenly blossomed in the young demon slayer's mind. Of course! If only it'll work now-
"Ginta! Hachi! Come to me if you can!" Kohaku commanded. Ginta ordered his brother to hold off the wolves from their side. Hachi eep'd and made his way over shakily, the wet kaiken still drawn in his paw. Shippou took his place to defend.
"The next one that comes at me, I'm gonna throw the chain over its neck!" Kohaku explained urgently.
"As soon as I pull it toward us, Hachi, go in for both eyes with that dagger, and don't stop! Ginta, don't hesitate with those kujangs – try your best to uppercut through its throat with both knives at once!" the demon slayer commanded, just as one of the monsters sprang for them.
The kusarigama's heavy stone weight flew through the air from Kohaku's hand. He gripped the sickle end's handle tightly, though his hands were sweating profusely. This has to work, he prayed.
The weight flipped rapidly around so that the chain encircled the beast's neck tightly. Kohaku powerfully dropped the full weight of his body toward the ground, and forced the monster to kneel. Immediately, he gave the chain an expert snap and dragged it toward them. In the trapped monster's confusion, Kohaku banged its skull hard with the sickle's handle to disorient it.
"Hachi!" Kohaku yelled. Fearfully wailing, the raccoon-dog dove with the kaiken's super sharp blade on the creature. Hachi landed a fierce flurry of blows on its eyes just as Kohaku had instructed. The slayer darted to the monster's shoulder and pulled up hard on the chain as the animal thrashed wildly at the raccoon-dogs's continued stabbing.
Without hesitation, Ginta flew in with both kujangs pointed. As he made contact, both kujangs swept like scissor blades across the monster's throat. Just as Kohaku had hoped, the kujangs tore their way up through the beast's gullet. Fighting through the nasty flesh, bone and sinew, Ginta pulled with his enhanced demonic strength. Even so, their ally fought as he dragged the blades the rest of the way through the monster's neck. To help Ginta, Kohaku sweated, as he pulled on the chain with all his might.
Hachi screamed all-on bloody murder as the horrible black blood fountained heavily on to all three of them a moment later. As they stumbled back from the wrecked body, the gross fluid covered their hands, chests and faces. Ginta's cut nearly passed all the way through, barring just a flap of the creature's matted pelt. Horribly, the head flapped grimly off to the side of the monster's spastic body.
Kohaku stepped up but faltered, as the blood made his hands slip on the kusarigama's handle. He still managed to cut the head away fully. Elated and distracted though, the young demon slayer missed that another wolf lunged for him.
"Kohaku!" Ginta called with fear, unable to react fast enough.
The slayer flinched, as the hair rose on the back of his neck. In a flash, an unfamiliar screechy growl exploded next to his ear. Then he realized that unexpectedly, the raccoon-dog had shoulder-checked him aside just in time.
Still shaking, the slayer looked around into Hachi's eyes, white with rage. The chubby demon's fangs were barred. Given the angle, he'd stabbed the possessed wolf directly in the throat where it had come for Kohaku's shoulder. With a scream, the raccoon-dog slashed powerfully through half of the skewered creature's neck.
Kohaku's eyes went wide. Reminder, never get on Hachi's bad side!
"AW YEAH! Hachi's a taskmaster!" Ginta whooped, diving in again with both kujangs to lop off another head to finish the raccoon-dog's work.
Hachi simply screamed again senselessly in reply, clearly just overcome at the pandemonium.
Kohaku gripped his chest at so nearly having been bitten. He would have to thank Hachi later. Now they had more heads to lop off.
"Shippou!" Kohaku called. "Use your whip-chain to help Hakkaku!"
"Already on it!" the kitsune called. Two fingers to his lips, Shippo slammed his cudgel's end to the ground so that it bounced back up into his hands, once more enchanted into a whip-chain.
In moments, the battle turned bloodier still, as our group of heroes took turns capturing, blinding and beheading one monster at a time. Together they took turns attacking and defending, while some combination of Ginta, Hakkaku, and Hachi with their superior strength did the main work of decapitating. Though through his younger years and training with his father, Sango, and their village - of which Kohaku had begun with Sango's help to remember bits and pieces of the past - he had once feared most demons aside from their partners, the brave nekomata; but now, Kokahu found himself deeply grateful for the strength of his admirable, inhuman allies.
The team's progress showed in the black, stinking demonic blood pooled on the dirt at their feet. With their comrades dropping in rapid numbers and at last permanently, the remaining possessed wolves' interest was slowly dying off from the village hall and stables. Instead, instinct turned their attention to attack the demon slayer and his friends.
Kohaku's heart raced scarily with every demon that he yanked forward with his kusarigama. His knuckles bruised dark purple from pulling on the worn chain, which he kept wiping dry with the hem of his untucked undershirt. The fabric had turned dark, saturated with blood smears. Pain flashed behind his eyes, as the chain slipped in his hands when the wolf body below him jerked strongly. Hakkaku and Ginta fought to drag their blades through the monster's gullet, and Shippou smashed his cudgel against its face and maw. Somewhere behind the young demon slayer, Hachi's screech pierced the air. He guessed the raccoon-dog was fighting off another demon that was trying to slash at Kohaku from behind.
We're doing well. We can do it. The mantra rolled through the demon slayer's mind, as he told himself to keep going. We can't give up, we can't give up.
They had taken down about 10 of the remaining beasts with only about half a dozen of them still standing, though injured, including the pack-leader. There wasn't much farther to go, the pack-leader would be the hardest...
Jerkily, Kohaku tiredly kicked aside the carcass of the demon they had just downed, when the screams of the villagers shot up unlike before: "KAJI! KAJI DA! KAJI DAAAA!"
Kohaku rooted to the spot. His stomach lurched, dropping like a rock, as the words grew more intelligible and unmistakable.
No-
"Kohaku, they're right!" Shippou said gripping his human friend's arm. "I can smell it – the building's catching fire!"
"I can too," Hakkaku followed up to report to the stunned slayer. Hachi and Ginta looked Kohaku's way too, as they finished pushing back two of the possessed wolves. "Something is starting to burn in there-"
Before Kohaku could respond, one of the stabled horses deafened their hearing. In barely the blink of an eye, the air around the group of friends exploded with a crack. The bang was like thunder, as a spray of demolished lumber broke and flung all around. The pieces stung like shrapnel.
"NOOO," the cry escaped Kohaku's lips at last, as he dropped and covered his face with his hands. Something heavy hit and glanced off of him from behind.
"Ughnnn." The slayer recognized Shippo's guttural, pained cry. His friend must have been less lucky in deflecting the splintering wood.
"The horses!" Ginta cried, as stamping hooves shook the ground around them. Kohaku's head reeled, he could not will himself to look up to avoid being trampled.
"Kohaku!" Shippou was pulling him up urgently by his collar, though the human's vision spun. Snarling of the remaining wolves lashed the air, and the freed horses danced around frantically, too near to them. Everything was happening fast. The villagers were now exposed to the scene outside the hall from where the horses had devastated the adjoining wall between the stables and hall. One of escaped horses - it looked like Rin's - lifted up on its hind legs in fury. The huge pack-leader bounded up quickly, viciously latching onto its neck.
Kohaku lost focus, as the horse's scream split the air. The villagers screamed when the beast presumably tore out a chunk of the animal's throat. The slayer's eyes landed on Shippou, who shook him, trying to bring the slayer back around. "Kohaku, the fire, we need to do something now!" the fox yelled at him, and Kokahu winced, as he straightened his thoughts out.
He looked where Shippou gestured and panicked. Several of the villagers attempted to push their way out of the gaping hole in the building. "NO!" Kohaku shouted, having come to himself and broke from the fox's grasp. "DON'T COME OUT! IT'S NOT SAFE YET!" the slayer stumbled in their direction and waved his arms.
"But the fire! The fire!" A woman shouted, trying to hold back several of her neighbors who were obviously pushing hard from behind her to get out.
"The building's on fire!" an old man also yelled. He came climbing out over part of the ruined wall despite leaning heavily into other people partially blocking his way.
"But you can't come out here!" Kohaku shouted in alarm.
"Kohaku!" Shippou called his friend's attention. Kohaku looked over more closely at the kitsune, who had his own red blood gushing down his left cheek. Splinters of wood flecked his glamorized skin. The fox pointed away into the village. "The wolves are heading off with the horses!"
"Shippou's right, those demons are retreating." Ginta and Hakkaku came jogging back quickly. "We can't save the horses, but we are smelling more smoke – we can help get these people out."
"Right," Kohaku agreed turning back to the woman, who had been clinging to the wall. He caught her while people abruptly pushed her, and she stumbled out awkwardly. Though the woman cringed at Hakkaku's odd looks, in her fear she didn't protest as Kohaku quickly handed her away to the humanoid demon.
There wasn't enough space in the gap in the wall to let the villagers out fast enough. Even with his significantly weaker human nose, Kohaku whiffed smoke now too. A thin billowing cloud drifted over the heads of the villagers, clustering to push their way out of the hole.
"Ginta, Hakkaku, and Hachi! Go over to my right and start pulling the boards back as best you can from the building. Open the hole so more people can get out faster!" Kohaku shouted as he smashed down the last few pieces of impeding wood directly in front of him. Right after, he pulled another woman out into the open from the building.
"Hey, hey!" Kohaku shouted into the distressed crowd. "Can someone try to open the main door to the hall, so you all don't have to come out this way?"
However, it was no good. As Kohaku reached forward again to help someone out, he was only met with the distressed calls of "Let me OUT! Let me out NOW!"
Shaking his head, the slayer helped one more old man out then unsheathed the spare farm sickle he had on him. Sweating, he turned the dull end of the blade to pry off the boards on his side of the opening. The hole opened wider, but would they be fast enough to beat the fire?
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Note: Hey, all - more author's notes next time, just the cliff hanger for now! Mwahaha.
Peace, Origamikungfu.