Complete the Circle
Chapter Thirty-Five: Shattered Dreams
Shippou tried desperately to free Kohaku from the youkai's grasp. He didn't want to use his powered up fox fire for he was afraid of injuring Kohaku, but he didn't know what else to do. All he was doing was changing forms to try and wrench Kohaku from the seaweed demon before he suffocated Kohaku, but he was failing miserably. Already Kohaku had fallen unconscious from the lack of oxygen. A bit more, and he would die.
I'm so weak! Why can't I save my friend? It's just one person and I can't even manage to help them, he reprimanded himself, fear driving him to change into another form. He risked his life to free me, and now I can't even save him!
Kohaku had stabbed a stick into the youkai and popped one of his strange bulbous structures, causing the youkai to shriek in pain and let Shippou go. But for revenge, he had grabbed Kohaku instead, and was now choking the life out of him.
Help me, someone…anyone! Help me…Inuyasha… Shippou cried. He was too small. He was too weak. He would never amount to anything; he would never be able to help those he loved; he would forever be a burden to his friends.
"Kitsune-bi!" he shouted, resorting to his last power. However, the demon just used an extension of the seaweed to snuff the fire out, rendering Shippou powerless to stop the monster. Shippou changed his form again, this time borrowing the form of Inuyasha.
"Sankon Tetsusou!" Shippou shouted, driving his claws deep into the seaweed demon. But his claws just slipped harmless off the demon, causing the demon no injury. Shippou knew that it was hopeless; he had changed his form to imitate Inuyasha, but he could never be the real one.
Miroku gazed as the water from the bamboo leaves dripped into the pond, causing small ripples in the otherwise calm surface. He felt alone. He was the only one who had the slightest motivation to go on with this mission, and he knew that he didn't have the right to drag anyone else down with him, especially Sango. Inuyasha had been right. He was doing this for his own benefit.
He sighed as he leaned against the doorframe, watching the sunlight reflect off the pond's clear surface. And still the water drops from the leaves dripped down upon the glassy surface, rippling the peace of the water. He frowned. That was strange. A water droplet had just fallen into the pond, but instead on one ripple, it had formed two. Was that even possible? Was this some sort of omen?
"Miroku," Sango said, startling him.
"Yes?" he asked, putting on his best mask. He was a fool to let her get so close to him again. He was a fool, just like the first time.
"Miroku, what's wrong?" she asked, her face radiating sorrow at something that he could not, or would not understand.
"Nothing's wrong," he said, his mask still in place. He couldn't stand being with her anymore. He didn't want to hurt her even more.
"Miroku, you idiot!" she shouted out suddenly. "Why are you always this way? Whenever you have the slightest of problems, you always turn away from the people who care about you. Well this time, I'm not going to let you go off alone! I don't care what you think of me. I don't care if you find me annoying. But I'm going to stay by your side, and if you try to pry me off, I'll make you wish you were never born!"
Miroku only watched in silence as Sango yelled at him, and a true smile tugged at his mouth. Under normal circumstances, he would have been wary of Sango's threat, but it was difficult to heed her warning, especially since she was standing in front of him, weeping. His hand reached out to her and patted her shoulder slightly.
"Sango," he said gently, waiting for her to make eye contact with him. "I would never try to pry you off. You know me," he said, laughing slightly, "You're the one who's going to have to pry me off you."
He felt his heart lighten immensely when Sango offered a small smile. But it was short lived. He knew he was lying. When it came time to hunt Naraku, he was going to leave her. He wasn't going to be so selfish as to lead her to danger.
Suddenly Sango caught him in a tight hug, and he could feel her shaking with her sobs. He didn't know what to do. Sango had never acted like this before. She was always the reserved one, the quiet one, the one that did not like to show her emotions of affection willingly. And here she was, hugging him? Wasn't she the one who had always admonished him for touching other people?
"Don't leave me, Miroku," her muffled voice reached his ears. He felt himself stiffen. "Don't ever leave me. Promise me, Miroku. Promise me." He couldn't make this promise. He would never make this promise.
"I…" he started, but he didn't know what to say.
"I couldn't stand it if I lost you," she said, her voice soft. "I know it's selfish of me to think this way…" He wanted grab her and tell her that she wasn't selfish, that she was the least selfish person he had known, and that it was he who was selfish. It was he who was selfish enough to win a girl's affections, only to throw them away for the sake of regaining his life.
"Sango…" he said, prying her gently away from him. I guess I already went against my own words, he thought bitterly, as he remembered that he had just told her that he would never pry her off him.
"Miroku," she interrupted before he could speak. "I will go with you. I will be there for you when you start your mission," she said determinedly. "As a youkai exterminator, it is my duty to exterminate scum like Naraku, so I will be there, alongside you…" Until the very end, right Sango? But I don't want it to be your end. I don't want you to be there.
Suddenly Souta burst through the front door, panting heavily.
"H-help. Kohaku… Youkai," he said between breaths. Sango gasped in surprise.
"Souta! What's wrong?" Kagome asked as she entered the hallway and saw her brother.
"Someone. Help Kohaku and Shippou," Souta said as he slowly regained his breath.
"Where?" Miroku demanded. He couldn't let Kohaku die. He couldn't bear to see Sango sad again.
"The park," Souta barely had enough time to say before Miroku was out the door, running towards the nearby park. He was closely followed by Sango, then by Kagome.
Please let us get there in time, he prayed. But what was he going to do once he got there?
Shippou leaned against the tree, trying to catch his breath. He was so close that time. He had almost gotten Kohaku free, but that stupid youkai had to grab him back into his mess of weeds again. At least Kohaku had gotten some badly needed air in those few minutes, but now the cycle was repeating again, and Shippou knew that he didn't have the strength to fight this demon forever.
Suddenly a curved stick swung through the air and hit the youkai on the back of his head. Shippou looked and saw that Sango, Kagome and Miroku had arrived. He let out a sigh of relief. They would help him. But where was Inuyasha?
"Let my brother go," Sango said firmly, though Shippou saw no means for Sango to fight the demon with. Undoubtedly, the demon noticed it too.
"Sango-chan, use Tetsusaiga's barrier," Kagome said as she gave Sango the sword that she had been holding when she left Toutousai. Sango took the sword in her hand dubiously, and swung the sword with its sheath still on at the demon. The gooey blob only laughed at Sango's efforts. The outer layer of seaweed was being melted by Tetsusaiga's barrier, but it seemed to not injure the youkai at all.
Suddenly Sango made a downward sweep with the sword, cutting Kohaku free from the tentacles of seaweed. Kagome quickly pulled Kohaku away, but the youkai suddenly grabbed them both and enveloped them in the suffocating weeds.
"Kitsune-bi!" Shippou shouted frantically, trying to get the two out. He had to risk hurting them, otherwise the two would die in the youkai's embrace. But his attack once again had no effect.
"Damn it! If I only had a weapon…" Shippou heard Miroku say to himself. Shippou felt despair start to creep into his young bones. His fox fire did not affect the demon. Miroku could not use his air void unless he wanted everyone to die. Sango had no weapon, except for Tetsusaiga, which no one could use except for Inuyasha. They were going to be doomed.
"Shippou!" Miroku shouted, "Can you transform yourself into a weapon?"
Shippou nodded quickly and ran to Miroku. But as he ran there, the youkai suddenly loomed in front of him and tried to grab him again. Shippou quickly scampered away from the demon, but the demon only turned around and caught Miroku instead.
Shippou tried to turn himself into a blade and cut the youkai, but in his panic, he turned into a pan instead. He cursed himself. He saw Miroku smile slightly at the child's blunder.
Stupid Miroku. How can he smile at a time like this? Shippou thought to himself grumpily as he tried to transform again. He turned into a giant ax and tried to cut down the youkai, but he tripped over his tail. Why do I have a tail? Shippou wondered. He looked at his transformation and saw that it was only half complete. What was going on? He tried to transform into something else, but that one didn't turn out too well either. He looked at the shard in his hand to see if it was malfunctioning, and saw that the shard was glowing with a strange purple light.
He heard Sango scream Miroku's name as he was swallowed in the ocean of seaweeds, and he tried to grab Miroku, but he couldn't. Something was wrong with the shard. It was trying to rip itself out of his hand. He quickly clamed his other hand over his hand, and kept the shard in place. Sango threw Tetsusaiga at the youkai, only to have it flung back over her head, where someone caught the sword. Suddenly the pull on the shard was dispersed and the Shikon shard returned to its original color.
Inuyasha ran as fast as he could towards the park. They were so stupid! How could they have gone after a youkai without any assistance? Not that he could have been any help, but still! They were going to get themselves killed.
He could see a place in the park where the trees were moving around strangely as if something was whipping against them. He was going to take a wild guess that the youkai was there.
He suddenly felt something tug inside him, but he ignored it and the feeling passed. He wondered if he was starting to imagine things. He wasn't given much time to let his mind wander before a sword was thrown through the trees right at him. He caught the sword on instinct and saw that it was Tetsusaiga. Had they tried to fight with this broken sword? No… The blade is still in the sheath…
He ran up to where the sword had come from and saw that everyone, except for Shippou, had been caught by the smelly demon. It didn't look like he had much time before they all suffocated to death. Miroku and Sango were still struggling to get out, but Kagome…
Kagome!
He swung Tetsusaiga out of its sheath angrily and sliced the top of the seaweed youkai off, causing the ball of weeds to fall apart and release its victims. Miroku and Sango were both coughing, trying to get the slime out of their lungs, but Kagome and Kohaku weren't moving.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, running towards her. He didn't know why he was so worried about her. It wasn't like he had known her for that long…
To his relief, she coughed out the slime and started breathing again. Sango quickly went to her brother, and soon both were conscious again, slimy, but conscious.
"Inuyasha…" Kagome coughed. "Y-you… You can touch Tetsusaiga!"
He looked in surprise as he realized that he really had taken the sword out and used it. What did that mean?
Suddenly something black moved out from under the pile of seaweed. The being swung its slick black hair over its shoulder and its piercing electric silver eyes gazed at them in contempt.
"Do you really think that it is so easy to defeat me?" he asked. Inuyasha shoved Kagome behind him on instinct.
"Bastard. What did you think you were doing?" growled Inuyasha, Tetsusaiga in front of him and ready to cut the demon down.
"I was having fun. What did it look like I was doing?" he asked, his voice cool and calm. He raised one hand in front of him, and electricity started to spark between his obsidian nails.
"What is it?" Kagome asked, not realizing that she was hiding behind Inuyasha like she used to.
"He's an electric eel youkai," Inuyasha replied softly, trying to find his opponent's weakness. "He was hiding in the seaweed so that you wouldn't know his true form. Eel youkai often do that."
Suddenly the youkai attacked, his fist of electricity coming towards Inuyasha. Inuyasha parried with Tetsusaiga, but felt the shock of electricity run through his arms. But he didn't let go of the sword. He knew that was what the youkai wanted.
"Guess that didn't work," the youkai said. Inuyasha noticed that the youkai seemed to be listening to someone. But who? He couldn't hear anyone.
"All right, kid, give me the shard," the youkai said lazily, whipping his long black hair behind him.
What shard? Oh yeah… Stupid Shikon no Tama…
"Get it if you can," Inuyasha challenged. He could feel the power of Tetsusaiga pulsing through him. He would slice down that youkai the next time he attacked.
Predictably, the youkai attacked, using the exact same attack as before.
"Prepare to die!" the youkai shouted, electricity pulsing through his arm.
"Impudent!" Inuyasha said as he sliced the youkai. The eel youkai turned around in the last minute so only his hair had been sliced off.
"Why you little—!" the youkai cursed as he surveyed his damaged hair. "I'll get you for that! Do you know how much seaweed I had to invest in to get my hair as shiny as this?" he demanded. Inuyasha thought that he was being a bit oversensitive about his lousy hair. He made a move as if to blast the group with a shot of his electricity when he suddenly twitched and his entire manner changed.
He looked up slowly and smiled in a way foreign to Inuyasha, but all too familiar to the others.
She carefully placed her queen in the designated area, waiting patiently for her partner to make the next move.
"Your turn," she said silkily. Her opponent suddenly twitched and looked around frantically.
"Wha—where am I?" he demanded.
"Just play the game. Tono-sama should be back soon. Then you can return to your own body," she said calmly, waiting for him to move his piece.
"What the hell are you talking—Oh shit!" he cussed as he realized what was going on. "Put me back! Put me back now!" he shouted at her face. She just brushed a stray hair out of her face idly.
"I don't have the power to do that," she said, yawning.
"You bit—" but he was cut off.
"So, how did it go?" she asked, calm as ever.
"I want you to remove that sword from him."
"I figured you lost," she said, and was unprepared for the blow that hit her. She fingered her quickly bruising cheek slightly and cursed him.
"Go now. And I don't want to hear any more disrespect from you," he said.
"Of course, tono-sama," she said sarcastically as she left the door. Fucking asshole, she thought as she touched her swelling cheek that was quickly healing itself again. If it weren't for the fact that he has my heart, I would have ended his life long ago…
"Kaze no Kizu!" Inuyasha shouted as the demon was sliced into hundreds of tiny pieces. The trees behind him were blown off their roots, and a majority of the park lay in ruins. It was a good thing that people had the sense to get away while the battle was occurring, otherwise he didn't know how many would have been injured.
"This sword is pretty handy," he said as the large blade returned to its rusty condition.
"Inuyasha, you did it," Kagome said, still not quite believing that he had destroyed the youkai. Everything had happened so fast. The rest of the group gathered around him, Sango holding her still weak brother.
"Now we have a chance to defeat Naraku!" Kagome said enthusiastically. Inuyasha could tell that she was only putting up that attitude as a front. He could feel that the resolve of the group was greatly weakened. He didn't know why or how it had happened, but he wasn't going to let his friends fall apart from each other.
He swallowed his own feelings as he said, "Yeah! Let's go kick Naraku's ass!" He saw the group smile slightly at his comment before immediately frowning.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing… It's just that Inuyasha said that right before he…" Kagome said softly. Oops. Guess I better watch what I say from now on… But how am I supposed to know what the old Inuyasha said?
"It doesn't matter. This is definitely Naraku's work, and I'm going to kill him for hurting my brother," Sango said, her eyes unforgiving. Inuyasha could feel that the others were afraid of Sango's wrath, and he had to agree with them. Sango was scary when she was angry.
"He did sort of act like Naraku after you cut his hair off," Kagome said thoughtfully. Suddenly Shippou shouted out a warning and sent his fox fire over Inuyasha's head, to someone behind him.
"Brat," the female youkai spat, moving away from the fire. She seemed really sensitive to it.
"Aki?" Inuyasha asked in surprise.
"Inuyasha, you know this person?" asked Kagome.
"Don't you remember her?" Inuyasha said as he took the sword out of the sheath again. "She was the lady that accompanied Naraku on my grandfather's birthday!"
He didn't wait for Kagome's answer as the youkai suddenly attacked him. He moved clumsily away from her. This youkai wasn't like the one he had just fought. She was infinitely more skilled, and more deadly.
"I would ask politely for you to give me your sword, but I don't think you would give it to me freely," she said as she shot some strange liquid from her fingers which melted the wood that it touched. Inuyasha made a mental note to stay away from it.
"Did Naraku send you?" he asked as he tried to dodge her poisonous shots. It was like some sort of acid and was dark purple in color.
"Tsk, tsk, such an impolite child," she said as she moved in to punch him. Inuyasha frantically swung the sword, forgetting all of his grandfather's lessons.
"Ouch!" she said as she backed off, her severed arm still twitching in the grass. "You're going to pay dearly for that," she said, "It has been a long time since someone has last cut me. You're going to regret it…"
Suddenly her arm grew back out, and the severed limb was starting to grow a body.
"What the…?" exclaimed Miroku as two youkai that looked identical stood before them. Suddenly they both shot the acidic poison at them.
"It's like miasma!" Kagome shouted as she tried to move away from the poison.
"Why are there two of them?" asked Sango as she tried to protect her brother from the miasma-like substance.
"Foolish little children," the two of them cooed. "You should have tried to figure out what kind of youkai we were before you started hacking us to pieces."
"They're sea stars!" Shippou said in realization.
"Nope, we're not sisters," one of them joked.
"That's a bad pun," the other said. She only shrugged. The first one charged towards Shippou, poison dripping off her fingers as she reached for the boy's hand.
"Kaza Ana!" Miroku shouted, sucking the youkai in. The other one looked in shock as her twin disappeared into the hole in Miroku's hand.
"Oh well," she said calmly. "That just saves me the trouble of killing her later." She smiled at the group's appalled looks. "I'll have to remember to stay away from you," she said to Miroku as she turned her attention to the sword in Inuyasha's hands.
She started attacking Inuyasha faster than before, not giving Miroku the chance to suck her in his air void. Inuyasha could feel himself start to tire. He didn't have the endurance of a youkai, and he was starting to be unable to dodge her fast attacks.
Suddenly she grabbed the flat edge of the blade, using both her hands, and wouldn't let go. Inuyasha couldn't understand what she was doing and tried to pull the sword away from her. But her grip was inhumanly strong and she slid her hands slightly apart from each other in a move to break the sword. Inuyasha used all his energy to pry the sword out of her grasp but he still couldn't.
The ringing of the sword could be heard miles away as the blade shattered into two, returning to its rusty form. A wave of power rushed out of the sword, dispersing in the clear sapphire sky. The fang was destroyed; the power of Tetsusaiga broken; the dreams of the future shattered.
Naraku's reign was soon beginning.
Author's Note: Have you figured out why Naraku is still there even though he was killed by Kikyo?