The Crucible of Time
By Fujifunmum
Chapter 4
The entryway to the castle was unguarded. Kagome and Inuyasha exchanged meaningful glances. They had agreed earlier not to be drawn into an enclosed space where it would be more difficult for each of them to wield their best weapons. They took up position on the high ground surrounding the front gate and waited.
Kiara hovered near the second story, allowing Sango and Miroku to leap off and enter the castle at the second level. They were to flush out their quarry. Kiara and Shippou landed on the roof, then flew to the highest parapet of the castle and kept watch on the surrounding area and forest. The importance of their duties was shown immediately as a huge swarm of demons emerged from the forest to the right of Inuyasha's position at the front. Kiara and Shippou gave adequate warning for Inuyasha to draw Tetsusaiga and meet the onslaught with the Wound of the Wind, his Kaze no Kizu. Easily taking out hundreds of demons with each swing, Inuyasha dispatched the oncoming hoard without exception. Many Saimyoushou were amongst the demons, showing that Naraku had expected the Inuyasha band of friends. Fortunately, Miroku was still searching in the castle for Naraku's cowardly hiding place.
Engaging Inuyasha left the others less well defended from the other side of the castle. As had happened on the fateful evening when Sango's family was attacked, there arose from the gravesite a spider demon of huge proportions. The wolves took up position to defend Kagome, while she cocked her first arrow and took a deep breath to steady her aim. The spider went down with at a direct hit to its head and Kagome signaled to Shippou. He hoped on Kiara and they retrieved the shard she had spotted in the demon and gave it to her before returning to their post on the roof.
There was new activity from within the castle. Sango had left her Hiraikotsu with Kiara, preferring a katana for the closed in spaces of the hallways of the castle. She had dispatched several guards in her search for Naraku, but was now rushing to a ruckus she heard on the floor below. As she tore down the central staircase in a rush, she could hear the tingling jangle of Miroku's staff. The sounds spoke clearly of intense hand to hand fighting. She hurried to his side, helping turn the tide, as he had been greatly outnumbered before her arrival. She held off the attackers as he unleashed his void briefly to clear the hall.
Her concerned glance told him she would have preferred to fight them than risk his last use of his Kazaana. He sadly shook his head. "There is no time for caution today, my dearest Sango. If my Kazaana should take me while I fight at your side, my death will not be in vain."
Sango shot him a quick smirk. "If I had my Hiraikotsu you'd be nursing a sore head right now houshi. The only way you're going to die by my side today is if I kill you for your wandering hands." With that she brushed his hand away from her hip as they ran down the main hallway towards what should be the largest room in the castle. Her words were harsh with emotion, but her kind eyes revealed her true feelings.
They were anxious to find Naraku or some evidence of his whereabouts. They needed to flush him into the open for their plan to work. And they were hoping to find Kouga before he was killed.
Suddenly they were running towards a new miasma. Miroku pushed Sango into the nearest doorway, shouting at her to escape to the outside and join the others. He headed into a nearby door that led to the lowest rooms in the castle. He continued down, knowing the miasma would rise in the structure. He began searching furiously for Kouga, finding only a few guards that he quickly knocked out with his staff. Soon there was only one more room to search on this level. Taking a quick listen and preparing himself to meet the expected resistance he forced open the door with a leaping kick.
The effort was wasted. There on the floor was Kouga, legs bloodied from the hasty removal of the last of the shards not in either Kagome's or Naraku's possession. The houshi quickly bent to see if the wolf youkai still lived. He did not. Uttering the briefest prayer he could manage, Miroku fled back to the main part of the building. He could only hope the miasma had risen to the upper levels by this time so he could resume his search of the main floor.
Naraku calmly rose from his seated position on the expansive porch at the back of the castle. It gave him a serene view of the forest behind him and the lake beyond. His senses and his demon communicants had given him the information that Inuyasha was holding off the collected demon hoard, and that Kagome had killed his favorite large spider extension. It was no matter. The important day was at hand. All of the fragments of the Shikon no Tama were either in his hand, in his servants, or held by the Miko in front of his castle. It was time for him to reconstruct the jewel.
He sent for Kohaku and the boy came to his side immediately. His sad eyes betrayed his angst at serving Naraku, but like the kugutsu extensions, he had no choice.
"Time to kill your sister, Kohaku. This time she must actually die, do you understand?"
Kohaku nodded and made his way to the entryway of the castle.
Miroku saw Kohaku walking out the front door before him, the final shard of the Shikon jewel gleaming in his back, spelling his ultimate doom. Rather than follow Kohaku, his gaze backtracked to where he had come from. There the monk might find his wary quarry.
He ran to the back of the castle, seeing Naraku's baboon figure seated on the back porch. Only time and battle would tell if this was the original or yet another kugutsu puppet. Forgetting the plan to flush Naraku to the outside, Miroku gave in to the hatred he felt for this demon that had cursed so many generations of his family and attacked. It was to no avail. As was often the case, the baboon figure merely collapsed under the force of the staff, falling to the floor in a heap. Miroku examined the costume for the presence of a shard. Finding none, he left the way he had come, planning to join his friends in front of the castle.
Miroku had not yet reached the front hallway in his passage back to the battle sounds when he heard the buzzing of the Saimyoushou. The noise heralded the end of his ability to use his air void in the battle, but this time the buzzing was much louder. Instinct told him to run, and he bolted to the front door, escaping the structure and stepping to the side of the entryway in time to see a huge swarm of the Saimyoushou exit. Naraku had intended to kill him with the vast amount of Saimyoushou in evidence. Fortunately, they swarmed out directly in front of a very pissed off Inuyasha who dispatched them immediately with one Kaze no Kizu.
"Where the fuck is he, Miroku? The battle is joined, if we don't flush him out we cannot stand."
Miroku merely shrugged and jangled his staff at the hanyou. "Sango and I searched the entire castle. He is well hidden." He signaled for Kiara and Shippou to come down to the front door. When they arrived he whispered instructions to them and they rushed into the castle.
Sango was too consumed with her fight with Kohaku to notice Kiara's departure. He was pressing her, but she was trying not to inflict serious wounds as she defended herself.
"What?" Kagome inquired of the houshi. He just shook his head, his eyes cautioning her that he did not wish to say anything yet.
Before the two small demons could return, a new spider demon had arisen over the top of the castle, obviously headed for their original position. Kagome got in another round of target practice. This time she dropped the spider down over the top of the porch where Miroku was standing. He crawled out from under the squirming legs; snatched out the shard she pointed to and rushed over the join the women and the wolves behind Inuyasha.
"Did you have to drop him right on top of me? I was afraid the roof of that porch wouldn't hold." He said as he handed her the shard.
Kagome dropped it into the shard container around her neck and giggled. "Just making sure you were awake, Miroku. You looked a little tired over there leaning on your staff." Miroku smiled at her. Even lame humor was welcome as they waited for the next appearance by Naraku.
The next one to appear was not Naraku, however. Shippou emerged from the front door on a transformed Kiara carrying the lifeless body of Kouga.
Kagome cringed as the wolves yelped in horror. Inuyasha continued to fight the endless flood of demon hoards, taking only a moment to bark at them to take the body to the gravesite. Sango and Kagome grimly nodded. They had agreed beforehand that the dead of their party would be taken to rest with her family.
Sango's expression hardened as she signaled to Kiara to retrieve her Hiraikotsu now. The pet demon quickly brought it to her and she screamed as she delivered the fiercest and deadliest blow she was capable of to her brother. She thought she saw his pleading eyes soften as he went down under her attack. She reached down and plucked the precious shard from his back.
Kagome held her as she cried harsh tears, reclaiming the shard to join the others in her carefully held vial.
"I had to do it." Sango kept repeating, striving to regain her composure. This battle was far from over. She, of all of them, knew that if anything, her action had hastened the end. Kiara lifted Kohaku's body and gently laid it next to Kouga's.
The wolves continued to battle stray demons who attacked outside of the demon hoard that Inuyasha held at bay. Kagome, Sango and Miroku stood with their backs to each other and their weapons ready. The trained and expert fighters were ready to fight to the death.
The wolves howled and all of the fighters brought their attention to the front porch. There next to the dead carcass of the massive spider, stood a young and handsome Naraku/Kagewaki holding the mostly completed Shikon jewel aloft on his outstretched hand.
Chapter 4
The entryway to the castle was unguarded. Kagome and Inuyasha exchanged meaningful glances. They had agreed earlier not to be drawn into an enclosed space where it would be more difficult for each of them to wield their best weapons. They took up position on the high ground surrounding the front gate and waited.
Kiara hovered near the second story, allowing Sango and Miroku to leap off and enter the castle at the second level. They were to flush out their quarry. Kiara and Shippou landed on the roof, then flew to the highest parapet of the castle and kept watch on the surrounding area and forest. The importance of their duties was shown immediately as a huge swarm of demons emerged from the forest to the right of Inuyasha's position at the front. Kiara and Shippou gave adequate warning for Inuyasha to draw Tetsusaiga and meet the onslaught with the Wound of the Wind, his Kaze no Kizu. Easily taking out hundreds of demons with each swing, Inuyasha dispatched the oncoming hoard without exception. Many Saimyoushou were amongst the demons, showing that Naraku had expected the Inuyasha band of friends. Fortunately, Miroku was still searching in the castle for Naraku's cowardly hiding place.
Engaging Inuyasha left the others less well defended from the other side of the castle. As had happened on the fateful evening when Sango's family was attacked, there arose from the gravesite a spider demon of huge proportions. The wolves took up position to defend Kagome, while she cocked her first arrow and took a deep breath to steady her aim. The spider went down with at a direct hit to its head and Kagome signaled to Shippou. He hoped on Kiara and they retrieved the shard she had spotted in the demon and gave it to her before returning to their post on the roof.
There was new activity from within the castle. Sango had left her Hiraikotsu with Kiara, preferring a katana for the closed in spaces of the hallways of the castle. She had dispatched several guards in her search for Naraku, but was now rushing to a ruckus she heard on the floor below. As she tore down the central staircase in a rush, she could hear the tingling jangle of Miroku's staff. The sounds spoke clearly of intense hand to hand fighting. She hurried to his side, helping turn the tide, as he had been greatly outnumbered before her arrival. She held off the attackers as he unleashed his void briefly to clear the hall.
Her concerned glance told him she would have preferred to fight them than risk his last use of his Kazaana. He sadly shook his head. "There is no time for caution today, my dearest Sango. If my Kazaana should take me while I fight at your side, my death will not be in vain."
Sango shot him a quick smirk. "If I had my Hiraikotsu you'd be nursing a sore head right now houshi. The only way you're going to die by my side today is if I kill you for your wandering hands." With that she brushed his hand away from her hip as they ran down the main hallway towards what should be the largest room in the castle. Her words were harsh with emotion, but her kind eyes revealed her true feelings.
They were anxious to find Naraku or some evidence of his whereabouts. They needed to flush him into the open for their plan to work. And they were hoping to find Kouga before he was killed.
Suddenly they were running towards a new miasma. Miroku pushed Sango into the nearest doorway, shouting at her to escape to the outside and join the others. He headed into a nearby door that led to the lowest rooms in the castle. He continued down, knowing the miasma would rise in the structure. He began searching furiously for Kouga, finding only a few guards that he quickly knocked out with his staff. Soon there was only one more room to search on this level. Taking a quick listen and preparing himself to meet the expected resistance he forced open the door with a leaping kick.
The effort was wasted. There on the floor was Kouga, legs bloodied from the hasty removal of the last of the shards not in either Kagome's or Naraku's possession. The houshi quickly bent to see if the wolf youkai still lived. He did not. Uttering the briefest prayer he could manage, Miroku fled back to the main part of the building. He could only hope the miasma had risen to the upper levels by this time so he could resume his search of the main floor.
Naraku calmly rose from his seated position on the expansive porch at the back of the castle. It gave him a serene view of the forest behind him and the lake beyond. His senses and his demon communicants had given him the information that Inuyasha was holding off the collected demon hoard, and that Kagome had killed his favorite large spider extension. It was no matter. The important day was at hand. All of the fragments of the Shikon no Tama were either in his hand, in his servants, or held by the Miko in front of his castle. It was time for him to reconstruct the jewel.
He sent for Kohaku and the boy came to his side immediately. His sad eyes betrayed his angst at serving Naraku, but like the kugutsu extensions, he had no choice.
"Time to kill your sister, Kohaku. This time she must actually die, do you understand?"
Kohaku nodded and made his way to the entryway of the castle.
Miroku saw Kohaku walking out the front door before him, the final shard of the Shikon jewel gleaming in his back, spelling his ultimate doom. Rather than follow Kohaku, his gaze backtracked to where he had come from. There the monk might find his wary quarry.
He ran to the back of the castle, seeing Naraku's baboon figure seated on the back porch. Only time and battle would tell if this was the original or yet another kugutsu puppet. Forgetting the plan to flush Naraku to the outside, Miroku gave in to the hatred he felt for this demon that had cursed so many generations of his family and attacked. It was to no avail. As was often the case, the baboon figure merely collapsed under the force of the staff, falling to the floor in a heap. Miroku examined the costume for the presence of a shard. Finding none, he left the way he had come, planning to join his friends in front of the castle.
Miroku had not yet reached the front hallway in his passage back to the battle sounds when he heard the buzzing of the Saimyoushou. The noise heralded the end of his ability to use his air void in the battle, but this time the buzzing was much louder. Instinct told him to run, and he bolted to the front door, escaping the structure and stepping to the side of the entryway in time to see a huge swarm of the Saimyoushou exit. Naraku had intended to kill him with the vast amount of Saimyoushou in evidence. Fortunately, they swarmed out directly in front of a very pissed off Inuyasha who dispatched them immediately with one Kaze no Kizu.
"Where the fuck is he, Miroku? The battle is joined, if we don't flush him out we cannot stand."
Miroku merely shrugged and jangled his staff at the hanyou. "Sango and I searched the entire castle. He is well hidden." He signaled for Kiara and Shippou to come down to the front door. When they arrived he whispered instructions to them and they rushed into the castle.
Sango was too consumed with her fight with Kohaku to notice Kiara's departure. He was pressing her, but she was trying not to inflict serious wounds as she defended herself.
"What?" Kagome inquired of the houshi. He just shook his head, his eyes cautioning her that he did not wish to say anything yet.
Before the two small demons could return, a new spider demon had arisen over the top of the castle, obviously headed for their original position. Kagome got in another round of target practice. This time she dropped the spider down over the top of the porch where Miroku was standing. He crawled out from under the squirming legs; snatched out the shard she pointed to and rushed over the join the women and the wolves behind Inuyasha.
"Did you have to drop him right on top of me? I was afraid the roof of that porch wouldn't hold." He said as he handed her the shard.
Kagome dropped it into the shard container around her neck and giggled. "Just making sure you were awake, Miroku. You looked a little tired over there leaning on your staff." Miroku smiled at her. Even lame humor was welcome as they waited for the next appearance by Naraku.
The next one to appear was not Naraku, however. Shippou emerged from the front door on a transformed Kiara carrying the lifeless body of Kouga.
Kagome cringed as the wolves yelped in horror. Inuyasha continued to fight the endless flood of demon hoards, taking only a moment to bark at them to take the body to the gravesite. Sango and Kagome grimly nodded. They had agreed beforehand that the dead of their party would be taken to rest with her family.
Sango's expression hardened as she signaled to Kiara to retrieve her Hiraikotsu now. The pet demon quickly brought it to her and she screamed as she delivered the fiercest and deadliest blow she was capable of to her brother. She thought she saw his pleading eyes soften as he went down under her attack. She reached down and plucked the precious shard from his back.
Kagome held her as she cried harsh tears, reclaiming the shard to join the others in her carefully held vial.
"I had to do it." Sango kept repeating, striving to regain her composure. This battle was far from over. She, of all of them, knew that if anything, her action had hastened the end. Kiara lifted Kohaku's body and gently laid it next to Kouga's.
The wolves continued to battle stray demons who attacked outside of the demon hoard that Inuyasha held at bay. Kagome, Sango and Miroku stood with their backs to each other and their weapons ready. The trained and expert fighters were ready to fight to the death.
The wolves howled and all of the fighters brought their attention to the front porch. There next to the dead carcass of the massive spider, stood a young and handsome Naraku/Kagewaki holding the mostly completed Shikon jewel aloft on his outstretched hand.