September 30 and November 14, 23, 2003
(Author's Note: This will be the last chapter for this story, however it doesn't mean the end of Yajuumaru and Yashira because there will be other fics for them. This story was just a way to introduce two characters into the Inuyasha realm. Thank you Aile Anna, for your patience and sleepless nights that my stories give you. (Once more Yajuumaru™ © belongs to Leloi and Yashira™© belongs to me.))
Sister, Sister
By Yashira
Chapter 14
Running her fingers through Kirara's velvety fur with a soft smile of relief on her cheeks, Sango's brown eyes never strayed far from Miroku's face. True, he was feeling much better and all, but the Taijiya was taking no chances. She kept visual guard on him at all possible moments making sure he drank the last of the healing concoction they'd made for him. Seated beside her was Kagome who cradled the sleeping kitsune in her green skirted, school girl lap. While she was worried about Miroku, Sango couldn't help but wonder about her young companion as well. After Kagome had returned from her walk to pick up Inuyasha, she seemed to want to put a little distance between herself and Inuyasha. Had the two of them been in another fight again?
Wouldn't that hanyou learn to stop hurting Kagome's feelings? At least that's what Sango assumed as she spared a glance at her companion. While Kagome was young and let a lot of things go, she didn't deserve to be played as second string. "You okay, Kagome-chan?"
"I'm fine," she whispered back though the lie she coated with a smile was betrayed by the sadness visible in her brown eyes. "It's okay."
"Kagome-chan?" There was obvious worry in Sango's voice. She didn't trust that look anymore than she could toss a true-blooded hanyou across the room.
Kagome glanced over at Sango, her eyes smiling a deceptive mask now so that the taijiya could not tell which was truth and which wasn't. "I'm just worried for Inuyasha and Yashira. They were attacked by Sesshoumaru." There seemed to be more wanting to be said, but something made Kagome stay quiet.
"Is he, is she, okay?" Looking to where Inuyasha stood watch from the doorway, his golden eyes aloof as he gazed out, Sango had to conclude that everything had to be fine though Inuyasha looked a tad concerned. Maybe, that was it, then? Maybe Kagome really was worried about Inuyasha and Yashira.
"He's not triple timing is he?" The words were low enough for Kagome, but Sango noticed Inuyasha's ears had splayed back. Oh dear, had he overheard her?
"It's nothing like that," Kagome quickly reassured her as Shippo stirred and opened his eyes, still groggy with sleep. "He's not interested in her like that. They're family, it's a long story."
"They're family?"
But Sango's question was loudly interrupted by Miroku who was clamoring instantly to his feet. Dancing a little jig to show that he was well, he smiled at all present. "I'm good as new and with some spare Averos leaves, I can take in the Saimyousho without a problem. So, there's no way you'll be rid of me so soon. Plus," he added, giving the girls a surreptitious wink, "who would be there to give Inuyasha advice when he two times Kagome-sama."
Temporarily having to wait for a confirming answering from Kagome, Sango shot Miroku a fierce stare.
She wanted to smack the tactless jerk, but Inuyasha was already on his feet wanting to do the same. Already, his gaze was beyond furious.
"Oi, who is two timing who? What about you and Sango and the number of girls you feel off?" If he could snort fire, Kaede's hut would have been in cinders by now.
"What about me and Sango-sama? I'm sure she doesn't mind me admiring a few-" He made the mistake of glancing at the flaming fireball which once was Sango's head. The dark withering look made him gulp several times before he quickly amended what he had been saying. "Oh yes, about Sango-sama. I'm sure she's the most understanding girl in the whole world. How I would have missed her sweet caresses."
"You mean when you caress me, don't you," Sango sounded annoyed, but the flames around her head had rescinded to a dull glow. She was still worried enough about him than to go totally ballistic on the recovering monk.
"Well, you know what I meant right?" Miroku's violet gaze tried to look angelic, but to Sango he just seemed more ecchi that way. There just was no such thing as an innocent look from Miroku.
Crossing her arms, rolling her brown eyes with narrowed suspicion, she said, "No, I don't, why don't you tell me. Tell us all, while we're at it."
Inuyasha, taking this moment to add his two cents, immediately took this opportunity to corner the monk. He was actually grinning as he said, "Yeah, why don't you explain it for us? I'm dying to know the answer."
"Oh, come on, that's cruel. I'm a recently brought back to life man, you could feel sorry for me." Miroku, who had been in the middle of teasing Sango, glanced over at the hanyou with a rather pathetic look on his face. Unfortunately for him, it was a look he had used one too many times. It didn't fool anyone.
"Oh, so now you're just brought back to life, eh?" Sango was taking no prisoners. "What happened to being a new man? You should be ashamed of yourself Houshi-sama."
Miroku scratched at his head with an embarrassed smile. At least he had the decency to look contrite. "Well, I- Huh? Inuyasha is something wrong?"
"Don't try to distract the question, Houshi-sama." But the monk was shaking his head and pointing towards Inuyasha whose ears had perked and was sniffing towards the door with an anxious expression on his face. "Eh? Is there something wrong?" Perhaps mistaking it for the return of Necoa or one of Naraku's minions, Sango set Kirara down and struggled to her feet. She was already reaching for her Hirakotsu.
"I smell Naraku."
***
Helpless.
That was exactly what Yashira felt as Naraku coiled his slimy, overbearing body over and around hers. Disgusting! Horrible! She never expected to feel this repulsive and sickly feeling wash over her, suffocating her, as he pulled her palpitating body into his own, but here it was. Drowning her, pulling her under as if she were struggling beneath an ocean's surface and -gods did it hurt! Everything felt on fire; it all burned! It was like being eaten from the outside as his dirty miasma worked it's polluting way in through the pores.
If only she could move her hands, but no. He'd made sure to keep her pinned down so that there was no way she could jerk her talisman off and change to her hanyou form. How painful. Already she could feel Naraku's vines begin to dig into her skin, tearing -feasting- upon her flesh as he successfully cocooned her in his massive body. In a matter of tortured seconds, she would be no more.
So this was it, huh? Body parts to be picked through at whim for this diseased-ridden mind of a hanyou? I never thought my life would end like this. I should have known though. I was taunted with something I have always searched for and now that I have it… Tears spilled down her cheeks, helplessly drawn towards Naraku's filthy flesh, as she lay there under his final assault. At least, he'll live, that's what's important at least… The he she thought of was obviously not Naraku.
"And I have a whole new plan now that you're a part of me," Naraku's voice rumbled around her, or was it his thoughts? Had she already become a part of him? "With your body, I will get close to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. Obviously, I'll discard your human heart, I have no need to be bogged down with another worthless human heart. With your body I'll-"
Hadn't he taunted her enough as it was? Why was he doing this? Why did he have to be so vicious?
"-be able to say hello to all the people who thought you were their saviour when you purged them from "killer" youkai. I'll enjoy it," he was laughing, his voice echoing with that rich Kukuku, as if he found her pain a particular aphrodisiac. "And if I can acquire your miko powers, there's no telling what I can do. Perhaps the arrows from people like Kagome and Kikyou will no longer have any affect. Wouldn't that be a useful thing to have-"
"No!" A scream tore from her lips, but she could not spit out the bubbling flesh that pour down upon her, making her sputtering and cough beneath him. Nothing, she could do nothing to stop them. Yajuumaru… Her vision dimmed, her end coming quickly, she wished she had at least been kind to him once. To have said a-
Yashira!
Her eyes were shut, though they burned by his horrible miasma, but had her ears mistaken her? Had she heard her name? No, she had to be mistaken. What could she hear within this disgusting pulse of miasma around her.
Yashira!
It came again, more intense. Panic. Could it be her father and mother calling? No, that would be impossible. Absorbed youkai-tachi did not die, they were spared that mercy.
Yashira, do you free me?
Sputtering, feeling more pain lace through her body, Yashira thought she muttered an answer to something she barely heard. Was she saying yes to dying?
"YASHIRA!!" Air whooshed across her face as Naraku, one minute a horrible blob of repulsive vines, was sliced into two razor sharp pieces. With a shocked look on Naraku's face he leapt away to safety as Yashira coughed and spat out a green mess of guck as if it were blood. Two strong hands reach out to tear her free from the remainder of Naraku's body and to spin away to safety opposite the recovering monster.
Though most of her clothing was burned off, revealing a luxurious amount of bosom and shapely leg littered with vicious cuts and burns, she was free of that insidious jaki. To simply be able to breath the unpolluted forest air and feel its soft, welcoming touch along her hair and face was a wonderful overwhelming feeling.
"Yajuumaru?" She opened her eyes, blue confused orbs fixing on his bright green ones, as he stared right back at her. He was completely in his youkai form again. Long black hair, loose this time and coiled down his back like unbound silk, barely hid the long slender elf-like ears, or the tail that wagged back and forth behind him. Though he wore the clothes she had asked him to, golden yukata robes with burgundy highlights, Yajuumaru was as unsealed as she was sealed. Had the voice she'd been hearing been his? Had he asked her to free him?
"You're safe," he spoke with a low grating voice as he gripped her protectively. His eyes alighting on her with affection would turn to scowl with hatred when he glanced at Naraku. "I'll never let him harm you."
Naraku, as he had scampered to one side, fixed Yajuumaru with a nasty glare that told both Miko and youkai that he found this little interruption distasteful to his plans. While his lower half of bulbous vines and youkai flesh crept towards him to be re-absorbed, his pale face and shadowed eyes were haggard. He had not expected Yajuumaru's return, but was trying to compensate for it. It was a delay in his planning that he had not prepared for. "I'm not finished with you. Be a good youkai and give me the girl. If you really want to be with her, let me absorb you too."
A vicious growl left Yajuumaru's bared lips revealing sharp fangs, clearly visible in the starlight that winked down. "If you come another step towards me and MY MATE, I'll tear you to pieces. I'm part tree-youkai, don't think I won't use the trees." As if in answer to his threats, the branches of nearby trees trembled and shook. Seemingly dead wood groaned to life as if the blood of living, breathing flesh screamed in their very roots - yearning to break the soil and move on command.
Was that how he had hidden from both her and Naraku? Yashira remembered that one of the many tricks Yajuumaru was capable of had to do with disappearing into the wood as if it were an extension of himself. "Yajuumaru, he wants me, don't throw yourself into this. He'll hurt you! Run away, please." Though she rasped the words, finding it difficult to speak with that horrible taste still in her mouth, Yashira had to make him believe her. If he stuck around, he would die.
"If I ran away for each lie you said, you would be a dead miko." There was a sort of fondness as he said the words that belied the severity of the accusation.
"Yajuumaru, I-" But her words were lost, severed by the feel of his mouth as they laid claim over her own. With wide open blue eyes and cheeks flushing red, Yashira limply raised a hand in mute protest, but he would not be stayed. It was as if he meant to clean her lips, her tongue - her entire mouth- of Naraku's pollution.
Shut up. And now she knew for certain, though she knew not how, that the mind speaking had come from him. Anyone who tries to harm you, has already harmed me. If you die, so will I.
"Oh? Do you think you can just fool around in front of me as if I don't exist?" Though there was that aloof quality of disregard in Naraku's voice, something in his body gesture echoed in the way that mass moved, suggested his attention was now divided. "No hybrid youkai can stop me… or hanyou." Jumping away as the Kaze no Kizu charged through the air towards him, Naraku let his cold laugher ring through the air like a curse.
"Damn you, Naraku!!" Inuyasha appeared like an avenging red blur of light. He leapt through the woods and came to stand short of Yajuumaru who was pulling his mouth free from Yashira. "What the fuck did you do to my sister?"
Naraku smiled as usual, but kept himself far enough from Inuyasha to avoid a second Kaze no Kizu. Thundering through the woods, soon to join Inuyasha would be the others, Yashira could hear the forest groan with their passing. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"He tried to absorb her," Yajuumaru growled, his green eyes dark like pine needles. "If I hadn't stopped him, he would have devoured her."
"He… did… what?" Golden eyes had grown furious and his teeth clamped so tightly over each other that they groaned with the grinding.
Naraku's body was reforming, losing most of the bulk that would slow him down, returning him to the form most of the others knew -- his white baboon pelted human form. "There's always a next time."
"THE HELL THERE IS!!! Yajuumaru, take my sister somewhere safe, I have a spider to kill!" With a furious battle cry, Inuyasha lifted forth Tetsusaiga and launched himself at Naraku.
Yashira's blue eyes fell on her brother's gold ones with a disbelieving look. He was furious at what Naraku had tried to do to her? Wanting to reach out towards him, she lifted a hand but could only whisper -- before Yajuumaru cradled her close and dashed away -- was, "Brother."