Disclaimer: No, I don't have the money…

AN: TGIF! Inuyasha's on today too ^^ Things are weird around the house today…I was wondering if the chapter would be on time ^^ Anyways, Naraku has learned how to use the talismans for his own cause, and now the girls are on the run, while Inuyasha and Sesshomaru are working together (finally) as they travel with Yasuo to Naraku's castle. Now, they don't know what Naraku currently has in his disposal, they just think he has the secret to the puzzle, so they could very well be walking into their own deaths. You're probably thinking "No way, you'd never kill them off." Ha, I've killed off my favourite characters in most of my stories, posted or not, so you'll just have to wait and see!

Icari
Chapter 27

 "Kagome!" Sango shook her friend as the miko's eyes fluttered open. She sighed with relief and motioned at the others to come. "Kagome, I'm glad you're awake. You fainted after Naraku used you as his puppet." The younger girl frowned.

 "W-what? Naraku? Where's are we?" Sitting up, Kagome's head swam, though it didn't really affect her vision, as the room they were in was nearly pitch black, if not for the faint stream of moonlight high over head that allowed her to see her friends.

 "We're lost in Naraku's castle. After you fainted, he came in and attacked us. He knows how to use the talismans to recreate the power of my family's swords, and with the ones he stole combined, he could make blasts that nearly killed us." Kagome took a moment to process all this new information that Icari offered.

 "But… Sesshomaru, he still has his, right?" the demon nodded. "If his combines with the other three, wouldn't it just cancel everything out? I mean, his grants life to those just dead, so combining with a killing blast would cancel it, right?" This time, the youkai hesitated.

 "Or it could do just the opposite, and not only cancel itself out, but the whole space and time thing, and leave us with a whirling black miasma, that could simply dissolve everything in its path." They choked.

 Rin stood up, determined, as she looked away from them, and all eyes turned to rest on her. "We have to find a way out of here and stop everyone from entering. Those blasts from the first three alone could kill someone, and if Sesshomaru has the last talisman…" Her voice trailed off, and she spoke in softer tones now. "He'll be first to die."

 The others stood up, but more slowly, and went to comfort her. Sango patted the girl's right shoulder reassuringly.

 "That won't happen Rin, it can't." even as the demon exterminator said that, Icari smelled salt coming from her direction. She was crying…

 "I can't lie to myself and get my hopes up, Sango. I knew, for a long time now, that every corner that we turned, that could be the place where one of us dies… and I came to terms with that, and promised myself that I wouldn't always be sad because of it. But… I can't forgive myself if he died before I apologized for my behavior…"

 The memories of before they were taken was still fresh in their minds, but it was recalled anyways. How long had it been? Was that day even over? They all stood, thinking back to the blissful peace they had been enjoying, until Icari broke all of their reveries.

 "We can't stop now you guys, we have to help out the guys, from the inside out. But first, we need our weapons." They looked up, as if for the first time remembering that their weapons had been taken away a while back.

 "Alright. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish." Kagome stated, and stood upright, determination practically radiating off of her. "Alright?"

 "Alright." They grinned at each other and devised a strategy, and a few others that would work as well. Icari stepped forward and sniffed all around, searching for the similar scent that was Tensinshi.

*~*~*~*~*

 A barrier flung all three youkai back from their goal, shooting Yasuo right out of the sky. His landing was softened by a bunch of bushes he landed on, though. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha looked at one another before looking to see if their companion was hurt. A few bumps and bruises littered his body, but there was no real harm done.

 "That's a tall barrier… his castle must be something. Yasuo muttered, a bit annoyed at not sensing it earlier. Inuyasha scoffed, brushing off his haori before turning to see Sesshomaru doing the same.

 "Now what?" Sesshomaru scowled deeply, and reached a hand out to feel for what had through him back. When he touched air, he took a quick step forward. Big mistake. His hand burned easily and he pulled away quickly. "A barrier? I thought he would've used a disguising spell rather than this."

 "Unusually wordy for you, isn't it? But Naraku probably did both, and then some. I'll take care of this one." Inuyasha pulled out Tetsusaiga, silently thanking the little girl that had given him the red jewel, and, thinking of Kagome, transformed it.

 "Inuyasha, remember, Naraku will go to large extents; this may be a very secure barrier." His statement was punctuated as a small rabbit, that happened to be hopping too fast, ran into a barrier, and was burned to a crisp. The fox that had been chasing it was also going too fast to stop, and the same thing happened to it. "I consider myself lucky that I am of demon blood, right now."

 Inuyasha looked from where he knew the barrier was, then the two burned animals not far away from it. "Too bad we don't have the time to stop for dinner. That would've been very lucky." He shrugged and lifted the Tetsusaiga towards the invisible barrier. "Well, here it goes!"

 He lifted the large sword over his head and hit the shield as hard as he could, being stopped by the barrier itself for only a split second before both forces started to try and destroy the other. Huge currents of energy and power blew to both sides, easily clearing the area of many of the shrubs, fallen branches, and the two roasted bodies. But the sword had still not won.

 "What the??" Dark, ghoulish hands reached out from the opening Inuyasha was making, and as it opened even further, demons of all sorts clambered out. The first bunch was washed away as Yasuo directed water into the opening, but they were quickly replaced by more. Inuyasha's claws itched to collide with the demons' flesh, but the barrier had still not relented, and his job was becoming more difficult with all the hands trying to get at him.

 "A little help here??" He roared over his shoulders, looking back just in time to see Sesshomaru readying his Poison Claw Attack. Ducking, with his hands still holding onto the Tetsusaiga, Sesshomaru's attacks missed him narrowly and, only seconds afterwards, various dark liquids slid down his sword, some covering his silver hair.

 "Watch it!" The sword fell through, and the barrier was weakened immensely, but it was still not gone, proved by the fact that demon blood seemed to hang in the air out of nowhere.

 "Inuyasha, have you noticed that you're the only one talking?" Sesshomaru's claws swiped again, and more blood and melted demon flesh oozed to the ground. Inuyasha held the Tetsusaiga to the side and continued to swipe horizontally, opening the barrier much quicker now. With every swipe, a bit more of dark scenery was revealed, and more demons clambered to get out. All the while he slashed, Yasuo and Sesshomaru sent various attacks through the holes to ward off the ongoing army.

 "And you're the ones having all the fun!" Tiny balls of water flew through the cracks in front of him, bursting on impact and sending demons flying (some exploding the thing if it got inside the body) as groups of four acidic stripes were skillfully shot to kill off twenty at a time.

 With a final thrust, everything poured out, as if a bag of water had been cut, and the ground around the three demons turned a bit purple. Enemies flew through the hole, and were killed almost instantly by the brothers and the water demon. Annoyed at the onslaught, Inuyasha leaped back a few steps, and held his sword to send it most infamous attack.

 "Kaze no kizu!" Nevertheless to say, Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and Yasuo were soon covered head to toe in dark, purple fluids, and some bits of flesh. The two older demons looked at the hanyou, annoyed. Inuyasha simply shrugged (a bit of dark ooze slipping off of his shoulder), "I was getting bored. Besides, we have more important things to do." And then, he shook everything off of himself in a very dog-like manner.

 "Now, I remember why I despised you so much." Sesshomaru pulled off large bits of bloodied flesh and wiped the stuff off his face with his arm. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and walked into the dark, purple gateway towards Naraku's castle, a bit confused.

 "Quite suiting for a man like Naraku; to have his own little world hidden away." Yasuo commented as he stepped into the second world. It was littered with bodies, and the whole place was deep purple and black, the moon the only thing that shone light in it. It wasn't the regular moon either; it was two phases different from the one they had left behind.

 "Yeah, suiting for his death." Inuyasha muttered as he pensively looked around. No more demons… "I bet they weren't even Naraku's minions, just trying to get out of here."

 They studied the area for a bit, before looking up to see a looming black castle on the horizon, skeletons of birds flying around. Inuyasha scoffed at the horrendously towering building, and crossed his arms, eyebrow raised.

 "Can't he be a little bit more original?" then his face turned from skeptic to thoughtful. "I guess it makes up for the baboon pelt."

*~*~*~*~*

 Icari's head shot up from smelling for the scent of the weapons when three more familiar and distinct ones wafted over her nose. She lifted her head and sniffed a few times, before deciding that she should go to the window.

 "Hey…" she started, never taking her eyes away from the precious, white glow. "I'm going up there to see something…" She jumped, easily clearing the distance to the window, and perching on a bar stretching from one side of the hall to the other.

 The window had bars lining every which way, and she knew better that to touch it; and ominous black aura surrounded it. But she looked beyond the bars towards the scenery below, and saw that the land was barren and dead. "How suiting." She muttered.

 Resisting the urge to lean against the window, Icari tipped herself forward, and spied three black dots on the horizon, moving. She breathed in, and noticed how close the scent said they were, but how far away they seemed. 'must've been here for a while, their pretty low down… the scents must've risen'. She looked down to the three below her and jumped down.

 "Yasuo, Inuyasha, and Sesshomaru are here, but no sign of anyone else." Sango looked half relieved, and half disappointed at the fact that Miroku wasn't there. Rin and Kagome only looked anxious.

 "Then we have to find our weapons quickly, so that we can help them when the time comes." Everyone nodded at Kagome's statement, and Icari bent down again to determine which way they were going. She stood a minute later, and pointed to their left.

 "Come on."

*~*~*~*~*

 Oooh, so they finally got there, after going through everything… Oh, please comment on my fight scene, I'm trying to learn how to write them ^^ Miroku comes back in the next chapter… just for Sango… but anyway, thanks for 60 reviews!! Looks like I can try to go for 100. Maybe.