QoH: *bashs her head on her desk* I am SOOOOOOO SORRY about the lack of updates!!!! @_@ WRITER'S BLOCK IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!!!!!!! ARRRGGG!!!!! And so's a busy life, but still….. MONTHS! O_O() I'm bettin a lotta people r hatin me right about now. Heck, I'm hatin me right now for doin this!!!! *shudders*
Chapter 8: Goodbye Interrupted
Ignoring the pain, Inu-Yasha quickly dodged the snap of the demon's jaws and slashed just under his chin, at last making it past the scaly armor with the Cutting Wind to the vulnerable flesh beneath. Jashin-Jadoku reared back, an eerie sound escaping his torn throat. Though mainly a roar of anger, it was also one of howling pain, and a hiss of promised revenge. The resulting combination chilled everyone in the clearing to the very soul.
Out of the corner of his eye, Inu-Yasha noticed a small glimmer as he returned to the ground, holding Tetsusaiga at the ready. There, embedded among the flowing blood and tissue, was the Shikon shard. He looked over his shoulder, pointing, "Kagome, the shard! It's in his neck!" Kagome, who'd noticed this at the same time, gripped her bow tightly, and the weapon glowed responsively.
"Kukuku…" the serpent demon chuckled as he used his tail to flatten Inu-Yasha again, "It's pointless, you know…"
Growling, he regained his feet with some difficulty, "Says you, creep."
"Oh, you don't believe me? I must say, I'm offended." Jashin-Jadoku cried in mock-hurt, regaining his balance to launch another attack, "Well, it's not my fault you're ignoring what you're body's trying to tell you. That is, that my venom is taking effect."
Inu-Yasha glared defiantly up at him, dodging the tail again with some effort, "And your point is? I'm still strong enough to kick your sorry scales to the moon and back." Releasing another burst of power from the sword, he made another good slice in his opponent's body. Snarling in retaliation, the snake snapped at him, snagging him by his fire-rat coat with his remaining fang.
This is not good. Inu-Yasha thought irritably as he found himself dangling from the evil creature's mouth, swinging Tetsusaiga at whatever he could reach, which, to be honest, wasn't much. Naturally, he was up in the air once again. Yep, thought so. As he began to fall, he looked down and saw the open jaws of his opponent waiting to crush the remaining life from him. His gaze, rather than concentrating on his swiftly approaching death, flew to Kagome. Her stormy blue eyes were so wide and glittering with still unshed tears, they seemed like the ocean. So deep and beautiful, just like the rest of her…
"You annoy me. Die," spoke a calm, cold voice the group, particularly Inu-Yasha, knew only too well. A blast of raw energy ripped through the air beneath him and, as he watched in pure shock, hurled the snake clear into the forest on the other side of the clearing. He looked to the other side, and sure enough, his half-brother stood there with the usual dispassionate expression on his face, his talons still stretched out in the direction of their fallen enemy.
For a moment, he wondered if he was hallucinating. He managed to land on his feet, though very weakly, as the toxins were spreading even quicker with the exertions. His friends were immediately at his side, Kagome trying her best to support his weight by taking one of his arms over her shoulders. He gave her a half-smile and eyed his startling savior warily, "Why?"
"I know who he is." Sesshomaru replied simply as he studied the scene thoughtfully, not even looking directly at any of them. He then turned on his heel and walked away, "Come, Rin. Jaken." The aforementioned girl and toad, who had been watching a few feet behind him, wide-eyed, snapped out of their respective trance-like states and rushed after the self-appointed demon lord as he disappeared into the forest once more.
Kagome stared after them, "Well, I never thought I'd see the day…"
"Yeah..." Inu-Yasha shook his head, reeling a little as his vision swam more insistently. Then, despite Kagome's desperate attempts to keep him upright, he fell to his knees. Now that the danger seemed to have passed, the protective adrenaline rush on which he'd sustained himself gave out. He shuddered, feeling the ground sway beneath him and he tried to focus on her face as he fell weakly into her arms. Before he lost all his strength, he dipped his hand into his coat and pulled the letter out, snagged between a couple of his claws. "Kagome, read this when you get to…" he paused, closing his eyes as he took a painful breath, "the village, but not before..."
She stared at him, obviously struggling to deny what was going on, "What do you need a piece of paper for? You can tell me whatever is you want when you get better!" She looked at the others, desperate for confirmation. They gazed back at her, but with no answers she wanted to see in their eyes.
"Don't, Kagome…" he smiled faintly up at her, moving his head minutely from side to side as he shifted uncomfortably, "You know as well I do that's not going to happen…" Inu-Yasha looked at her now with an expression more intense and soul-shaking than he ever had before, and gripped her hand around the letter tightly, "And have Kaede look at you when you get there, all right? Promise… that you'll stay safe…"
Her lips trembled, adverse to agreeing to such a thing, knowing it was the same as admitting she was going to lose him before she'd even told him how she felt, "I… I p-promise, Inu-Yasha…"
His smile faded and his agony-dulled eyes fell shut as he became limp in her arms once more. This time, there would be no miracle, and she knew it. He'd come back to protect her, and now his "purpose" was done. That didn't stop her from crying his name in a broken whisper, or from clenching his body to her heart, wondering why it had to happen like this.
Sango looked helplessly at Miroku, who simply stood next to her with his hand on her shoulder and his head bowed, then back at Kagome. The demon huntress was, to say the least, at a loss. Their friend had just died, and her very best friend seemed to have been driven mad in her grief. When she was exterminating, she knew what she had to do, and did so with as little "fuss and muss" as possible. That's why her family had been the best around in their field. Now, what was there to do but cry? 'There's something else you can do, Sango. You can watch over Kagome…' She blinked, wondering about that ghost of a whisper in her mind that had abruptly announced itself and was gone. Was that… Inu-Yasha? It had been so quick, she wasn't even sure if it was his thought, or hers.
Miroku, for his part, was thinking of all those times he and Inu-Yasha had had one of their all-out brawls, generally only ending with a "sit" from Kagome. True, now that he looked back on it, the hanyou usually had good reason for pounding him into the dirt, especially when it came to Kagome. He was a hentai, and he freely admitted that fact, but now he wondered if he could restrain his "instincts" in honor of the half-demon. A faint laugh echoed through his head, as though he were being answered from a very great distance. 'Going to protect all of Womankind from yourself now, are you? I guess somebody's always gotta do the dirty work. Good luck, Miroku.' The monk chuckled silently to himself, a sad smile on his face as he lifted it to the sky. And to you, my friend.
Shippou stood with Kirara a couple feet behind where Kagome was still sobbing her heart out. The demon-kitten mewled when he picked her up absently, and he patted her head in an effort of comfort. The little fox wondered how they were going to search for the Shards without him. As much as Dog-Breath got on my nerves, he was good at fighting… usually. He nearly dropped Kirara when he heard a snort that sounded suspiciously like… Inu-Yasha? He rolled his eyes discreetly as his query was answered by a vague, ghost-like version of the hanyou's old, brash voice, 'Yeah, who else?' The voice paused for moment, suddenly much more serious, 'Listen close, kid. You're the brawn of the outfit now. You gotta do it like you mean it, OK? No hiding behind Kagome. The jab stung the kit, but he knew it was the truth and listened as it continued. 'You have to protect her no matter what, even if she thinks she doesn't need it.' He nodded just slightly, looking at Kagome's back with determination. You got it.
The "miko-in-training" of those spectral discussions was beside herself, and not paying the least bit of attention to what was slowly happening around her. Her whole world was rocking her lost love's body in her lap, and nothing else mattered. If Naraku, himself, had stood in front of her at that moment and demanded the shards they'd collected, she most likely would've just sat there like a rock. Somehow, in all the near-death experiences they'd been through together, she'd never seriously contemplated what it would be like if Inu-Yasha were to die. He'd always dragged himself, and her, out of the jaws of death multiple times, and she'd convinced herself that the inevitable would never happen. Why couldn't he have pulled one of those miracles this time? She gasped mutely as she heard his voice as clearly in her head as if he were still standing next to her. 'Kagome, I-'
Her thoughts were interrupted as an enormous slithering came from out of the forest, the shadow of the giant snake demon towered over them all and a smug, hissing voice emerged from the hated mouth, "So… he finally died, did he...? Good…"
Kagome set Inu-Yasha down very gently and stood up, not lifting her head as her fists curled into tight balls at her sides. A deep red, pulsating aura erupted from her as her eyes rose to pin Jashin-Jadoku with the most furious gaze of her life.
QoH: *scrambles to build a bomb shelter* im gonna get nuked! o_O AHH!!!!