Diclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha
And Those Amber Eyes of Sunlight...-Chapter Seventeen: The False Exchange
'Dammit, how do we get out of this,' Inuyasha's mind screamed again for the millionth time as he and the others in his small group fought off the wild youkai that kept coming at them. Each time he thought they were winning, more came to prove him wrong and soon they had herded them into the center of the aisle, pushing them back to back against each other.
Suddenly, their attackers froze and flew back up towards the top of the dark cavern, leaving the group puzzle and confused. "Quit toying with us Naraku," Sesshoumaru growled after a few silent moments, stepping forward to stand beside Inuyasha, who already stood facing the evil hanyou. Naraku grinned and called out in reply, "My dear fellow, I am not toying, only giving you a break. I would not have you die so easily, not before you've watched all my lovely pets dance."
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru both looked at each other, then back at the rest, only to see them shrug. Turning back, Sesshoumaru asked carefully, "What do you mean?" A low laugh began to emmit from Narku's mouth, slowly growing louder until the walls around them vibrated. "Pets," he hissed softly, and from the shadows of the room emerged dozens of women, or men. Some had the blank looks while others knew exactly what was happening, a sad look mirrored in their eyes as they advanced. But none the less, they all still had the black silky collars around their necks and on the collars hung a small silver bell.
The group turned, pressing their backs together to keep from being snuck up on. "Naraku you bastard, what have you done to all these people," Sango screamed, lifting her boomerang and flinging it at the still maniacly laughing hanyou, "Hiraikotsu!" A few of the "Pets" ran forward, intercepting the force of her attack, just like Kagome had done, and some screaming, some now, they fell to the ground, some dead, some not.
"Sango, you guys! We can't kill them, they're just innocent people," Rin cried, as Sanog's boomerang returned to her. Growling, Inuyasha asked, "Then what can we do?" "We have to get the key away from Naraku," Miroku chimed in, "Either that, or kill him." "I'm good for the second option," Sesshoumaru barked. "Here, here," Inuyasha said right after.
"So let's do it, Sango, Miroku, Rin, watch our backs and keep the "Pets" away from Naraku," Sesshoumaru cammonded as him and Inuyasha plunged forward, leaping over the zombiefied beings. But, just as they were nearing their target, the still grinning Naraku, hands reached out to grab Sesshoumaru's ankle, pulling him down. Inuyasha paused, landing and looking back at his brother who was now being covered from head to toe as the "Pets" tried to keep them down with their own weight.
"What are you doing, Inuyasha!? Don't just stand there, go," Sesshoumaru cried, beating the bodies away from him with the flat of his sword. Though he needed no other convincing, he turned, still reluctant, and surged forward. 'Almost there,' He thought.
But, again, much like last time, Kagome appeared in his line of fire, sword held infront of her in a defensive stance. Coming to a halt, Inuyasha stood in front of her, pending on what to do in this sort of situation, 'I can't bear to hurt her anymore then I already have...'
"Master," Kagome's voice cooed softly, "Would you wish me to dance for this troubled spirit?" A nasty snicker came from behind her and without giving an answer, Kagome came forward, sword held high as she attempted to bring it down on the useless hanyou.
Yelping, Inuyasha jumped back in surprise, his voice wavering as he stammered out, "Kagome! You don't want to do this! Stop!" But no matter what he said, she just kept coming at him until finally her rushed forward and knocked her backwards onto the ground. Pinning her down as the sword in her hands skid away, he tried to hold back the long nails that clawed at his face. "Kagome, wake up! This isn't you," He cried, and she hissed and spat in his face.
Falling back, he wiped the saliva off his forehead and cheeks and looked up in time to see that Kagome had recovered and was now looming over him, sword upraised. "Hold," Naraku's voice called from behind her and she froze in place then lowered the weapon and turned, looking slightly confused, "My lord?"
Naraku came forward and stood beside her, staring down at the half demon through narrowed eyes. "Inuyasha, I'd forgetten til now what our arrangement had been in the beginning, isn't that sad? If you'll (turn to Chapter Twelve) remember, it was the Shikon no Tama for your beloved, did you forget also?"
Growling, Inuyasha stood, nose to nose with him and snapped, "Of course I didn't, but the question is whether or not you'll uphold your end of the bargain." Naraku smirked and rose his hands to his side in a shrugging motion, "Would I ever go back on my promise?" "As far as I know, your promises are shit, so here's the plan, you take out the key and I'll take out the jewel, at the same time we'll drop our side of the deal into the other's hand, got it?" Snickering Naraku nodded, "Got it, mister all powerful mutt."
Not feeling the least bit secure about what was going on, Inuyasha had a bad feeling about all this, but it wasn't like he had any choice. He wondered though, why he didn't just kill the bastard right now and get it over with. 'Because I don't want to lower myself to his standards,' His mind shot at him.
So reluctantly, he took the shiny orb from his pocket, clutching it tightly in his left fist until he saw Narauk raise his right hand, silver key held within the palm. Raising both, he opened them flat. But before his hand could even open all the way, something darted into his grasp at took the Shikon no Tama. Gasping, he looked from his hand to Naraku, then to Kagome who stood with a wicked smile, tossing the little ball up into the air before catching it repeatedly. "You-you lied," Inuyasha yelled, feeling his emotions crack.
Feeling something prickle on the back of his neck, he watched as his vision changed to that of red and he lunged forward to rip through Naraku's throat. But again, as always, he hid behind his human shield, Kagome. Growling, he rose his fist and struck her, knocking her to the side. 'I'm sorry, Kagome, but I can't let you get in the way any longer.'
Walking menacingly forward, he rose his claw again and sunk it into the now slightly cowering shoulder of Naraku. "You lied," He hissed again, "And now you'll die." He watched as Naraku searched frantically inside his pocket for something and ended up pulling out the key.
Frustrated, he dropped it and Inuyasha realized that was not what he'd been searching for. So, quickly, he dove for the silvery object as Naraku cried out and did the same thing...
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ooooooo, who will get to the silver key? Will it be naraku? Who will then use the power of his "pets" to crush inuyasha and his friends? Will the dance of his slaves be a final judgement and ring true in his dark halls? Or will Inuyasha reach it in time and set the "Pets" free, using the power of speech to release their willful minds and unleash the power of the newly trained warrior's against their former master? Find out in the Next chapter, "Backstabbed" Also, this is one of the last chapters of four, thats why these last chapters have been shorter because I'm trying to drag it out a little bit. Sadly, this story has gone by faster then I expected it to, so unfortunately..well, yea, so I will post Chapter 18 up tomorrow and 19 the next day and 20 on Wednesday.