By Scribe Figaro
FOURTH INTERLUDE: ASESU (REPRISE)
He viewed Inuyasha's mind as a forest. Dark. Green. Dangerous. The grass was tall and the trees were high. Asesu was confused, for he did not understand how a creature like Inuyasha, lacking the spiritual energy of the houshi, could tarry him in exactly the same manner.
Inuyasha stood before Asesu, breathing heavily. Asesu had wisely taken the form of the oddly-dressed miko that he had so greatly feared.
"Kagome?"
Inuyasha's voice was high, desperate. He'd believe anything, anything that negated the bloodbath he had just witnessed.
"It's not her," said another voice, this one gruff and certain. Both turned to see another Inuyasha, this one with sharper claws, streaks across his cheeks, and eyes blood-red.
I see now, Asesu realized. This is a place where Inuyasha's hanyou and youkai sides battle each other.
The youkai Inuyasha crossed his arms. "And even if it was her, it wouldn't matter. She makes you weak. She makes me weak. You're better off without her. She screws with us all the time. She doesn't respect us. She uses that spell just to piss us off." He smiled, revealing glistening fangs. "She's a cruel, petty, worthless little human, and I'll show you how strong we can be without her."
The youkai Inuyasha advanced on Asesu-Kagome, but couldn't get anywhere near him/her before the hanyou Inuyasha intercepted, bringing a claw to rake across the youkai's back. The youkai turned, grinning with fangs longer and sharper than his opponent, and turned, blocking the strike by catching the hanyou's wrist with one hand. In the same fluid motion, the youkai slammed his fist into his enemy's gut. A sickening crunch echoed throughout the clearing, and the hanyou went flying, striking a tree dead-on with his back. The tree splintered and leaned dangerously as the hanyou fell against the trunk, head lolled to one side.
Asesu-Kagome turned and ran. He took some relief at the sounds of fists and claws on flesh, knowing he was forgotten at the moment. Asesu-Kagome leapt over a fallen log and leaned his back against it.
He clenched his/her fists to his/her sides and thought aloud through clenched teeth.
"This battleground was not made for me. It is as old as this hanyou's mind. I need a better plan; there's no chance of success fighting him directly."
A hand touched his/her shoulder.
Asesu-Kagome nearly jumped, but luckily did not cry out. Not loudly, at least.
"Be quiet," the hand's possessor urgently hissed.
Now Asesu realized there was a young man with dark hair beside him, his knees drawn to his chest and his eyes red with tears.
"If you're quiet, they won't hear you, and maybe you'll survive. He just wants to be in charge for a while. Let him."
He rubbed his face with one sleeve, and turning toward Asesu-Kagome, recognized the look of confusion on his/her face.
"I'm sorry, I should introduce myself. My name's Inuyasha. I'm human, like you."
"I am not human," Asesu-Kagome growled.
"I know, but you're familiar with humans. You possess them, make them do bad things sometimes. You're like the other one, aren't you? You hurt people because you're sad. Because you can't feel the same things they do."
Aesesu-Kagome shook his head. "Look, I'm not in the mood right now. Just leave me alone so I can think here."
"I'm sorry."
Inuyasha clasped his hands together.
"You know, there's food here. Maybe you'll be able to think better with food. Would you like me to find you some fruit or something?"
Asesu stared with a mixture of unparalleled disdain and inexplicable curiosity. He told himself things, that the residual essence of Kagome made him trust Inuyasha. He told himself that this weak form of Inuyasha must know some great technique if he was able to survive the other Inuyashas, and that befriending it would be prudent.
But deeper, in the recesses of Asesu's heart, he realized that there was a feeling this Inuyasha instilled in him he had not felt for any human he had possessed or harmed in the past five thousand years.
He felt something dangerously close to pity for Inuyasha.
"Yes," Asesu said softly. "Yes, I would appreciate that."
The human Inuyasha seemed pleased by this. He smiled, poked his head over the log they were hiding under to check that the way was clear, and then quietly dashed away.
Asesu waited only a minute before a terrible sinking feeling came over him. He spun around, feeling for certain that youkai Inuyasha had subdued the other manifestations of his psyche, and was now racing toward him like a berzerker.
Inuyasha's eternal battle in his mind made these manifestations strong. Even now, Asesu was not able to assume their appearances, and had settled, for the moment, for the guise of the taiji-ya. Asesu felt he could wield Hiraikotsu well enough to keep youkai Inuyasha at bay, but if he managed to manifest the damned sword, the battle would not last long.
But as Asesu turned around, he beheld an entirely different forest. The grass was silver, as were the leafless trees that rose up and curled backward, far from view.
A strange sensation in his arms prompted him to bring his hands before his face, whereupon he realized the source of the sensation was the feeling of having four of them, each with claws rather than fingers.
"What in the hell is going on here?"
He turned back again, and there was a flea-youkai, bedecked in a formal kimono and haori. Asesu realized now, that he had been distracted and somehow had been drawn into another mind, the mind of a flea-youkai, and in his confusion, he had unwittingly taken on the flea-youkai's form.
"What is happening here," the flea-youkai said, "is that Inuyasha has been struck by a sealing arrow, one imbued with a couple extra spells I've picked up over the years. In doing so, he was brought close enough to death that you were thrown out of his body. At that same instant, I drew Inuyasha's blood, and made you a prisoner in my mind."
"A prisoner?" Asesu echoed. His surprise melted away, replaced by amusement, and he laughed curtly. He, Asesu, the Thief of Lives, held prisoner? Absurd!
The flea-youkai ignored him. Underneath one of his arms was a square wooden board gridded with black ink.
"Go," he said, holding the board before him. "A game that takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master, as all good games should. I have not lost a game in over two hundred years."
He set the board down before him, placed a small sack of what sounded like pebbles on his side of the board and another the opposite side, and then kneeled down, one set of hands on his knees and the other opening the bags and curling the cloth downward, revealing the pool of white stone pieces on his side and black on Asesu's side.
The flea-youkai looked upward and regarded Asesu sternly.
"I, Myouga, servant to Inuyasha-sama, challenge you."
Asesu reluctantly sat on his side of the board. Not counting the young girl Rin, this would be the third time in a row a host had issued a challenge to Asesu, and the trend was beginning to upset him.
Myouga smiled as he laid his first piece.
"I figure it's about damned time you played a game with someone your own age."
Asesu had never played the game, but he had possessed samurai and shoguns who were masters of the game, and as their skills and memories were taken by Asesu they remained part of him, in belief they would serve him some day. Myouga was facing the embodiment of some of the greatest humans to ever play the game.
Though they played for nearly an hour, it was not until the very last piece was laid – a capture of three of Asesu's pieces – that it became clear who was winning.
Asesu could not capture another piece, and thus was forced to pass. Myouga could not capture another piece either. The game was ended.
Between them the score was clear. Neither had needed to count – both kept a tally of captured pieces, and Myouga now had two more than Asesu.
Asesu had lost. For the first time in his prolonged existence, Asesu lost to a youkai.
"Impossible!" Asesu shouted, kicking the board aside. "I have the skill of Nikkai, of a dozen Nichiren monks!"
"You had no chance against over five hundred years of personal experience," said Myouga. "I was toying with you the entire time. Begone from me."
This arrogance was too much to bear, and Asesu roared, leaping at Myouga to impale him upon his sharp youkai-flea beak. While in mid-air, Myouga, the upset Go board, and the strange ground on which they played suddenly flew fast away, as if some powerful force had taken Asesu by the collar and was ripping him away at terrific speed.
For a moment there, just a moment, Asesu feared he had finally been caught.
Author's Notes: Hooray for four months' of writer's block!
There were at least a dozen directions for me to go after Chapter 25, and I finally decided to cut the session short there and dedicate one last Session to wrapping up the story. The problem was figuring out how to resolve the huge mess of plot points, and still make sure things stay interesting to the very end. Hopefully I succeeded, but time will tell.
I'm thinking . . . five more chapters before I can lead this thing home. Maybe. I've got two more chapters almost ready to go, and I'll try to put them up as soon as I can.
Thanks for all your support, everyone. I wish I had time to respond to everyone (it's not like I get much fan mail, just that I don't have much time to respond to the little bit I do get) and I apologize if you wanted a reply and didn't get one. I promise that I read everything, and I try to answer as many questions as I can.
I also wanted to give extra-special thanks to Spectrum and Aamalie, for giving me way, way too many excellent reviews, some of which brought me dangerously close to blushing. And I of course can't forget the intelligent, talented, witty, oh-my-God-she-wrote-me-another-Email goddess of artistic acumen, Mikaila, who – for reasons beyond my comprehension – actually made a mind-blowing piece of art for this lowly little piece of fanfiction. I strongly suggest you go see it, and after drooling vigorously at the rest of her work, praise her like Automatic Praising Machines on Praising Day. Here, you can borrow this pillow I use when I fall to my knees and worship her. ;-)
Anyway, it's a safe bet that I'd not nearly put as much thought into this story were it not for the dozens of reviews I keep getting. A lot of times, you guys remind me of mistakes I made, or plot points I might otherwise have forgotten, and I know I'd never keep my interest in such a lengthy piece of fanfiction without you people bugging me all the time. Thanks again!
-Scribe
Chapter completed 11 July 2004