Hello again. You notice I'm updating much more recently. That's because I have the blessed fruit of REVIEWS! 20 of them! Wild things. They make my heart sing. They make everything...groovy. TO THE STORY...!
Chapter 9: A Really Really Big Fight
"We have to help him!" Kagome said frantically. "Come on. I can find that place. You can carry me like you always-"
"Why?"
"What?!" Kagome wheeled and glared at Inuyasha. "Why? Because he's my FRIEND, that's why! We have to get him out of this!"
"But Kagome, we've spent enough time here, we need to get back to my time so we can find the shards! Naraku probably has-"
"Naraku is in that building!" Kagome shrieked. "You want the shards, Naraku probably has all of his with him. You want to find all the shards; we have to help Tobias. Now let's go!" Kagome dashed down the stairs. Inuyasha sighed, then ran after her.
Outside, Kagome jumped on Inuyasha's back. "Go left and keep straight until I say!" she shouted. Inuyasha froze. She's so close...she smells so good...I just want to- "INUYASHA!" Kagome's voice jolted Inuyasha from his thoughts. "Stop wasting time! We have to hurry!" Shaking his head to clear his mind, Inuyasha sped off.
"Left! Right! No, your other right! Straight!" Kagome yelled directions to Inuyasha as he zoomed around the city. Eventually, they made it to a huge warehouse-type building. Kagome hopped off, and once she was clear, Inuyasha took a deep breath for the first time that day.
"You think he's in here?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome was about to respond when they heard a loud, angry voice from inside.
"I'LL CUT YOU TO PIECES!! I'LL ROAST YOU ALIVE!!! I'LL RIP YOU A NEW ONE!!!!"
"Sounds like him. Let's go!" Inuyasha unsheathed Tetsusaiga. It transformed with a flash. Inuyasha ran for the door and broke it down with one swift strike.
Inside, it was chaos. Hundreds of demons howled and gibbered and pranced about the few large crates scattered around. An iron chair was in the middle, and Tobias was chained to it. His armor lay disassembled on the ground around him, and his sword was suspended by a single chain hanging from the ceiling. A very familiar figure was standing over him, wearing a very familiar baboon skin. As Inuyasha burst in, everybody in the place went still and silent. Naraku straightened up and looked Inuyasha right in the eye.
"Hm. I figured I'd find you here, Inuyasha. What a stroke of luck. To get you and him in one swift stroke. Good of you to come to me...it will make everything much easier..."
"Naraku. The only thing that'll be easy here is how easily I kill you, you BASTARD!!" Inuyasha leaped over the heads of the shocked demons and brought his sword down on Naraku. Unfortunately, Naraku's barrier was as strong as ever, and all Inuyasha managed to do was to shred his baboon skin, showing everyone his real form.
"Weak as ever, Inuyasha. You should know by now that you can't hurt me." Naraku just smirked at him.
"How...how did you get here?" Kagome's voice floated up from behind a crate. Naraku smirked again.
"Ah, the miko. I knew you would be here too. From the moment I saw you, I knew you were not of my time and now I have the proof. This is where you come from, isn't it. Well, that's nice because your birthplace will also be where you die. Once I reassemble the shards of that delightful jewel, of course.
"As to how I got here? Well, you seem to be able to travel back and forth from my time very easily. So, with a little help from a recent associate of mine, I too now possess the power of time travel. And as you can see, I brought a few of my friends..."
Inuyasha glanced at Tobias and was completely thrown by his expression. Tobias's face usually never held anything but calm amusement, but this was something completely different. Veins bulged from his forehead in his rage, and one of his eyes twitched spasmodically. From between his clenched teeth, Inuyasha just barely made out the words that Tobias spoke.
"Get me free..."
Inuyasha reached for the chains binding Tobias, aiming to rip them apart. As soon as he touched one, a terrible burning feeling seared through his grip and up his arm. He cried out and yanked away.
"Those things burn!" he shouted.
"I know..." hissed Tobias. "They're magical, you idiot...they've been burning me ever since they put them on...don't try to break them...just get me my sword..."
Inuyasha leaped high into the air and severed the chain holding Tobias's sword. It floated down and landed in Tobias's outstretched hand.
Three things happened at once, when Tobias grasped his sword.
Two demons leaped to Kagome and seized her arms, attempting to drag her to Naraku.
An energy pulse swept the room, hitting all inside it with some indefinable sense of power radiating from the center.
Tobias took the enchanted iron bindings and tore them apart as if they were rice paper.
Suddenly, all eyes were on Tobias as he stood next to the ruined bindings. His sword glowed. It glowed with a soft red light that seemed to illuminate the room despite its faintness. Tobias raised his sword into the air with one arm. He gripped the handle tightly.
His armor leaped off the floor and speedily reassembled itself around him.
To everyone's surprise, Tobias then took his sword and jammed it into his scabbard. "You're not going to disarm me again, Naraku," he said quietly. "I can kill you all with my bare hands." The demons charged. One leaped.
The demon hurtled through the air, feral claws outstretched, aiming to slice Tobias in half with one swift stroke. It never got that far. It struggled as Tobias held its wrists in an iron-hard grip. Nothing less than pure rage showed through his eyes and his face. "No," he growled. "Not this time. I have my strength back..." his voice grew louder. "I will make you pay for what you did to me." And with that, he ripped the youkai's arms from their sockets.
The demon shrieked in pain, but only for an instant as Tobias's fist smashed into its grotesque head. It dropped like a sack of anvils. Another demon, wearing armor and wielding an axe, charged Tobias from behind. With a roar, Tobias turned to face this new foe and smashed a punch in the center of its chest. The armor splintered, and the youkai went flying backwards with such force that the solid brick wall crumbled as it hit. The youkai lay outside among the rubble and did not get up again.
They all attacked at once. Tobias stood in the center of a circle of demons, roaring and screaming at him. He laid waste. He elbow-dropped one demon, took out another with a roundhouse punch, leaped in the air and smashed a pair coming from both sides with a jumping split kick. He disappeared under a tidal wave of youkai.
Naraku watched all this with just the hint of a gleam in his eye. Inuyasha took advantage of this distraction and attempted to decapitate him with Tetsusaiga. However, the barrier blocked his attack again, and Naraku just smirked yet again. From the pile of demons, one voice was heard.
"NARAKU!!!"
Demons and demon parts went flying as Tobias leaped from the eye of the storm. His sword was drawn and already stained with blood. He sailed through the air and landed next to Inuyasha. Without breaking stride, he smashed his sword down on Naraku, but he too was repelled by the barrier. Tobias appeared unfazed.
"Your magic may block one attack," he snarled. "But are you man enough to fight both of us at once?" Inuyasha brought Tetsusaiga to bear again. The very slightest glimmer of fear appeared in Naraku's eye, but he brushed it off and continued.
"Inuyasha...on two. One..." Tobias brought his sword before him. The glow began to increase. "TWO!!" Both of them lunged at Naraku and struck at the same time.
They both hit.
Naraku leaped away, with two wounds from the two swords. The glimmer of fear now clearly showed, but nobody paid any attention. Naraku brought a hand down and touched the wound from Tetsusaiga. Blood was on his fingers.
"Blood..." he whispered. "You dare harm me?" His voice regained its regular smug confidence. "A lucky blow. I will not fall prey to such a scrape." He turned to Tobias. "Would that I could destroy you right now, boy," Naraku muttered. "But...now is not the time. This little trip has fulfilled its purpose. I leave you now." He shimmered and vanished.
Tobias glared at the empty space Naraku had left, then turned to Inuyasha.
"Get Kagome and leave," he said quietly.
"Why? I can take care of-"
"Go." Tobias's whisper was more final than any scream. Inuyasha gave him a long look, then turned away and scooped up Kagome. She was shocked about all that had happened, but the demons holding her had long since abandoned their post to fight Tobias. Inuyasha grabbed her.
"Come on," he said harshly. "We need to leave." She nodded faintly. Inuyasha picked her up and ran out the door. They had gotten about a block away when Inuyasha stopped and looked at the warehouse. Kagome slipped off his back and stared with him.
"What do you think he's gonna do?" Kagome said.
"I don't know. If I know him, though, he's got something up his sleeve."
BOOOOOOOM!!!!!
(note: this boom should be in a really large font)
The entire warehouse burst into a column of flames. The blast shook the ground, and a shockwave knocked Kagome off her feet. Inuyasha stood up to it, though. He ran over and took Kagome.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Kami, I hope she's okay...
"I'm fine, Inuyasha." She struggled to her feet. "What was that? That huge explosion..." The area where the warehouse once stood was now a smoldering ruin with a crater beneath it. Tobias came running up, completely out of breath.
"What the hell was that? Did you do that? How did it-" Inuyasha began shouting but was abruptly cut off. Tobias straightened and looked Inuyasha right in the eye.
"We need to leave, now. Before the police arrive." Inuyasha shrugged, got Kagome on his back again, and the three of them ran off. Inuyasha was surprised at how fast Tobias was moving. Although, after what I just saw, maybe I shouldn't be...Dammit! Kagome still hasn't let go of her heat! We'd better get somewhere quick!... he thought desperately.
"First things first," Kagome called out from Inuyasha's back. "Did you make that blast?"
"Me?" Tobias shouted back. (A/N: It's hard to hear when you're running, especially at the speeds they're going at.) "I wish I could do that. While in the warehouse, I discovered several cases of trinitrotoluene."
"Cases of what?" Kagome shouted.
"TNT! Explosives. I set 'em off," he yelled. "Blew the demons all to hell. I escaped out the back." They had now gone several miles. "Okay!" Tobias shouted again. "We're safe here." They skidded to a halt outside a construction site. A half-finished building loomed nearby, with several condemned ones in the vicinity.
"You didn't create that explosion?" Inuyasha narrowed his eyes.
"No, I just said I didn't. How could I? With my bare hands?" Tobias rolled his eyes. "If I could do something like that, I wouldn't be a simple assassin, I can tell you that." He sat down heavily. "In any case, we're safe here. The cops will never suspect us. Who would think of a half-demon and a guy wearing plate mail doing anything suspicious?"
Inuyasha sat down as well. Kagome joined him. "Well, we can rest for a minute." His head perked up suddenly, and his ears twitched.
"Or not. Something's coming." Kagome sighed.
"Something ELSE?" What else could go wrong today? "What does it smell like?"
"Umm...it doesn't have a scent. But it'll be here any second, it's going as fast as we were." Tobias groaned, pulled out his sword again and struck a fighting stance.
"Whatever it is, we'll be ready."
Ha ha. Another cliffie! I'm so SO evil...aren't I. But don't worry your little heads! I'm not the sort who starts an interesting story and gets bored 15 chapters in. I'm sticking this one out! And it'll be a while...hell, it's taken me 9 chapters and the plot hasn't even shown up yet. Don't worry about this story ending anytime soon.
Almost forgot! (I'm so dumb.) A big shout-out to my two recent friends on fanfiction.net, Lasako and Kai19. Read their stories! They're high quality, and I know it because I like them and I HATE low-quality fics. Hi there, Lasako and Kai19!
And one more thing I wanted to know about. I don't use Japanese in my stories (except for Osuwari instead of Sit, because Osuwari sounds so much better) but one thing has always confused me. What do the various titles mean? You know, -sama, -san, -chan, -kun, etc. Could someone please tell me what they stand for? Thanks a bunch! Read and Review!