HELLLLLLOOOOO!!!!!! Well, hail and how do. I haven't seen you in a while. Sorry about that...I just have the worst case of writer's block in the known universe. I'm leaving tomorrow for a LONG trip that will last until Sunday LATE night, so no updates then. But I'll get you something before next Wednesday! That's a promise I can keep.
I have decided, to the delight of my fans, to respond to each individual review. BUT! Only the reviews that actually have substance to them ("The story r0xx0rs!", while nice, is lacking in actual content) will be answered. So, if you want a response, then make your review nice and long, and put questions in if you want, I don't care, I'll do anything for the fans. (Note: I will not actually do anything. Please, no obscene things.)
Kai19: I changed that bit, if you'll care to read the story over. Actually, this IS my first lemon (remember the beginning of the story, when I said I couldn't write citrus content? Ha!), and as for how I got my information...that's personal. Sorry. ;)
Kagome might blush and stutter at such a thing, but as you'll see, there won't be time for tea and small talk when the two groups finally reunite. Thanks for reviewing!
Lady Banshee 999: Thanks ever so much.
slvrstarlight: I know ff.net is on the hunt, but the chances of them finding this one are astronomical. And if they do, well, I'll handle it, that's all. I'll figure something out. I always do. Also, I cannot figure out how mm.org works.
What? You haven't read the beginning?! Well, why are you reading this? I said right there in the summary, it wouldn't make any sense!
Hanyou-Kagome: As I said previously, I changed that bit. Thanks.
Ryguy5387: You...you read...the ENTIRE STORY...in one sitting? I am duly impressed. I hereby proclaim you, "Guy/Girl With Far Too Much Time On His/Her Hands". But thanks for your devotion.
Shiro-Okami: Well, that's one opinion. Obviously not the prevailing one, as you might see. But, you're free to dislike the lemon.
Why hasn't Jamie emailed you back? Well, that might have something to do with the fact that none of us know where the HELL he is. The whole crisis thing a few chapters ago was us trying to locate him and failing admirably. He's called once, and I talked to him, but he won't tell anyone where he is. Oh well. It's his life. He told me not to worry and I trust him.
Miroku9555: Ramen is noodle soup with vegetables. It's the only thing Inuyasha ever eats. Kagome has like a million containers of it in her pack.
STORY!
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Chapter 40: It's That Darn Plot Again
Tobias stood up, blinking his eyes. He hadn't really slept, but just rested for a few hours while Miroku and Sango kept things running. He needed rest, having constantly traveled for over four weeks straight. Although my personal best is seven years without a break... he thought grimly as he gathered himself together.
"Hey, Miroku?" Silence. "Sango? Shippo?" Nothing. He looked around the cave, but they were not there. They're probably near the front. He walked over to where the cooking fire was and stopped dead.
Blood. Everywhere. Covering the fire pit, the bedding, the floor and the walls. Frantically, Tobias looked around but saw nothing. Then a drop of blood landed on his head. Fearing the worst, he looked up.
The mutilated corpses of Sango, Miroku, and Shippo were frozen to the ceiling, still bloody. Oh, God... Tobias rushed outside, only to be struck by a wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm him.
Kagome and Inuyasha were entangled in each other's arms, similarly dead, with Tetsusaiga stuck through them like a toothpick. Tobias whirled, tears in his eyes, to see the General standing calmly by, cleaning his sword.
"You!" he shrieked. "What have you done?!" His voice was unnatural, it didn't sound like him at all. The General looked up and smiled.
"I was looking for them and the shard. Unfortunately, they did not have it, so by process of..." he smirked, "...elimination, I deduced that you have it. Would you please give it up?"
Blinded by rage and pain, Tobias rushed the General and brought his sword down on him, but the General was no longer there. He heard the fluttering of a cape behind him and turned quickly, but not quickly enough. The General's sword flashed as it sliced off his hand at the wrist. The sword clattered uselessly to the ground. Oddly, there was no pain, only an awful numbness. Tobias dove for it, but the General caught him by the throat in an iron grip.
"And now our destinies are fulfilled," he said in a low whisper. "Goodbye, Tobias son of Tiberius." His sword drove itself deep into Tobias's heart.
Tobias sat up with a cry of horror, sweating, and panting like he had just run a marathon. A quick glance around the cave revealed Miroku, Sango, and Shippo eating breakfast; all shocked by his sudden awakening. The nightmare played itself over and over in his head, but the only thought filling Tobias's mind was, I slept?!
"Tobias! Are you all right?" Sango put down her bowl and came over quickly. She put a hand on his forehead. "You're very warm...are you feeling unwell?"
"No..." He waved his hand in what he hoped was a dismissive gesture as he desperately tried to calm himself down. He hadn't slept since...well, he hadn't really slept in centuries. He had been knocked out several times in the last few months, but that didn't really count. Tobias rubbed his palm against his forehead. It had seemed so real...and to him, who hadn't dreamt in a thousand years, he hadn't been expecting such a thing in the slightest. He forced himself back to reality.
"How long was I out?" he said, struggling to make his tone sound normal.
"A whole day. The snow stopped an hour ago, but we didn't want to wake you." Sango turned back to her food. "There's breakfast if you want it."
"Yeah...okay. I'm kind of hungry." He joined with the others, eating slowly but with his mind not at all on his meal. Why? Why did I sleep? This is SO not a good sign...I might have some sort of disease. But I thought I was immune to diseases! Agh...none of this makes any sense at all.
Back at the cabin...
The snow had finally stopped. The sunlight peeked through a gap in the packed powder, edging through the grime-coated window to warm the two lovers sleeping in each other's embrace by the now-dead fire.
Kagome blinked and yawned. She looked around blearily, not completely remembering anything in her sleep-fogged mind. Her body registered a very warm presence right next to her, and she glanced in that direction to see Inuyasha's face, very close to hers. It hit her that they were both naked, and all the events of the previous night rushed back to her. Kagome blushed so much that her extremities paled from lack of blood, and she closed her eyes, simultaneously embarrassed at the things they had done and full of love that she could DO such things with Inuyasha.
Inuyasha was sleeping more soundly than he had in years. All night, he had dreamt of Kagome; how it had felt to be buried inside of her, how she had responded to his every caress, how his love for her seemed to fill every crevice of his soul. In his slumber, he pulled her closer to him, imagining that they were in their own separate world, to be together forever.
Alas, all good things must come to an end, and it was reluctantly that Inuyasha opened his eyes to look around. He and Kagome were in each other's arms and bundled up in the blanket. The fire had gone out, but a bed of glowing coals still remained. It suddenly hit him that he hadn't eaten in at least a full day, and his growling stomach served only to exacerbate this. He turned to Kagome to see if she was awake.
What he saw was Kagome, eyes closed, face almost purple. His thoughts zoomed back to the previous day, when she had been purple with cold from exposure. Oh shit! He panicked and hugged her as close to him as possible. She shrieked from the sudden contact and jerked reflexively. Inuyasha was stunned, both from the fact that she was QUITE warm and that she was awake. Instinctively, he tried to stop her twitching by trapping her legs between his and holding her upper body to his torso. She calmed down, spooked by the sudden movement but relaxing in what was rapidly becoming a very arousing embrace.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha breathed. "Are you all right?"
"Umm..." Kagome tried to focus her thoughts, but they scattered in favor of focusing on Inuyasha's warm body holding hers. Unconsciously, she moved into his embrace, as he took in a sharp breath.
"Mmm...Kagome..." whispered Inuyasha. He lowered his head and planted kisses on her mating mark. Kagome gasped and shifted her hips back into his, but stopped suddenly and grimaced.
"Kagome? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Inuyasha turned her around to face him and looked at her.
Kagome moved her hips again and winced. She was very sore. "Now you ask..." she said, rather huffily. "You weren't concerned last night, when you were slamming into me so hard I thought I was going to break!" Inuyasha smiled slightly and relaxed his grip on her.
"Are you all right?" he said softly. Kagome calmed down a little, looking into his eyes.
"I'll be fine. I-" She looked out the window. The snow was no longer falling. "Inuyasha! The blizzard stopped. We can go find the others now."
The look on Inuyasha's face clearly said Do we have to? But he got up and started to get dressed again. Fortunately their clothes had dried overnight. Kagome made them some ramen from one of the remaining containers in her bag; several of them had gotten soggy and disgusting.
Interestingly enough, there was no snow on the ground. Not a snowflake remained, nor did any of the effects of the blizzard. It was as if the entire thing had never happened. They were both mightily puzzled, but simply accepted it and moved on.
Since the snow was gone, their friends' scent was around, however faint, and Inuyasha picked up the trail. He sped along, carrying Kagome, to a small clearing. As they neared it, a voice came out from behind a tree.
"Stop!" It was Tobias. He sounded kind of lethargic. They stopped. "I wouldn't come much nearer if I were you." He was apparently sitting and leaning up against the tree, facing away from them; Kagome could see his legs lying on the ground in front of them.
"Why not?" said Inuyasha, a little gruffly. "We've been looking for you all day."
A few seconds of silence went by before Tobias responded. "We came looking for you," he said slowly. "But there's something I probably should have told you about before."
"What? Spit it out already."
"As much as I've tried to keep this a secret, people other than you and the General know that I have this sword. There have been...organizations. Groups of people that have tried to defeat me and take my sword."
"Wait," said Inuyasha. "You mean, you were so secretive you didn't tell us, and yet all these other guys knew? That kind of pisses me off."
"What makes you think I told them? I do try to keep that sword a secret, you know." Tobias's legs shifted a little. "But anyway, like I was saying. I didn't mention it at the time, but the lot that attacked me in your time was all part of the Brotherhood of the Blade...they've been tracking me for about seven hundred years now."
"Seven hundred years?" said Kagome, surprised.
"Yeah. The sons' sons or something like that keep joining on and following in their slain fathers' legacies. It aggravates me. Why can't they just leave well enough alone?"
"What are you babbling about? And why are you leaning against that tree? Just come out here and explain. And," added Inuyasha, glancing around, "where's the rest? Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara, where the hell are they? You didn't lose them too, did you?"
"No, they're right here..." Tobias's right arm gestured vaguely into the distance. "You probably can't see them right now, though. Like I said, they've been after me for centuries."
"What does this have to do with you now?" said Kagome, a little apprehensively. She crept forward a bit and tried to get a good look at Tobias. She gasped at what she saw. He was indeed sitting against a tree, but his arms were hanging limp and useless at his sides. About thirty darts protruded from his exposed neck. There was a strange smile on his face as he slowly swiveled his eyeballs to look at her.
"They found me," he said simply. Inuyasha came up beside Kagome and recoiled. A call came from the foliage.
"Now, brothers! Attack!" Darts flew from the trees and bushes. One struck Kagome, and she fell unconscious. Inuyasha howled with rage and tore off the few darts that were stuck to him, but dozens more rushed towards him and buried themselves in his flesh. The combined effect of the potions overwhelmed him. He took one staggering step and fell.
About forty cloaked figures emerged from the surrounding trees. "A good hunt, comrades," one of them said. His cloak was white, while everyone else's was red. "The half-demon nearly ruined all...grab the others and load them up." Some of the men reached into the bushes and took out the stricken figures of Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kirara. They hefted them over their shoulders and began to carry them away. "Now, to get the spoils of victory." He reached toward the sword on Tobias's side, but Tobias weakly reached out a hand to stop him. He was still oddly smiling.
"Not yet, Maurius," he said, almost lightheartedly. "Were you to take this sword now, the darts would surely kill me. Wouldn't want that, would you." Maurius stayed his hand, expression changing swiftly from gleeful to furious. "I don't even know what would happen if the chosen one of the sword should drop dead. Perhaps the sword itself would take its revenge on you."
"Be that as it may." Maurius stood up and motioned for some men. They picked up Tobias, straining under the weight of his armor, and began to carry him off.
"This is your group's twenty-fifth attempt, Maurius," called Tobias. "Would you like a gift of silver?"
"No, but a respite from your talking would serve nicely." Maurius picked up a hefty rock and bashed Tobias over the head. His eyes closed and he lay unconscious...still smiling.
Tobias woke up. He was bound in great chains, hanging off a wall in some cell somewhere. His armor was gone. Next to him, similarly chained to the wall, were his friends. Inuyasha was in chains so thick Tobias wondered how any humans could lift them. What is it with these guys and chaining people to the wall? This has got to be the eighteenth time I've had it done to me.
Maurius walked in. "Ah," he said cheerfully. "You lived. Good for us...seeing as your power is now mine." In his hand, he brandished Tobias's sword. Tobias's eyes widened imperceptibly at seeing this, but somehow kept his cool.
"I'm not impressed. How many times have we gotten this far? You know how it is. You gloat on and on about your shiny new toy, I somehow snatch it out of your hand or a friend comes in, and I escape. What makes you think this time will be any different?" Maurius smiled, a terrible chilling smile that made Tobias's blasé vanish in a flash.
"Because this time, oh Tobias, I have figured out exactly how to use this sword. Before, I thought just waving it around would produce results. But now I know that rage powers it. And when I'm powered, you're in serious trouble." Tobias looked stunned.
"Don't be so surprised," Maurius chided. "I figured it out eventually. It's just trial and error, that's all. You don't have any friends to help you, they're all in chains. You can't possibly grab it out of my hand. Even your demon friend is restrained." A noise in Inuyasha's direction made both men turn towards it.
Inuyasha had woken up and was raging and struggling against his bonds. "You fucking assholes!!" he howled. "I'll kill you! If you hurt Kagome at ALL, I'll-"
"Oh, that pretty girl you were with? I haven't done anything yet..." Maurius smiled again. "But now that you've given me the idea, I think I shall enjoy myself a bit before I kill her." As it turned out, that was exactly the wrong thing to say.
Inuyasha screamed and wrenched one arm so hard that the chains ripped out of the wall. Maurius lost his grin and bolted towards Inuyasha. With incredible speed, he slammed Inuyasha's head into the wall. Bloodied, Inuyasha fell unconscious again. Maurius turned to some men nearby.
"Put that chain back in the wall, and reinforce the whole structure! I cannot have him escaping." He turned back to Tobias. "As I was saying..."
Tobias looked horror-struck by this turn of events. A flicker of hope had sparked in him at seeing Inuyasha almost break free, but now that he was out again...Maurius was all too right. Tobias had no allies left. In the past, Maurius had been an idiot and tried to activate the sword in a number of ridiculous ways, all of which culminated in Tobias's escape. But now that he finally knew the secret...Tobias's hopes had been crushed.
"What, no more snide remarks? Just because you've lost all ability to escape and will die in the next few minutes doesn't mean you should get depressed about it." Maurius laughed, a horrible laugh that stung Tobias's ears. "Oh yes...I've been wanting to do this for seventeen years." The sword flashed in his hands. Tobias stiffened and jerked his body back as its impossibly sharp edge sliced a thin path across his torso. He did not make a sound, though; he would not give Maurius that pleasure.
"How does it feel, sword-master? How does it feel to fall to your own blade?" Maurius hit him again, drawing a long line of blood across his stomach. "Now you know how my brothers felt when you slaughtered them!" A slash to the chest. "You should have killed me when you had the chance!!"
Maurius hit him again, and again, and again. The sword sliced through his entire body, causing white-hot channels of pain to run over him. As the sword pierced his eye, Tobias lost his composure and screamed in agony. Maurius laughed again and slammed his head into the wall. Sure his skull was cracked, and unable to summon any more resistance; Tobias let his head flop forward and waited for the end. Maurius prepared for the final stroke when a cloaked man ran up to him, breathless.
"My lord," he said, panting. "There is an intruder in our castle!"
"An intruder?" roared Maurius.
"Yes, my lord. He is demanding release of the prisoners." Tobias lifted his head as much as he could, which wasn't much. Who was this intruder? Who did he have left that knew who he was, much less cared about him? Maurius turned away from Tobias.
"Then he shall die for his insolence. To arms, my brothers! Kill the intruder on sight!" He roared into battle, disappearing behind the stone corridor as hordes of men followed him.
The battle cries dissolved into screams.
Shrieks and cries rung from the corridors and the sound of metal cutting through flesh rang loudly in Tobias's ears. He wanted to cover his ears, to block out the awful noise, but he couldn't. The sounds echoed through the entire cell and reverberated around the room. A roar Tobias barely recognized as Maurius's was heard and the furious clang of metal on metal pierced his ears.
Tobias wanted nothing more than unconsciousness or death. The pain was worse than almost anything he'd ever experienced. Tears dripped from his one whole eye as he thought of his family. I'll never get a chance to avenge you...I'll just die here, while your murderer goes on to kill other people. I'm sorry, everyone. I tried. I tried as much as I could, but I failed. All at once, the sounds stopped.
Maurius's head, an expression of twisted shock on its face, rolled sickeningly past the cell entrance. Tobias was too weak to fight the nausea that overcame him, and he barely managed to move himself out of the way in time to vomit. Footsteps clanked through the hallway, and a figure came into sight.
Despite the fact that Tobias thought he was as low as he could go, despite the fact that he would welcome death with open arms and was ready to sacrifice his quest just to stop the pain, despite the fact that he had hit absolutely rock bottom, Tobias felt a terrible sinking feeling.
The General stood in the doorway.
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Ooooooooh, that SUCKS, doesn't it. Just when you thought you've hit bottom, people throw you shovels. What will he do? WHAT WILL HE DO? Find out next time, in the exciting chapter titled "The Entire Party Gets Killed". (j/k)
Seriously, what do you think he'll do? Review and respond! Make them reviews big and substantial, and I'll answer them! Until next time...REVIEW!!!!!!!