Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. All related characters, story lines and other junk are property of Rumiko Takahashi.
Void
One: Incentive
"Are you sure it's this way, Kagome-chan?" Sango, from atop the neko-youkai Kirara, yelled down to her female companion, who was riding on the back of the hanyou Inuyasha.
"Yes, Sango-chan!" Kagome called back, narrowing her eyes against the onslaught of rushing wind. "I can feel it, the presence of more than one shard," the young miko whispered. "They feel horribly tainted."
"If it's that bastard, then this is his final hour," growled Inuyasha. "He's finally realized he can't hide his ass in magic castles and send his little bastard experiments after us."
Sango could feel how tense the houshi was behind her. His knuckles were splashed white from the tight grip he had on the staff around her waist, and he kept leaning into her, although not in a lecherous manner at all. Almost, it seemed, in desperation.
"Houshi-sama," she said to him quietly, chancing a glance at his strained face. "We're a little bit closer to defeating him. We've come a little closer every time." She tried to sound optimistic, but it was lost on him.
"Maybe," he replied, not looking at her. Sango turned her concentration back to the stretch of land in front of her, although Kirara was doing an adequate job of avoiding trees.
"I can feel a barrier up ahead!" Miroku called out to the group. "Do you sense it, Kagome-sama?"
Sango slowed Kirara and they skidded to a halt, spraying dried mud and grass around them. The humans that had been riding on her back promptly dismounted and ran over to Kagome and Inuyasha, who had stopped a split second after they had.
"What do you suppose, Kagome-chan?" Sango inquired as she brought her hand slowly towards the invisible barrier. As her fingertips came in contact with the force field, a stinging electricity bit at her skin, and she flinched. Miroku quickly stepped in front of Sango, and tapped the air in front of him with his staff, causing some of the white electricity to lash onto it.
"Why are we fucking wasting our time!" Inuyasha snapped, drawing out his Tetsusaiga, which transformed and shone red as he did so. He held it out in front of him, preparing to break the barrier with it, when a strong wind suddenly whipped at their clothes, and a smug female voice sounded behind them.
"Well, I've been ordered to deal with the foolish hanyou and the weak humans once again," Kagura drawled in a bored tone, twisting her deadly fan around her nimble fingers.
"Then why don't you fucking die bitch, and then we won't have to see your ass again!" Inuyasha roared, swinging Tetsusaiga and preparing to release the Wind Scar before Kagura began her manipulation of the wind.
Anticipating this move, the wind demon swung her fan across her body, and great spirals of wind began crashing into the ground around the group.
"Shit!" Inuyasha yelled, scooping up Kagome. Kagura was maniacally sending powerful blasts of wind at them, causing all sorts of landscape to rip from the group and disorient the companions.
Miroku was being driven in all directions by the rampaging wind, and found his back against a tree. "Houshi-sama!" Sango called, forcing her way towards him, shielded by her Hiraikotsu. She held it up in front of them, and fought to keep it there as debris bounced heavily off its surface.
"Ane-ue."
Sango froze. Was it just the wind?
"I want to talk to you, Ane-ue. I miss you."
She glanced behind her, and she saw it. A quick flash of amber armor, and the telltale clang of a long chain. It had to be him.
She released a breath that she hadn't known she was holding.
"Sango!" Miroku's voice penetrated her thoughts, forcing her back to their situation. He was holding her tightly against him to keep the wind from dislodging her from her feet. She turned her attention back to Kagura, and her frustration doubled. Crying out, she charged forward still grasping her weapon in front of her.
"Let him go you horrible bitch! Why did you bring him here!"
Tears of frustration flew from her eyes from the force of the wind blowing towards her.
'Kohaku must be here.'
The realization came a moment too late, and when Miroku reached out to Sango to stop her from letting go of Hiraikotsu, Kagura took the opportunity and sent a devastating wind blade directly at her.
Miroku could only look on horrified as Sango brought forward the boomerang bone as a shield, and the raw white power of the wind blade pounded into it. Dirt piled against her heels, and beads of sweat poured down Sango's temples as she pushed against the force. There was a deafening crack as Hiraikotsu was wrenched from her hold and she was pulled into the rushing air. Kagura watched in slight concentration as the young taijiya was pulled higher and higher into the current by her power.
"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled desperately. "Fight me, you bitch!"
Kagura smiled thinly. "When I am done here," she said lazily. "Despite how fun this is, I still have orders." She made eye contact with the houshi, and when he returned her gaze with one of panic, she laughed, a wicked, unfeeling laugh, and flicked her fan closed.
Miroku turned and ran towards where Sango's limp body was falling towards the canopy of trees at an alarming speed. He couldn't remember anything at the moment, except that if something didn't break her fall, he would find the mangled corpse of his special girl.
He kept running, and it wasn't until he heard the faint shrieks of Kagome-sama that he remembered the barrier. Another painful crack echoed through the forest as he slammed into the barrier, and was thrown back in a storm of white lightning. Steam rose off of monk's robes, as he lay motionless on the torn earth.
Kagura yanked at the feather in her hair and the large white feather materialized. It instantly rose in the air as Kagura sat atop it, laughing mockingly at Inuyasha and Kagome. She raised her fan another time.
"I might as well have my fun before I leave," she announced, and with a swish of her wrist, the fan opened.
Inaudible cursing streamed from Inuyasha's mouth as he and Kagome stared defiantly up at the wind sorceress.
*
Her head throbbed and she could feel convulsions of pain in her sides. She clawed at the ground and rose to a kneeling position, cradling her head. As she looked up to assess her situation, Sango came face to face with the young face of her younger brother Kohaku. She fought back the urge to take him in her arms and cry, and hope that he was hers for real now, that she had finally won him back. She knew better than that. She knew that Naraku wouldn't have given him back so easily. If Kohaku was here, of course it wasn't of his own free will.
The whole situation was painfully familiar as it was. She had been separated from the others, and a strange barrier had been erected. However, since Inuyasha had the barrier breaking Tetsusaiga, Kagura had been sent to thwart them. She chanced a quick glance at the area around them, and noted that indeed, there was a thick blanket of mist that obscured any scenery farther than the length of Hiraikotsu.
As she stared warily at him, she noticed that his face held an expression of dark sadness. There were purple bags below his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days, and he looked so worn and tired, that it was as though...
"Ane-ue," he gasped through a dry throat, as he lurched forward and embraced Sango tightly. His small hands gripped the red length of cloth that wound across her back and he buried his face in the front of her shoulder, staining the black fabric with tears. "I know everything that happened. I killed everyone! Father...and all of our friends," he sobbed, choking and gasping for air. His face was red from crying, and his shoulders trembled.
Sango's heart ached for him. At this moment, her deep hatred for Naraku reached a burning point. She tightened her own arms around her younger brother and patted his back gently, trying to stop him from trembling. She continued comforting him as he desperately choked out stammered apologies, until her senses as a taijiya alerted her to another presence, emerging from the thick blanket of mist.
She stiffened and instinctively tightened her hold on Kohaku as the bastard himself materialized in front of her. Next to him was the white offspring of nothingness, Kanna, holding her round mirror in front of her. As usual, she was eerily silent, and stared at the siblings with a blank expression.
Naraku's face twisted into a horrible smirk as he surveyed the two young humans on the ground before him. As he made to move forward, Sango immediately pushed Kohaku behind her and got to her feet in defense, brandishing her blade in front of her. "Get away from us, you sick bastard," Sango growled in disgust and anger.
He regarded her as though he had just noticed she was there. "You haven't learned, have you, Sango?" he asked airily. "You can't win. Especially in a position I intended to have you in."
He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and Sango felt a heavy weight drop behind her. She glanced back quickly, and her eyes met the sight of her brother lying in a heap upon the earth.
She couldn't lose him, not again. She fought to keep her emotions in check, but she knew it would only be a matter of time before he awoke as Naraku's minion once again. Sango charged at Naraku with her blade, a foolish move she knew, but with the odds stacked against her, she could only hope that her friends would come and retrieve her soon.
The evil energy of the barrier burned through her armor and through her skin. She screamed in pain as the feeling of a thousand needles piercing her skin washed over her in waves. She was thrown back, landing heavily on her side, her limbs still convulsing with the intensity of Naraku's barrier.
"Kanna, " Naraku said to his offspring, who came forward quietly. "Show her," he commanded.
Kanna stood over Sango, expressionless, and tilted the mirror slightly so she could see her own bruised, bleeding face reflected back at her. The image faded, and instead was replaced with one of Inuyasha, who had Kagome balanced precariously on his back. He fought to keep her stable, as she was desperately trying to fit an arrow to her bow. Wind blades were shaking the earth in tremors as they collided with the ground around them. Hundreds of low class youkai were swarming the two, and Sango could hear Inuyasha's echoing yells as he disposed of them and dodged Kagura's blades. Dust and dirt rose from the ground in clouds where they struck, and soon the hanyou and the miko were obscured from Sango's vision.
The images faded into the reflection of her face. She hadn't noticed how hard she had been biting on her lip, and a small trail of blood formed from the cut to her chin. Her heart pounded in her chest as she remembered whom she hadn't been shown.
"Is that all?" Sango spat at Naraku.
He sneered at her mockingly, as though she was an ant he was about to step on.
Her reflection in the mirror faded into another image. It was still the same area, except that the sounds of fighting were faint. The view changed, and she saw him. He was lying on his back, his robes and face marred with dirt and scratches. A constant stream of youkai pieces was landing in various areas around him, and blood was streaming from his temple. Sango's heart felt as though it would explode seeing him like this, but when she noticed the steady rise and fall of his chest, she was slightly relieved.
The perspective changed, and Sango saw Kagura smiling nastily. The winds gathered around her, and began to form the devastating tornadoes of the Wind Dragon. "Let's give him a piece of the action, " Kagura declared, and with great exaggeration of her movements, directed her fan at Miroku, who was beginning to stir.
"MIROKU!" Inuyasha roared, pivoting in his direction as the tornado shot towards him.
The image faded into the reflection of Sango's fearful face. Kanna held the mirror to her chest and drew back behind Naraku.
"Do you want him to die, Sango?" Naraku asked in a bored tone.
"Leave him be, asshole!" Sango responded fiercely, trying to get to her feet. He remained unfazed.
"You know it and I know it Sango. He will die. Soon, if I am not mistaken. After all, I did give his family the curse myself."
"He will kill you," Sango hissed, now on her hands and knees. "We will all kill you, and dance on your remains."
"You have the nerve to say that to me while you have been reduced to crawling on your hands and knees?" Naraku laughed.
"When the Kazaana consumes him, it will be unexpected, and all of your pathetic group will be drawn in along with him," he reminded her in a low voice.
He placed his foot on her shoulder and forced her body flat on the ground again. Sango winced as gravel and sand was embedded onto her skin.
"There is a way to close it."
"Shut up bastard, I don't see any reason I should believe the lies that come out of your twisted mouth."
"The only reason his family received the curse is because they were fools who wanted women. It was only because I disguised myself as a woman and his grandfather foolishly pursued me that their line was cursed."
Sango remained silent.
"I had to show them it was a human weakness to love women, and to foolishly seek them."
"Is that all you have to say Naraku? You will die before the void consumes him, so you should be the one counting the remaining days of your life!" Sango interrupted. She didn't want to hear any more about Miroku's curse. She had already implanted in her mind the fantasy that Miroku and Kohaku would live, Naraku would die, and they would be together.
"If the bearer of the curse fell in love with a woman, and they joined, he would die soon after by the void. If he didn't, he would inevitably die alone. If he consumed the girl through the air void, it would close and he would live. But he would live with the knowledge that he had taken another life, the life of one he loved, to continue his own, and it would be his own loneliness and weakness that would cause his death."
"This has nothing to do with me!" Sango shouted. She had to make him stop telling her this. The more he spoke, the more she believed him.
"It has everything to do with you, pitiful warrior," he said with another smirk. "It would be like killing two birds with one stone."
He bent forward, closer to Sango's head. "If you choose to close the fool's Kazaana, I will deliver this present to him in memory of you."
Naraku dragged Kohaku forward by his collar, and dropped his body in front of Sango. She could still see the redness on his cheeks from his tears.
"But until then," Naraku began. He placed a finger to Kohaku's forehead and the young boy's eyes instantly shot open. He stood up slowly stared down silently at Sango, reaching for his chain scythe.
In a panic, Sango twisted her body and began to drag herself backward away from her brother. She stood, supporting herself with a hand on her knee, and uncovered the blade on her right arm.
She brought her arm in front of her just as the scythe blade flew towards her neck, and she knocked it away.
"I want it exactly as last time, Kohaku, don't kill her yet. I'm counting on a different end to her life."
Sango's eyes widened as her brother deftly caught his weapon and advanced towards her. He swung his arm back and threw his weapon, the chains rattling as they extended.
As Sango fought off Kohaku in defense, she could hear Naraku taunting her. "Consider this, an incentive if you will, " he drawled lazily.
Suddenly the world stilled, as a familiar pain shot through her back. She fell to her knees as the scythe blade embedded itself into her skin, her blood searing as it soaked through the black fabric. She whimpered as it was wrenched out, causing more painful spasms, and footsteps echoed away into nothingness. The mist dispersed.
Sango shut her eyes tightly. She could remember everything in perfect detail about that night. She was laying lifeless on the floor, arrows pierced through her skin, her brother beneath her, unconscious and covered in arrows as well. However, the pain was more intense now. The wound had been reopened in the same manner, but the one who had inflicted it upon her had gone, and she lay in her own blood and sweat alone.
Then he was there, jumping off the back of Kirara and landing unsteadily on his feet due to his own sustained injuries. Sango watched him rush towards her and turn her over gently. "Sango," he said worriedly. "You're hurt." She sat up slightly, and he unknotted the length of fabric around him and pressed it to her wound, tinting the purple with scarlet.
She grimaced in agony as he applied more pressure to the freshly opened gash, and she fell limply forward into his shoulder. He brought his arm around her, and stroked the back of her neck softly. It was his cursed hand, she knew, because she could fell the telltale roundness of the prayer beads scraping her neck.
"What happened?"
Sango craned her neck to look at him, and when she looked at his face, she did not receive the comfort and warmth that his eyes usually provided her. The more he held her, and tried his best to ease the pain, she could only cry.
It confused him.
__________________*
So, this is it. It won't stretch as long as the other AU fic, probably five chapters maximum. I absolutely hate writing battle scenes, Naraku, and any other sort of evil character because it comes out so cheesy. I also vowed to myself never to touch the 'Kazaana' fic, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone! Well, just be glad that I didn't attempt to describe Naraku's weird new body. Until next.
Why do I even bother? Not like anyone reads this stuff anyway. =)
Void: Incentive revised and uploaded March 16th 2004