Disclaimer: I own the story of Guardian Angel and my characters, but not the Inu-Yasha influences!
Gah! The world's out to get me this week. Alright, this is the THIRD time I'm posting this. If you can read this, good. If not, I'm going to go and kill my neighbours. You didn't read that.
Shoutouts:
Unknown: How did I ever create such a complex story? My muse made it up and I just sort of went along. When I started writing this story I didn't really have any plans for it, and then the story just came along in itself. I guess that's how those things work. *shrug* It's my secret to success. And I need to put in evil plot twists or else there'd be no good story! It's a adventure! With suspense! Yeah, and I brought Sango back because I knew the S/M fans were going to rip me to tiny pieces and that's a horrible way to die. Besides, kept you reading, ne? And I'll bring in as much fluff as I can!
Tsukinoko: Hanakimi? What, pray tell, is that? I have never heard of this Hanakimi, but if you're asking there must be some evidence of it in my story. I must go look see.
Ayame: You don't read my story?! What! How could you say such a thing? So you're just reviewing this to annoy and try to kill me! Or was that a slip of the type? Because if you meant that, I have many hordes of chibi ninjas at my beck and call that will wreck vengeance upon you! I'll teach you for attacking the great Ama! Hiya!
Vold: Mizuki modeled after someone? No, probably not. If he were modeled after anyone, he'd be modeled after my friend Neko, if she were a chain-smoking perverted kappa. He's just a comic relief character who's quick, fun and easy to write. And if he makes you laugh, good! Sorry I took so long to update *kicks computer*
Reynamanga: Well, Sango's back to life and I hope you're all happy now. Knickers in a twist is a British expression. Long live the brits.
Chapter 35:
Fang
"Hmm? They're coming already?" The angel looked curiously at his visitor, a slight smile on his handsome face. "Pretty quick for a gang of hoodlums, aren't they?"
"They're battling at the third gate as we speak." Kuro-michi said, standing on the other side of the cracked arch that made the fourth gate. "No doubt they'll defeat the guard there simply enough. Their strength seems to have returned with their member."
The angel snorted, sitting comfortable on his side of the arch. "Naraku made a bit of a mess there, didn't he? Taking a member away, only to give her back? Rather pointless and a waste of his time."
"Not really." Kuro-michi disagreed. "The girl is now shaken up, knowing her brother is here and that Naraku has complete control of her. And the group now trust her less, knowing she would kill so easily. Plus," he added, "she has lost her weapon."
"She can still fight though, and not bad for a puny human at such a young age." The angel mused. He smiled and his shoulders shook before he burst out laughing. "And these are the ones I am to fight? You must be joking me. Facing only a few lesser, brainless demons and then making me, Hato-sama, fight them when they are tired an worn? A bit of a joke, is it not?" He chuckled, looking at Kuro-michi sideways.
The trespasser was not smiling. "Either you underestimate them or I underestimate you, Hatonomaboroshi. Do not let the fact that they are so small or insignificant faze you. Remember their past, after all."
Hato was smiling still, but coldly now. "Their pasts of their former lives. They are shadows, not duplicates of the past so-called 'heroes' of the Second Strike. Who they were does not concern me to who they are now." He stretched casually. "Even an army of a hundred mortal and angel children would not be able to stop one such as I."
"Be as it may, no screwing up." Kuro-michi said tersely. "Naraku may have done well to choose you after all, but remember your place. And work well with your companions when they come."
Hato paused in his stretching and raised an eyebrow. "Companions?" he echoed.
"Naraku has ordered that Gankotsu be with you when the time comes." The trespasser said matter-of-factly. Hato frowned and got into a thinking position, cross-legged with one elbow resting on his knee, propping his head up.
"Gankotsu, Gankotsu, kotsu…." He repeated muttering. "Kotsu… I know that from somewhere…"
"The Shichinin-tai whom Naraku has resurrected." Kuro-michi muttered. Hato's eyes light up.
"Ah, yes! Them!" He smiled again. "A third time's a bit much, don't you think? Can't teach an old dog new tricks."
"When he gets here, do try to not kill him, since Naraku needs him for later." Kuro-michi stated flatly, shrinking a bit when a harsh wind whipped through, nearly knocking him over. Hato didn't move even as the wind bit as his clothes and braided hair. Instead he thought for a minute and looked to the east before chuckling again.
"Alright then trespasser, I'll play fair. Naraku doesn't trust me one bit, eh?" He stretched out to put his hands behind his head, as if to show how little he cared of the whole situation. "Well then, I can agree with that, for now. How long until the ragtag little bunch of wannabes arrive?"
Kuro-michi looked out silently to the distance for a moment. "Twenty minutes. They're still fighting the oni guards."
The angel snorted. "And I'm to be afraid of these ones? Well, go get this Gankotsu character and bring him here. If the fun starts before he comes, he's left out, understand?"
Kuro-michi silently wished for a very slow death for the angel. "Understood." He said, fading out until he disappeared in a gushing blow of wind. Hato watched the spot where the trespasser had stood for a moment and then got into a more relaxed position, watching the distance where his adversaries were to arrive from.
Another wind, less violent passed through and ruffled the black clothing and golden hair of the angel, causing him to duck his head so he wouldn't get sand in his face. He smiled at his shadow. He liked the way this new robe worked for him. That stupid white one he had worn before just gave him the creeps, and it always made his hair to dull and eyes to obvious. This new black one accented both his golden hair and dark red eyes to a perfection, and his new dark grey wings suited it nicely as well. The black cloak had absolutely nothing to do with his abandonment of Heaven, although his grey wings certainly did. Not to matter, for once the world was one entire existence again it wouldn't matter who was angel, mortal or human. Because he, Hatonomaboroshi, would make them all his subjects. Naraku had good reason not to trust the treacherous angel.
Tilting his head slightly to catch some noise, the angel glanced up and looked over to the east again. "Well, well, what's this?" He called out. The demon stepped out of the shadows once she realized she had been discovered. Hato smiled, remembering this female servant of Naraku's. She had been missing for some time and judging by her sulking around she was obviously planning something mutinous.
Perfect.
Kagura rode her feather to the top of the gate where Hato was sitting, a frown on her face. Hato smiled.
"Well mistress of wind, what brings you here? A request for something?" His eyes glinted dangerously. "Or is trying to get yourself killed a new hobby these days."
Kagura clenched her teeth. "If you must know, it is a request of some kind."
Hato's eyes lit up, hoping it'd be one of the impossible ones where he could end up screwing both Kagura and Naraku over. "Oh really? Of what sort?"
"The threeblood." Kagura said, motioning to the general direction of the nearly non-visible third gate. "I don't want you to kill him."
"Why not?" Hato was thoroughly enjoying himself. "After all, those are my direct orders."
"Because there's something else we'd like to do to him." A voice behind Hato made him nearly fall of his perch as he turned to see the undead Guardian Kikyou. She smiled coldly, enough to scare even Hato. "Hello Hato. Miss me?"
Hato quickly recovered himself. "So the rumours are true. You're alive." He noted.
"Brilliant observation." Kagura said sarcastically. Hato was beginning to wonder if he should be nice to Naraku and just kill the wind demon now. Instead he turned to Kikyou. "Well, what is it you'd have me do?"
Kikyou smile turned icy. "Oh, something that will having him begging for death. Kagura, care to explain?"
"KYAAAAA!!!!" Shippo screamed and was picked up before the giant fist could turn him into fox jam. Inu-Yasha brought the fox child to his face and glared at him. "Shippo you idiot, I told you to stay out of this!" He practically threw the foxkit to Kagome. "Kagome, hold him and don't let him go this time!" he shouted before avoiding a blow.
"Do I really have a choice?" Kagome asked Sango as she righted the stunned Shippo and waited for him to recover as the others went on to killing the last of the three oni guards.
"That's it Miroku, just keep him right there!" Inu-Yasha shouted as he jumped up a pile of rocks, drawing his sword. Miroku winced as he braced himself against the tug of his air rip as it tried to suck into the demon that was too large and was dragging the dead monk forward instead.
Calculating for about a second, Inu-Yasha jumped right into the air, caught in a piece of Miroku's blast which quickly sucked him forward.
"What the hell is he doing, trying to get himself killed?" Netsuna asked as she watched.
Inu-Yasha instead used the momentum of the air rip as a driving force, as he swung his sword so hard it cut clean through the oni's neck and sent the half-angel spinning as Miroku covered his head and ducked out of the way of the wildly swinging blade of Tetsusaiga. Landing on the ground Inu-Yasha righted himself and grinned.
"Hells that was fun!" he said, kissing the hilt of Tetsusaiga dramatically. "I love this sword!" He transformed it and sheathed it, kicking the oni's body as it quickly dissolved.
"Nice work doggy, but try to not be so reckless next time." Netsuna said.
"Well, if the next demon's a giant ball of yarn, I'll let you have a go, alright?" Inu-Yasha shot back.
"Of course and we can use some of the remainder string to act as a leash for you, so Kagome can keep you better behaved." Netsuna said without missing a beat.
"Only if you don't get tangled in it. Actually, a giant ball of yarn would be too complicated for you, wouldn't it? Why don't we just get you a small one to keep yourself busy while us real fighters do the work."
"What work? All we need is a baseball player here, give him your sword and it'll work just as well. Except you'd keep chasing the ball."
"Better than my own tail, you little bitch."
"A bitch is a dog, remember?"
"Well why don't you just go –"
"Enough already!" Shippo whined, holding his spinning head. "Yeesh you guys, can't we just go and get this over with so you two can argue about it later?"
"Wanna make me, brat?" Inu-Yasha growled and was about to continue his sentence when he saw Kagome's look. "Keh. Let's just keep moving. We don't wanna waste time."
"They're getting worse by the minute." Kagome sighed as they continued walking.
"They are cat and dog." Miroku said, as if that offered any explanation.
"Still, they bicker worse than brother and sister." Kagome muttered. "How many more gates to go?"
"There's twelve and we're on the fourth, so I'm guessing that would be eight more." Miroku said.
"And then it's Naraku." Sango added darkly. They all nodded solemnly and continued walking for another ten minutes.
"Hey, I can see the fourth gate already!" Netsuna shouted out. "They're getting closer together or something. Weird."
"Or maybe we're walking faster than usual. Or they're not as far apart as we originally thought." Miroku added. Netsuna nodded thoughtfully.
"Still, it's a hell of a lot closer than the others." Inu-Yasha growled. Usually we get enough time in-between to rest up, but it's only been ten minutes. I'm still fucking tired."
"But just as uncouth." Netsuna said perkily. Inu-Yasha muttered something under his breath that made Kagome elbow him sharply in the side. He winced, but didn't complain, knowing he probably deserved it.
"Alright, everybody ready for the good old ambush?" Netsuna asked, jumping onto a rock. Sango got out her sword, Miroku readied the beads on his hand, Kagome made sure Shippo stayed with her, Kirrara kept on the lookout and Inu-Yasha put a hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt, wary in case his claws were better suited.
"Good old ambush? You mean this has been done before? Well then, I supposed I'll just come out from the front, won't I?" They all looked up to see the speaker perched on the black stone arch, a tall man in a completely black outfit with piercing red eyes, golden hair tied in a braid except for two long strands that hung over his face and dark grey wings that were folded menacingly over his back, giving him the appearance of a giant crow. He was smiling but there was no humour in it. "And how's the group trying to save the world today?"
Shippo whimpered and hid behind Kagome, under her hair. "That's Hatonomaboroshi!" He hissed, pointing accusingly at the smug angel. "He's a fallen angel, one of the top notches who decided to join the demons! He was well on his way to becoming a Guardian but just switched sides halfway through his training. He's really, really powerful!"
"Oh, I'm glad I have such a reputation even among children." The angel said haughtily, spreading his dark wings and taking to the air, landing in front of the group with barely any wind, looking almost harmless except for his eyes, cold and with a love for killing. "And no need for introductions then, since, of course, I know who all you are."
"You work with Naraku?" Inu-Yasha hissed. Hato looked at Inu-Yasha as though he were stupid, which was probably what he was thinking. "No, I'm here for the good of my health because I heard that the Unbidden Lands do wonders for the skin as certain times of the year." He said sarcastically. "You must be the threeblood."
Inu-Yasha ears flattened and he bristled. "Wanna make something of it?" he asked, half-drawing the rusted form of Tetsusaiga. Hato's eyes lit up for a moment and he smiled. "Ah, so you are. Good, I'd like to have a nice one-on-one with you." he said, turning to face the half-angel completely. Inu-Yasha grinned at the one insulting his intelligence and drew the sword completely, but not transforming it yet.
"Well, then, how about starting – "
Hato was suddenly behind Inu-Yasha, holding the half-angel's arms back while he had a knee right in Inu-Yasha' back, immobilizing the dog-angel. "Now?" Hato finished Inu-Yasha's sentence. "Why certainly. But no weapons." He added with a bit of a tsk. Wrenching Inu-Yasha's wrist completely back Hato broke the bone with a resounding crack and forced the rusted sword from Inu-Yasha's grip. Kicking his opponent forward, Hato picked up the sword, tsking. "No, no, this certainly will not do." He said, taking the blade and hilt the cleaning snapping the sword in half, letting the pieces fall to the ground. "Now, shall we begin?"
Sesshoumaru looked up quickly and walked to the window that faced the Unbidden Lands. Jaken was also on his feet and Rin watched curiously as both demons looked at each other, Sesshoumaru showing the hints of worry.
"Jaken, quickly go fetch the blacksmith and bring him here at once." Sesshoumaru said urgently. Jaken bowed and ran out of the room, nearly tripping over his staff. Rin walked up to Sesshoumaru and was about to ask the circumstances but something about the Demon Lord's expression made her stop.
"Shit." Sesshoumaru swore under his breath, looking out at the barren landscape. "I should have foreseen this."
End Chapter 35
Shoutouts:
link no miko: GAH! I hate my computer! Sorry the post took so long. Damn story. Anyways, don't you love Mizuki? I really, really wish there was a character based after him in a real anime. Then I could say, I made that character! He's my very own perverted kappa. I love kappas. I don't know why. When I was watching Spirited Away with my family I kept squealing whenever I saw the kappas until my sister told me to shut up, they got it. *grins* And don't get so emotional over the chapter, Sango's alive! See? See? Isn't everything cool and fruit again? Except for Hato in this chapter. But I really, really like Hato and I don't know why. And I got a Gackt CD! I love it1 love love love! My parents are going to start banning Japanese products in our house soon, I'm getting so bad. But that doesn't matter! I have my Gackt CD. But I wanna see Gackt dancing with cat people. *pouts* Durn you…. And HunterXHunter's my new obsession! Kurapika vs Killua? Hmm… in what sense? As bishes or fighting? Fighting I'm not sure, since I haven't seen Killua fight yet (I'm not very far) and Bishy… probably Kurapika, since he's the reclusive character and they're always my fave. And Killua's twelve. That's a bit of a turn off (although I always imagine them older) I also like Leorio. He's just funny.
Anyhoos, Ama's off to keep writing! And everyone! Watch Spirited Away! NOW!
~Ama