Disclaimer: I own what I own and I don't what I don't.
Hello all! Time for another chapter of Guardian Angel! Sorry this one's so short, like the last one was. When I wrote the chapter out it ended up being too long and even when I cut some stuff out it was still too long, so I just cut it in half, which ended up in two chapters too short. But that just means more weeks of Guardian Angel! Lemme alone, I an optimist.
Shout outs:
Foureyedbookworm, SimplyTurquoise: Well foureyedbookworm, your name is 17 letters, so nya! And SimplyTurquoise is eighteen letters! And what is Hato's name number count? One says 13, the other 15… *counts* 13. so febw was right! And I like the name Hatonomaboroshi (which is pronounced hato-no-mabo-ro-shi by the way) But how did I come up with it? The same way all great writers come up with names, and in Japanese it's even easier. Pick random kanji out of the dictionary! Actually 'hato' means 'dove' and 'maboroshi' means 'illusions' so add in a 'no' and you get 'dove of illusions', roughly translated. It was originally going to be Hato no Maboroshi, but since it sounded more like a title than a name I just joined it all together so sound more formal and impressive. It's also quite the mouthful.
ChocolateEclar: Yelling curses at anime characters is fun and if you do it enough your mom will actually start watching the anime instead of looking at you strangely and then she'll get hooked on it! That's what I did for Inu-Yasha, Spirited Away, Laputa, Gravitation and Bastard!!. It was great fun. ^_^ And Kikyou deserves to be yelled at, stupid dead bitch. She died! And then she got revived! And then she died again! And then KAGOME of all people brings her back to life! And she's not even grateful! That stupid little whore… *fumes* Well, that was my ranting. *blink… sweatdrop* I hope I didn't just ruin anything for anyone. (Netsuna was a cat demon for two reasons: 1, I love cat demons. 2, I needed a cat/dog bickering. It just wouldn't seem right without it
Ayame: Hurrah for Spirited Away! I love that movie so much. I've seen it in English, French, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, German and I'm seeing it in Protegeus (or however you spell it) soon. Hurrah! And Haku can't be your honey-bunny 'cause he's mine! MINE! *glare*
Chapter 36:
Blood
"So what's new in the end of the world?" Mizuki asked, shielding himself from the rain and smoking happily after figuring out he could light one cigarette from another. The trespasser didn't seem to share Mizuki's pessimistic optimism as it wrapped it's cloak tightly around it for better cover against the cold storm that had effectively flooded Mizuki's alleyway he was to guard. The kappa, not fazed by the rain now that he had countless smokes, noticed the trespasser was more sullen than usual. "Hey dark and broody, what's wrong? They haven't died or something at the third gate, 'ave they? They're not supposed to."
"How familiar are you with the past, Mizuki?" The trespasser questioned darkly. Stunned at the question Mizuki chewed on his cigarette as he thought.
"How far back?" He asked. "I'm not even three-hundred yet, so I haven't been around for most of the worst things. I know about Second Strike up."
"But how well?" The trespasser asked with a patience that gave Mizuki a dreaded feeling.
"Well, I guess about as far back as Sesshoumaru's alive. Since 'e's a Lord he's lived longer, lucky bastard." The kappa shrugged. "Especially since this shit with Naraku started about a year ago he's be makin' sure all of his generals and most of his soldiers know everything about the Second Strike's deals. For such an anal guy, he's really superstitious."
"He has reason to be." The trespasser said and held up two finger wrapped in cloth. "I'll give you two questions to respond to. After I have asked them I must go and monitor the battle at the fourth gate; you must contact Sesshoumaru immediately."
Mizuki was getting worried. "What's wrong broody? Who are they fighting?"
"First question:" the shadowy demon held up one finger. "Do you recall Hatonomaboroshi, the fallen angel lord?"
The kappa nodded. "Yeah. I was just a little 'un when it happened but every demon knew about Hatonobaka. He was supposed to be Hell's cutting edge into starting and winning a war against Heaven, until he fucked up the big time. Screwy bastard, he's dead ain't he?" The trespasser was silent for the whole of three seconds it took for Mizuki to catch on. "Shit, that's who they're–"
"Second question." The trespasser interrupted. "You are Sesshoumaru's most trusted and powerful general; has he ever mentioned the blood to you?"
There was a brief moment where the only noise was the drumming of the rain on the roofs, streets and countless puddles and pools. Mizuki didn't want his cigarette any more all of a sudden and he tossed it into the growing pool of water, his face dark. He looked at the trespasser, almost daring him to reveal the bad news. "More like what do you know about it?"
"I am a trespasser. It is my… place to know these things. Especially in these circumstances." Was the equally menacing reply. Mizuki growled and ran a claw through his sodden hair. "Shit, shit, shit…" He muttered repeatedly until he finally seemed to calm down and looked back at the demon. "This isn't leading up to bad news, is it?"
"Take the guess yourself." The trespasser said, turning. "Now, I must take my leave; I have other business to attend to." He began to disappear into the shadows when Mizuki's voice stopped him.
"Hey." The kappa said, standing ankle deep in the water. He was completely serious this time, his green eyes shadowed and reflecting the water as his feet. Despite his hair hanging limp and wet around his face and his war tattoos having long run off to leave smears across his eyes and cheeks, his expression was dead set and gave little doubt why such a carefree, blunt and rather idle kappa would become the head of the most powerful army in the three existences. Mizuki's voice was as hard as his eyes as he spoke to a creature that could kill him in an instant. "Take care of those brats and not one fucking one of them is to die until they're supposed to. If the end of the world doesn't work the way Sesshoumaru-sama has planned it, the first thing I'm doing is coming to lob your damned shadowy head off. Got it?"
The shadow's dark red eyes retained a sullen humour in them as the demon nodded. "Everything will go as we have planned." The trespasser said simply, vanishing into the darkness before the general could retort. Mizuki growled and clenched his fist, accidentally crushing the box of cigarettes he was holding. Looking at the now useless fags he snorted and threw them into the street, hearing their faint splash only a trained creature of water could detect. The kappa leaned against the doorway and glared at the darkness the trespasser had frequented during it's visits.
" 'We', eh?" Mizuki repeated. "Next time you come, trespasser…. Next time I'm gonna squeeze out of you who exactly is part of 'we'."
The rain was his only reply, thundering endlessly, masking from all senses of the Third Strike that was slowing destroying the world.
Inu-Yasha snarled, holding onto his broken wrist as he watched the fallen angel idly toss away the shards of his father's sword, his grandfather's keepsake. Hato smirked haughtily as the rusted metal clattered against the hard ground, knowing the first step was complete.
"Well," He said, opening his arms and smiling disarmingly. "Shall we begin?"
Inu-Yasha ripped off a sleeve and tied it around his wrist to keep it as stable as possible. He flexed his fingers to check if they still worked and then smirked at the fallen angel. "I'm going to like killing you. I might even get a medal."
"I could say the same for you." Hato smiled conversationally. "There are many demons who would enjoy taking your life." He raised one hand, still smiling. "Now, we'll have to figure out the rules to this. After all, we must fight like civilized beings. We're not barbaric mortals." His smile turned scornful. "Mostly."
Inu-Yasha flexed his good hand at the insult, but otherwise made no reaction. Hato seemed satisfied with the half-angel's response and twisted his hand that he held in the air. A small ring surrounded his palm and a glowing sphere flared to life in the center. The fallen angel held his glowing hand in front of him.
"Here are the rules." He said. "They are under angel's oath."
Inu-Yasha raised an eyebrow, but nodded.
"This will be a fight to the death; neither can back away, neither can give up. One will emerge victorious only after the other has been reduced to dust. Agreed?"
Inu-Yasha snorted. "Sure." He said, eyeing the angel dangerously.
Hato's eyes had stopped smiling. "And the only weapons we can use must be extensions of ourselves, agreed?"
Inu-Yasha glanced at the shards of Tetsusaiga and growled but nodded, knowing that his claws were his only weapons left anyway. "Okay."
Hatonomaboroshi's expression darkened. "And that we shall attack only each other. Agreed?"
Inu-Yasha was getting increasingly worried at these requests but damned if he was going to let Hato see that. He glanced over at the rest of the group, who were watching in silence. He looked back at the fallen angel. "Fine. Can we get this started?"
Hato had followed his opponent's eyes on the group, had seen how they had paused on the young girl near the center. He met his opponent's eyes again and closed his fist around the small glowing sphere, the ring still encircling his hand. The ring flared brighter, become an entire sphere to cover the angel's fist. "Then let us begin."
Inu-Yasha immediately leaped into the air, avoiding the blast of explosion Hato has sent his way. He braced himself against a rock to shield from the fragments blasted into the air and then charged at the angel. Spreading his dark wings Hato rose into the air, only to be met head on by a grinning demonic angel. Inu-Yasha swung his fist at Hato's face, only to have it caught by the more powerful angel and twisted, flipping Inu-Yasha in mid air.
"Don't make me break both of them." Hato growled, kicking his opponent in the gut and sending him crashing to the ground.
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome screamed, almost running forward but Miroku held his arm out, stopping her from dong so. Realizing what she had almost done Kagome froze and clung onto Shippo tightly as she watched Inu-Yasha pick himself up off the ground.
"Shippo, what do you know of this Hatonomaboroshi?" Miroku asked his childish guardian.
"He's a fallen angel, a dark Guardian." Netsuna spoke seriously before Shippo could respond. "In the time after the Second Strike he was an apprentice Guardian, one of the strongest angels Heaven had ever held. However he was extremely proud and arrogant and after the power he had shown in the war of the Strike and the battles afterwards thought he was the strongest being of all time and none would dare attack him. The saying 'pride comes before a fall' is based after him.
"Approximately three or four years after the Second Strike the three existences were still in a bit of turmoil and the demons tried to obtain power at ever single little chance they got. Heaven beat them back most times but we just kept getting bolder and bolder. Finally, getting sick of Hatonomaboroshi we decided to kill him." Netsuna grinned. "My mother was the chosen assassin."
Inu-Yasha body-slammed Hato but the angel folded his wings under him, cushioning his landing. When Inu-Yasha tried to land and slice at the angel Hato kicked his legs out from under him and made his own swipe at the half-angel but missed as Inu-Yasha ducked.
"Except she never had to do anything." Netsuna continued, watching the battle calmly. "We'll never know how but Hato had managed to destroy his own village, killing the Guardian, his family and everyone he knew, nearly killing himself. He was cast out of Heaven and lived in the mortal realm for a quarter of a century before coming to Hell."
Hato dodged another charge from Inu-Yasha, when the half-angel's leg suddenly shot out and caught Hato in the lower calf, knocking him off balance. Trying to gain advantage in the situation Inu-Yasha flipped up and brought his knee up to meet Hato's back as the dark angel fell.
"Deciding that since Heaven betrayed him and Hell hated Heaven, he figured that he could just join us and destroy Heaven. There was a big war that a lot of people thought was the Third Strike, but it ended up being a big flop. It was supposed to be the war to give Hell the ultimate power, but instead there was a large disruption in the northern part of the mortal world where the fight was held and everyone, mortal, demon and angel, disappeared. Hatonomaboroshi is supposed to be dead. I guess Naraku found him."
"Naraku has a knack for doing that, doesn't he?" Miroku asked. Sango snorted and Miroku bit his tongue, cursing his wrong choice of words, and timing.
Hato kicked Inu-Yasha in the stomach, knocking him back into a rock. Inu-Yasha let out a snarl as the stone cut into his back. Using the rock to help him stand the half-angel dug his claws into the bleeding slash on his shoulder he had received from previous fights, reopened in his new battle. Hato landed and folded his wings, looking quite pleased with himself over the outcome of this battle so far. He looked at Inu-Yasha curiously.
"Tired already?" he asked with a smile.
"You fuckin wish." Inu-Yasha snarled, ripping his claws out, covered with his own blood. Propelling himself forward, using the rock, he slashed fiercely with his bloody claw, sending a mixture of energy and blood stabbing right into Hato's arm. The angel hissed when he realized what Inu-Yasha was doing and quickly used his wing to deflect his opponent's charge. Not giving up Inu-Yasha dug into the wing and bit down. No longer looking amused at this Hato whipped his wing open, the full force knocking Inu-Yasha off into the ground.
Breathing heavily from anger, Hatonomaboroshi put a hand up to where Inu-Yasha's claws of blood had sliced his cheek, nearly hitting his eye and rendering it useless. The dark angel clenched his fist and glared at the half-angel. "You are going to pay for that." He growled.
"I thought he was going to keep our deal." Kagura snorted. Kikyou smiled coldly as she watched the battle from where she and Kagura stood, as Hato made his threat.
"He is. He's not going to kill Inu-Yasha, he's going to provoke him." The undead Guardian said.
"How? Not without breaking his own rules, and that arrogant angel won't do something like that." Kagura snorted disdainfully.
"He made those rules and Inu-Yasha agreed to them. Both of them are bound not to break them." Kikyou smiled. "You'll see."
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome screamed. "Inu-Yasha, get up!"
Inu-Yasha was panting heavily, clutching his broken wrist as the shots of pain shot up his arm. He growled with frustration and tried to push himself up, ignoring the waves of dizziness. He shook his head to clear it and glared at his opponent. This was only the fourth gate; how in the hells was he to ever get to Naraku if this stupid angel was defeating him.
"Inu-Yasha!"
He looked over to where Kagome was standing, safely with the rest of the group. If he didn't do something, Hato would turn on them next after killing him. He had to defeat Hato., As long as he kept fighting, Kagome was safe. He gave a thumbs up to his task… and froze.
The explosion was sudden but disastrous. Miroku quickly ducked to save Sango but even Netsuna couldn't jump out of the way fast enough. As Inu-Yasha watched in horror and strange creature that seemed half man half machine appeared from over the ridge, laughing darkly.
"Kagome!" Inu-Yasha took a step forward but Hatonomaboroshi extended one wing, blocking Inu-Yasha's view momentarily.
"Ah, ah, ah… you took an angel's oath, remember?" Hato said with a smugness that made Inu-Yasha want to scream. "You cannot touch anyone but me until I am dead."
Inu-Yasha snarled in frustration. Miroku stood up and waved at the half-angel, but it wasn't to reassuring.
"Don't worry Inu-Yasha, we'll handle this!" Miroku said, although he himself didn't believe it. He turned at the mechanical man and grimaced. So this is why Hato made Inu-Yasha take that oath. He had reinforcements coming.
"Puny." Gankotsu rumbled, moving his tank-like body to aim at Miroku. "Gankotsu will destroy you."
The second explosion ruffled Inu-Yasha's hair. He squinted, seeing Kagome pick herself up and try to run away. "Kagome!"
"I missed one?" Gankotsu turned. Inu-Yasha ran forward, only to be tripped. His feet, his own feet were tied by some strange golden thread. He glared accusingly at Hato, but knew he had nothing to do with it. It was the angel's oath.
"What did I tell you?!" Hato accused him.
Inu-Yasha watched as Kagome ran. As Gankotsu fired. As Kagome disappeared in a ball of smoke and flames. His vision turned red. The oath stopped him from protecting everyone. From protecting Kagome. He couldn't do this, he had to save her. He would save her. If it was the last thing he did. But first he had to kill Hato. He had to get rid of the angel's oath. He dug his claws into the ground, ignoring the pain in his broken wrist, and pushed himself up to face Hato. To kill Hato.
For once Kagura was pleased to be the smug one, as even Kikyou stared dumbly. "So it worked. You see what I mean?"
Hato was smiling as well as his opponent stood up.
"And now the fun begins." He smiled.
End Chapter 36
Shoutouts:
InuSayianPrincess: answer for question 1: Kagome would –normally- use her bow and arrows but if you read chapter 31, you'll read that angels and mortals can't use their spiritual powers in Hell, unless they're a special case, like a fallen angel like Hato or a half/quarter demon like Inu-Yasha. Because Kagome didn't know this she didn't have her arrows with her when she entered Hell. So now she can't use them. Same with Sango, now that her boomerang's destroyed she can't conjure a new one. And 2. be patient1 Of course I haven't forgotten the Bakuryuha, I just haven't found a good place to use it yet. but be patient.
link no miko: I'm sorry the shoutouts took so long! *much bowing* blame my dog. It's his fault for EVERYTHING! Spirited Away is nummy and I've watched it too much. But fun, fun fun! And I love Mizuki. I'm going to make a Mizuki UFO doll. It'll take me many days and I'll stab my fingers many times, but we all need our little pet projects to cure our insanity. Oh wait, I have this story. Well, when it's done! And Hato does remind me of Rociel and a bit of Lucifer (I've only seen him a bit tho, so I can't tell) But I'm starting to think he's like a mix between Rociel and Hisoka. Ah, crazy card man. Maybe that's what I should have made him do *thinks* You were so emotional about Sango! You threatened my firkin life! And have you figured out what Kagura and Kikyou are up to yet? Cause if you haven't *smack upside the head* And I don't know what CD of Gackt I'm getting it, I have yet to buy it. But when I buy it, I'll tell you! I should be buying it in about two weeks, so yay! *dances* *sniffs* I want all the pretty Gackt stuff you have. I must hunt more. More hunting! And speaking of hunters, in that question I like Kurapika better, although Killua is a batter fighter. Unless he showed Kurapika a spider. Then it's even. *grin* I just like that funny spider phobia. Although I guess it's not much of a phobia…
And the preview! Since I'm so nice:
PRVIEW CHAPTER 37: LOVE
"Inu-Yasha, what are you doing!" Kagome screamed as she watched her guardian tear through the black arch of the gate. He wasn't listening to her as he tore through the black stone, almost happily. He was bleeding, badly, but he didn't seem to care. If he kept this up he was going to… "Inu-Yasha!"
"You see?" Kagura said happily. "He's lost his mind completely, just as we made him lose his mind before. He has killed you before, Kikyou, and he will kill your Reborn now."
END PREVIEW
Okay, so it was a sucky preview. Enjoy anyway!
~Ama
Quoteacular: Everyday, in every way, I get better and better…