Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters.
Sesshoumaru froze when he heard the words. It was something about them, the way they seemed to wrap their chilly syllables around him at every turn, which made him stop. The crimson eyes blaring with blood didn't help. He tried to take a deep breath, but found the air around him cold. "So it isn't just my imagination," he thought.
A fierce wind began to howl out of nowhere. It blew Kuroinu's hair up, enhancing her demonic image. The pointed ears were now visible. And they were bloody as well.
The red was beginning to hurt his eyes. The color seemed to drain from the entire world, all the colors except red. It was everywhere, from jinhaku's body to the eyes he dare not look at.
It hurt, and it was cold.
And he suddenly found himself thinking of Rin. The woman before him had murdered the little girl. She was defenseless, only a child.
His child.
He felt like he was in a pit, forever falling. Nothing was visible, nothing but red. He wanted- no, he needed- to get away from this. From the pain. From the suffering. From his emotion.
And most of all, those crimson eyes.
He closed his eyes, trying to slip into peace but finding none. It was quiet. A vortex, he realized. He was in a vortex. He would die here, without getting to Rin smile across that tiny face of hers again. The sadness returned.
And then he heard a voice, a wicked voice, with evil intentions. A murderer's voice.
"Demon's wrath!" it yelled, and suddenly he was all too aware of his surroundings. He saw Kuroinu run towards him. He tried to close his eyes.
He couldn't. He would stare his death in the face.
She was getting closer to him, the Tokijin slowly swinging forward. Life was in slow motion. Or was it death?
She was about to stab him now. He could see the tip of the sword- his sword- drawing closer.
He waited for the pain to stop.
And instead saw an arrow fly through the air, knocking his sister away. He turned is head quickly to meet his savior's eyes, and found Xiara with a bow in hand.
After that, he didn't waste anymore time. He dug his nails into the girl's back, and felt relieved that he hit a vital bone. It would slow her down enough to get Xiara to safety.
He turned to her quickly. " Go! Now!" he yelled " I'll keep her busy!!"
She saw the girl nod slowly as she put the bow down, and ran off. HE turned back towards Kuroinu, who had turned around.
A second later he heard why, when Naraku's voice rang out.
Kuroinu kept looking back and forth from Sesshoumaru and the Naraku's cry. She cursed in a low voice. "What the hell do I do? Naraku sounds as though he needs help, but I can't just let this furball walk away." In the middle of her thoughts she saw a sudden flash of light come streaming her way. She barely avoided it.
She looked at Sesshoumaru. In his hand was a string of light almost as if it were a whip.
"Come and get this battle over with. I wish to make your death swift." Sesshoumaru said coldly.
Kuroinu let out a low growl. She had no choice she had to. "As much as I hate to do this, I must go. But I'll give you something to remember me by." And with that she ran over.
"What the hell is she talking about?" He had a feeling in his gut that she was up to no good and decided to follow her.
Although injured Kuroinu still ran pretty well. It only taken her seconds to smell her. "There she is." She said to herself, and pushed herself to run as fast as she could.
Xiara kept running, Sesshoumaru had told her to. She didn't know how far she had to go, but she kept on running anyways. As if in a blink of an eye, Xiara was down on the ground, shrieking with pain. "What happened to me? It happened so fast." She thought mentally before slipping into darkness.
Sesshoumaru kept running after his sister. All his intentions were on her until he smelled human blood. "That smells like Xiara." He felt his heart beat faster. "She didn't..." He couldn't even bring himself to finish the sentence. Seconds later, he saw her body on the ground, blood leaking on the ground. He paused for a second, taking in what was before him.
Maybe because of what occurred, he just realized that Xiara and Jinhaku looked almost identical. But that was the least of his thoughts right now. He slowly crept closer to her, as if he was afraid to go near her. He bent down beside her, a sudden emotion he rarely felt draped upon him, the emotion of worry and fear.
He placed two of his slender fingers on her neck to feel a pulse. It was faint, but her heart was still beating, thank god! Now the most of his worries were gone. He gently picked her up in his arms, getting blood all over his fine silk, but he didn't care.
He cursed under his breath at Kuroinu, Xiara and himself. He ran with Xiara in his arms in deep meditation. He finally snapped out of it, when he smelled a familiar scent. "Damn it. This can not be happening!"
He smelled Akaiinu coming and coming fast. He would here within seconds and Sesshoumaru was not able to battle, not with Xiara injured and almost on the verge of death. He growled. "I can not run from him, I have too much pride for that, and even if I did, I would never make it."
He had no time to think any longer, for Akaiinu stopped right in front of Sesshoumaru. Akaiinu's black pebble eyes gazed upon Sesshoumaru's golden ones, neither looking like they were about to back down from this unofficial staring contest.
At last Akaiinu said something. "Sesshoumaru, we need to talk."
(A/N): I know it's a short chapter but bare with us, we'll hopefully make it up to you guys.