The small group of a hanyou, a dog demon and a human girl had been walking around Naraku's castle for about half an hour now. They entered room after room, the next one darker and bigger than the previous. Inuyasha was the one leading the way and was already enraged beyond belief. Kagome was walking by his right side, not really bothering how long they were going to walk around, as long as she stayed with the hanyou.
Believe it or not, even Sesshoumaru, who was walking behind the pair, was extremely annoyed and wanted more than ever to go and get his half brother, and rip his head off. But he had to suppress those urges and grit his teeth. Under other circumstances he would have at least beaten some sense in his thick head, but now things were more complicated. "How long are you going to waste my time?" he asked coldly.
"It's not my fucking fault that Naraku's shouki is everywhere! I can't concentrate!" Inuyasha turned to yell at the dog demon, who completely ignored him, and that of course enraged him even more.
"Calm down, Inuyasha!" Kagome tried to reason with him. With all this shouki around, it was a miracle that the hanyou hadn't gone wild like when he almost attacked Miroku, Sango and Shippo. "Be quiet or Naraku will find us."
"Feh. Whatever." Inuyasha snorted and they started walking again. It wasn't long before he snapped again. "Can't I just blast the damned thing?!" he yelled and drew out Tetsusaiga.
"Just try." suddenly, Sesshoumaru was in front of him, pointing Tokijin at his throat. "I have no intention to die here with you."
"Come on, you two…" Kagome tried to calm down the growling hanyou and the glaring dog demon. "Of course we won't blow up the castle! Right, Inuyasha?" she narrowed her eyes at him and he backed off.
Naraku was sitting in his dark room, meditating. After a while, he opened his eyes and stood up, heading toward the door that led to the balcony. As he exited the room, he saw Hakudoshi and Kohaku flying toward him. He didn't show it but the fact that they were practically disregarding his orders, made him extremely angry.
"What is the meaning of this?" the evil hanyou asked through gritted teeth, once the two boys landed.
"I don't know how to explain this…" Hakudoshi started after canceling his barrier and for the first time looking a little uneasy. "Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Kagome disappeared."
"Ridiculous!" Naraku exclaimed, but caught himself before starting to yell and tried to stay calm.
"We followed them to the end of the forest and then they were gone." Kohaku finished for Hakudoshi, a strange hint of amusement in his voice.
'The portal.' Naraku thought and his eyes widened slightly, realizing that the hanyou was already in the castle. 'How does he know about the portal? Only I use it…'
"What about his other companions?" he suddenly asked out loud.
"T-They are gone too…" the white-haired boy said a little hesitantly.
"Gone?" this time his master's eyes narrowed.
"I don't know how," the boy continued. "You told us to watch only Inuyasha. I just can't feel their presence anymore."
Naraku stayed silent for a long time. There were too many problems and he just couldn't decide which one was a bigger threat. A feeling of panic crawled inside his mind but he did his best to ignore it. Since he had given that shouki crystal to Inuyasha, there were only problems on his head– first the hanyou turned to be stronger than he had expected and couldn't make him his servant; then Kikyou had destroyed his control over Inuyasha just when he was about to overtake him, and now every enemy of his was about to attack him.
"Inuyasha is in the castle." he suddenly said and narrowed his eyes at Kohaku, when he saw him fist his right hand. "Follow me." with that he turned around and walked inside.
Inuyasha and his two companions entered another room, which was even darker than the previous ones. It was so dark that there was no way to say exactly how big it was. Growling quietly, the hanyou placed a hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt, ready to draw it out. Seeing that he was loosing control over his emotions, Kagome put one hand over his and he seemed to calm down a little.
"That was the last room." Sesshoumaru stated coldly.
"You think I don't know that?!" Inuyasha snarled and suddenly the door behind them shut with a loud bang.
The three whirled around and saw how the door seemed to move back, away from them. Then everything started shaking. The two brothers managed to keep their balance and Kagome held Inuyasha's left hand tightly. After a while the shaking stopped and the hanyou and the dog demon drew their swords out. Slowly, the darkness seemed to fade away and the three companions almost gaped at what they saw.
They weren't in a room at all, well not anymore. The whole castle had disappeared and now on its place was an enormous cave. It was at least thirty meters high and a hundred meters wide. The floor was wooden, showing that the whole cave had once been the castle. Even Sesshoumaru was surprised, but of course he didn't show it. All of a sudden, Inuyasha was too irritated to waste time in anything, and the only one that was looking around in awe was Kagome.
"He's here." the hanyou said and that caught the girl and the dog demon's attention.
Miroku and Sango walked ahead of Kagura and Kouga, who had finally quieted down. They reached the entrance of a slightly larger cave and the wind sorceress told them to stop. She took a feather from her hair and handed it to Miroku. She explained that the entrance was protected by a barrier and he had to draw a pentagram on it, in order to be able to enter.
"The barrier is created by Kanna's mirror, so right now she is defenseless." Kagura said and stepped back. "Be careful of the baby – don't look him in the eyes and don't touch him. If you do that you will be possessed."
Everybody nodded and turned toward the entrance. They saw Kanna sitting on a rock in the farthest side of the cave, with her back on them. She was holding something – most likely the baby, since it was nowhere to be seen. Miroku reached with his right hand forward and the feather came in contact with something. He knew that it had to be the barrier and slowly drew a small pentagram. After a second or two it started glowing in red light and grew larger until it was big enough for them to pass, and that's exactly what they did. Only Kagura stayed outside.
"This should be easy." Kouga said quietly when the white girl didn't even move to acknowledge their presence.
However, Miroku and Sango weren't so sure. Although Kagura wasn't there to protect her and the baby and she didn't have her mirror, they knew that they had to be extremely careful. There was something strange about Kanna, which was making the two humans nervous. Kouga drew out his sword and made a several steps toward her. Suddenly, she stood up and slowly turned toward them. Now even the wolf demon knew that something wasn't right with her. Kagura gasped when she saw Kanna's black eyes. The girl was possessed, no doubt about that.
"Kagura is dead?" Kanna asked with the baby's voice. "I newer thought she was worth living, anyway." hearing that, the wind sorceress gritted her teeth in anger but managed to stay calm and didn't come out.
"Shut up and prepare to die." Kouga snarled and pointed his sword at the baby in Kanna's arms.
Sango held her Hiraikotsu ready to throw it and Miroku removed his prayer beads from around his right hand. Although they seemed to have the upper hand in the upcoming fight, they were still cautious. Kagura was a strong demon and a formidable opponent, and if she was afraid of the baby, so were they. Without saying another word, Kanna and the baby started glowing in blue light and about ten sharp and long rocks flew toward the three companions.
While jumping aside to avoid one pretty large rock, Sango threw her boomerang at Kanna. Hiraikotsu hit a barrier that was surrounding the girl and returned back to the demon exterminator, almost knocking her down. Miroku helped her keep her balance and Kouga hit a few smaller rocks that were flying toward the two humans. Kagura sighed in relief when she saw that they were alright and again looked at her 'sister'.
"And to think that weaklings like you killed Kagura." Kanna laughed with the baby's voice once again. "The more rocks you destroy the more shouki they will spill. Besides, you cannot harm me – my barrier is unbreakable."
Like the baby had said, there was already twenty centimeters of dark-purple fog at their feet. A heavy and repulsive smell was coming from the shouki that made everybody, even Kouga, became slightly dizzy. They knew that if they didn't get out of the cave fast, they were going to die. The problem was that the baby was going to throw more rocks and they couldn't avoid all of them. Kagura gritted her teeth – she didn't know about that. Obviously, Naraku hadn't left his heart protected only by her.
"We'll see that." Miroku said and took out from his robes about ten ofudas.
As if reading his mind, Sango held her Hiraikotsu in front of him. He started chanting something and threw an ofuda after ofuda at the large boomerang, while rocks started flying toward them again. Seeing what his two human friends intended to do, Kouga did his best to destroy the rocks before they hit them. However, the shouki became so thick that it was difficult to move, and it reached their waists.
Finally, Hiraikotsu was ready and Sango prepared to attack. The moment she had a clear shot, she threw the boomerang. This time, instead of being repulsed, it broke through the barrier. Kouga ran toward Kanna with his sword ready to strike. Suddenly, a long sharp vine shot out from the baby and headed toward the wolf demon. When he realized the danger, there was no way to escape anymore.
Then something really unexpected happened. In a blink of an eye, Kagura was in front of him, yelling to Miroku to use his Kazaana before the barrier was restored. She hadn't finished talking, when her eyes widened and her lips parted in a silent gasp, as the vine pierced through her. While Miroku opened his black hole and sucked in both Kanna and the baby, the vine was pulled out of the wind sorceress and she fell down on her knees.
Kouga stared at her in shock and couldn't believe his eyes. Kagura had saved him… He opened his mouth to say something but just couldn't. Sango made sure that Miroku was alright after sucking not only Kanna and the baby, but all the shouki too, and they both looked at the two demons. Kagura held her hands over the wound in her chest and looked up at Kouga.
"You won't get to fight me after all…" she said and smirked, a trickle of blood appearing at the left corner of her mouth. "I hope we are even now…" with that she coughed and collapsed on the ground.
"K-Kagura…" the wolf demon stammered and turned to his human friends. "I-Is she dead?"
"Probably," Miroku said thoughtfully and stepped closer to her, supported by Sango.
"But… I thought that as long as Naraku holds her heart…" the demon exterminator said, sounding like she wanted the wind sorceress to be alive.
"If he is fighting with Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Kagome-sama, I don't think that Naraku would pay attention if Kagura was alive or not." the monk explained and it really made sense.
"So, there's still hope for her!" Kouga exclaimed, surprising Sango and Miroku and they nodded hesitantly. Didn't he want her dead? "Alright then, we're taking her with us."
TBC