A/N: Let's jump right back into this, without any further delay.

Strange Interlude

Chapter 20b

The destruction of Naraku's last puppet led to a drastic change in the castle. A spell placed on the full-grown doll had made the castle confusing, labyrinthine, and dark. Once the doll was destroyed, so too was the curse, and now Sesshomaru's perception was altered to reveal a new set of halls, previously invisible to him, fully lit and wide.

Also made available along with the dozens of other rooms were dozens of other copies of Jennifer, big, small, old, and young, most not worth talking about. They were only scared little children that wasted the Son of the Great Dog General's time and patience. Every room with Jennifer's false aura led inevitably to a trap.

Naraku was so predictable.

By ignoring these aura-filled rooms, Sesshomaru could navigate quite easily through the house. Making his way through aura-less halls and rooms, Sesshomaru found that the deeper he went inside the palace, the sparser the rooms became and consequently, the fewer puppets he encountered. Sesshomaru traveled farther into the mansion's interior until one large foyer led to an open courtyard.

It was now fully dark outside; the fog was lifting as a full moon rose high into the night sky. The large garden was barren except for a single lanterned shack in the courtyard's center. The lantern swung gently in the slight night breeze. Its light dimly reflected a shroud of purple haze that seemed to be emanating from this little shrine house.

Sesshomaru sharpened his vision to peer through the small hut's wall. This castle shrine house a number of things indigenous to family shrines, but one thing noticeably stood out. Hung on the wall, like some religious icon or scroll, was the body of a child. But not just any child, this preteen girl was different, not like the countless dolls he was faced. This one was silent and lifeless, and he knew that she had to be Je—

With thunderous entrance the shrine door flung open, vibrating the old shack's structure and sending the lantern crashing to the ground. The glass shattered and the world became dark before Sesshomaru could see who had jumped out.

Sesshomaru blinked his eyes, now glowing and bright. Darkness would be no problem.

A looming figure, moonlit and white knelt in front of the small house. Rising slowly to his feet, the moonlight reflecting off his coat gave the figure a creepy glow. Light glistened off the dust as it swirled around the cloaked figure, adding to his formidable appearance. But Sesshomaru saw the baboon for what it truly was. Sesshomaru smirked; at last he had come to the final boss.

The man under the white baboon pelt gave an equally evil smile and speaking in a low voice to Sesshomaru said, "How brave you are, Lord Sesshomaru, for coming so far."

Sesshomaru reacted not and the fiendish half-demon continued, "Brave, however stupid."

This again failed to arouse a reaction from Sesshomaru. The tall and regal demon only maintained his smirk and narrowed gaze on his opponent.

But Naraku would not stop, "I still do not understand what the Great Lord Sesshomaru would want with a young human female. Surely he who is strongest and wisest among all creatures would never believe in the Prophecy of Kings."

Sesshomaru's smile vanished, "It is you, not I, who needs her strength. I am only here to prevent you from gaining it."

Naraku's hidden smile grew wider, "So you admit that once fulfilled, the girl will enable me with even greater strength than even you?"

Sesshomaru responded with Naraku's same coyness, "Again, lowly youkai, you misunderstand. You have plans to use this strength to destroy InuYasha. The strength itself poses no threat, but you fail to realize that I am the only one who will kill him!"

Before Naraku could even utter a response, Sesshomaru has launched his attack. He lunged forward, arm pulled back and hand pointed like a dagger. Within a quarter of a second, Sesshomaru had closed the distance between them and had stabbed Naraku's heart. His hand passed easily through fur, flesh, and bone, the three melting and fusing together as Sesshomaru's poison ate at them.

As quickly as he had pierced the heart of the one so evil, Sesshomaru removed his hand and leapt backward to admire his work. Naraku fell forward and coughed. Sesshomaru smiled and flicked the blood from his claws.

Naraku uttered another clearly audible cough, and a steady stream fell from his mouth. Sesshomaru took one step backward; it did not smell like blood.

Naraku lifted his head and the thing from his mouth solidified and lengthened, shooting out toward Sesshomaru. Without warning it slammed him in the chest and into the wall. The rapidly thickening wine wrapped itself quickly around Sesshomaru, his legs and arm, pinning him to the brick wall.

The white baboon closed his mouth, severing the branch from his tongue. Naraku then became translucent and floated to the top of the constricting wood, letting the large diameter tree become his left arm. Sesshomaru growled at the half-tree demon as well as his inability to break free from his trap. The greater Sesshomaru struggled, the more the vine pressed him into the wall.

Sesshomaru gritted his teeth and snarled, pushing himself to move the massive trunk. As expected, the massive trunk only pushed harder. Bricks shifted as they were pushed out of place. The wall still held together, but it wouldn't be long until it would break.

Naraku smirked from atop his huge horizontal tree, "No matter, how much you struggle, the constricting roots of my tree will never let you free."

Sesshomaru smiled to himself, "Only a little more," he thought.

Sesshomaru's muscles relaxed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Immediately, Sesshomaru released the breath with a great shout, releasing energy against the wriggling tree. His eyes flashed open in time to see a great ripple of the tree's bark form, gather speed, and smash into him and the wall.

This last push finally violated the wall's angle of repose, causing it to collapse.

Sesshomaru and the trunk fell bask into the house, the potential energy saved up by the tree released, causing him to be pushed back against and through several of the mansion's paper walls. As the massive, squirming and writhing trunk forced itself through the cracks and holes left by Sesshomaru, kinetic energy was lost into the walls, causing it to slow ever so slightly. Sesshomaru took advantage of this and increasing his own speed, came several inches away from the tree. The milliseconds drove on and when Sesshomaru was propelled back not two inches from the speeding tree's grasp, he leaned his body forward. When his feet touched the next steamed rice paper wall, his knees bent, muscles coiled and released, propelling him up and away from Naraku's limb as it sledge-hammered into the wall.

Sesshomaru continued up, bursting through the hard tiled roof back into the night.

But Naraku had maintained his control of his woody arm and had it shoot up after him. With a flick of his other wrist a new limb was formed and launched to hit Sesshomaru in the side. Sesshomaru, meanwhile, continued shooting up, fixing his gaze on the full lunar orb above him.

Steel-like boughs raced toward him, one at his right side coming toward his face and the earlier at his heel. In a few seconds the latter-mentioned branch would have enough speed to catch him, But Sesshomaru did not plan on being caught twice.

With a change in momentum Sesshomaru spinned and stopped in midair. The vertical tree shot past him, sweeping up his fluffy. Sesshomaru then swerved and planted his feet on the still ascending trunk, suddenly launching upward with it. The second branch was moved slightly, pointing now some fifty feet above Sesshomaru's head, while Naraku kept his left arm steady, letting it shoot higher and higher into the midnight night. He stabilized the branch's acceleration while added a burst of energy to his right arm. As it was aimed, it would collide with Sesshomaru within seconds.

Naraku chuckled as the branches collided covering Sesshomaru in a mass of writhing wood, but his confident smirk did not last long. His face suddenly contorted in shock and pain as a bright globe of light formed around the wrapped branches. A great force of energy cracked Naraku's wooden prison, sending chunks of charred wood to the ground.

Naraku growled in frustration. He flung back his burning arms and swinging them forward, sent another wave of wooden tentacles at the white demon. Sesshomaru, bright as the sun, stood watching his impending doom. Seconds away from immanent death, Sesshomaru launched himself straight at the dagger-like vines.

Two forces of wood and light, fire and earth met and of course fire burnt wood and light scorched earth. Sesshomaru, in a frantic charge, barreled through the ancient wood, shredding and subsequently turning to dust the formidable wooden arms. Naraku could only stand shocked as within a fraction of a second Sesshomaru had traveled the length of his foe's arms and charged headlong into the chest of the fiend.

A labored gasp escaped his lips as the man in the white baboon coat felt his insides vacant turn. (A/N: A little inversion for ya!) Shreds of baboon fur fluttered through and around Naraku, some following Sesshomaru, passing through the giant hole the villain housed in his gut.

Naraku gave a final exhale and glittered to dust, form fading into the unforgiving night. A small, wooden doll clattered on the cold ground, beheaded and threatening no more.

Sesshomaru stopped in midair and whirled around at the events just passed. Taking no more than a second to think upon his deeds and the mischief of the baboon, he then tilted his head toward the undamaged, dark hut, the house of Naraku's puppet no more.

Gliding toward the hard wooden door, only partially closed from the force at which it was opened, Sesshomaru thought on what else he might find lurking in its shadows. Drawing nearer to it, the smell of incense masking tears grew stronger.

Entering the cold hut Sesshomaru found a solitary lamp glowing faintly in the corner. Candle light danced intermittently on the bent silhouette of the poor human, the hanging doll. No more than twelve the girl seemed, the age spell not quite worn off, but dissolving away quicker now. The one thought to possess no soul clung frightfully to the smell of sadness. In the ripped, wrinkled, and dirty clothes she had found in Sesshomaru's closet, she looked almost like a sacrifice to the gods, a strange pagan ritual not common in Japan. Sesshomaru noticed dried beads of water at the girl's closed eyes. Crucifix-bound, he approached her. Her head and hair slumped forward, almost completely covering the left side of her face. Her arms were tied and hung above her head like she were Buddha tied by his thumbs, the frayed ropes cutting into her wrists. Her feet were also bound and laid against the wall, three feet from the floor and without support. It was a truly sad and frightening sight for anyone to behold.

This was it, thought Sesshomaru. The end. The girl was found and freed from the clutches of the poisonous half-demon.

Sesshomaru stepped closer, bringing two feet between the girl's face and his. Gazing upon the girl's naïve features, he compared them with the mental image he held of the girl he had known. Bright smiling lips and cheeks, every freckle flickered in the sunlight to show off her girlish charm.

Sesshomaru reached up and touched the face of the sleeping marionette.

"...Jennifer..."

A sudden snap as the ropes the hung Jennifer to wall tore, the girl's body, like a deadweight, plummeting down. Her hands, while bound, moved ever so slightly, bending at the elbows in order for her loop of arms to fall around Sesshomaru's neck.

The sudden tug on his body of her apparently saving herself, surprised Sesshomaru. He sought to lessen the strain on his neck and shoulders, by putting his arm underneath her. At this motion, the girl's eyebrows flinched, furrowed, then relaxed. The young one's head fell slowly toward Sesshomaru's face, resting gently on his cheek.

Resituating himself and the girl, Sesshomaru made it so her head, instead lay against his shoulder. A nonsensical syllable escaped Jennifer's lips. Sesshomaru reacted and called again her name, waiting for consciousness.

At these three syllables, a hiccup sounded from her stomach and suddenly she became much larger. Her arms and legs lengthened and strengthened, her face was reshaped and matured, curves forming, breast appearing, she returned to her rightful age.

This last change, Sesshomaru could feel against his armor, causing him to utter a meaningless sound of his own.

Curse lifted and ropes broken, the now full-sized female curled into a semi-fetal position in Sesshomaru's arm as he walked from the dark shrine into the wintered courtyard. Taking to the sky she and he finally headed home.

()()(whatnow?)()()

Meanwhile, in a dark, underground room beneath Naraku's mansion, a writhing, pulsating mound of flesh lay in exhaustion. It knew the intruder had left with what was his, but was powerless to stop the demon's flight. Oh, what a time to have to switch bodies, it complained. How it wished to be able to control its period of vulnerability. The mass had hoped that the stolen good could have fixed that, but now that she had been taken back it would have to rely on its own strength.

A weak conglomerate of demon parts was he that stayed sheltered in the castle basement, none to guard him save Kohaku, the only mind-slave the demon could keep. Until the rising sun they waited, at day's final break life for wad of flesh and Kohaku began anew.

()()()()(endchaptertwenty)()()()()

A/N: Finally finished. I really enjoyed writing the scene where Sesshomaru finally found Jennifer. I could almost smell the incense! I hope that part didn't sound too much like I was emulating Jennifer to the level of goddess. I thought as I was typing the references to the Crucifix and Buddha that the passage might come off as sounding sacrilegious. Please realize that this was not my intention.

Also, I was kind of rushed to type this, so I didn't really have time to do much proofreading. If you spot any grammar or spelling errors, please tell me, so I can fix them. I also want to note that I'm not going to change the verb or negation inversions, cus I like 'em. If there are too many complaints—to where the majority of the three people who read this can't understand what's going on, I might have to, but until then, that how it go.

Well, peeps, that's all up in herre, so click that little button and send a right nice review, fo' rizzle, a'ight?

Thanks, and please go check out my Dragon Ball Z fic about me and Gaeamaker13 as Trunks and Vegeta. It's really funny, and although is full of inside jokes, it's still fun for everyone!!!

()(guffaw)()