Author-chan's notes: And this is chapter 25! Wow. That's a quarter of a hundred chapters, or five chapters shy of thirty! This fic is getting long…
Well, on with the fic!
A Clean Slate
(Chapter Twenty-five: Demonic)
*
Back with Kagome and co.
"We have to go now!" Kagome cried out. All around her, the various demons and humans awoke looking groggy and disoriented. Kagome's cries had woken them all.
"Go where, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, blinking tiredly.
"Don't tell me you want to go to the village now," Miho moaned, "It's still dark out!"
"That's precisely where I want to go," Kagome said confidently as she packed her back with a speed that would have made Kouga blink at, "I have a feeling that something bad happened."
"To Shiro-chan?" Kumo asked, looking alert at the prospect of danger towards his friend. Kagome nodded.
"We've got to help him," Kagome said, "And we have to go now!"
"B-But Kumo-san's night blindness!" Miroku reminded them.
"I can work around it," Kumo said stiffly, "As long as Miho guides me, I'll be fine."
"Then, let's go!" Kagome cried.
***
Inside Inuyasha's dreamscape
"He's fast!" Aki gasped as he and Yumeko tried to keep up with the hanyou who had run off just moments before.
"Well, he is part inu youkai," Yumeko pointed out, "It's only natural he would be fast. He doesn't want us to follow him anyway. Maybe we should go. After all, we already have our answers. We know why Shiro-chan has been getting attacked."
"I still have questions," Aki growled, "Why did we meet Shiro, Inuyasha's human half, instead of Inuyasha himself? It doesn't make any sense! And Shiro didn't remember anything when we found him. How did he lose his memories?"
"You're too curious, Aki," Yumeko grumbled.
"Runs in the family," Aki shrugged. Suddenly, they saw Inuyasha stop running in front of them and quickly took their chance to run up next to the hanyou.
"Didn't you hear us?" Yumeko asked as she neared the silver-haired young man, "We said to wait for us!"
"You shouldn't be here," Inuyasha hissed at her and Aki.
"That's very rude, Hanyou. I'm fine with their presence," a bone-chilling voice spoke out from the darkness.
"Shut up, teme!" Inuyasha growled at the unseen voice, "This has nothing to do with you!"
"Keh," the shadowed figure snorted. Suddenly, the darkness let up a bit to reveal Youkai Inuyasha. Aki and Yumeko gaped at the red-eyed demon whose clothes dripped with fresh blood. But it wasn't the blood that caught the pair's attention. It was the small form sitting in the demon's lap that did.
"S-Shiro-chan!" Yumeko called out. The dark-haired child was sitting on his demon self's knee, breathing raggedly. The youkai had wrapped on arm around the child's waist to keep him in place. The hand of his other arm was covering Shiro's eyes and masking half of his face. But even so, they saw the ghostly pallor that Shiro's skin had taken on that was most definitely not a good sign. But neither was the sweat that drenched his skin, causing a few locks of hair to stick to his face, nor was the ragged crow-harsh breathing.
"Is that your demon self?" Aki whispered quietly to Hanyou Inuyasha.
"Yeah," the half-breed answered, "Now do you see why I said you shouldn't meet him?"
"What did you do to Shiro-chan?" Yumeko asked the red-eyed youkai. Youkai Inuyasha smirked slightly.
"I'm letting him looking into my thoughts," the youkai replied.
"So?" Hanyou Inuyasha growled, "We're the same person, remember? It's not that big a deal."
"But not the same sides of the same person," Aki murmured, "The yin and yang philosophy. There is darkness and light, complete opposites, inside everyone. If you have too much of one thing it creates an imbalance within a soul. I'm assuming that Shiro is yang, the light, the youkai is yin, darkness, and you, Inuyasha, are the balance between them. But, if I am correct, since your youkai self is putting all of his dark thoughts into Shiro, then it might create too much yin in your soul causing there to be an imbalance."
"What the magician is trying to tell you, Hanyou," Youkai Inuyasha sneered, "is that I am driving the Ningen here insane."
"Nani?!" Hanyou Inuyasha yelped, "Why are you doing that for?"
"Because I'm tired of waiting for this trinket on our arm to split our soul apart," the youkai replied, "I'm simply speeding up the process." Smirking at his hanyou self, Youkai Inuyasha brought his lips to Shiro's pale cheek and gently licked the white salty skin.
Suddenly Shiro gave off a strangled cry that sounded like a cross between a moan and a scream. He twisted violently in his other self's arms, but was unable to break free. He gave off one last cry of agony before becoming limp again. Youkai Inuyasha smirk grew.
"Kuso…" Hanyou Inuyasha snarled, looking ready to jump on his red-eyed alter ego and rip out his throat, "Stop it now!"
"But it's so much fun," Youkai Inuyasha said in an innocent tone, finding pleasure in the hanyou's helplessness. Both he and his hanyou self knew there was no way Shiro could be taken from the youkai's arms by force. To try to do so would only hurt Shiro more.
"You are some sort of sick masochist," Aki growled, glaring at the demon.
"Actually, I'm more of a sadist," the youkai retorted as he nuzzled Shiro's hair. His human side moaned as his breathing becoming quicker and more strained.
"I-Iie…" Shiro choked out as the dark mind of his demon self invaded his own.
"Teme," Hanyou Inuyasha growled.
"The same goes to you, Hanyou," Youkai Inuyasha said.
"STOP!!!" Yumeko cried out, shutting her eyes tight and grasping her head in her hands, "Stop what you're doing to Shiro! We'll do whatever you want!"
"Is that so, dreamer?" Youkai Inuyasha asked. He didn't even bother hiding the excitement in his voice.
"Baka!" Hanyou Inuyasha snarled at the dream demon, "Don't promise him anything!"
"I want to help Shiro," Yumeko said, "He doesn't deserve this kind of pain. So, inu youkai, what do you want in exchange for Shiro?"
"Freedom," the youkai replied, an insane light flitting through his eyes.
"Hell no!" Hanyou Inuyasha said instantly, "There is no way that is going to happen! Do you think I've forgotten the other times you were free? Do you have any idea how many corpses there were that one time?!"
"They were only humans," Youkai Inuyasha shrugged, "And admit it, Hanyou, you enjoyed it. The only time you have truly been happy was when we were me and we were slaughtering others."
"If we give you your freedom," Hanyou Inuyasha began, a growl lightening in his throat, "We damn Shiro anyway."
"Not if we are separated," the youkai countered, "If we were separated into two bodies then the Ningen is safe and I am free."
"You'll kill him as soon as you're out."
"As part of the deal, I won't kill him," Youkai Inuyasha answered, "To make it even better, I won't even kill the Ningen's new friends."
"Kuso," Hanyou Inuyasha hissed under his breath, "You know what you are asking of me, right?" Youkai Inuyasha simply smirked in return.
"Well, I don't think we can fulfill your request anyway," Aki said, "We have no way of splitting you and Shiro apart."
"Yes you do," Youkai Inuyasha replied, "Youki. Give me enough of it and I can get stronger and split us apart myself."
"We don't have a source of extra youki!" Hanyou Inuyasha growled.
"Me," Yumeko said quietly, "You have me. I can redirect some of my youki to your demon self."
"You don't have to do this, Yumeko," Aki told her quietly.
"Consider it atonement for wanting to kill Shiro before," Yumeko replied, "I want to do this."
"Are you done talking?" Youkai Inuyasha growled impatiently, "If you don't hurry up, the Ningen might not make it." As if to emphasize his point, Shiro gave off a soul shattering cry. Youkai Inuyasha smirked and moved his hand from Shiro's eyes to cup his pale cheek. Shiro's violet eyes were wide, blank, and unseeing. He was crying tears of blood.
"Shimatta!" Aki and Hanyou Inuyasha swore at the same time.
"What's it going to be?" Youkai Inuyasha asked as he ducked his head down to lick off Shiro's bloody tears from his cheeks. The caress of his lips across Shiro's skin was as soft as butterfly kisses, but the dark ideas that accompanied the light touch were like a thousand swords ripping apart a soul. This time, Shiro was in too much pain to scream.
"I'll give you my youki, just stop now!" Yumeko yelled.
"Hanyou?" Youkai Inuyasha addressed his alter ego.
"You're not allowed to harm Shiro or the others," Hanyou Inuyasha murmured.
"So you agree."
"…Aa."
"Good," Youkai Inuyasha smirked, "Give me your hand, Yumeko."
"Let go of Shiro first," Aki demanded.
"Keh," Youkai Inuyasha snorted, "You can have the Ningen." With that, he pushed Shiro towards his hanyou self. With a quick burst of speed, Hanyou Inuyasha caught the child and cradled him. Shiro groaned and refocused his half-dead gaze.
"I-Inuyasha?" Shiro murmured tiredly.
"Baka," Hanyou Inuyasha whispered back gently, "You did something stupid again."
"Gomen," Shiro apologized, his voice weak.
"Don't worry about it, kid," his hanyou self sighed, "Everything is going to be alright."
"Liar," Shiro hissed, "And I'm not a kid."
"Aa," Hanyou Inuyasha muttered. The two sides of Inuyasha looked back where their other self was currently grabbing Yumeko's hand and drawing out her youki. And they knew, at that moment, all hell was going to break loose.
***
Back with Kagome and the others
"Did you feel that?" Miroku inquired, making the others stop in their tracks.
"You mean that sudden chill?" Sango asked, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Hai," the monk nodded.
"I felt it too," Kagome said, looking about nervously. Kumo, Miho, and Shippo also confirmed their unease.
"Something bad is happening!" Shippo wailed.
"It's almost like all hell is going to break loose," Kumo murmured, holding tight onto Miho's hand. The woman squeezed back. This was bad…
***
Back with the Shadowy Figures
"Shimatta!!!" Ichi, Futatsu, and Mittsu chorused in unison. Oh yeah, all hell was breaking lose.
***
Back inside Aki's hut with Masato and Kimiko
"They did what?!" Masato screamed.
"According to their note," Kimiko began calmly, "Yumeko-san and Onii-san went inside Shiro's mind."
"At this hour?!" Masato yelped. It was still dark outside and most sane people were asleep. But of course, in the middle of the night, Masato had to wake up to relieve himself and discovered a certain magician and dream demon gone. Then he found the note. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to read. So he had to wake up Kimiko, who was not a morning person, to read it for him. Kimiko, being the nice girl that she was, obliged him, but not before smacking him repeatedly until the young man's face was turned black and blue from bruises. Needless to say, Masato made a mental note never to wake the young girl from her sleep ever again.
"That's what the note says!" Kimiko snapped. Masato unconsciously took a step back. Was it his imagination or did Kimiko's eyes flash golden for a brief second?
"So we just have to wait for them to get out of the brat's mind, right?" Masato checked.
"Yes."
"Kimiko?"
"What?!" came the half-snarled reply.
"Is the brat's body supposed to do that when people are in his head?" Masato asked, drawing Aki's sister's attention to the sleeping child next to them. Kimiko's eyes widened. Shiro's body was glowing with a dark energy.
"T-That doesn't look very good," Kimiko gulped, backing up against the wall.
"Shimatta!" Masato cursed. Then the whole room was flooded with a light darker than midnight. When the black light receded, Kimiko and Masato were surprised to find that there were three bodies surrounding Shiro's prone form, instead of the expected two bodies of Yumeko and Aki. Squinting in the darkness, they were able to make out the third figure's long silver hair. Suddenly the mysterious entity lifted his head and turned his face towards the two humans. Masato took a step back and Kimiko gave off a startled gasp. Hell had broken lose in the form of a red-eyed inu youkai.
*
Author-chan's notes: Oh yeah, I think I'm going to leave it off there. Well, Youkai Inuyasha is free now…Be afraid, be very afraid…
Okay, quick note to Rekouri Sentusu. I know my Youkai Inuyasha is a bit OOC, but I'm taking a few liberties with him. It's kind of hard for him to react with everyone if he doesn't have a better thought process. However, he is still obsessed with blood and has a creepy laugh and smile just like he does in the anime/manga. *sigh* Writing Youkai Inuyasha is hard! Even Kikyo is easier than writing him!
Also, to Ms. Zeal, congratulations on figuring out the clue that Ichi and Mittsu were giving out. And just so you know, the event that you mentioned will not be happening at this exact moment but it will be happening soon.
Next chapter: Death scene…
R+R!!!
