Author's Notes: The end is near. It's long, and highly stressed but I love the ending. Read, review and be happy.

Chapter Ten: St. Crispin's Day

It was like the night was holding her breath. Zen sat quietly in the corner of the room with Rin's mirror in his lap. Jaken and Miroku had left earlier to bring food and medical supplies back for such a time as when they would be needed. Shippo slept in the corner, never stirring even when Rin and Kagome entered the room. Both females exchanged looks and sat on opposite sides of the door, so they might peer out and view the battle. Zen felt his cheeks burn a little at their foolishness. There was nothing outside this room but death.

Zen shook his head, and looked down at the mirror. He was only vaguely concerned that someone would sense his magic, but just as quickly dismissed this fear. The demonic aura emitted through his scrying would be pinned on the curse, or Tama, or something else. These people knew nothing of deceit, and betrayal. Zen had been born into it the moment he had entered Tama's court.

Tama. That fool. As if his powers of illusions alone would have been enough to capture Lord Sesshoumaru's true form. The dog demon would have been able to sniff out the danger within half a heartbeat. That wouldn't do at all. To destroy someone like Sesshoumaru, one had to be patient, and persistent. They would have to begin the process slowly, and creep into the attack with all the subtly of a river, or the rain. Sesshoumaru needed to be able to feel it, but never fear it. Like a few raindrops, or a phantom pain; it would be something small and easily brushed off until the monsoon came to drown him. After all, it took water centuries to destroy a mountain.

Zen almost laughed, it had only taken him a few weeks. But he was water. He had all the time in the world, and would have taken it if it meant freeing Rin from her imprisonment.

He glanced towards Rin once more, then shook his head, and waved his hand over the mirror again. His reflection shimmered a little and changed; shifting into the likeness of a huge white dog with a sickle moon on his crown. The creature bayed at the moon in frustration and despaired, and turned around to jerk at its restraints without release. It howled again, and turned to gaze through the mirror at its captor. Zen smiled at it and waved his hand again before the True Form tried anything.

The image changed again, to display a Jackal demon crouching the corner of a tree with an arrow posed ready for release. The dog brothers stood together under the aim, unawares of the arrow and of Tama's approach. Zen set his jaw, as he watched another object come into view from the corner. He put the mirror down and looked up, waiting for the battle cry.

XXXXXX

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango shouted as her weapon whirled through the air.

Inuyasha jerked his head up at the sound, grabbing Sesshoumaru by his chest and threw him down. The boomerang screamed as it passed them, and struck a tree. There was a shadow that danced from the falling tree to another before an enraged howl.

Tama threw himself into a powerful leap as he sprang towards Inuyasha: claws out. Sesshoumaru pushed himself up a moment too late. Inuyasha howled as Tama raised him from the ground, claws embedded deep within Inuyasha's chest and throwing him back towards the house like a rag doll.

"Your fight is with me, Tama!" Sesshoumaru shouted, as he rushed afterwards. He made his way through the forest and back to the home with surprising speed and agility.

"My fight is with all that makes you weak!" Tama countered. "And I shall put it out now…"

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled again, as she flew back for another pass. Kirara came close enough that the boomerang slashed at Tama, knocking him clear of Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru took the chance to run for his brother, putting himself in between Tama and Inuyasha.

"Get him inside!" He told Sango, glaring down at Tama. "This is my prey."

"And what chance do you have against me!"

"Sesshoumaru!" Sango shouted, throwing her blade down for him to catch.

Sesshoumaru felt the unfamiliar blade in his grip and grimaced. Tokijin rested on his hip, waiting but he knew he couldn't. Tokijin's demonic aura would tear this human form to shreds. He would pull it tonight, if only to ensure he dragged Tama down to hell with him, but not yet. Drawing the blade, he threw aside the scabbard and smiled at the Fox. "Tell me, Tama. Is your fang still sharp?"

Tama smiled. A dark, lavish smile and made Sesshoumaru draw back. He knew this was suicide. Damn it all. He just wished the Demon Slayer would hurry with her rescue attempt. Tama flexed his claws and rushed again. Sesshoumaru spun, avoiding the talons by only a hair's breath. He exhaled, and punched out wildly. It hit and taking heart, Sesshoumaru jerked the blade forward, driving the blade into Tama's side.

The next sensation he became aware of was stars as Tama struck his face. Sesshoumaru became aware of flying, and throwing his weight backwards, he twisted to land haphazardly on the ground. Without his left hand to balance him, Sesshoumaru stumbled and growled.

It was then he tasted blood.

And it was getting darker. Sesshoumaru shook his head angrily, forcing himself back to consciousness. This was not the time for him to misstep. He could not falter now when so much was at sake, not before he knew…

"See how the mighty have fallen because of hanyoi and humans!" Tama was monologuing, but Sesshoumaru didn't care much to listen. He was busy gathering the vestiges of strength back into his system.

"You talk too much." Inuyasha quipped suddenly, as he stood haphazardly, and rushed at Tama blindly. For a moment, the Fox was staggered by the fierce passion behind the younger brother's movements, and in that confusion, Sesshoumaru took advantage. He threw himself into the fray.

They had a chance as long as they kept him off-center.

XXXXXX

Inside, Kagome stood up angrily and turned to Miroku. Her face as a blanket of despair and frustration, and she stared down at him as if Hell itself would bend to her will to present an answer. "There must be something we can do! He's killing them!"

Miroku shook his head grimly. "I'm in no position to render aid. And neither are you! Without a cure for Sesshoumaru…"

"How! Tell me how then!"

"I don't know how! We'd have to destroy the object holding Sesshoumaru's true form! But there's no way we could get close enough to Tama to search him!"

"An exorcism then?"

"A human Sesshoumaru still wouldn't have more chance against Tama then he does now."

"Then what? We have to do something!"

"I'm waiting for ideas!"

Sango had pulled away from the fight and stumbled inside. Her uniform was badly burned, with patches of skin raw and red from the exposure. She called weakly to the Priest before falling into blackness. Miroku was on his feet, rushing towards her within a breath. Rin jumped up and watched as the Monk crouched beside her. Outside Nanashi had joined in the battle, evening the odds for a small fraction of the time. Her face was becoming as desperate as Kagome's as she watched the two battled against Tama.

"Let me go…" She said suddenly.

Zen jerked his attention from the mirror, suddenly. "Tama'll kill you!"

"But Sesshoumaru would be alive!" She told him, "And Inuyasha."

"Rin, no!" Zen jumped forward, grabbing her by the waist and tugging her backwards. "I didn't all this to lose you now."

There was something in the way he said that, that made Miroku turn away from his beloved for a brief moment. Rin seemed to catch it too, and stood a little, protectively standing over Zen.

"The curse," Miroku mumbled, trying to piece together moments and words, and actions and reactions to understand the plot. He stood as Kagome came to wrap her arms around Sango. "It was placed by someone who got close enough to Sesshoumaru without arousing suspicion. It had to have captured his reflection…"

At that moment, all eyes darted to the mirror that rested sleepily against the ground. The mirror that Rin carried like her heart.

"No! Zen gave me that!" Rin started, she was torn between moving towards the object to guard or to protect Zen. The Water Demon still stood behind her, watching Miroku hatefully.

Jaken too had looked up, lifting his staff ever slightly. "A reflection…"

Miroku nodded. "A glass, a mirror, anything that could hold his form."

"It was a gift!" Rin shouted. "Zen gave it to me as a gift!"

"A gift from Tama's court."

XXXXXX

"Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha…"

Sesshoumaru felt his blood freeze in his veins at the sound of her voice. He didn't need to turn to see the creature the others called Nanashi. But he knew her, sensed her as he had sensed Rin's arrival earlier. She was his blood, his family. She had been the first kind face he had seen on this earth, and the first arms he had felt when he was injured. There was still some childish attachment to her, to that voice, from the days of his youth. The whole span of lifetime that had passed since didn't change that. Nor, did the uncontrollable contempt he had for her now.

So when she called his name, and that of his brother and told them to get down, he obeyed, grabbing Inuyasha and pushing him away.

The snap of Nanashi's lightening whip rang in Sesshoumaru's ear as it flew pass his face and wrapped around Tama's throat. Sesshoumaru turned in time to see Nanashi yank at it savagely, pulling Tama down. Normally such an action would sever head from body but Tama, who had fought beside Nanashi many times before, knew all the exits and counters. He allowed his body to move with the initial tug, before pushing his full weight into a back flip.

Nanashi, though an able warrior, was not prepared to be yanked by a younger, stronger fighter. Nor was she prepared for the inferno of Fox Fire sent after her.

Sesshoumaru began panicking as the fire began to eat away at the oxygen. He pushed himself up, pushing his arm up against his face in attempt to shield himself from the flames. The pain inside his body was growing, squeezing around his heart. The pounding heart echoed through his ears, blinding him and blocking out thought and anything beyond the instinct to survive.

In that moment, he would have given anything to revert to his true form, even Rin's life.

And as powerful as that moment was, it fled from him in the next heartbeat. He was Sesshoumaru, and only death would finally rid him of such a distinction.

But he was not dead yet.

He shook his whole body then, like a dog attempting to dry from himself an excursion into a pool, and looked up. Tama seemed to realize he had tapped some reserve of strength and finally determined a course of action.

The Fox stood now, his body half-turned away from him. He made no movement to neither draw another weapon nor raise his claws in defense. He stood watching Sesshoumaru watch him. Sesshoumaru let his hand fall to Tokijin, pushing aside its binding and drawing it. Tama smiled.

Tokijin's demonic aura screamed silently in the air. The air became charged and cold. Sesshoumaru felt the bloodlust of the blade begin to throb within his soul. It would tear him apart and devour his soul, Sesshoumaru knew. But he didn't care. It would be a fitting death. He'd go to hell but take Tama with him.

"And I see," Tama began quietly. "Your fang has some sharpness to it now!"

"Enough to end this!" Sesshoumaru lifted the blade, aimed for the heart and smiled his own bloody hungry grin. "Stand up tall for your Sesshoumaru, dear Tama."

He rushed him then, in some half-dazed, half-desperate attempt to end this all. He would make his last stance here. The Lord of the Western Lands, the mighty general of the Inutaisho. He who waged wars, and fought the tides themselves. He who could have killed Inutaisho himself. He who could possess the Three Swords.

He would die, taking Tama to hell.

And he would do it for a human child who approached him without fear and once smiled at him like she held a secret he did not yet.

It was a fitting end.

A sharp blossomed from his chest, stopping Sesshoumaru in his tracks. He gasped a little, letting his hand relax and Tokijin fall from it effortlessly. He tried to inhale again, but something had blocked his lungs. Looking down, he saw it, surreally.

An arrow had hit its mark above his heart and there it rested, impaled and serene.

His mind began to blacken a little, and somewhere in the numbness, he reached for it and touched it. The arrow head had struck deep within his flesh. It was not painful. For a Yokai, it would be nothing at all.

But for a human…

Sesshoumaru felt his legs give way beneath him, heard himself take a shallow gasp for air as his body folded over.

So, this how he would die instead…

Ironic.

XXXXXX

Someone screamed Sesshoumaru name outside, throwing attention back to the outside. They saw the Western Lord fall to his knees. Saw his figure seize up from the arrow that had struck his chest, and watched, damned to do nothing, as he collapsed and moved no more. It was uncertain who reacted or acted first. Rin shouted, and went limp in Zen's arms. Kagome made for the door, rushing to Inuyasha's side.

Miroku and Jaken were wise enough to keep collected long enough to act. The Monk turned and snapped at the Imp. "There's still time, destroy the mirror! Without a prison, Sesshoumaru's True Form will return to him!"

Jaken picked the Staff over his head, and slammed it down the mirror. The glass let out an unearthly scream, as if fractured. The room seemed to shake and tremble under the violation. Then, there was a plume of light and power that caused all to look away.

Zen turned and shielded Rin's gaze from the overpowering energy the mirror released.

Outside, Tama stopped his procession to Sesshoumaru and looked up, watching mutely along with Inuyasha and Nanashi and the light exploded into the night sky. For a moment, fear pierced Tama's features as they waited.

And then, nothing.