Thud. Thud. Thud. The sound of fast-moving feet rang throughout the quiet forest. The swish of a haori as it rustled in the air was heard, and then gone, in an instant. All that was left was the fear and pain of a troubled soul.
The stars twinkled up ahead as InuYasha rushed through the open hills. He had been running for a full 3 days now, no stopping, not even for water. He ignored his body ravaging against its maltreatment, he could only think of one thing. Kagome…He tried not to think about how all this had happened, just 3 days ago, though it felt like an eternity.
"MOURYOUMARU!" InuYasha yelled, staring up ferociously at his hated enemy. Mouryoumaru stood up before InuYasha, his face, the only human-like part of him, twisted in a cruel smirk.
"I see Naraku's saimuyshou led you here well." he said smugly.
"Why did you lead us out here!" asked Miroku, holding the beads surrounding his kazaana tightly. "Do you think you're going to kill us?"
Mouryoumaru smirked again, and said, "I called you here to show you something, so that you know that I've increased in power, and it's virtually impossible to stop me!"
There was a flash of light from inside Mouryoumaru, and suddenly he appeared to burst. The light grew tremendously bright, so that everyone had to shield their eyes so not turn blind. Then abruptly, the light died, and Mouryoumaru had disappeared. But in his place, was a young man, withneck-long, clean cut,white hair, thin, purple eyes, wearing a black kimono. He brandished a long, black metal spear, with a dark pearl at the end, which had a small krink in it, like it was missing some pieces.
"The Shikon no Tama!" thought Kagome.
"What happened to Mouryoumaru?" asked Sango, surprised. The man smiled harshly, and said, "My name is Kanaye, and now that I have enough power to survive by myself, I have no need of Mouryoumaru."
Suddenly Kagome froze in fear. That face…it was the baby! Naraku's heart! "InuYasha, it's Naraku's heart!" she yelled. InuYasha faced Kanaye angrily. This was the moment, if he managed to destroy Kanaye, he would destroy Naraku once and for all.
"You're Naraku's heart, aren't you?" he yelled out across to Kanaye.
"You guess right," smirked Kanaye, "I am indeed Naraku's heart. But now he has no control over me. I've managed to steal the Shikon no Tama from him, and used it to my own advantage. He's a fool, thinking he could contain me for long. It's his own undoing, because now, I'm stronger than him!"
Kanaye rose the spear above his head, and a dark ball appeared near the tip of it. "Now you will taste my true power!" he yelled as he shot the ball towards InuYasha.
InuYasha pulled Tessiaga out of it's scabbard, and rose it above his head as well, watching for a second as the winds of power swirled around it. "BAKURUYHAAA!" he yelled, and the winds formed together to make one giant whirlwind that head straight on to Kanaye's dark ball. Bakuruyhaa turned the dark ball back towards Kanaye, but instead of forcing it against it's master, it returned to the spear, Kanaye laughing.
"You fool! Thinking that such an attack would defeat me!" he yelled, sending 5 new balls hurling towards InuYasha. He tried to return them using Bakuruyha, but one of them escaped pass him, going straight for Kagome.
"MIROKU!" InuYasha yelled, but the monk was already in front of Kagome, unveiling his Kazaana. He sucked in the ball, but suddenly 10 saimoyshou appeared, and he sucked them in as well. He resisted the poison for a while, but then sank to the ground, twitching in pain as the poison of the saimoyshou coursed through his body.
"Miroku!" yelled Kagome, and crouched down next to Miroku. Even though he was in pain, he still managed to smile. "A-are you ok, Kagome-sama?" he asked. "Yes, but you've been poisoned badly Miroku." she said. Sango flew over to Miroku in an instant on Kirara, and jumped down to help him. "Hoshi-sama!" she said worriedly, holding Miroku up.
"D-don't worry about me…look after Kagome-sama…I'll be ok…" he said, looking at Sango softly.
Suddenly, a growl of pain rose to the sky. Kagome looked up to see InuYasha being lashed at by what looked like streaks of wind. The Tessaiga was green and dragon-scaled, and she instantly knew what had happened. She ran like the wind to InuYasha, full of fear.
Seeing that Miroku had reached Kagome in time, InuYasha turned to Kanaye, furious. "Bastard..." he growled, while Kanaye narrowed his eyes, yet he still curled his lips up in a dark sneer.He jumped up into the air,and InuYasha readied Tessiaga for an attack. But suddenly Kanaye disappeared.
"Bastard, where do you think you're running to!" snarled InuYasha, looking around him for a trace of Kanaye.
"Why, I'm right here," InuYasha heard a voice say behind him. He turned around just in time to see Kanaye in the air above him, raising his weapon to strike him. InuYasha rushed Tessiaga in front of him, forcing spear and sword against each other with a loud CLANG! From the impactof the two weapons a huge shock of electricity formed, forcing the two to fly back from each other. InuYasha did a quick back-flip and landed on his feet, waiting for the next attack, while Kanaye landed gracefully on the ground.
Kanaye took up his spear again, and swung it in front of him. Suddenly a cloud of smoke came up, which took form of a crimson snake, with sharp red eyes and long, piercing teeth which had black poison dripping from them, and rushed towards InuYasha. InuYasha raised Tessiaga and yelled, "KAZE NO KIZU!" The streaks of light shot out from Tessiaga, and met head on with the dark snake-like creature. But even when cut through,the snake just reformed itself, and continued onwards.
InuYasha thought quickly ofan attack he hadn't used yet. "Dragon-Scaled Tessiaga..." he thought. For a second he thought of the last time he had tried to use it while fighting the Dokumizuchi, a large snake-like creature that he had fought before, andhow he had gotten critically injured by Tessiaga. But he had no choice now, he had to try it. He concentrated hard, and Tessiaga's blade changed from it's metal blade to a scale-like blade. The snake was a mere meter away from him when it got sucked into InuYasha's blade. It gave a loud scream, and there was nothing.
Then Tessiaga got burning hot. "Shit!"said InuYasha as he struggled to hold onto it, the handle searing his hands. InuYasha ignored the pain, and focused on letting out the snake poison that was now in Tessiaga. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" he yelled, while shooting the poison right back at Kanaye. But instead of hitting him, Kanaye just sucked it back into his spear.
"Heh, don't you realize you can't use any of my attacks against me?" Kanaye said, tauntingly. InuYasha stood, panting slightly.
"He's got to have a weakness, somewhere." he thought.
Suddenly, Tessiaga became even more burning hot than before. Streaks of wind shot out of it, and attacked InuYasha, surrounding his body. It was like hot knives burning into his skin. He couldn't help but yell in pain. The winds went away, leaving InuYasha's chest and face scarred. But he didn't collapse, he couldn't let himself give in. Not yet. Kanaye stood staring at him the entire time, his face full of a sadistic pleasure.
"Kagome-sama!" yelled Sango, afraid that she would get hurt by one of Kanaye's black orbs. "Kirara, go after her!" she told the large cat-demon, who took of in a flash. She flew down low to Kagome, and gave a small growl for her to grab on. Kagome understood, and jumped on quickly. Kirara gave a snarl and flew straight up, the wind ruffling through her hair. She raced over to where InuYasha was, burned and struggling to fend of Kanaye's attacks.
"It's obvious you haven't mastered the Dragon-Scaled Tessaiga yet." said Kanaye. "Heh, no surprise, you are but a simple hanyou. But I am amazed that you haven't died yet, since your own sword has turned against you.. " InuYasha gritted his teeth and yelled, "Bastard, Tessaiga would never betray me! KONGUSHOHAA!"
Millions of diamond shards flew out of Tessiaga, aimed straight at Kanaye. "This has to at least touch him.." thought InuYasha.
Kanaye smirked and drew a circle in the air with his spear. A force field appeared before him, repelling ever single one of Kongushoha's diamond shards.
"Shit,they didn't evenget past his fucking barrier." Thought InuYasha angrily. Suddenly he felt a gust of air behind him, and heard Kagome's voice.
"InuYasha!" she cried, and ran over to his side, her eyes full of fear for him. "KAGOME, GET BACK!" InuYasha yelled at her, afraid that she would get hurt by Kanaye. He looked at Kanaye, who's eyes had narrowed.
"That woman…" he thought. For a second, his eyes flickered with fear.
Kagome stared at Kanaye, and strung an arrow on her bow, saying, "InuYasha, what's giving him all his power is the Shikon no Tama, if I can just purify it…"
Kagome let go, and the arrow flew straight and true, but Kanaye jumped in the air quickly, moving the spear away from danger. "It's not going to make it…" said Kagome downheartedly, but InuYasha stood in front of her, raising Tessaiga.
"HELL YA IT WILL, KAZE NO KIZU!" he yelled, letting 5 yellow streaks of light fly towards the arrow, engulfing it, and becoming on giant streak of light.
"No…" thought Kanaye. He wouldn't let himself be killed that easily. He could feel the power of Kagome's arrow and Kaze no Kizu approach him, and he instantly disappeared, letting the arrow fly into the distance, until it could be seen no more.
"Shit…" said InuYasha, staring at the sky full of hatred. "That bastard got away like a fucking coward." Suddenly he fell to the ground, shocked with pain that he had ignored through out the heat of the battle.
"InuYasha, you're really hurt!" said Kagome, stopping InuYasha from falling over completely.
"It's…nothing…" said InuYasha, his mind consumed by the rage of not killing Kanaye, trying to ignore the constant pain that seared his body. He had failed, and that's all that he could think about.
Then sun settled low in the sky, ready to die as it did everyday, the last of its rays disappearing behind the mountains, and night began its reign. Underneath a clump of trees, a weary band settled for a night of well-needed sleep.
"Dammit…" thought InuYasha as Kagome tended to his wounds. "If only he hadn't escaped…fucking coward…".
Kagome looked at InuYasha worriedly. He was never this quiet. She finished bandaging his chest, and asked, "Is something…bothering you, InuYasha? It's…not about the battle, is it?" InuYasha stared at his burned hands, and said quietly, "We were so close to finishing Naraku of…" He said irritably. He thrust his hands down in disgust with himself.
"It isn't your fault," said Kagome, placing her hands on top of InuYasha's. InuYasha calmed down a bit, soothed by Kagome's soft words. "I almost let you get hurt today…" he said quietly, thinking about the black orb that had almost gotten to Kagome, had it not been for Miroku.
He felt Kagome scoot closer to him, and lay her head on his shoulder. "Why do you worry so much about me?" she asked. InuYasha felt his heart beat a little faster, unsure of what to say. They sat in silence for a while, InuYasha avoiding Kagome's face.
He turned to look at Kagome, and said, "It's…"
Then he noticed that she was asleep.
He smiled softly, and looked up at the stars, comforted that at least Kagome believed in him, even if he did not.
On the other side of the campfire, Sango stayed up, dabbing Miroku's damp face with a cloth. He was sleeping, but feverish, from the poison he had received from the saimoyshou. Sango looked at the fire, troubled. She needed to talk to Miroku.
"Miroku," she murmured, watching as he turned fitfully in his sleep. "Sango…" said Miroku quietly, opening his eyes.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" said Sango, surprised. Miroku smiled, and said, "No, no, I could just hear you calling my name through my dreams." He looked at her, and saw her fretful thoughts through her face. "Sango, are you upset?"
Sango looked away, quiet. "Miroku, while I was looking after you, I thought I saw something in the forest."
Miroku looked at her confused, and asked, "What?"
Sango gulped down a small lump in her throat and whispered, "I thought I saw my brother, with Kikyo."