Disclaimer: 3x3 Eyes belongs to Yuzo Takada, Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Yu-gi-oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, may they be worshiped and veneered for their brilliance.
Author's Notes: Finally, it's the fourth chapter. I have to be careful now, because it's always around this point where I get writer's block or just slow down.
A small piece of information: daiyoukai means greater demon, more specifically, beings such as Sesshoumaru and his father.
A Trio of Demons
Chapter 4: Resurrection
On the top of a nearby building, Inuyasha turned toward his destination to witness a golden light. Just when he thought the whole thing was over! He raced to the scene.
Bits of metal, garbage, and debris littered the alley, as well as many bodies, of which only six seemed human. Two were intact. One had some cuts and bruises, but nothing really serious. Three more were dead. The overpowering stench of death and barbecue covered everything. Inuyasha felt rather impotent without his nose. Then, he noticed something: two of the dead human bodies weren't really bodies, but more akin to well done steaks, just like all the Naoshikai bodies... Disgusting. The strange thing was, one of them, the male one, looked like it was healing itself, reforming itself. As Inuyasha watched, the steak became raw, the burns went from a charred third degree, to a white, bubbly second degree, to a raw, red first degree, grew hair that previously had been nothing but ashes, dark hair. The half-demon growled, not liking this one bit. Sure enough, the steak had healed into a perfectly healthy person, conspicuously NOT DEAD.
Inuyasha thought the only Wu left alive had been Benares. This person obviously wasn't Benares. But the formerly dead man was a Wu. And if he was alive, this meant that his Sanjiyan was alive and well nearby, too. Possibly one of the other people in this alley. On a whim, he looked at the other dead man for a moment. Perhaps he was still alive. Inuyasha decided to take the metal shard out of that body. That done, the boy started bleeding all over the place. Strange. If he was dead, the youth shouldn't be bleeding at all. Suspiciously, Inuyasha brushed the sandy blond hair off the body's forehead, and started. Okay, this was getting weird.
The years had not marked Sesshoumaru physically very much, albeit that he now looked to be in his late twenties. The times had changed him more than his age: he now had to hide the markings on his face, a tedious exercise. His two swords, the Tenseiga, made from his father's fang and capable of returning the dead to the living, and the Toukijin, the sword forged from the horn of a demon who had managed to break the Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha's sword, he still kept with him at all times, though now, like Inuyasha, he had to carry them wrapped in cloth, so as not to attract the attention of the law.
Four hundred years ago, in the historic period of Japan known to us now as the Sengoku Jidai, the Warring States era, he had coveted the Tetsusaiga, and had fought Inuyasha many times for the right to wield it. However, it was not meant to be his. Instead of the destructive sword, the Tetsusaiga, he, arrogant and uncaring being that he was, had inherited from his father the Tenseiga, the sword that could bring people back to life. Even now, the irony of it all was a bitter-sweet taste in his mouth. He'd had precious little use for the weapon. But time and time again, as he had struggled to control his brother's blade, he realized it really wasn't meant to be his. In any case, he was as powerful without it as Inuyasha with it. He really didn't need it, in the end. Still, it sometimes hurt.
To go all the way to cooperating with his brother had demanded a lot of effort, however it was worth it, and however much he refused to admit it, it coupled with the advancing times, had changed him. Inuyasha, of course, had always been a misfit. He was too human to be youkai, and too youkai to be human. He was not 'good' in the traditional sense of the term: he was not indifferent to power, for instance, having aspired, and still aspiring to be a full-youkai. However, Inuyasha, in continuing to thwart Sesshoumaru despite being a half-breed, forced the older brother into acquiring a certain humility he hadn't had before. Being with Inuyasha had helped Sesshoumaru accept the exploitation of his lands by humans, if only because he now had someone to take his frustrations out on.
He and Shippou had gotten a call from a potential client, and had just met said client. The man hadn't really understood what demon-exterminator implied. He'd thought Sesshoumaru was an assassination contractor. He and Shippou had had to fight their way out of a literal army of bodyguards. And the daiyoukai was irritated.
Whenever Sesshoumaru was in this mood, it put Shippou on edge. The kitsune knew his partner since he was just a child, but at the time, Sesshoumaru was on the other side. Being attacked by an insanely strong dog-demon could leave its mark on one, even after four hundred years. Strangely, Inuyasha had been picking on him for those four hundred years as well, and still Shippou was not the slightest bit afraid of the half-demon, in fact, he was even less afraid of the half-demon, now that he was grown up. At least Inuyasha couldn't pick him up by the tail anymore, like he used to. Now Shippou, the kitsune, looked more like he was in his late teens.
The two demons had been calmly walking down the street. Presently, Sesshoumaru stopped, and took a curious whiff of the air.
"Well, well, what do we have here..." he muttered. "Inuyasha got involved in another demon slaughter without us again..."
"What do you care? Inuyasha can take care of himself, and it's not like you have monetary objections. We're in the clear for another few years, at the very least." Shippou asked.
"That's not what I'm objecting to. I like to know what's going on." Sesshoumaru commented. "Besides, what I'm getting smells more like toast than blood. It doesn't smell like Inuyasha did much, which is odd. We'll go see what's up."
Inuyasha was pulled from his ruminations by his half-brother's voice: "What did you get involved with this time?"
"You're here." Inuyasha commented, turning around to face the two newcomers. "I had no part in the battle that took place here. When I arrived, I saw all the bodies lying around, and nothing, except for that bloody tin shard over there, has been touched. I didn't get involved, but I think we should." he nodded his head in the direction of Kagome's prone body.
"Kagome?" Shippou stared incredulously. "I thought you said she was dead!"
"She might still be dead." pointed out Sesshoumaru.
"No, she's only unconscious. What I'd like to know is what she's doing in a place like this." Inuyasha decided. "We're taking them all home. This smells of Sanjiyan and Wu, and when the Sanjiyan are involved, there's always talk of the war against Kaiyanwang."
"There's always talk of Kaiyanwang, period." Shippou commented grimly. "We know for a fact Benares has been working toward Kaiyanwang's resurrection for a long time."
"Hey, a little help here?" Inuyasha had slung Kagome over his shoulder, and was about to do the same with the blond boy. "I'll carry Bloody if you carry Barbecue." he gestured toward the other formerly dead body.
"Barbecue?" Sesshoumaru asked as he gently picked the other girl, and the seemingly young boy.
"Never mind..." Inuyasha snarled. "Shippou, you gonna help or what?"
Yakumo woke up with a start. DEMONS! LOTS OF THEM! NEAR! Where was Pai? He had to protect Pai! He looked around frantically. He was sitting up on a blanket that didn't quite soften the floor, in what looked to be a living room. An intact Jounouchi was lying unconscious, hair brushed back from his forehead, in similar bedding conditions, while Yuugi was lying on the couch. He could hear noises of cooking from the kitchen. It was a deceptively calm atmosphere. Where was Pai? Where had the demons taken her?
One of the demons stepped out of the kitchen. It seemed to be a boy in his late teens, shoulder-length, bushy hair tied back in a ponytail. A lanky, ordinary youth, until you saw the fox legs and tail. The demon was wearing an apron on which were written the words 'piyo piyo'. The kitsune was holding a spatula in his right hand.
"Oh, so you're awake." said the demon pleasantly. "I was beginning to think that you really had died. In case you're wondering, the girls are in another room. Kagome-nee-chan and Parvati-sama haven't awoken yet, and we've been letting you sleep. But we're all deeply curious as to what a couple of Wu are doing here in this day and age."
"What have you done with Pai? Is she alright? What are you going to do with us?" Yakumo asked the Kitsune urgently.
The kitsune laughed. "There's no need to worry. We have no diabolical plot or anything of the sort. Lady Parvati is sleeping. She's fine, and we just want to know what's going on. You're all safe from us."
"Us? And who is 'us', exactly?" inquired Yakumo.
"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Shippou. You're in the apartment I share with Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. This is as close to a safe haven as you can get. There are few places safer than a daiyoukai's abode. Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to breakfast." said the kitsune, and he promptly returned to the kitchen.
Friendly demons. This, while not new, was still a rare occurrence for Yakumo. If that demon who'd started by ripping off his arm counted as 'friendly'. It was food for thought, as was the fact that this Shippou appeared very familiar with Kagome, and seemed reasonably acquainted with Pai.
He turned his attention to Jounouchi and Yuugi, still unconscious. Yuugi seemed thoroughly exhausted, and Yakumo couldn't blame him. The boy had lost Anzu, whom Yakumo understood was one of the boy's closest friends, possibly even more than that.
"So my luck has finally run out, hasn't it?" Yakumo told himself bitterly. That hadn't been the first time he'd put innocent bystanders in danger, though it was the first time any innocent bystanders had died. But why now? Why did it have to be Yuugi's circle of friends that suffered from Yakumo's own mistakes?
Jounouchi woke up, murmuring the overused opening line of: "Where am I?" His awakening was closely followed by that of Yuugi, who, upon noticing Jounouchi, practically fell off his couch and crawled over to the boy.
"Jounouchi, are you alright?" the boy asked urgently.
"I've got a rusty piece of tin in my gut, is that alright to you?" barked Jounouchi hysterically, having remembered what had happened beforehand. He then paused comically, only now realizing he didn't feel any pain, and stared down at the bloody area where he had been impaled. "Oops." he commented sheepishly. Then he lifted his shirt to see what damage had been done. The dried up blood made a crust on his stomach, so it would have been hard to tell a wound. But there wasn't a wound to tell.
"You're... fine..." said a bewildered Yuugi. He poked Jounouchi once or twice, as if he didn't believe his eyes.
"To answer your first question, Jounouchi, we're in a den of demons. Pai and Kagome are in another room. I just spoke to one of the demons, and he tells me we've nothing to fear from them." Yakumo spoke up. "They seemed very familiar with Kagome, and acted like they knew Pai. I don't know what that means, but in any case, we're at their mercy. One of them are daiyoukai. Which one, I don't know, but the fact is that he's very powerful. And by separating me and Pai, they have me at a disadvantage. I'm hoping this doesn't end in another fight... We've had enough death already." at this last remark, Yakumo looked guiltily at Yuugi.
"So how come I'm alive, anyway?" Jounouchi asked. "I oughta be dead right about now. What's up with that?"
"I wouldn't question my luck if I was you." joked Yuugi, but it was half-hearted.
"...And that's the tricky part." added Yakumo. "You're not going to like the answer to that."
"What do you mean?" asked the diminutive teenager.
"I think it's time I explained to you what a Sanjiyan is." started Yakumo. "You both saw Pai back there..."
His companions nodded.
"She's a Sanjiyan. I think they all suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder... But that's not the point. A Sanjiyan is a powerful, ageless three-eyed demon, and each one has the power to grant one person immortality. They do this by taking the person's soul into their own body so that if the Sanjiyan dies, so does the immortal. These immortals are called Wu, and generally serve as their Sanjiyan's bodyguard. I am Pai's Wu. That man I fought was also a Wu. And you, Jounouchi, are also a Wu now."
"I'm a half-dead zombie now!" blurted Jounouchi. "No way! I didn't see any other of these Sanjiyan-demons around! You said that they can only give ONE person immortality!" he protested.
Yakumo brushed his hair from his forehead. "All Wu have the Chinese character for void written on their forehead. Like the one on mine. If you need proof, look in the mirror."
Yuugi pushed Jounouchi's bangs back from his friend's forehead.
"It's not there, is it?" asked the taller boy.
"It's there." answered a confused Yuugi. "But I don't understand."
"I think I do." said Yakumo. "Yuugi, I think you're a Sanjiyan."
"That's impossible. My mother's human. My grandfather's human." protested Yuugi.
"One time, Pai lost her memory, and she came to live with an elderly couple for four years. They took her in because she looked like their dead granddaughter and told her she WAS their granddaughter. When I found her and told her she was a Sanjiyan, she raised the same argument. But don't you think it would explain things? Those powers you have. Your split-personality. Even the fact that your body hasn't aged past the appearance of a twelve-year-old..."
"There's a completely different explanation for that! That's because of my puzzle!" Yuugi brandished his pendant like a talisman. "I solved it, and Yami started coming out! Before that he never was there! And I never had powers! And I'll grow... Soon!"
"But what do you make of Jounouchi then?" asked Yakumo.
"I don't know..."
"Sounds like they're having a real argument in there..." commented Shippou, as he busily bustled in the kitchen, while Sesshoumaru sat in a chair, reading the paper.
"Anything worth mentioning in the news?" added the kitsune.
"They haven't found the alley fight yet." answered Sesshoumaru.
"They'll have a field day when they find it. The cops will be furious." Shippou grinned. "A completely unsolvable mystery with non-human victims, spontaneous combustion, an explosion... The works."
Kagome's mind slowly drifted to consciousness. There was something wrong, something vaguely worrying... She wasn't sure what it was. If she couldn't remember, it must not be important... But then sher realized she was sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. Abruptly, she awoke fully. She recalled the events from before she had fallen unconscious, and looked around the room for Pai and Yakumo and Jounouchi and Yuugi and... No, Anzu would still be lying in the alley... Or in a morgue. Pai was there. She was sleeping soundly in a bed propped against the opposite wall from the one Kagome herself was in. She couldn't find the others... Panic gripped her.
And then she was aware of another presence in the room. She had been so concentrated on figuring out where she was, and with whom, she had completely failed to notice the sleeping person sitting on the chair right in front of her. He had white hair, and his clothes were red. They looked like old-fashioned priest's festival robes, and they were very familiar. She let out a cry.
"Inuyasha!"
Her outburst jerked the half-demon out of his sleep, but before he could react, she hugged him fiercely. "I missed you so much! It's been three months! I was afraid I'd never see you again and... And..." she wept.
"Kagome..." whispered a bewildered Inuyasha. Relative to her, it was only three months since they'd seen each other. Relative to him, it was four hundred years. But three months, especially for a human, is plenty enough time to forget. She hadn't forgotten. And she wasn't dead. She was hugging him and crying on him and she said that she had missed him...
Inuyasha didn't get the chance to finish that train of thought.
"Hey! What did you do to Kagome, you bastard!" Jounouchi yelled angrily. He and Yakumo and Yuugi had heard Kagome crying, and the sight of a girl crying in a man's arms leads to many misunderstandings.
"I didn't do anything! She just woke up and started crying!" protested the white-haired man in confusion.
"You don't seriously expect me to believe that, do you!" Jounouchi vociferated incredulously.
"What am I supposed to say other than the truth!" objected Kagome's 'aggressor'.
"Jounouchi..." Kagome dried her tears and tried to get the hiccuping to stop. "It's alright. If he tried to do anything to me, I'm the first one who would protest. Besides," she added, remembering the 'sit'-activated rosary, "he's probably the safest guy for me to be around..."
While all this was going on, Yakumo made a beeline for Pai, who had awoken groggily because of the commotion Inuyasha, Kagome and Jounouchi were making.
"Pai, are you all right?"
"Pai does not understand... Shouldn't Pai be alright?" asked the Sanjiyan.
Yakumo heaved a sigh of relief. Whatever else these demons were, they weren't liars. Kagome and Pai were indeed safe. Well, Pai was unharmed-he glanced at the other four- and he had a feeling that Kagome was intact as well.
"Well, I'm glad that everyone's together again!" interrupted Shippou, who had chosen that moment to reappear, still in his piyo-piyo apron, "And on a completely different note, breakfast is ready, and I'm sure you're all starving."
