Ch1

Rescue

"She's going to die!" Said Shippo.

"No, no, don't say that, think positive." Rain let go of Inuyasha as he spoke to Shippo.

"She'll die quickly." Quipped Sesshomiru.

"Rain, calm down." Loeyla said, alarmed by the looks Rain was casting at her mate. By all rights, if looks could kill, Sesshomiru would be dead. "We have to plan a bit. Not every one here can fight. Kagome, you and Shippo will stay here. Someone will come out with the baby, and you will start back to Songo. Ok?" Kagome nodded. Shippo nodded as well, but knew he would follow them. They set out.

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Ankha pushed the hair that had come loose of her braid out of her face (she had braided it before Songo's child was born so it wouldn't get in her way.) and looked over her shoulder. She snarled at the long line of booby traps sprung behind her. Naraku was toying with her. He knew she would be more than able to get through them. He had just been hoping that someone would be with her. He should know better. Ankha worked alone. But she had sprung every trap on the off chance that if someone had followed her, they would be safe. Sniffing in disgust, she moved on.

A short, roughly carved hallway later, she came upon the baboon man. Boldly, she walked closer.

Naraku heard her footsteps approaching, but did not turn. In a low, taunting voice, he said "Here, kitty kitty." Ankha rushed him, claws out. When she was close enough, she pounced. Naraku turned to reveal that cradled in his arms was Sango's baby. Ankha did a back flip in midair to avoid hitting the child.

She landed hard on the heels of her bare feet. Her tail flicked out behind her in irritation. "Give me Tayallay." She growled. Naraku shrugged as if the baby was of no consequence, and tossed it in the air. Ankha jumped to catch the girl, and as soon as her feet had touched the ground she leaped again, over to the far wall where she tenderly laid the newborn down on her cloak. Naraku stole up behind the cat demon and wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, slowly forcing his nails in. Then he threw the assassin against the opposite wall, like she was so much garbage.

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Rain hesitated at the front of the cave. He hated caves. The dank, the dark, the eeewww. But he thought of Ankha being in there alone, facing off with Naraku, and it gave him the strength to go over the front bottom teeth of the skull. Quickly, their eyes adjusted to the dark and they walked on in. Turning a blind corner, their eyes were greeted with a long line of torches that seemed extremely bright after the lengthy darkness. Shielding his eyes, Rain was stunned with what was illuminated by the flickering light.

Spikes. Metal spikes. Giant boulders, arrows, all the booby traps ever made, it seemed, had been fit into this long hallway of doom.

"Whoa." Inuyasha smelled for blood and found no trace. "Look at all those. And I don't smell any blood. Do you guys?" Everyone shook their heads no.

"Do you think it's safe?" Miroku asked.

"Throw a rock." Came a familiar high pitched voice. It was Shippo.

"What are you doing here! You're supposed" Inuyasha cut Loeyla off.

"All right." The half breed picked up Shippo by the head and prepared to throw him into the treacherous hallway before him. Talabinya smacked dog face upside the head, making Inuyasha drop the foxling, whom Rain caught. Yanking Shippo up to eye level by his collar, Rain spoke to him in a low, dangerous voice.

"Shippo, you will go back now. If you follow us again, next time there will be no one to help you. You being here could cause Ankha to die, do you understand? If we're fighting Naraku, you can't be around to distract us. He'll kill you too, as an afterthought, or just for pleasure, if you are around and we're dead. Now, go back to Kagome." Shippo ran as fast as he could to get away from the furious bounty hunter. Loeyla threw the rock.

It was safe. They slowly picked their way through the dangerous place as Ankha fought with the Baboon Man.

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Ankha slowly rose from the pile of rubble that had rained down on her after her painful collision with the wall. She felt the sore cuts on her neck. When she tried to speak, she found it hard. When she tried to sing, she found it impossible. Naraku laughed as she completed her inspection.

"I've taken away your most reliable weapon. Your neck is damaged too much for you to sing the simplest of songs." She mouthed something at him, but he couldn't hear. "What was that?" he couldn't help it. He was curious.

He voice was gravely and harsh. "Here, monkey, monkey." The baboon man growled and attacked her. This time, she knew it was coming. Quickly, she dashed out of the way. It was an old trick, yes, but always worth a shot. Naraku didn't slam into the wall, but the trick gave Ankha enough time to transform into her demon form, Orlmvhh Mrtsg, the Night Lioness.

Her head was much like that of a lioness's, but smaller and finer boned. Her eyes were large and a brilliant green color. Smart looking black tufted ears capped her head, and short black stripes ran down the spine of her long neck. Her body was graceful and slender, obviously built for speed. The dew claws on her legs were tipped in black, and poisonous. Her long, whip-like tail ended in a short, sharp black barb, also poisonous. For all her slender form, she was still strong.

A breeze from a crack in the roof of the cave barely moved her short, silky fur as she stood before Naraku. Torchlight glittered off her golden coat. Niroku stared, then laughed.

"Such a pretty, it's a pity that you have to die." The cat gave off a snarl and looked like a streak of lightning as it raced for him. Right before she would have hit him, the lioness swerved, and her tail flashed out.

Naraku, expecting her to run right into him, was not prepared for this. The barb stabbed him quickly in the chest, then followed it's mistress as she ran in circles around him. Closer and closer, she tightened the circle until she was within range again. Then she stabbed him, again and again. If he reached out a hand, she bit it, never slowing in her mad race. But Naraku is nothing if not patient. He waited for just the right moment, then threw himself on the cat.

Slam! His weight broke a few of Night's ribs as they landed on the unforgiving stone floor. She heard the snaps, felt the bone break, felt muscle tear. After Naraku had leapt up to fight again, she took a second to rise herself, feeling the broken ends of her ribs grind together. She decided to fight in her other form, as a human. So as she rose, her body changed and twisted into Ankha again. Her demon form was still hurt, but this one was basically untouched.

She realized she didn't have a chance unless she used her shard. And so she would have, if it hadn't of been tucked in her cloak under the baby. 'Stupid!' She chided herself. If you're thinking that she should go get it, let it be known that she didn't want Naraku's attention drawn to the baby. And besides, I don't think Naraku would just wait passively as she rummaged through her cloak to find it.

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W.W.- "The fight scene might take a while. I'm in charge of it, and I've been longing for detail. A few readers have complained about the lack of it too."

B.B.- "What readers?"

W.W.- "Well, OBP, DC, and me."

B.B.- (taps on glass of computer) "Anybody out there?"

W.W.- (Squishes face to glass) "I don't see anybody."

B.B.- (Turns, smirks at W.W.) "Again, what readers?"

W.W.- "Somebody will read it. Someday..."

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Rain and Sessho were the first to reach the site of the battle. Miroku and Talabinya were close on their heels, towing Inuyasha and Loeyla along. Talabinya spotted the baby first. "Loeyla." She whispered and pointed at the bundle. "That must be the baby. I'll get her." Loeyla nodded. Quietly, the fox woman crept to the baby and cradled her in her arms. She tried lifting Ankha's cloak but found she couldn't. It was too heavy. 'How can she stand it?' It weighed at least twelve times what she did herself! She pushed pass the group and worked her way through the tricky hallway again. Gathering up Kagome and Shippo, they started back towards Sango's hut.

It had taken Rain a few seconds to realize who was fighting Naraku. Ankha had never taken off her cloak in his memory. She was beautiful, and most definitely a woman. Then, it broke through his thick skull that she was losing.

"I've got to help her!" He shouted. Sesshomiru and Inuyasha held him back.

"She'll kill you if you interfere!" Sessho said.

"And she'll die if I just stay here!" In the end, they had to sit on him to keep him out of the fight.

In Ankha's head, she wasn't losing. She was just taking a bad turn. Neither Naraku or Ankha noticed the intruders. Ankha rushed the baboon man, hoping to catch him off guard with her transformation. It didn't work. Her claws grazed his arm, but other than that he ducked and grabbed her leg, forcing her to fall. She was up again fast though. She tried rushing him again. She leapt upon his back and started stabbing and clawing and biting him with all her might. He screamed in pain as one claw struck deep between his collar bone and his shoulder. He grabbed her arm and forcefully yanked her off. Ankha's arm was ripped out of it's socket. She would have popped it back in if some muscles hadn't been torn as well.

But Naraku had made a mistake. He was knocked off balance as he pulled her off, and he fell on one of her claws. It felt like fire to him. Yelling, he leapt up. Ankha was also on her feet by the time he had regained his balance.

Naraku carefully noted the damage he had done to her shoulder, then was reminded of the havoc she had wreaked on his as he felt the warm blood trickle into his hand. He tried lifting it, but his arm would not respond. 'She must have cut a nerve.' He thought. The evil man looked up at her and smiled. Ankha felt a nearly over whelming urge to wipe that smile off his face. Naraku said "We are both wounded, each with one useless arm. It's been a long time since I've been hurt. How can one so weak harm me? No matter. You shall die in any case."

Running at her, he grabbed her wounded arm. She screamed aloud in pain as he slammed her repeatedly into the stone, but was silent as he tossed her into the wall. She lay there, blood trickling out the side of her mouth, nearly dead. Naraku crouched next to her head, and whispered in the ear.

"Before you die, I'm going to tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was an assassin who served me. He died. So, I needed a new one. Now, I don't want you to get a big head, but cat demons really are the best for assassins. I didn't lie when I said a fox killed your parents, I didn't lie. I just neglected to mention which fox." He made a motion and a shadow peeled from the wall. "This fox."

It was the teen from the horse, almost a year ago! Ankha's eyes barely registered surprise. She didn't have enough energy to be shocked. She had been so close to the teen that day! If only she had known. Naraku glanced at the fox. "Yes, my faithful servant, Rammahallen. She looks so young, doesn't she? She's nearly twice your age. You may leave now, woman." Rammahallen smirked at the defeated cat, and backed into an even deeper shadow, a hidden door.

"Her family doesn't know about her service to me. She's been successfully tricking them for a long time now. She's the one who paid the bandits to mutilate your parents and kill them in the first place. Well, on my orders.

"You see, she's my eyes and ears in the peaceful community. When you were born, she told me. You were selected to become my new servant/assassin. Be honored. Do you remember your master? Ah, I can see you do. He was part of my plan. His job was to break your spirit so that you would do anything I said. One day, a messenger came. He said 'Mission accomplished, all spirit gone.' And so I went to gather you from him. By that time, you'd been an assassin for a while. You were known, and at level two. But no one ever met you. All deals went through your master, Huko. So no one ever saw what state you were in.

"Now, I'll admit it, Huko was an idiot. He only saw the surface of things. But he was perfect for your training.

"When I arrived at Huko's mansion, I smelled the very distinctive smell of rotting flesh. Intrigued, I walked inside. Do you know what I found?"

Ankha looked into Naraku's eyes. She was terrified with what she saw. Windows were eyes into the soul. Where Naraku's soul should of resided, was a dark, seething mass. It looked like hundreds of slimy eels. They were crawling all over each other, feeding on each other in a starving frenzy. Black in color, they surged and ebbed, slowly growing even as she watched. 'He's being eaten from the inside.'

"I found what might of been a human being at one point. The rotting carcass of your master, Huko. His inside had been strewn all about the room, but most particularly I noticed his head. It was mounted where his prized boar used to be. Flies were crawling all over his eyes and walking on his swollen tongue, from where it hung from his mouth.

"From the marks upon what was left of his flesh, I assumed you had killed him. As I approached the head, I saw your trademark symbol, an eye with a burning iris, carved into his forehead, and my suspicions were confirmed. I also read your little message scratched into the wood under the head. 'The pigs will die.' Nice touch.

"To be honest, I was amazed. How could you have killed him? You were supposed to be broken. So, you must have hid yourself from him, made him believe that you were his mindless slave. Now, it takes a lot to amaze me, so I decided to see what you would do. You killed everyman that had ever hired you for a hit. But you stayed on as an assassin. You didn't know anything else. You were twelve then, in human years, and had been seven years under the service of your master. You are nearly twenty two now, ten years of freedom. You've made quite a name for yourself." He pulled a knife from his boot and chuckled. "All for nothing. Black Lullaby, sixth level assassin, only living master of the Assassin's Storm, will be killed with a simple boot dagger." Slowly he made a long cut down the side of her face. She just stared at him, unflinching and uncaring. 'So what?' Her eyes said to him. Naraku raised the knife high above his head and

"NO!" The word burst from Rain's lips as he shoved the two men sitting on him to the floor. He rushed over, pulling out his sword as he went. He pressed a button on the hilt, his sword becoming many small blades all held on a sharp chain. Literally the chain was sharp. It's edges had been worn down into little razor toothed links. He whirled this whip around his head a few times, the launched it at Naraku. The baboon man heard the wind whistling as the blades came snaking towards him. Quickly, he leaped, nimbly dodging the attack. The weapons tip plowed into the wall. Rain yanked it back and it became a regular sword again. Naraku merely raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Ah. The Viper's Kiss. That hasn't been seen in a while. Bad throw, though, boy. It's supposed to wrap around my neck and rip my head off. Obviously, that didn't happen.

"Oh, are you surprised that I know about your favorite attack? You shouldn't be. I killed the being that created it. It's his skull out side. You great grandfather's skull."

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W.W.- "Naraku sure is talkative today."

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Rain shook his head fiercely. "No!" It couldn't be. He would have known if he was part demon, wouldn't he?

"Denial doesn't change the facts, boy." Naraku went on, ignoring the cat demon behind him, knowing that he could toy with this creature and still finish her off. "He married a human woman, the fool, and had a half breed daughter. She married a human also. Had a son, blah blah, then came you, with the Water Dragon demon blood weakened and watered down. Demon Dragons are rare, Water Dragons even more so. You are the only one left alive of your family. Feel special, my boy.

"I've killed every member of your family, dragon blood or not. They've all come willingly after me, and who am I to refuse their challenge?" Naraku chuckled. It seemed that the family's destiny was to rush head first into a battle with him, and die in the process. He was looking forward to the death of this one. "That sword you are holding, boy, is a sword that is tied to your family. The eldest in each generation finds that sword, no matter what. And yet, once you die, it'll be up for grabs. I don't suppose you'll mind if I take it?"

Rain's head was spinning. Was that why he had been abandoned? They had died? Been killed by this man? And now he wanted to take the sword?

"Just try and take it." Naraku came slowly closer to the Bounty Hunter, taunting him, making himself an easy target. Rain ran at him, sword in front. But Naraku was ready. He whipped a sword out from under his pelt and easily parried the first blow. The hunter was a superb swordsman, however. He wielded the sword as if it were as light as a toothpick, an extension of his arm. His skill kept Naraku on the defensive until Rain stumbled over an uneven patch in the floor. The baboon man took advantage of his opponents misstep and barreled down on him, heavily offensive.

Rain was sweating gallons of sweat now. The stuff made his hands slippery and his grip infirm. The next hard blow Naraku delivered sent the sword skittering across the floor and Rain staggering against the wall. Naraku raised the tip of his sword to Rain's throat and smiled a grim smile. "Been a pleasure, boy."

Ankha had been watching their fight, saw Rain stumble and lose ground. 'No!' She wouldn't let him die defending her! That will that had amazed Naraku so much rose to the surface and gave her the strength to heave herself up. Slowly, every muscle and joint screaming in agony, she rose. She tried to take a step, and nearly collapsed from the effort. She looked down.

A splintered bone was sticking out three inches above her flesh in her right leg. 'That's gonna hurt tomorrow.' So she settled her weight onto her 'good' leg and moved the hand that was still functioning (It was her left arm that even now dangled uselessly from her body.) Up to the small pouch around her waist. It was still there. Somehow it must have hung on throughout her bumpy ride. Her fingers fumbled with the knots holding it closed. 'Come on, come on, work, damn you!'

Finally she opened the bag, just as Rain lost his sword. Carefully, she picked out three of the daggers. It her hands had been working properly, she could have managed fifty or so, but in their current condition, so only dared three. They could kill the thrower just as easily as the target. She looked up in time to see Naraku aim his sword at Rain's throat.

"Bastard." She spoke as loud as she could, and threw the daggers as hard as she could at Naraku. She watched the daggers leave her hand as if in slow motion, watched them travel through the air and lodge in Naraku's back. The baboon man dropped his sword and fell to the ground. Ankha's demon form's poison and the dagger's poison met and mingled in his blood stream. Where his body had been able to resist one, two were overwhelming.

"Miroku" Ankha croaked out. "Suck him up! You have thirty seconds until he's dead." Quickly, Miroku did as she said. The cat demon threw him the antidote, miming that he should drink it. Otherwise, the poison would have spread from Naraku to Miroku, and he would have died as well. Naraku died in the vast void he had cursed the monk's family with. He died cold and alone, trapped in the darkness.

Ankha's pain blurred eyes turned to Rain. Why had he helped her? Why didn't he want her dead, with the way she had treated him most of the time? "Rain..." She took a step towards him, having forgot about her leg in the fogginess of her mind. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the stone floor, mercifully blacking out before she hit.

"Ankha!" Rain ran to her, beating Sessho and Loeyla there. He sent them away to make a stretcher so they could take her back to the hut to heal. Carefully, he turned her over and cushioned her head on his lap, away from the cold stone. Looking at her, he noticed that her face was different. Two more red marks had appeared.

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Disclaimer: We do not own Inuyasha. Or anyone else in that show. However, WritingWoman owns Ankhale Suneye and Ligerrain Melhas. BlondBitch owns Loeyla and Talabinya.

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