Sango indeed was tired by the time she arrived at the village. She looked at her village, her home, destroyed by attacking demons, engulfed in flames. They never had a chance; the attack had come during the night and was as sleek as the calmest wind. It was too late to save anyone.
She held back her tears as she rushed into the burning village. Using hiraikotsu to shield herself from the fire, she made her way to the largest building. Forcing her way inside, she found the shrine, where all the shikon shards the village had gathered were collected. The shrine was meant to purify the shards, but only a miko could truly cleanse them from evil. Right now, as rampant flames threatened to destroy it, the shrine looked more like the Devil's work than a holy place.
She entered the shrine, hoping to safeguard the shards, but she felt an evil presence behind her as Naraku appeared at the doorway. It was Naraku, not in his baboon skin, but in his true form.
"You must be tired," he laughed. "Why don't you rest a while?"
"Sorry, I don't have time to chat," she said seriously, ready to use any one of her weapons if he made even the slightest move.
"The fire is already burning; the wind will spread the flames. The tempest of the heart is irrepressible; evil deeds are sought by evil hands. All of this is because of that boy, but you will still forgive him? Is it for your daughter? Will you trust a man so foolishly, like you did that priest?
You knew you could not save this village, and yet you came here. You must have known that this will all end the same as it did last time. It is no different. The youkai are attracted to the shards; all beings seek power. They will converge here and become a part of my strength. Your village will be the consequence. Nostalgic, isn't it?
Now then, you walked right into my trap. This shall be finished shortly." A piece of his flesh, already concealed within the shrine, had gathered the shards and began slugging its way to the main body.
"No, I'm not the one that walked into a trap."
"So you intend to fight me here."
He released his evil, poison fumes, but she ran straight through it without regard. He dodged hiraikotsu, but he wasn't her actual target. The boomerang sliced through parts of the ceiling causing flaming pieces of wood to fall on him and incinerate parts of his flesh.
The slug thing continued its approach.
Angrily he attacked her with branches. She easily cut them with her katana, and when the pieces formed behind her she was ready and used her hidden sword to slice them without having to turn around.
The little pieces of flesh began to form together again, but she used his own inferno against him, by heating her blade and sizzling the pieces of flesh into nothingness. She had no intention of allowing him to continue reforming himself.
He realized what she was doing, and exited the shrine. She followed him, ignoring the slug thing that was slowly leaving the burning shrine, and was still carrying the shards.
Some of the youkai, that were still attacking the village, were called upon by Naraku to become a part of his body allowing him to regain some of his flesh; however during that time he was unguarded, and Sango knew it.
She lit hiraikotsu on fire, allowing the flames to cover the weapon and burn her hands. "I'm sorry, but bear with me for this," she whispered to it as she let it fly from her hands. It hacked through Naraku, burning him at the same time. The weapon fell to the ground uselessly, with pieces of it already burnt off and much of the main surface a crisp black.
All of him had disappeared, was the hope, but somehow, he still rebuilt his body, laughing as evilly as ever.
"You are doing rather well," he chuckled. "It seems you've found a competent method of dealing with me; however, no matter what you do, it is useless. Shall I tell you the reason?"
"I already know," she refused fiercely. "I came here already knowing. I know that you are just another puppet. You thought you could trick me to coming here, by making me believe your real body was here, but I didn't come here to kill you. I will never forgive you for what you did to my friends, Miroku and Kohaku, but I know now how worthless revenge is. Your dark existence will be purged one day from this world; even if I am not the one to cause it, it will still be just."
"Then what did you come here for?"
"I know the key to your power is the shards. You don't have a real body at all. The one currently giving you this form is Shihai."
"If you know that, then you must realize how futile it is. He is within my grasp. Your daughter will not rescue him, because she cannot defeat me. Even if she does, she cannot forgive him for what he has done, and most of all, what is about to happen."
"I know my daughter. I am not worried about her."
"Then, you should at least be worried about yourself. I shall praise you then, that you were correct in knowing each of my puppets is connected to a shard." The slug thing was gone, replaced by countless puppets, one per shard. "You gathered most of these shards here, and now they will be your downfall. You can't possibly hope to defeat all of my puppets."
"I will fight."
"Very well, as you wish. Then, I wish you best of luck."
Without hiraikotsu, she was forced to fight using her hidden sword and her katana in other hand. She hacked the puppets, slashing them into pieces, but they would gather again every time thanks to the power of the shards.
Placing the hilt of her katana in her mouth, she dug through her pouch of battle gear and chose a bubbling liquid. She coated both of her weapons it, and then continued attacking the puppets. This time, the puppets melted, as though they were struck by acid. Her weapons too melted, from the acidic substance. Not only her weapons suffered, but also her hands holding the hilt, her arm connected to the hidden sword, and eventually the substance spread and melted through pieces of her uniform and pieces of her skin. Old wounds opened - that could not be closed without stitches - and the substance seeped underneath her skin.
She still fought, using her fists and legs with all of her strength. She had poured the liquid onto her hands, and as she dug her fist into last next puppet, it melted, leaving only steam.
Naraku's voice resonated in the air: "All of your actions are futile! What you hope to accomplish is impossible!"
The shards formed into a single lump, almost half the size of the original. A single puppet formed and began attacking her with its branches. She ran, and jumped into one of the buildings for cover. She knew she couldn't last much longer, but she was still determined. Branches extended from the puppet and burst through the building walls, impaling her through one of her shoulders and one of her legs.
"Still not giving up?" his dark voice sounded through the dark air of the cold night.
Somehow, she found the strength to speak: "I have no weapons; I have no allies; I have absolutely no hopes for this battle, but I have a daughter."