The youkai stood across the hall looking directly at miroku and sango, "You are unarmed. Why do you not have your weapons? This will be a cowardly fight indeed." The youkai plunged his hands down his cloak and drew several small knives. Each were as big as his fingers and looked deadly. He started to sprint down the hall and towards them. "Damn he's fast." Said miroku as the youkai came closer and closer towards them. He plunged his hands down his sleeve and pulled out several spirit wards. He threw some on the ceiling and the floor and some on the walls. The youkai came to the spot between them and stopped as if he had hit a brick wall. He yelled as his body was being tormented by miroku's spirit wards. He finally backed off and slumped down onto the floor breathing hard. "Sango let's go. Inuyasha might be in trouble." "Hai, lets go." They turned and ran down the hall hoping that there wasn't anymore assassins hiding around each corner they took. Sango tripped over her kimono and struggled to get up. "Miroku please, leave without me." She said as she fell again. Miroku stopped and picked her up. She climbed onto his back and he started running again. They stopped as they saw their weapons lying in a pile like they were waiting for them. Miroku picked up his staff and swung it around, it seemed lighter than usual. He watched as sango picked hers up. "Your gonna fight in that?" He asked pointing at her kimono. She sneered, "You just want to see me naked again don't you?" She looked at him but inside she knew he only meant well. "No of course not. Its just that I had to carry you here because you couldn't run. Kinda hard to fight with a kimono on." She looked at the kimono and tore the legs off. "Such a lovely kimono, I have to at least keep some of it on.
They heard a large crash and they turned to see the assassin they had stopped with the wards among the debris. He had cuts and burn marks all over him. "looks like you can withstand a lot of pain youkai. You even went through a multi layer barrier. "Regular barriers are nothing to me. Yours was a very strong, I had to destroy the wall wards in order to even break through the first layer." He said picking himself up." "Before we fight I want to know your name. Not good to not know whom I will be clashing with." The youkai smiled and staggered to his feet. "My name is Sataru of the Takushi clan. Me and my brothers have been trained specifically for getting inside this palace. We just haven't had the opportunity to attack. When our employer offered us a distraction we gladly accepted. Now we are actually in the place we have dreamed about ever since we learned of it origins. It is everything we have dreamed of and more." He said looking around. Miroku took the moment of availability and swung his staff at the youkai. He connected with a hit to the head making him stagger a bit. "My turn." He raced towards them running on the walls and ceiling, never staying in one place. He readied his knives and chose his target, he ducked a miroku's staff swung at him. He readied his attack but was forced to retreat as sango's Hiraikotsu was swung in his original path. He sneered and jumped onto the ceiling and dropped beneath them. Before they could defend the youkai let lose two knives at both of them, once connected while sango's Hiraikotsu made its way through his body tearing him in half. The assassin known as Sataru was no more.
Seshoumaru Walked outside his balcony to see a great army massing on top of the hill. "Bold move naraku. Lets see if you can back it up." he said jumping to the ground below. He ran to where his army was stationed. "Men the enemy is here. Ready your swords and shields, defends the castle at all costs." He said as he ran through the camp. He reached his tent and entered, he saw that his armor had been already put out for him so he put it on. A soldier came into the tent and approached him. "My lord, I cannot find lord inuyasha, he is nowhere to be found. I have also found many guards dead at their posts. Sir the entrances have been unguarded for almost 2 hours now. Sesshoumaru ran out of the tent and into the front doors to the castle. He ran inside and stopped dead when he saw a dark hooded figure at the top of the stairs. He sniffed the air and he smelt 3 new smells. One was dead and another was wounded, but this one seemed to be waiting here for him and he had the strongest smell of them all. He sneered and walked a couple steps in the figures direction to test if he was noticed or not. The figure removed his hood, and smiled. "Welcome to your humble abode. My name is Roku of Takushi clan. I wont bother you with all the details pertaining to why I am here. I am here for a fight and that is what we will do." He drew his sword and jumped down discarding the cloak behind him. Sesshoumaru quickly drew tokijin and defended himself. The two swords met and ringed with anger as if they were alive. The two youkais looked at each other with a fierce look in their eyes. "It seems that our swords have met before. They hold strong emotion for each other." Said Roku. "I try to avoid fighting with a rival clan. I do not believe we should fight." Said Sesshoumaru swinging his sword and risking an attack. he missed but it was not unexpected, he brought down with such a force that would have broken any other sword in two if not blocked. yet this sword blocked it as if he had barely put any force into it. "Who made this sword of yours?" asked Sesshoumaru backing of a little bit. "A master sword smith called Totosai. It is called Saikyou, the powerful, passed down to me from my father." He smiled and launched another attack, only to be blocked by tokijin again. he jumped into the air as Sesshoumaru did the same. "Raia's Wind." He yelled as the sword unleashed a powerful demon aurora. Seshoumaru brought tokijin about and blue energy emitted from the tip. The two attacks met and tore the walls and stairs off their foundations as the explosion erupted.
"Wind Scar!" Yelled inuyasha letting loose yellow waves towards his opponent. Jin jumped above the waves and landed on the nearest wall. He ran towards inuyasha, whose own sword was vibrating with his blood. Tetsuiga had caught a piece of him at the beginning of the battle. He grossly underestimated his opponent, but that will never happen again. He jumped off the wall behind inuyasha and plunged his sword into his back, emitting a yell and a gasp. Inuyasha fell onto his knees and collapsed onto the floor face first. Thinking it was over Jin walked over to the motionless body and grabbed a handful of hair. Just as he was about to claim his prize he felt his chest erupt in pain, and just as quickly release. He coughed up a little blood and fell to the floor gasping for air, releasing Inuyasha's hair. He looked at the struggling inuyasha and realized how foolish he was. It would take more than one blow to take down this prey. "Finally…a….challenge. This might…..just be….the don't walk….away from. I am glad to…have fought….you. Thanks to….you I realized….that there is still honor…in this world after all." He cough up a little more blood as he talked but he did not try to bandage his wound or try to get up. "I am truly thankful for this to be my last experience before I die." his body fell limp and inuyasha was left alone in the corridor to recover from his wounds.
Sango retrieved her Hiraikotsu and ran back to miroku. He was in terrible shape, he wasn't going to make it. "Please, don't die on me." "He hit me in the heart sango, I would rather die in your arms than stay living without you." Sango tried to pick him up, but he was too heavy. "Please, stay with me. You still haven't answered my question." He smiled and touched her face. "I think you already know the answer to that question. I am truly sorry I cant be with you anymore. When I said that I wish you happiness, I meant it. Live on sango, do not follow me to where I am going. You have to fulfill your mission and kill naraku." "Do not talk like that. I cannot let you die, now that that I know the truth. We must be together forever." She said letting the tears flow. "I do not need to live forever. Now that I know you love me, I can die a happy man; here in the arms of the one I love." He coughed up blood and smiled. Sango held him for what felt like forever as his body went limp and he said no more. She grabbed his head and hugged it to her; crying into his black hair, not caring if someone came up and killed her. She held him to her until she got too tired and passed out; always remembering his words: "I love you"
End Chapter