Chapter XIV

Fire and Ice

"Kagome!"

Shippou cries as Miroku holds Kagome's still form close and the wind continues to blow around them. Miroku tries to use meditation to not feel the cold on his skin but he begins to feel the dampness of the snow through his robes. Kagome still felt cold to the touch as he held her close wrapped up in her sleeping bag. He was not sure how much longer he could hold his concentration and stay awake. Shippou desperately does his best to keep the small fox fire going but his paws were becoming frozen. Miroku looks down at the unconscious girl in his arms and hopes she will be ok. He then wonders what happened to Sango.

Above them Kagura sat on her feather her mind focused on the torrent of winds that had them trapped.

"Yamase's cold has been a welcome addition to my winds," she smirks to herself, watching the drama unfold below her. She was still troubled over where Nobara was. She takes out the dagger and looks at it carefully. The inscriptions on the peerless white blade were faded and indiscernible. She wondered what its significance was.

"Honouikari!"

Kagura moves quickly out of the way as Nobara leaps up and attempts to slice the kaze-youkai in two.

"Nobara!" Kagura exclaims quickly dodging the attack. Nobara flips, just missing the feather, and lands outside of the wind tunnel looking up at Kagura. The flaming red katana in hand as Kagura maneuvers around the tunnel to face Nobara.

"Well, so the hanyou has emerged!" Kagura chides her. Hakudoushi's warning forever present in her mind as she holds the dagger in her hand preparing to follow through with his orders.

Nobara does not see the dagger but quickly strings a shouki arrow to her bow and fires it at Kagura. Kagura sneers knowing that if she tries to use her powers to deflect the arrow that the wind tunnel spell would be undone.

The first arrow she dodges easily and smiles at her evading maneuvers until her feather suddenly tilts back as it is hit with another arrow that breaks through the bottom and barely grazes her shoulder as it flies past. The sudden jolt surprises Kagura and she drops the small blade absently and watches in horror as it plummets into the snowy meadow below. She quickly glances at Nobara angrily, already imagining the punishment she will get from Hakudoushi that she lost the dagger.

Nobara strings another arrow.

"This one will not miss, Kagura," Nobara states calmly and Kagura knows it won't. Nobara releases the arrow, the tip glowing red with shouki flame.

"Feh!" Kagura spats feeling her life to be more important and quickly raises her fan to blow the arrow away. The arrow falls away and Nobara watches pleased as Kagura's wind tunnel slowly loses momentum. Kagura glares at Nobara then quickly rises on her feather and flies off.

"Kagome! Miroku!"

Nobara turns as she hears Shippou's cry. The blizzard winds were now dissipating and slowly she could see the dark huddled form of Miroku, Shippou and Kagome. She leaps towards them. She sees Kagome unconscious and Miroku freezing and losing consciousness.

"Nobara!" Shippou exclaims.

Nobara ignores Shippou and focuses on the two humans.

"Houshi!" she calls to him shaking him. Miroku shakes his head and snow falls off his short dark hair. He looks up at her through ice covered eyelashes.

"Nobara-san!" Miroku exclaims as she then quickly crouches down and looks at Kagome. She inspects the girl quickly and then helps Miroku stand up.

"She will be alright, but you have to get her out of here," Nobara states sensing Kagome's low heartbeat. She is about to pick up the unconscious girl when she glances across the dissipating winds and sees Inuyasha facing the onslaught of the wind scar. She senses right away that something is wrong.

"Inuyasha!"

"Shippou! Help Miroku and get Kagome out of this meadow," she quickly orders as she leaves them and leaps towards Inuyasha.

Inuyasha watches the wind scar come barreling towards him, the cold toxin from Yamase had frozen his limbs making them cold and numb. Inuyasha smirks slightly and stops trying to struggle with his unresponsive limbs.

"Keh, so this is how it ends…."

He could almost feel the force of the wind scar blast, when he feels strong arms grab hold of his waist and pull him from his frozen state. He then notices himself being lifted away from the blast of the wind scar. Inuyasha glances his gold eyes up to see Nobara holding him looking ahead as she quickly lands with him outside of the snowed in meadow. The memory of her carrying him years ago filled his mind as he could smell her comforting scent. She lands just within the forest trees where the sun shone down brightly and the grass was still green. She gently sets him against a tree.

"Inuyasha!" she calls to him feeling his cold skin. Her eyes widen when she realizes what is happening to him. "Toushoudokuso!" The memory of her experience with this toxin caused a slight chill on the back of her neck. She knew what had to be done, but she heard the familiar chuckle of Yamase nearby.

"Yamase," she remembers as she glares back through the corner of her eye to where the youkai was.

She looks around to see where Shippou and Miroku were but did not see them, and she knew that if Yamase found Inuyasha that he was in no condition to protect himself.

"Inuyasha," she focuses her pale blue eyes on his cold gold ones. He was shivering and it broke her heart to see him like this. "Inuyasha, I have to stop Yamase. If he finds you…."

Inuyasha tries to speak but finds his tongue had become a cold numb slab of meat in his mouth. All he can release is a moan.

"I know it is painful," she assures him and moves him slightly to be more in the sunlight. "The toxin hasn't entered your heart yet." She looks down at him tenderly, for a moment she thought she saw the child she once knew so well. "Don't worry, my chicchai youkai. I know the cure."

The sudden bellowing of Yamase behind her distracts her and she knows it means only one thing. "Yamase has realized that Inuyasha escaped!"

"I'll return," she tells him earnestly looking into his eyes. She quickly turns and leaves Inuyasha there against the tree. All he could do was wait.

Nobara leaps back onto the snow covered meadow and sees the towering Yamase searching for Inuyasha.

"Where did you hide, you hanyou coward?" Yamase bellows as he starts to paw through the snow searching for Inuyasha. She remembered Yamase so clearly now.

Nobara walks casually up behind him, not trying to hide her footsteps as her feet slightly crunch in the soft powder. Yamase hears the footsteps behind him and quickly turns swinging his ice blade in the direction of the sound over the surface of the snow. Nobara leaps back, flips and lands calmly out of reach. Yamase chuckles again as the disturbed snow powder settles slowly.

"Nani?" Yamase gasps as Nobara's figure came into full view. Her mane of yellow hair, tied back from her face, blowing behind her and in her blue kimono and hakama; she stood out in the white background.

"Yamase," Nobara says looking up slowly from under her hair, a characteristic and playful smirk on her lips exposing her fangs. "Still spreading your snow all over, I see."

"N-Nobara!" Yamase can't hide the stutter in his voice as he takes a step back.

"It has been a long time, Yamase," she states calmly as she unsheathes Hisuibara slowly. "Why are you down from the Southern Mountains? Did you forget that Inutaisho banished you there?"

"Inu-no-Taisho," the youkai blurted the name then seemed to stand tall again for a moment. "H-he died before I could retrieve my honor. He died before I could face him again and return home. And you…" he started; fear once more coating his voice. "…they said you were dead!"

"Dead," Nobara repeats the word with an empty voice. She looks at Hisuibara before her calmly and then glares wickedly at Yamase. "I am dead," she states a fathomless emptiness in her voice as she said this. She then thought of Inuyasha shivering and suffering somewhere in the woods behind her. She glares evil pale eyes up at Yamase and sneers exposing her sharp fangs. "And so are you, Yamase."

Yamase takes a step back unsure of what to do. He searches the skies for Kagura and found himself abandoned. Hisuibara begins flaming with the red fire of shouki and Nobara, with rage filled eyes leaps towards the massive Yamase. Yamase, knowing his blade to be useless against Nobara's steel, fills his mouth again with icicles and shoots them at Nobara. Nobara, anticipating this maneuver leaps high above the blast and holds Hisuibara above her. Yamase looks up realizing he had missed and had no time to move.

"Honouikari!" she yells as she slams the flaming katana right into the forehead of Yamase. The katana slid down the front of the giant youkai and seemed only to graze him since no visible mark was left on him. She lands standing before him. Yamase stands there motionless for a moment and looks down at her with a pained expression.

"You hurt the person I care for more than my own life. I am afraid that I cannot let you return to the mountains," Nobara states coldly. Yamase tries to open his mouth to speak but he freezes as a line forms from his forehead down the center of his body. Steam smolders from the line, the heat of the fire from Hisuibara had melted through Yamase's cold hard armor and cleaved the youkai in two, right down the center. Before her eyes Yamase splits and falls into the snow, causing the soft powder to rise again around her. When Yamase is still a cold breeze quickly blows his remains away with the snow erasing Yamase's sorcery and returning the meadow back to its green grasses.

"It is done, Inutaisho," she thinks to herself as she looks at her reflection in the blade that killed Yamase.

Nobara sheathes Hisuibara and turns to return to Inuyasha when she suddenly feels a sharp pain over her heart. She looks down to see an ivory blade stuck into her kimono, a silken thread attached to the ivory hilt. Nobara quickly follows the thread and looks up to see Kagura before her smiling wickedly as she pulls on the silken thread returning the dagger to her hand. The ivory blade that was now crimson with Nobara's blood.

"Kagura! You ikeike!" Nobara curses, holding one hand over the wound. Kagura holds the blade up, showing it to Nobara. She was proud to have retrieved it. When Yamase's snow disappeared and the meadow returned to green the peerless white blade was easy to spot.

"Feh, this is the Gesshokudeba. Naraku said you would know what this means."

Nobara looks on wide eyed at the blade. She curses under her breath as she grimaces. She closes her eyes, scolding herself for not sensing Kagura was there, for letting her guard down. She then glares at Kagura and nods slowly in response.

"Then you and I are done," Kagura says nonchalantly as she pulls the feather from her hair and returns to the sky.

Nobara watches Kagura fly away and knows there is nothing she can do about herself at that moment. The pain had gone away. She quickly turns to where she left Inuyasha.

"Nani!" she exclaims and begins to run quickly as she senses that Inuyasha's heart was slowing. "Toushoudokuso spread faster than I thought!"

"Inuyasha! Hold on!"

Sango and Kirara had followed Kohaku in a game of cat and mouse deep into the forest. Finally Kirara and her land in the forest when they had lost sight of him.

"Kohaku!" Sango calls, holding Hiraikotsu behind her in the ready as she jumps off the Neko-youkai's back.

Nearby, but out of sight, Kohaku sat in a tree in turmoil of having to play these sinister games with his sister.

Sango steps forward continuing to call out to him and trips a trap. A log covered with sharpened spike comes quickly towards her. Kirara growls and pushes her mistress out of danger. Sango lands as the log rams into a tree across the way. She gasps and searches the trees quietly.

"Kohaku!"

Sango silently listens for any movement, using her trained ability to sense traps and then purposefully triggers another trap to render it harmless.

"Careful, Kirara," Sango tells her companion. "This whole forest is covered in traps." Kirara growls quietly as she shrinks down to her smaller size and carefully goes to disarm all the traps so her mistress can move freely. Sango stands still awaiting Kirara's ok to continue forward when she hears a branch snap in a nearby tree. She quickly turns and releases Hiraikotsu, smashing many of the branches. A figure leaps down and stands before her as Hiraikotsu returns.

"Kohaku!"

The young boy stood before her, unsure of what to do. He no longer had Naraku's will controlling him so he could not bring himself to attack her. But he knew that if Naraku saw him not attack his life would be at stake. He quickly looks around and not seeing the pestering Saimyoushou, knows that Naraku was not watching him right then. But he was still unsure of what to do.

Sango holds Hiraikotsu behind her and reaches out a hand. She wasn't sure what to do either. She remembered all the awful things he had done, the lives he killed. She wanted to kill him, release her brother from this life of terrible servitude and avenge the innocent people Naraku forced him to kill. Yet she herself had just recently risked her life for his. Despite everything he had done all she can see before her is the little brother she loved. She had not seen him since she risked her life for him. All she knew was that she just had to see him. See that he was ok. And now all she could do was stand there.

The emotions between them were thick as fog. Both reluctant to move.

"Ane-ue…"

The memories of his life in the youkai taijiya village with her flooded his mind and he felt his arm shaking wanting to reach out to her. Sango takes a step towards him. Her hand still outstretched dying to touch him.

Kohaku doesn't find the will to move away. Sango takes another step and Kohaku feels his arm rise on its own to touch her hand when he suddenly feels himself be grabbed by Kagura and quickly whisked away on the feather.

"KOHAKU!" Sango screams, dropping Hiraikotsu and running the last few steps to where he once stood. She stood there and watches him being taken away from her again. She feels the tears well up in her throat and gasps. "Why? Why did it turn out this way! Kohaku!"

"Sango."

Sango turns and sees Miroku with Kirara beside him. The houshi stood there, his robes still damp from the snow. He had gone to find her once Shippou and Kagome were safe. He was worried about her. He sees her standing there, Hiraikotsu lying at the ground at her side. He had seen this look on her face so many times before, yet each time it pained him more to see her go through this torment. He walks up to her and places a hand on her small shoulder.

"Sango-," he starts about to console her when she suddenly turns and sobs into his shoulder. Miroku holds her close and lets her cry.

...End Chapter