Next Move

When Kazuki arrived at the castle Naraku was waiting for him at the entrance. Kazuki glared at him and tried walking past but Naraku held his arm out blocking him. Kazuki stood there still glaring. At the moment he was not in the mood to deal with him.

Naraku returned his glares but he still kept his composure. "Where were you, Kohaku said that you were right behind him."

Kazuki shrugged and smiled cockily. "Technically I was behind him. Just not right behind him."

Salali came up behind Kazuki and grabbed his ponytail and yanked him back. "Show respect to your master!" She tossed Kazuki to the ground and she smiled at Naraku. "I hope he wasn't a nuisance master!"

Naraku gave yet another manipulative smile. "Thank you Salali." He brought his attention to the boy slowly raising himself from the ground. "Kazuki, I want you to go and find your friends. I think it's time you finished them off."

"Yes Master…" Kazuki spat. He began running off and he could hear Salali's voice giving him a word of advice.

Remember to kill Inuyasha last. Naraku will be watching and you better not screw this up.

Kazuki gulped and slowed down his pace a little. He had already gotten a good distance away from the castle. "I…I can't…" He muttered to himself. "I have to destroy Kenshin last. Might as well take my time…no need to meet my end so soon…"

It was already late in the afternoon and a few members of the Inuyasha gang were in a heated battle. Not physically, they were fighting verbally. It was between Inuyasha and Sanosuke over their tactic plans on what they should do now.

"WE NEED TO FIND NARAKU'S CASTLE!" Inuyasha growled.

Sanosuke punched a tree. "What good will that do? I doubt that Naraku guy has Kazuki sitting on his doorstep just waiting for us to pick him up!"

"WHERE ELSE WOULD KAZUKI BE?"

"EVEN IF HE IS THERE IT'S PROBABLY A TRAP!"

"FINE! LET'S NOT EVEN FIND KAZUKI! WHO GIVES A DAMN ANYWAYS?"

Miroku stepped in between the two men before they could start flailing on each other. "Stop it! Arguing won't get us anywhere!"

"Nether will sitting here." Sango added.

Now all four of them had begun to argue exchanging irrelevant insults and verbal attacks. Their voices were become more scratchy and high pitch with each word. After awhile of playing the random insult game it was then time to play the blame game.

"Well if you would've been able to hold him down and not been such a weak human!" Inuyasha accused Sanosuke. "He just might be here with us so we could set our goal for Naraku's castle!"

Sango shot a dirty glare at Inuyasha that could have killed. "A weak human! He's probably stronger then you even! Besides, you could have stopped him just as easily!" She crossed her arms and stuck her head up high.

"No offense Sango, but you didn't do much to help either." Miroku added offensively. "Floating around on Kirara didn't do us much good now did it?"

Kirara mewed in protest and transformed into her larger form standing by Sango in defense. She flared her fur a little trying to look as intimidating as possible. Letting out a low snarl she arched her back slightly.

"Oh come on monk." Sanosuke said in disgust. "Where was that wind tunnel thing when we needed it? I don't think I remember you using that thing once!"

"I would have sucked you in it!" Miroku snapped. He held his chin and smiled thoughtfully. "Then again would that have been such a bad thing?"

"Oh ya and screw up the future! Wouldn't that be nice?" Inuyasha growled again.

Kagome stood from afar clenching her fists and biting her lip. Their voices only echoed in her head slowly making her angrier. She finally snapped and shouted on the top of her lungs, "SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!"

The group immediately stopped. They were already in fighting positions and Kirara had Inuyasha's head in her mouth. Inuyasha grasped the cat demon's jaw frantically trying to pry it open and eventually she spat him out. He rolled to a nearby tree gasping for air and slobber rolling down his face and his hair.

"She…she tried to eat me!" Inuyasha stuttered as he pointed accusingly at Kirara.

The cat demon transformed back to her smaller form and mewed trying to look as cute and innocent as possible.

Sanosuke slapped his hands over his own mouth and was shaking. The group looked at him funny until they realized he was trying not to laugh. Soon Sango and Miroku joined him but Inuyasha still sat there in disbelief staring at the little cat demon.

Kagome cleared her voice and stood in the center of the group. "Okay! Let's have a vote! I vote we look around for Kazuki!"

"I vote we go to Naraku's castle." Inuyasha snapped.

"Naraku's castle!" Shippo added as he stood near Inuyasha with a hand raised in the air.

"I think we should look around some more." Miroku nodded.

"Same here." Sanosuke added.

"Castle." Sango groaned. She looked at the rest of the group. "Okay, we have a tie, now what?"

"Wait! Kenshin hasn't voted yet!" Sanosuke added. 'Of course Kenshin will want to find Kazuki!' "Hey Kenshin…" Sanosuke swung his head back and forth frantically trying to spot him. "Hey? Where'd he go?"

They could hear a faint voice in the distance. "I don't know what you guys plan on doing but I plan on finding Kazuki that I do."

Sanosuke caught up to Kenshin and stood in his way. "Wait! Kenshin! Do you even know where you're going…?" He stopped when he saw the look in Kenshin's eyes. His eyes were full of anger and determination all at once. He nearly jumped out of his skin when his eyes looked directly at him.

"No…I don't." Kenshin quietly commented. "But I'm more then positive that it's better then sitting around arguing over the matter that I do."

The rest of the group was watching as the two argued. They saw Sanosuke and Kenshin nod at each other then turn their attention back to the others.

"Me and Kenshin are going to look around for Kazuki. You guys go to the castle to see if Kazuki is there and stop Naraku."

"Well that makes sense!" Kagome shouted as the group began to walk started to walk towards the two feudal era men. "I've been here longer then both of you and I can't even go walking out on my own without getting lost!"

Kenshin turned grimly serious as he and Sanosuke began their journey to who knows where. "Kagome…if we do not find Kazuki it will not matter. If we can't find him we will not be able to go home that we won't." Kenshin turned his head and a smile was on his face. "Please don't worry about us. For now just worry about finding Kazuki."

Sanosuke turned his head too and gave a quick wave with his hand. "Whoever finds him first doesn't have to pay for the sake!"

That was the last that Kenshin and Sanosuke saw of the Inuyasha gang for a while. They traveled through thickets of forest, thickets of thickets, and even thick thickets. This time alone away from the safety of the others that knew the time much better then themselves gave Kenshin and Sanosuke a realistic view of the world around them. There wasn't always a beaten path for them to take nor was there any kind of path. Their surroundings were more then unfamiliar, in fact, more of a mystery then anything. There were no cities nearby and the part of the country they were in apparently didn't have any small towns either. Yep the two men were definitely…

"Lost…we are so lost…" Sanosuke groaned as he dragged his feet. He stopped and plopped down on a rock so he could massage his aching feet. "Not that we knew where we were in the first place…Come on Kenshin, just a short break…"

Kenshin sighed and sat against a tree trying to relax. "Just for a few minutes, then we continue." He rotated his head and shoulders a bit and then closed his eyes. It was noon the next day and already it felt like the two had walked for an eternity.

Sanosuke sometime within the last minute had sat upside down his legs hung over the other side of the rock and his head looking at Kenshin upside down. His hair…well, his hair was the same…damn those hair defying haircuts…Sanosuke blew a few strands of stray hairs out of his face and stared intently at his friend. "Kenshin…"

"Yes…" Kenshin said as he slowly opened one of his eyes and quirked up an eyebrow.

"Why are you in such a rush to get to Kazuki?" Sanosuke asked as he rolled over onto his stomach.

Kenshin waited a moment to respond. Sighing he closed his eyes again. "Because I can't wait to see what the end of this is going to bring. Kazuki reminds me of…of…" He let his sentence hang.

Sanosuke nodded realizing what Kenshin meant. He stood up and stretched his arms. "Well, let's get going then."

Kenshin stood up as well and they both walked along a small path. They had walked for a mile when Kenshin started to notice small splotches of dried blood. He nudged at Sanosuke to inform him and he nodded. They followed the blood splotches and soon they turned off the small path and had to follow the smaller splotches. They could soon hear a small brook…and a small demon yelling at another demon. They hid behind some trees and tried to find the source of the noise when they spotted it.

"Lord Sesshomaru are you sure that your wounds are healed now!" Jaken yelped as Sesshomaru worked on renewing the bandage on his foot.

"Jaken…"

"How exactly did this happen to you my lord?"

"Jaken…"

"It must have been a very powerful demon…"

On hitting a sensitive spot Jaken was soon slammed into the tree that Kenshin and Sanosuke were hiding behind. They both slapped each other's mouths shut reinsuring that the other wouldn't scream. Jaken slid to the ground and lifted himself up only to go back to his master's side.

Sanosuke nodded for Kenshin that it was time for them to leave but Kenshin shushed him and continued to listen to the conversation.

"I'm so sorry my lord! Please forgive me!" Jaken yelped begging for forgiveness.

"Fine…" Sesshomaru finished bandaging his foot. "Where is Rin?" He questioned the toad.

"Rin…" Kenshin muttered to himself. Sanosuke eyed him curiously. "I remember the toad demon saying something about a girl…a lover perhaps?" Sanosuke just nodded then stopped when he realized that Kenshin must have some time within the last few days talked to the demon to acquire such information.

"Coming my lord!" Rin chirped as she came frolicking into along the river with some freshly picked flowers.

"That's Rin!" Sanosuke whispered loudly. Kenshin slapped his mouth shut but already it was too late. They didn't even get a chance to see Sesshomaru move from his position. The demon was already behind them with his sword to their backs. Kenshin and Sanosuke held up their arms like they were being arrested and slowly turned around. Sesshomaru finally noticed Kenshin and nearly blew up on him…well, if he wasn't a calm collected demon he would have blown up on them…in a non-literal sense of course.

"Tell me what happened before I decide to kill you." Sesshomaru managed to say in his calm collected kind of way.

Kenshin lowered his arms and blinked. "What would you like to know?"

Sanosuke lowered his arms and looked at Kenshin even more confused. "You know him?"

Sesshomaru ignored Sanosuke and kept his attention at Kenshin. "I want to know what happened to your companion."

Kenshin lowered his eyes at the ground. "Kazuki…"

"If that's his name then yes, that's who I wish for you to tell me of."

Kenshin eyes snapped open and he grabbed onto Sesshomaru's shoulders. "Wait! Did you see him! Which way did he go? Is he all right! Where is he?"

Sesshomaru was rather shocked at Kenshin's sudden enthusiasm but quickly put on a collected front. "I killed him."

Kenshin just stopped. His heart stopped. His breathing stopped. Time had stopped. If he had a watch it would've stopped. Everything stopped. No words could reach his lips.

Sanosuke stood up and he pushed Kenshin out of the way and grabbed Sesshomaru's shoulders. The only difference was that Sanosuke lifted the dog demon off the ground two feet.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin gasped as she grabbed onto Sanosuke's leg hitting it. "Let him go!" Jaken too joined the kicking and the random hitting. He couldn't use his flaming stick of doom because if he did Rin and Sesshomaru would be fried as well.

"Let my lord go!" Jaken screamed as he kicked Sanosuke as hard as he could. Sanosuke getting extremely annoyed kicked the toad to the other side of the river.

"Put me down…" Sesshomaru demanded.

Sanosuke slowly let him go and continued to glare at the demon. "If you didn't have a daughter…"

"Daughter?" Sesshomaru yelped losing his cool image. "WE DON'T EVEN LOOK ALIKE!"

"So is she your niece?"

"No…"

Sanosuke blinked at him then became slowly shaky remembering some old fears of his that have been neglected. "Why do you have pointy ears…?" He said shakily.

Kenshin patted Sanosuke on the back and whispered into his ear. "This is Inuyasha's brother…his half brother. He's a full-demon. You can go huddle into a little ball elsewhere and I won't tell. Just please leave so I can talk to him."

Sanosuke started walking away when Sesshomaru looked asked him to take Rin with him. Rin reluctantly left with the mean big BAD man.

"So Kazuki is dead…" Kenshin said slowly pronouncing the last word. "What happened?"

Sesshomaru was busy watching Jaken trying to make his way across the river but every time he tried he would just get swept with the current and he had to start over. "He attacked me." He said dryly. "He was at the village where I first met you. At first I wanted to ask for a rematch and I was going to ask him where you were but he attacked me."

"For no reason?" Kenshin questioned.

He nodded. "He said he destroyed that village…and that he was going to destroy you and the others." He shook his head as Jaken came up with a fish on his head and he began running back and forth.

"He's under Naraku's control." Kenshin replied. He looked behind him and noticed where Sesshomaru's main attention was. He shook his head and looked at Sesshomaru. "Is he the one that injured your foot?"

"He was pretty focused on killing me. He managed to get my back…" Sesshomaru looked at his foot and narrowed his eyes. "He stabbed his own neck just to get to my foot. He's probably bled to death now…"

"Probably?" Kenshin stuttered. "You mean…you don't know?"

Sesshomaru frowned slightly. "I wouldn't get your hopes up." He looked at Sanosuke and Rin who were playing tag or something. She sure did change her mind about him quickly. "The only way he would've survived is if he had help or if he had a jewel shard."

"He did have a jewel shard!" Kenshin added. He turned towards Sanosuke and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Sanosuke! Kazuki might still be alive! We better go find him!"

Sanosuke had the little girl on his shoulders and put her down. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled back. "Good! I'm getting kinda homesick! I actually miss Kaoru and her awful cooking! I even miss Yahiko!"

Rin smiled at Sanosuke. "You'll have to play with me again sometimes! Jaken is no good at games and Lord Sesshomaru never wants to play." She hopped over to Sesshomaru and smiled up at him.

Sesshomaru ignored her presence and continued to talk to Kenshin. "I'm sure that if Kazuki is alive he has probably already moved. I'm guessing he would be after your friends."

Kenshin nodded. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind…" He looked over at Sanosuke and a sheepish grin came over his face. "Um…where would you think our friends are?"

Sesshomaru sighed and took a small whiff on the air. He pointed in the direction that he could smell his brother and sighed again. "Humans…"

"Thank you again!" Kenshin laughed nervously as he and Sanosuke ran off towards Inuyasha and the others. "We'll have to spar one of these days again!"

Sesshomaru nodded and he began to walk in the opposite direction with Rin at his side. Jaken panicked and he swan hurriedly across the river just as Sanosuke and Kenshin ran across a small bridge.

"We're getting closer…" Inuyasha stated as he and the others were walking on a clear path that if smells were signs would have had Naraku written all over it. "It's almost like he wants us to find him."

"Something tells me this is a trap…" Miroku added suspiciously. He slowly surveyed the area with his eyes. "Nothing seems out of place."

"In fact, everything seems eerily quiet." Sango commented as she startled herself when she stepped on a small twig. She sighed in relief and continued onward.

Shippo in the meantime had taken residence in Kagome's backpack. It was getting dark and he could smell Naraku everywhere. Naraku's smell was so strong he couldn't even smell the chocolate he had been eating nervously.

Kirara had taken her large demon form and her fur was sticking up on end. She walked protectively at Sango's side as they walked down the path to Naraku's castle. She would hiss or snarl at the slightest sound that would disrupt the utter silence of the night.

Kagome stopped and the others soon did too. "Anyone else hear that…" She whispered as she looked about at the dark trees and shadows. "I think I heard something…"

The group stopped to listen but all they could hear was the sound of tin foil unwrapping and then a chewing noise to follow.

"You're just imagining things Kagome." Inuyasha reassured her. "If there were demon's I'd be able to smell them a mile away…" He stopped suddenly when there was a small crackle nearby in the dense creepy looking forest. It was followed by another…and another…and even more crackles.

Then the noise stopped again. The group looked about frantically but nothing showed up. But as soon as they started to walk again swarms of demons came out of the forest and immediately they had to fight.

Sanosuke and Kenshin were making their way through the thick forest. They were forced to cut down and smash anything that got in their way. They trudged on to meet their possessed friend; however, their friend got to them first. Kazuki jumped out of a tree and both men immediately halted to a stop.

Kazuki smiled at them and waved slightly. "Hi guys, how are you this fine evening?"

"Kazuki!" Kenshin shouted. "Stop this nonsense immediately!"

"What? I just said hi?" He put a finger to his chin and smiled. "Hm…Sanosuke…I could just kill you now and get that out of the way."

"What." Sanosuke snapped. "I'd like to see you try. I don't care what kinda powers that stupid shard gave you I could still pummel you if necessary."

"Don't worry. I won't kill you…" He smiled and he began to run towards Naraku's castle. "Yet!"

"AFTER HIM!" Kenshin shouted as he ran after his reincarnation."

Next time on Inuyasha: This is it, the last battle. Who will prevail? Good…or maybe even evil? Will Naraku manage to destroy the group or will the group destroy Naraku? What about Kazuki…will he be able to regain control of his body or will Kenshin have to end his misery. Next time on Inuyasha, The Final Battle. See you soon!