Yamisui: Think of Chapter 8 as a bit of a break while you digest the deluge of history, prophecies, and other confusing krapola you've had flung at you in the first seven chapters. Now we'll get back to Inuyasha, the Inu Youkai brother who isn't busy hurtling toward his doom . . .
. . . or IS he . . . ? (kukuku)
P.S. I apologize in advance for the language in this chapter, but what can I say? The crunchy brown stuff made him do it . . . ;-P
+ LORD OF THE WEST +
+ Chapter 8: The Return of the Brown Crunchy Stuff +
What would have been a very long and miserable trek through the snow-covered lowlands beyond the village turned out to be a one-hour trip. With Miroku and Sango riding Kirara and Inuyasha carrying Kagome on his back the pace they kept was far swifter than their first journey to Reiyama. Two years ago, it had taken them nearly an entire day of walking on foot through the marshes in the rain. Now despite the snow the group was hurtling across the terrain at Inuyasha-speed---in other words, like a bat out of hell.
"Inuyasha," Kagome yelled in his ear over the wind rushing past them, "shouldn't you take it easy and go a little slower? You don't want to overtax yourself when we're relying on you to get the Jewel shard back from Sesshoumaru."
Apparently feigning deafness, Inuyasha kept up his breakneck speed, though Kagome could've sworn she heard him mutter a scornful "Feh" under his breath in response to her suggestion.
Kirara was flying overhead, a little ways behind. Being the shrewd, sensible beast that she was she elected to watch the hanyou's back, as his haste in these cases tended to make him oblivious to more immediate threats. Miroku was seated astride her with his arms around Sango's waist---a position which seemed to suit him just fine.
Shippou was not with them.
One Hour Ago
Shippou: "I wanna go!"
Inuyasha: "No."
Shippou: "But---"
Miroku: "No means no."
Sango: (muttering under her breath) "Like that's ever stopped you . . ."
Miroku: sweat drop
Shippou: (clinging to Kagome's legs and wailing at the top of his lungs) "You can't go without me! Inuyasha won't last a day without someone around to talk some sense into him!"
Kagome: (gently) "I know you're just as worried as we are about the risk, but that risk also applies to you, Shippou. We just don't want you getting hurt."
Shippou: "YOU HAVE TO TAKE ME! YOU HAVE TO YOU HAVE TO YOU HAVE TO YOU HAVE TO!"
Inuyasha: claps a hand to his forehead in irritation
Shippou: COME ON! LEMME COME!
Inuyasha: BAM! (punches Shippou in the head)
dead silence reigns and then . . .
Sango: "Inuyasha, don't you think that was too violent?"
Inuyasha: glances down at Shippou
Shippou: lies on hut floor with swirlies in his eyes
All present: ". . . . ."
Inuyasha: (breaking the silence) "Well, he's quiet now. Can we go?"
ThePresent---erm . . . the Past . . . whatever (time travel is confusing)
Kagome pulled her scarf up over her chin because the wind was stinging her face. They had just passed beyond the lowlands and were now navigating the more difficult terrain beyond. The area was a maze of snow-covered hills with groves of trees in between. Beyond it, according to Kagome's map, the land was flatter but covered in dense forest. Beyond the forest were the foothills, and beyond these were the mountains. Peering around Inuyasha's hair (which the cold winter wind was blowing every which way) Kagome could see the mountains from here. They looked as if they were covered in snow. She frowned, imagining the conditions that she and her friends would be forced to endure when it came to sleeping there. The closest pass leading through the mountains was extremely windy, and last time they'd been forced to use boulders for shelter. Kagome supposed that this time would be worse because they'd have to dig for the boulders to find them under all that snow.
That night they made camp in the shelter of a grove between the hills. Even beneath the trees the ground was covered with snow, so Inuyasha took it upon himself to dig them all a campsite. Snow scattered in every direction as his dog-like shoveling made the perimeter larger. Meanwhile, Kagome was starting a cook-fire with the meager portion of dried wood and pine cones that Miroku had collected for her. She could tell that finding dry kindling of any kind was going to be a problem.
Sango knelt beside her on the blanket they'd spread out over the cold earth. The demon exterminator was silent and pensive, staring down at the burgeoning flames with her strange black eyes. While Kagome watched, Sango shuddered unexpectedly.
"Sango, are you all right?" Kagome asked worriedly, laying a hand on the other girl's shoulder.
"Mm? Oh, yes," Sango replied somewhat uncertainly, rubbing her forearms as if to stave off gooseflesh. "It's nothing."
To Kagome, who was used to interpreting Inuyasha's withheld emotions, it didn't look like nothing, and she said so. Sango sighed.
"This is frightening, Kagome," she admitted. "There doesn't seem to be any reason why this has happened to me. And I feel a little strange . . ."
"Strange like what?" Kagome asked, frowning.
The rings on Miroku's staff clinked softly as he shifted in his spot by the fire. He wasn't looking at Sango, but he was obviously listening intently.
"Well . . ." Sango hesitated, glancing at the monk for reassurance. When Miroku didn't look at her, she went on to say, "I feel . . . warm. And alive. Like my senses have been sharpened."
Kagome poked at the kindling with a stick.
"Sango . . ." she began hesitantly, "your aura has changed. There's a weird kehai about your body that wasn't there before."
A pinecone shifted, and the fire flared abruptly, scattering sparks and crackling.
"It resembles flames, doesn't it?" Miroku asked unexpectedly. He was gazing into the cook fire, wearing a somber face usually reserved for discussing Naraku.
"I---I don't know anything about that," Sango answered, looking uneasy. "But I think I'm doing the right thing in coming along. At least, Kirara still seems to think so."
Kirara, who was curled up in Sango's lap, mewed contentedly.
"She seems to agree," Kagome said encouragingly. She had started a pot boiling over the fire and was now adding the ramen and its seasonings.
"It's all right, Sango," Miroku said, initiating a comforting gesture but ending up patting Sango on the rump. To Kagome's dismay (and Miroku's delight) Sango didn't even seem to notice.
A heavy silence followed, and then Kagome paused, wooden spoon poised over the pot that she'd been stirring.
"Sango, do you think this might have something to do with something I've done to alter the past?" she asked, looking thoughtful. "I mean, all of this happening at once can't be a coincidence, can it? Just like the changes back home happened before I knew it, you changed overnight."
Sango said nothing, pulling restlessly at the cloak over her shoulders as she always did when she was nervous.
"Lady Kagome," Miroku mused, "don't forget that the true question we must worry about is the connection between the event that altered the future and Reiyama's rise to power. Though I don't make light of it, perhaps Sango's transformation and the predicted deaths of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are merely byproducts of the main event."
A hush fell over them all as Inuyasha returned with more firewood. There was a small conical pile of snow on top of his head and two smaller piles on each shoulder. He stood there for a moment, looking down at them very grimly.
'Did he . . . hear that?' Kagome wondered uneasily. 'After all, this must be the hardest for him, knowing that he'll die but not admitting it to himself . . .'
"I smell ramen," Inuyasha declared.
He allowed the firewood to fall to the ground with a clatter.
Kagome's face contorted in frustration.
'And then again . . .' she thought. 'Maybe he's too dense to realize how serious this is.'
"Well?" Inuyasha crouched down beside her, looking very much like a dog begging for scraps. "I seem to be through puking. I want some ramen."
Despite Inuyasha's apparent refusal to accept the direness of the situation, everyone's spirits were low for the remainder of the evening.
That night they slept huddled around the fire, somber and silent . . .
. . . everyone except Inuyasha, that is, who as it turned out wasn't through puking.
For the next two days, the strange pall that had settled over the group remained. However, by the third evening they had passed beyond the hills and reached the forest, which afforded considerable relief from exposure to the wind and constantly being cold and wet. Kagome was infinitely grateful that her fur-lined parka was so heavy---it had prevented her from being soaked to the skin for the duration of their passage through the hills. That evening, seated around the campfire, she boiled more ramen and surprised everyone with a bag of plums, which in the Feudal Era were out of season and therefore unavailable. Miroku and Inuyasha were feeling lively enough to argue over the last plum.
"Inuyasha, you shouldn't be eating all of those---they're wasted on someone who'll just throw up afterward," Miroku said.
"So? It still tastes good going down . . ."
Miroku sighed, looking pained at the hanyou's vulgarity.
"Well, at least don't eat more than your fair share," he said.
"I'm not!" Inuyasha retorted, reaching for the coveted item even though his mouth was still full of his previous helping.
"That's your third one," Miroku argued mildly.
Kagome went to hang her soaked parka on a nearby branch to dry, wisely choosing not to get in the middle of this.
"Feh. So? It's your fourth," Inuyasha pointed out, using his demon speed to take the fruit before the monk could grab it. "Just because you're wearing that bland look on your face doesn't mean you're the reasonable one here."
Kagome sighed and shook her head, but she actually felt relieved to hear them acting normally. Only Sango seemed quiet and withdrawn, sitting with her hands in her lap and staring absently into the fire. Kagome didn't know what to say to comfort her friend because no amount of reassurance seemed to be working.
"Who's counting? You're the one---" Miroku began, but he was cut off from further argument by a sudden loud popping noise.
It sounded very much like someone had put a microphone to a cork popping out of a bottle, and it startled all present into silence. Slowly, Kagome turned away from the campfire to see what they were all staring at. On the branch behind her, her parka had disappeared. Scuffling around in the bush below the branch was a very disgruntled-looking Shippou.
"Don't just sit there gawking," he wailed, thrashing around and sending twigs flying every which way. "Get me out!"
Still somewhat dumbfounded, Kagome set to disentangling the Kitsune's tail and clothing from the bush and set him down on the bare ground next to her.
"Shippou?" Sango finally said, raising one hand to her mouth. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"You!" Inuyasha pointed an accusatory claw in the Kitsune's direction. "I thought I told you not to come!" Then he added, muttering out of the side of his mouth, "With that punch to the head you should've been out cold . . ."
Out of all of them, only Miroku didn't seem too surprised. He merely sat there cross-legged, as if he'd been expecting something like this.
"You used one of your leaf-magic replicas, right?" the monk asked mildly. "Knowing we wouldn't let you come, you transformed into Kagome's parka and let Inuyasha punch your double."
"Yeah, that's right," Shippou agreed, trotting over to join them.
"Say, you seem to know a lot about this . . ." Inuyasha said, leaning threateningly toward Miroku and glowering.
Miroku shrugged.
"It is the most prudent course to let wisdom speak for itself," he intoned. Then he calmly took a bite of the last plum, which he had slipped away from Inuyasha when they were first distracted by Shippou's appearance.
"So . . . um, Shippou? I was wearing you all that time?" Kagome asked, coming to sit down beside him.
"That's right," Shippou replied as she ladled him out some ramen. (Inuyasha was eyeing the ramen-ladling process somewhat jealously.) "We sorta kept each other warm."
"A most enviable position," Miroku remarked, dabbing at plum juice with the corner of his sleeve.
"Er . . . oh . . ." Kagome looked somewhat unhappy.
"Don't be upset," Shippou urged her around a mouthful of ramen. "I didn't mind one bit. Besides," he added, "you smell good." Two small circles of pink appeared on each cheek.
"Don't be sniffing Kagome!" Inuyasha warned, hurling his plum pit at Shippou and hitting the Kitsune in the head.
"Hey! Don't throw things at me!" Shippou wailed. "You should be glad I'm here! You wouldn't last one day without me!"
"Feh," Inuyasha snorted, folding his arms. A vein looked close to popping in the middle of his forehead. "Right. Like you'll be a huge help if we run into a demon who wants to kill me . . ."
"Rough as he may sound, Inuyasha's only looking out for your safety," Miroku pointed out. "He just doesn't want to put you in the same grave danger he's in."
"Feh," Inuyasha grumbled, turning his head to the side and looking sullen.
Shippou ceased rubbing at the lump on his head and sighed with an air of long suffering.
"Inuyasha, just admit you need me," he said, folding his hands in his lap. "You didn't even notice we're being followed!"
This floored everyone, and for a moment they all just stared at the Kitsune. Shippou nodded very solemnly in agreement with himself, seeming quite pleased with the bombshell he'd just dropped.
"Are you certain, Shippou?" Miroku asked after a minute. "I haven't sensed anyone threatening. What about you, Inuyasha?"
This seemed to touch on a bit of a sore spot with Inuyasha, because he actually managed to look even sulkier.
"Feh," he snorted, hands disappearing into his sleeves.
"Who's following us, Shippou?" Kagome asked, glancing around the area. She detected no movement in the trees, and sensed no jewel shards and no demon aura, either. There was nothing but snow-laden pines and bamboo groves for miles in every direction. "I haven't noticed anything unusual."
"You wouldn't," Shippou told her. "He's staying well out of range of your shard-sensing. But Kouga's still got his shards, all right, and he's been following us since we left the village. The wind's been carrying his scent towards us."
"Kouga?" Inuyasha exclaimed. "Why the hell is he following us?"
"I don't know," Shippou answered, and then filled his mouth with noodles.
While he chewed, Miroku rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. "If Shippou says he's been following us since we left the village, then he might have sensed Hakudoushi's presence the night Kagome's shard was stolen. He might be following us, thinking we've found a lead to the location of Naraku's heart."
"But why is he keeping his distance, then?" Kagome asked. "Usually he barges into our midst without hesitation, asks what we know, and then tries to hit on me before he leaves."
"Feh," Inuyasha snorted. From within the depths of his sleeves they could all hear his knuckles cracking at the mention of Kouga hitting on Kagome. "He must've sensed Sesshoumaru's kehai as well, and he's too scared to get near us because he doesn't want to run across the Lord of the Assholes."
Kagome shrugged, sipping at the tea she carried in her thermos. "Just as well for him, since he has shards in his legs and Sesshoumaru seems to be after the Jewel now."
"What d'you mean, 'just as well for him'?" Inuyasha said, rounding on Kagome. "Don't tell me you're worried about that whiny wolf!"
"Have some more ramen," Kagome told him, passing him another bowl with air of long experience. Inuyasha took it, and calmed down immediately as he started shoveling it into his mouth.
"So now we know Kouga's following us," Miroku said. "But that still doesn't explain why Shippou smelled him but Inuyasha never caught his scent."
Shippou glanced at Inuyasha somewhat nervously. The Kitsune's eyes were wide as saucers but his mouth was safely stuffed with ramen. Fortunately for Shippou, Miroku answered his own question.
"Ahhh . . . that's it," the monk exclaimed, nodding sagely. "Inuyasha couldn't smell Kouga. Somehow his illness is affecting his nose. That also explains why he couldn't smell Shippou, who was disguised as Kagome's parka."
"Speaking of which," Kagome interrupted. "I don't have a parka to wear now. I'm going to be freezing once we hit the mountains."
"Right," Inuyasha agreed, turning to staring pointedly at Shippou (who rapidly filled his mouth with more ramen). "You heard her, Shippou. She needs a par-ka, and you're going to make sure she has one."
Because his cheeks were full like a chipmunk's the Kitsune could only blink in reply.
That night, they slept huddled around the fire as usual.
Or, rather, four of their number slept.
"You're still awake, aren't you, Sango?"
Sango, who was lying with her back to the fire, opened her eyes.
"Yes," she answered softly.
Inuyasha was staring at her from across the smoldering embers, where he sat cross-legged keeping watch. His expression was unusually grim.
"You aren't sleeping," he observed. "At all. Not since the first day, when you woke up changed."
Sango was silent for so long that Inuyasha thought she wasn't going to reply.
"No," she finally said with a sigh, "I'm not. I haven't needed to."
"Like a demon," Inuyasha murmured, frowning. "As far as I know, Youkai can go for almost a week without any sleep. And that's just me . . ." Privately, Inuyasha was thinking, 'Who knows if Sesshoumaru ever sleeps . . . creepy bastard . . .'
"I wonder if this is what being a demon feels like," Sango whispered, staring absently at Kirara, who was sleeping curled up atop Hiraikoutsu. "I feel restless, like there are winds shifting all around me, urging me to move. Only I don't know where . . . I feel like I should control those winds, drawing them to me, gathering them into my flesh . . . until I can't contain them any more . . . and they burst from me in all directions, and the world feels the power of my being . . ."
Inuyasha's head lowered, so that his long white bangs hid his face.
"That's pretty close to it," he agreed softly. "It's like this weird longing to draw everything into you . . . so close to you that it shatters and becomes your own." He paused, thoughtfully, and then said, "When I become a full-blooded demon . . . I'll be able to control the winds of demon energy like that. I'll wield powers like the Wind Scar---but I won't need a sword to do it."
"I feel it, too," Sango murmured worriedly. "I understand, now, why the demons I've hunted take such joy in destruction."
Inuyasha's brow knitted with concern.
"You have changed," he told her. "I couldn't smell any difference in your scent because I'm sick, but neither did Shippou, and he's the one who caught Kouga's stench. That means you're still the same person. But what you just told me . . . it's something only demons can understand . . . Which makes me think that whatever this is, it's changed your soul, not your body."
Beneath the blankets, Sango hugged herself as a shiver ran down her spine. But she wasn't cold---not at all. In fact, since she had woken up changed there was a constant heat circulating just beneath her skin, as if it were running through her blood.
"If my flesh hasn't changed, then why are my eyes like this?" she whispered.
Inuyasha was silent for a while.
"I don't know," he finally answered. "But whatever this is, it happened after Sesshoumaru stole the Jewel, so we'll fix it when we get the shard back."
After this Sango didn't speak again. Inuyasha left her alone, though he knew that she wasn't sleeping. He regarded her back for a while, wearing a puzzled frown and wondering what she might be thinking after what she'd just admitted. It was something he knew all too well, and something that weighed upon him very heavily despite his desire to become a full-blooded demon.
He sighed, weary of that particular issue, and glanced over at Shippou, who was asleep in the crook of Kagome's elbow. The Kitsune was right about one thing: theydid need him. Inuyasha scowled because this irked him to no end.
'In a way,' he pondered, 'all of this is my fault, after all. If my sense of smell hadn't been off four days ago, I wouldn't have fallen into Hakudoushi's trap. I would've smelled that the one I followed was a golem sent to trick me. Kagome never would've been lured away from us and Sesshoumaru never would've taken the Jewel fragment.'
Kagome made a soft noise and shifted in her sleep. Shippou's mouth fell open and he began to snore.
'Because I couldn't protect Kagome I got us all into this mess,' Inuyasha thought, looking at her. 'But I can't keep worrying about that. There are more important things to figure out . . . Like: what does Sesshoumaru want with the Shikon fragment?'
In truth, however, Inuyasha had a horrible gut feeling that he already knew.
The end of the third day began with a brilliant dawn, streaming light over the hills and through the pass; stretching fiery lines over the snow-covered garden surrounding the Inu Youkai palace. The skies had temporarily cleared, and the snow had ceased for a time---at least until the mountain of gray clouds building up just beyond the valley crested the ridge.
The Seer stood on the terrace overlooking the garden, utterly still. She wore only her dark blue robes---she had given up wearing the veil, and for some reason the sight of her in the black fur cloak seemed to make the demon lord angry. She watched the sunrise grim-faced and tight-lipped, and as it rose her heart sank.
Time had run out for the Tatesei.
Whatever they chose: betrayal or loyalty . . . Lord Sesshoumaru would find a way to take what he wanted and then destroy them. The Seer wasn't exactly certain what it was that he wanted from them, but the fact that he hadn't used Irusei's attack as a motive to destroy them immediately indicated that he had further use for them.
"Come, Seer."
The Seer stiffened; she had not sensed the demon lord's presence as he stepped out onto the terrace behind her. He brushed past her, moving out of the shade and into the morning. Silhouetted against the garden, his clothing and white hair were so bright that it hurt to look at him. The Seer shielded her eyes with both hands as he walked across the sparkling snow. His feet, unlike those of mortals, did not sink into the deep drifts.
"You want me to go with you?" the Seer asked, frowning against the brightness. "Aren't you afraid I'll allow myself to be captured? My brother won't be the only one wanting to reclaim me."
Sesshoumaru kept walking. Still the Seer remained on the terrace.
"Aren't you afraid I'll betray you?" she called after him.
The demon lord paused atop an arched bridge spanning a stream. He glanced backward over one shoulder, white hair fluttering in the breeze.
"You won't," he said calmly. "Because you hate them, too."
Suiton's first instinct was to deny it . . . but she was pervaded by a sudden keen awareness of the truth in this.
The Tatesei claimed to revere her, but had made her a prisoner in their Temple; a slave to their greed for knowledge. And she, in her bitterness, feared the forces the dragon might unleash more than she feared the fate that awaited her people.
That a murderer and a monster should understand her so clearly was both frightening and shameful at once.
In this moment, the Seer truly hated Sesshoumaru.
But she stepped out into the snow and stumbled out to join him on the bridge. Then he turned and began moving westward, and she followed him.
She had resolved long ago not to weep for the doom of Reiyama.
Inuyasha and his friends set out early in the morning under a bleak winter sky. Overhead, the clouds were proceeding southwest, heading for the mountains. Kagome observed that it looked like they were heading into a storm, to which Inuyasha didn't reply. He just pressed his lips together grimly and increased his speed. They would reach the mountains by nightfall, if he had anything to say about it.
"Hey, Inuyasha, maybe you should slow down?" Kagome's parka suggested.
"No," Inuyasha replied immediately.
"Inuyasha!" Miroku called from atop Kirara. "Perhaps we should---"
"No," Inuyasha repeated. "We have to keep moving. Kagome's right about the storm, and I don't want to have to fight Sesshoumaru in a blizzard. It'd be like camouflage for that albino freak."
"But Inuyasha, there's---"
"Shut up," Inuyasha snapped. "I don't take orders from clothing."
Kagome's parka had sprouted a pair of saucer-like eyeballs, both of which were now fixed on something behind them. Noting the eyeballs' focus, Kagome craned her neck to see what Shippou was talking about. The sun reflecting off the snow was nearly blinding, but even as she turned her head Kagome realized what it was.
She sensed the Jewel shards immediately.
Two of them.
Seconds later, she was able to see the whirlwind approaching.
Inuyasha turned just in time to get a face full of snow scattered by the whirlwind's passage through the drifts. Then the whirlwind's rotation slowed and it vanished altogether to reveal the wolf demon crouching in its midst.
"Hey! What the fuck!" Inuyasha bellowed, spewing snow.
"Hey, Kagome, long time no see!" Kouga called out in greeting.
"Er . . . it's only been two weeks," Kagome said, peering out from behind Inuyasha's ice-encrusted hair.
"Whaddya want, wimpy wolf?" Inuyasha demanded, balling both hands into fists.
"That's what I'm here to ask you, mutt-face!" Kouga announced.
"Whaddya mean by that?" Inuyasha asked, one fist lingering near Tetsusaiga's hilt. "You're the one following us."
"I've only been following you because I thought you'd be useful," Kouga retorted, jabbing a finger level with Inuyasha's chest. "But you're just leading me on a pointless trek through this god-forsaken country!"
"USE me, EH?" Inuyasha's right hand closed around Tetsusaiga. "We'll see about THAT. I'll---"
Kouga cracked his knuckles, settling into a rather bulldog-like stance.
"You'll what?" he sneered.
"Hey! If you two are going to fight, put me down first, Inuyasha!" Kagome insisted.
Temporarily, Inuyasha's expression lightened.
"Oh, right," he said, crouching lower so that she could step down off him.
The instant both of Kagome's feet plopped into the snow, however, Inuyasha was all business again.
"Now where were we?" he asked, grinning fiercely.
"Wait, Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, taking hold of the hanyou's elbow. "Just because I got down doesn't mean you should fight!"
But Kouga, noting Inuyasha's grip on Tetsusaiga's handle, seemed to think better of it and jumped back in a hurry.
"Hey, wait, I didn't come here to waste time brawling," the wolf demon explained hastily, waving both hands to indicate a truce. "I caught that creepy Hakudoushi's scent five days ago and followed it. He led me to you, and then he disappeared. But then you started traveling, and fast, so I thought you were on his trail." Kouga folded his arms, looking bored. "But I should've known that your sense of smell would just lead you on some pointless trip to the western mountains."
"Wait," Kagome told him, surreptitiously stepping between the two Youkai to ensure that they didn't resume their fight. "What do you mean, 'pointless'?"
"Heh, just what I said," Kouga snorted. "Pointless. Those mountains you're headed for can't be crossed. For a long, long time they were protected by these weird nets with bones hanging in them." He paused, rubbing at the furry wrist-guards he wore. "Makes my fur bristle just THINKIN' about it. Me and my clan moved on from THERE in a hurry. Why the hell are you following a scent THERE? Have you got stinkweed up your nose?"
"Feh." Inuyasha's hand moved away from Tetsusaiga. "The nets are gone now, wimpy wolf, so don't wet yourself in fright."
"Now that territory belongs to Inuyasha's brother, Sesshoumaru," Miroku interjected. He had come down to join them, prudently sensing that conflict might ensue. Kirara had alighted several feet away with Sango on her back. "It's protected under his dominion."
"No kidding?" Kouga rubbed at his arms again, apparently as intimidated by the prospect of braving a Sesshoumaru-infested mountain pass as he was by the spirit-web wardings the Wise had once constructed to guard their valley. "Either way, Inuyasha, if you're gonna head in there do Kagome a favor and don't drag her along. That place is cursed, no matter who's guarding it."
"Yeah, whatever," Inuyasha said dismissively, looking somewhat bored. "It's not the valley that's cursed---it's the people living in it."
Kouga looked pensive for a moment---a look that was quite unusual for him.
"My grandfather told me that the highest peak in those mountains was called 'Reiyama' long before those Tatesei bastards picked that name for their city. Youkai named it that, and kept far and clear of it, because everyone who encounters it says that it's haunted by a powerful spirit that hates demons. And lately . . . there's been the scent of blood and metal around that valley . . ." He paused, seeming to shake himself out of his reverie. "Anyway, take my advice and stay the hell away from there. For Kagome's sake at least . . ."
"We're going," Inuyasha insisted. "So get lost."
But Kouga ignored him and grasped hold of both Kagome's hands, pulling her close.
"Kagome, are you really gonna let that mutt-face drag you into danger like that?" he asked, in tones far more romantic than the words he was using.
"Er . . . it's not a matter of me letting him take me," Kagome argued, surreptitiously trying to disengage her small hands from the wolf demon's large ones. "I chose to---"
Kouga's expression darkened.
"What, he's forcing you to go?" Turning to Inuyasha and superimposing his body in front of Kagome's, he declared, "I can't allow this! I won't stand for it this time!"
"Oh, shut up," Inuyasha grumbled. "You know, just for that I think I'll kick your ass." The hanyou advanced on the wolf demon, cracking his knuckles ominously.
"Just try it, dog turd!" Kouga barked back, starting an advance of his own.
"Oh, great," Kagome muttered worriedly. At this point she knew she'd just have to let this thing run its course, because it seemed that where Reiyama was concerned Kouga wasn't going to take no for an answer. She had never seen him so serious about separating her from Inuyasha . . . well, with the exception of the first encounter, when he'd kidnapped her and hauled her off to his den . . .
True to her assessment of the wolf demon's mentality, it was Kouga who attacked first. He flew at Inuyasha, aiming a kick at the hanyou's head. Inuyasha sidestepped just in time, simultaneously dodging the blow and landing a blow of his own to Kouga's lower back. But Kouga whirled and landed a right straight to Inuyasha's jaw. The hanyou went down hard, but fortunately the snow cushioned his fall and he was back on his feet in a flash.
"Heh! You're slow today!" Kouga taunted him, rubbing at his back. "What's the matter, mutt-face? Feeling faint? Or is it too hard to fight me man-to-man instead of drawing that sword of yours?"
Inuyasha's face darkened.
"Now he's done it," Kagome's parka remarked in hushed tones.
"I'm not drawing Tetsusaiga because I'm SAVING it for someone STRONGER!" Inuyasha shouted, and then he flew at Kouga.
But the wolf demon dodged the attack, and once again Inuyasha landed face-first in the snow. Kouga came at him with lightning speed, aiming what promised to be an earth-shattering punch. Inuyasha, however, managed to roll to the side, and as Kouga's fist landed where the hanyou's head would've been the force of the blow exploded the surrounding drifts in a veritable geyser of snow.
Sango, who was observing the brawl from atop Kirara, asked wryly, "Shouldn't we stop them?"
"It's not necessary," Miroku replied. The monk rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Kagome will shout 'Sit!' before Inuyasha can kill Kouga, and on the off-chance that Kouga wins I'll just---"
"Oy!" Inuyasha rounded on Miroku. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN---if KOUGA wins?" In a sudden fit of temper, the hanyou unfastened his sword from his side and shoved it into Kagome's arms. "I'll show YOU! I'll win this battle WITHOUT Tetsusaiga!"
Miroku rubbed at his brow as if all this were giving him a headache.
"If you want, Inuyasha, but do it quickly. We shouldn't waste time."
Kagome cast a worried glance at the monk.
'What he's really saying,' she thought, 'is that the more energy Inuyasha wastes here, the less he'll have when he finds Sesshoumaru.' Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and shouted, "OSUWARI!"
And Inuyasha, of course, plunged through two feet of air and three feet of snow to land on the frozen earth below with a resounding smack.
"BWAH!" he yelled.
Meanwhile, Kouga apparently saw Inuyasha's misfortune as a golden opportunity. He suddenly turned and flew at Kagome, and before anyone could move to stop him he caught her around the waist and slung her over one shoulder.
"KYAH!" she screamed, beating at his back with her fists and kicking at his chest with her knees. "PUT ME DOWN!"
"Sorry, Kagome, but I'm not letting him take you to that place," Kouga told her. "Something big's goin' down, and I don't want you in the middle of it."
"KAGOME, what've you DONE?" her parka wailed, the saucer-like eyeballs peering down at Inuyasha, prone in the snow. "Now Kouga'll take you for SURE!"
BAP!
Abruptly, both Kagome and Kouga went flying and landed in the snow. Kouga was temporarily stunned by the impact, and Kagome scooted hastily out from under the wolf-demon's arm. Then she saw that he had apparently been smacked in the head by what appeared to be a very large snowball. Recovering quickly, Kouga pushed himself up onto his knees, looking around him angrily.
"What the hell was THAT?" he demanded. He turned to look over his shoulder just in time to catch a second frozen projectile straight on in the face. It knocked him over again.
Kagome's followed the missile's trajectory to its origin: Inuyasha. The hanyou, though still laid low by the "Sit!" she'd shouted, had managed to scoop up a chunk-full of snow in each hand and to hurl them at her would-be abductor.
"You bastard!" Kouga bellowed around a mouthful of snow. "That's fighting dirty!"
Piff!
Another snowball struck the wolf demon hard across the back.
Inuyasha was on his feet again.
"Whatever it takes to protect Kagome," he growled.
"Wow," Kagome's parka remarked in an awed, hushed tone. Kagome herself had gone beet red and speechless.
But Kouga wasn't through yet. He pushed himself to his feet and whirled around to face his attacker with clenched fists.
"Oh YEAH?" he yelled.
Then the wolf demon knelt and scooped up a huge lump of snow. With demon speed he compressed it into a head-sized ball and pitched it overhand straight toward Inuyasha. The hanyou dodged, rolled, and in the process gathered his own king-sized projectile from the nearby ground. In the meantime Kouga assailed him with a sudden barrage of smaller snowballs---no less violent because they were hurled at much faster speeds.
Piff piff piff piff piff piff piff piff piff piff!
Piff!
"HEY!" Kouga hollered, glancing back over one shoulder because a snowball had just hit him in the back of the head. "Who threw THAT?"
"It seemed like fun," Miroku admitted, brushing white flecks off his hand guards.
"STOP THIS NOW!" Kagome cried, seizing the brief snowball-free moment and running between the two battling demons. "We don't have TIME for this!"
She suddenly found herself thrown to the ground and held flat by Shippou, who had transformed back into his Kitsune form.
"Kagome, this is one snowball fight you SHOULDN'T get involved in," Shippou warned her.
Kagome glanced up just in time to see why. At the moment Shippou had forced her to fall, Inuyasha had let loose an enormous snowball that went sailing right over where her head had been. It missed Kouga, but hit a low tree branch just past his head. The branch snapped and fell off.
"HEY!" Kouga shouted angrily to Inuyasha. "THIS IS WHAT I MEAN! STOP FUCKING PUTTING KAGOME IN DANGER!"
As the barrage of snowballs continued, Kagome and Shippou crawled out of range and sat down on a rock near Kirara. Miroku, tired of standing knee-deep in snow, came to join them, and they all settled down to watch.
"I guess all we can do now is wait," Sango said.
Fifteen minutes later, the fight was still going strong.
"Will this ever end?" Shippou complained, throwing his hands up and rolling his eyes dramatically.
"Well, they sure don't seem to be getting tired of it yet," Sango observed, frowning.
The surrounding trees were now quite devoid of branches, and the ground was littered with sticks and half-exploded snowballs.
"At least Kouga isn't," Kagome murmured, watching Inuyasha intently. 'Inuyasha's beginning to show the strain,' she thought worriedly. 'He's pushing himself too hard and it's making him sicker.'
Because she knew him so well, Kagome noticed the slight slowness to his movements, and the fevered brightness in his eyes. The more he fought, the paler his face became.
'If I don't do something soon,' she thought, 'he'll end up fighting Sesshoumaru half-dead.'
Inuyasha, in the meantime, had just managed to dodge a head-sized ball of snow in time to see the wolf demon foot descending after it. Kouga's kick was lightning fast, and it caught Inuyasha squarely in the face. He flew several yards and hit a tree trunk, causing the snow on its branches to fall and form a pile around him.
'Shit,' he thought, baring his fangs. 'My body is . . .'
Kouga came at him again, and with a snarl Inuyasha burst free of the snow pile and dodged, landing a roundhouse punch on Kouga's shoulder. The wolf demon pin-wheeled sideways and landed in a crouch.
"Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha spun around just in time to see an arrow speeding toward him. He leaped to one side as it went sizzling past.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" he shouted, glaring over at Kagome, who was lowering her bow. "If you're trying to get me to stop fighting, I'd PREFER you say 'Osuwari' instead of trying to SHOOT me!"
"I've sent you something to help," Kagome called, nodding toward the arrow, whose point had sunk into a tree trunk. "Look at the tree!"
Inuyasha reached the tree in one bound, dodging yet another kick attack by Kouga. True to Kagome's word, she had sent him something.
Tied to the arrow's shaft was a bag full of a dark, gritty-looking substance.
For a moment, Inuyasha just stared at it, dumbfounded. Then he tore the bag free from the arrow.
Shippou watched, looking very nervous.
"Kagome, are you sure this is the best idea?" he asked, scooting closer to her on the rock.
"Kagome-sama, tell me you didn't . . ." Miroku said in a hollow, dead sort of way.
"We don't have any other choice," Kagome replied, a bit shakily. "Inuyasha's the only one of us strong enough to fight Kouga off with those jewel shard's he's got in his legs, and Miroku can't use his Wind Tunnel because Kouga has the shards."
"What did she give him?" Sango asked, perplexed, looking down from atop Kirara.
Inuyasha tossed aside the bag, having just poured its contents into his mouth.
"YES!" he cried, a triumphant gleam in his eye. "THE CRUNCHY BROWN STUFF!"
Not even bothering to wipe away the flecks of it that had fallen onto his clothes, Inuyasha whirled around to face Kouga with renewed vigor.
"Feh," Kouga snarled, cracking his knuckles. "Now that you've had your little snack . . . PREPARE TO DIE!"
"In your DREAMS, wimpy wolf!" Inuyasha retorted, and then both of them charged at each other.
They came together in a violent clash of snow and flying fists. Snow sprayed in every direction from the impact, temporarily obscuring the observers' view of the two combatants. Miroku, Kagome, Sango and Shippou stared at the sight tensely, waiting to see who would emerge victorious. The eruption of snow settled, forming a huge mound where Inuyasha and Kouga had previously stood. At first, nothing moved.
"I can't see them," Sango said, fingering Hiraikoutsu's straps anxiously.
"Maybe they exploded?" Shippou suggested.
"The brown powder is explosive?" Miroku asked, turning to Kagome in concern.
"N-no . . ." Kagome stammered.
At this very instant Inuyasha burst forth from the snow pile in a geyser of scattered flakes.
"MOOWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he cried, raising his fists skyward and looking maniacally triumphant. "IHAVEDEFEATEDHIM!" It seemed that he spoke the truth, because his emerging also partially unearthed an unconscious Kouga.
"Well, I guess it is explosive, in a sense," Kagome amended.
"Oh, good, Kouga's defeated," Sango breathed, moving her hand away from her weapon. "Now we can get on with this."
"It won't be that easy," Miroku said flatly, taking a firm hold of his staff and standing up on the rock. "He's coming this way."
True to the monk's word, in two bounds Inuyasha landed on their rock, knocking all of them off it onto their backs.
"ThereyouseeI'vebeathimwithmybarehandssodon'tyouEVERgosayingIdidn't!" Inuyasha rattled off, looking down at their legs sticking up from the snow. "OnceagainI'mthestrongestdemonalive!MooWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sango stared at Inuyasha, dumbfounded. Kirara laid back her ears and growled, apparently wanting no part in this.
"Inuyasha, have you gone mad?" Sango asked, reaching for Hiraikoutsu again.
"DON'T, Sango," Miroku cautioned, pushing himself to his feet. "You do not want to give him a reason to fight you when he's like this."
"'CAUSEI'MTHESTRONGESTANDDON'TYOUFUCKINGFORGETIT!" Inuyasha bellowed, standing up and jabbing a thumb toward his chest.
"Only because I gave you coffee," Kagome grumbled, clutching onto the rock to pull herself out of the snow. "Now calm down---we've got to keep moving to get the Jewel shard back from Sesshoumaru."
Inuyasha suddenly stopped dead in the middle of another string of maniacal laughter, body going rigid. His eyes went very narrow and steely, and his hands balled into fists.
"Is it over?" Shippou asked tremulously. The Kitsune was hiding behind Kagome's legs and clinging to her.
Miroku took a firmer grip on his staff.
"We can only hope it's---"
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!THATLILYASSEDEXCUSEFORADEMONISGOINGDOWN!" Inuyasha shouted, so loudly that the snow was knocked off all the branches in the near vicinity. "Youslowhumanscatchuplater'causeI'mgoingRightNow!" He jabbed one clawed finger in the general direction of the mountains. Then he took a flying leap and bounded off the rock.
"Osuwari," Kagome said flatly.
WHAM!
Inuyasha crashed to the ground, sinking down through three feet of snow.
"I'm glad he has his prayer beads on this time," Miroku remarked, mopping at his brow with a corner of his sleeve. "Otherwise there would be no controlling him."
"Whew," Shippou sighed in relief, emerging from behind Kagome and hopping up onto the rock. "I'm glad THAT'S over. We---OH NO! KAGOME, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Kagome was heading for the prone hanyou, carrying another bag of coffee grounds.
"Lady Kagome, I really must protest!" Miroku told her, moving to block her way with his arms outspread. "You can't be meaning to---"
"I have to," Kagome insisted, skirting the monk and crouching down next to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, listen to me," she said, opening the bag.
"DAMMITPUNYMORTALSLETMEGO!" Inuyasha growled, flailing his arms and legs in an effort to throw off the 'Sit' spell. The only thing this achieved was to form a rather grotesque-looking snow angel.
"Not until you listen," Kagome told him. "Then I'll let you go."
Inuyasha's only response was a long and heartfelt string of swear words, rattled off at breakneck speed. But he stopped struggling, so Kagome assumed she had his attention.
"I'm going to give you more coffee," she explained, holding the bag open. "It'll give you energy so you won't get overtired when you fight Sesshoumaru. It'll counteract the effects of the flu, and the fact that I'm giving you more will keep you from crashing for quite a while."
Inuyasha managed to lift his head from the prone position, fixing two gleaming eyes on the bag of coffee grounds.
"Thecrunchybrownstuff," he breathed, almost in awe.
Kagome held it out to him.
Then he opened his fangs wide and, in one mighty gulp, bit off most of the bag and its contents. Kagome backed away hastily as he leaped to his feet.
"Inuyasha, you ate the bag, too!" she exclaimed. "Plastic isn't edible!"
Inuyasha stared at her a moment, blinking, and then let out an earth-shattering belch. The remnants of the plastic bag went flying and landed somewhere on the ground.
"AllrightI'moff!SAYONARA,WEAKLINGS!" he declared. And then, before anyone could say anything else to him, he was off like a bat out of hell, heading straight for the mountains.
Sango watched him go, gaping.
"I really hate him when he's like that," Miroku muttered, rubbing at an ache in his temple.
Kagome sighed, bending to pick up her bow and backpack again.
"Well, I guess there's nothing we can do now but follow him," she said. "With the amount of caffeine I gave him, he'll be in that---er---'state' for the next twelve hours."
Shippou sighed heavily, shaking his head.
"I'm glad it's Sesshoumaru who has to deal with him and not us."
"Ah, Miroku-sama, I hate to be a bother," Sango said, "but just how are we going to find him? Inuyasha's far ahead of us, and he's the only one who knows the way to Sesshoumaru's home."
"Oh, that won't be a problem," Miroku said flatly, gazing off in the direction that Inuyasha had taken. "We just follow the path of destruction."
Kagome followed the monk's gaze, and true to his word all the trees and bushes along the way had been crushed and scattered.
"You're right," she agreed. "With that much caffeine in him, he could probably tunnel through sheet rock."
A company of warriors drew aside the bolts and manned the pulleys to open the gates to the city. As the heavy wooden doors swung outward the morning light streamed in, blinding the men who stood beneath the shadows of Reiyama's walls. When their eyes had become accustomed to the sun, they saw the white demon standing there, brilliant and terrible.
"Open the gates at dawn," their king had ordered. "The Lord of the West is coming."
And he had come indeed. For a moment he stood still, taking in the company of warriors with icy scrutiny, assessing the weapons that they carried and dismissing them just as easily because they didn't pose him any real threat.
"Where is Asano?" he asked them curtly.
"He awaits you in the palace, my Lord," one of the warriors told him.
Sesshoumaru stalked off in the indicated direction with the Seer following close behind like a shadow. The Lord of the West did not like what he saw. Everywhere along his path through the city, the Tatesei he encountered knelt at the side of the road and bowed to him. Yet he knew, though they hid their faces from him, that the eyes of every man, woman and child here were black as pitch.
He came upon King Asano in the northernmost palace garden, standing on a footbridge amidst a cluster of bamboo. Though the young man stood with his back to Sesshoumaru, the Lord of the West did not announce his presence. He merely stopped and stood there, staring at the white cranes that soared across the silk on Asano's back. The Seer, after a moment's hesitation, knelt down in the snow and bowed, as the Tatesei had to Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru glanced down at her, wearing an expression bordering on contempt.
"Stand," he told her coolly, but she remained as she was.
At the sound of Sesshoumaru's voice Asano turned to face them. He inclined his head toward Sesshoumaru, causing the gold in his hair to tinkle. Then his eyes came to rest upon the Seer, and for a moment he stiffened, frowning.
"Please rise, Suiton-sama," he finally told her, seeming uncomfortable in her presence.
"You have heard your warrior's message," Sesshoumaru addressed the king. It was not a question.
"Ah . . . yes," Asano replied, returning his attention to the demon lord as the Seer rose to her feet. "I do not mean to be disrespectful, but I anticipated something like this happening the day you took the Seer from us."
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed.
"Don't try my patience, Ningen," he warned. "I gave you a choice; I have come for your answer."
Asano regarded the demon lord somberly for a moment. The young king's black eyes appeared liquid and alien against the fair, youthful face. They were eyes far too fey and ancient for the flesh that encased them.
Asano lowered down onto his hands and knees and bowed before Sesshoumaru so that his forehead touched the snow. The Seer stared down at him in surprise.
"This, Lord Sesshoumaru, is my answer," said the king. Then he lifted his head. Looking up into the demon lord's face, he added, "Irusei is dead."
Sesshoumaru stood utterly still, as if frozen in place. For the briefest of instants, his eyes widened, and flashed with the terrible brilliance of sun on ice. Then the moment passed, and his expression became as placid as ever. Between the kneeling king and standing lord, a quiet snow began to fall.
"It is done," Asano murmured, lowering his head. "Go in peace, and take Suiton-sama with you. Do not bring the Seer to this city again." This last was worded oddly---almost like a plea.
Alarmed by the strangeness of this, the Seer turned to glance at Sesshoumaru for some indication that he understood. But the demon lord was already walking away, his footsteps soft and nearly soundless in the light snow. Casting one last puzzled look back at Asano, she hastened to Sesshoumaru's side. The king remained kneeling in the snow; a lone, pale figure against a forest of dark bamboo.
Clouds roiled overhead, building into what promised to be a heavy winter storm. Sesshoumaru stood watching the graying skies from the terrace outside his chambers. He knew what was coming.
"My Lord." The Seer stood beside him, frowning. "Despite Irusei's threats, the king continues to swear fealty to you. And he has executed my brother, no doubt as an example to any sharing Irusei's---"
"Irusei is not dead," Sesshoumaru cut her off.
The Seer fell silent in surprise, taking an involuntary step backward.
"Not dead?"
"The king lied," the demon lord went on inexorably. "He lied, for he does not have the strength to fight the power of the dragon's blood in his veins. He has kept the warrior alive, because he believes that Irusei will lead him to a better understanding of all that is happening. And Irusei . . . will no doubt oblige him."
The Seer frowned down at her feet.
"Then why did he seem to be warning you when he told you to keep me away from Reiyama?" she asked.
Sesshoumaru was silent for a long while.
"The boy Asano," he said softly, "was the last chance I gave the Tatesei."
The Seer glanced up at him, standing there with his white robes fluttering in the breeze, and for the briefest of moments she thought she read sorrow in the rigidity of his posture. It surprised her, but she prudently chose not to remark on it. Instead she asked, "What will you do now?"
The answers slid through Sesshoumaru's mind in an orderly stream.
'I will wait here, to let the Tatesei believe that I am fooled by their king's feigned loyalty,' he thought. 'I will wait for Irusei to come after his sister again, and allow him to take her. I will follow them and they will lead me to the dragon, for that can be the only reason that the Tatesei wish to use her. I will take the dragon's life and power with Tokijin's blade. And then . . . I will abandon the Tatesei. Leave them alone and empty of strength, naked to whatever swarm of demons has a taste for their flesh. Leave them alone and betrayed, as they have betrayed me . . .'
But Sesshoumaru did not tell these things to the woman standing beside him. Instead, he said, "Get inside and stay there. Someone is coming."
"Tatesei?" the Seer asked in alarm, already backing away toward the sliding door.
"No," Sesshoumaru answered, laying his hand upon Tokijin's hilt. "Not a traitor. Just a fool."
Inuyasha, whose swift and arrow-straight passage had been churning up snow and flying debris all the way through the Inu Youkai palace gardens, skidded to a halt about fifty feet away from where his brother stood watching. For a moment the hanyou just stood there panting, having run a good twenty miles in one hour. Then, abruptly, he straightened and pointed a claw at Sesshoumaru.
"YOU!" he bellowed, standing with his legs planted shoulder-width apart. "YOUBASTARDGIVEMEBACKTHESHIKONSHARD!"
Sesshoumaru just stood there staring at him, which of course inflamed Inuyasha to no end.
"WHATAMIFUCKINGTALKINGTOMYSELF! FORK OVER, BUTTMUNCH!"
Inuyasha reached for Tetsusaiga. By this time Sesshoumaru seemed to realize that the hanyou was seriously going to attack him and drew Tokijin in a flash of red flame. However, he did not attack, staring down at Inuyasha and frowning.
While Tokijin certainly seemed to be working, Tetsusaiga remained a skinny, ordinary blade---it hadn't transformed at all.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Inuyasha shouted. Then he glanced down at the sword in his hand and said, "Oh."
He gave it a shake or two, and then the blade fired into functionality, becoming the large glowing fang it was meant to be.
"There we go," Inuyasha muttered. Then he straightened, brandishing the blazing Tetsusaiga. "ALL RIGHT, SESSHOUMARU: PREPARE TO DIE! KAZE NO KIZ---"
Tokijin's blade clanged against Tetsusaiga before Inuyasha could complete the attack. Tetsusaiga glanced off Sesshoumaru's sword as the white demon struck it, and Inuyasha flew back several yards before skidding to a stop by digging his feet into the snow.
"Not here, you fool," Sesshoumaru said coldly. "You'll destroy our father's house."
Then the Inu Youkai proceeded to force Inuyasha back a good two hundred feet into the garden with a deadly elegant series of slashes keeping the hanyou on the defensive. When Sesshoumaru seemed satisfied that they were beyond the palace-trashing range, he eased off a bit to circle Inuyasha warily.
"You are here for the shards, are you not?" he observed. "Well it doesn't matter. For this intrusion you will die."
With predatory swiftness, the white demon rushed at his brother, blade aimed straight for Inuyasha's heart.
Sesshoumaru's speed was phenomenal---so fast that his body became a blur that was nearly invisible . . .
. . . but Inuyasha was high on some speed of his own.
He arced Tetsusaiga around and countered Sesshoumaru's charge. The two blades met in a violent clash of fire and lightning.
For a moment, neither brother moved, and they stood there locked in stalemate. Snow flurries swirled around them, stirred up by the violent kenatsu of both swords.
"You have . . . increased your speed," Sesshoumaru observed in surprise.
"DAMN STRAIGHT I HAVE!" Inuyasha bellowed into his face. "NOWHANDOVER THESHARDANDNOONEHASTODIE!"
They both sprang apart, forced into movement as each brother attempted to press his strength against the other's blade. Sparks lit the air between them, sizzling as they sank into the snow.
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip on Tokijin's hilt---a sure sign that he was growing angrier by the second. But Inuyasha avoided every attack with ease, practically dancing as he hopped from side to side and grinning fiercely from ear to ear, which was all the more infuriating to his opponent.
"WHAT, BACKING OFF?" Inuyasha jeered, dodging another lightning-quick thrust of his brother's sword. "WHAT, ARE YOU AFRAID? AFRAID NARAKU WON'T LOVE YOU IF YOU SCRATCH YOUR PRETTY FACE!"
Sesshoumaru stopped altogether and stepped back, keeping Tokijin raised between them. This last affront to Sesshoumaru's dignity seemed to have been the final straw.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sesshoumaru demanded angrily. "Stop this at once!"
"GIVE ME THE SHARD, YOU OVERGROWN PRETTY-BOY!" Inuyasha insisted, brandishing Tetsusaiga. The sword seemed to be blazing even brighter than usual---some of the overhead tree branches were beginning to be singed.
Sesshoumaru weighed the possible outcomes.
He didn't particularly want or need the Shikon shard for himself, and he knew that it would be safe from Naraku if it were in the hands of Inuyasha's human girl, so there was no harm in returning it.
Inuyasha had greatly insulted him, not only implying that he preferred to mate with males but also that one of those males was the despicable Naraku.
But Sesshoumaru also, as a rule, refused to fight his brother when Inuyasha was insane, and this certainly seemed to be the case.
Sesshoumaru also had bigger fish to fry, and wasting more time exchanging blows and insults was not the least bit preferable.
"Take the shard," he conceded icily, sheathing Tokijin and producing the fragment from a pouch hung from his sword-belt. "Just retreat and leave me alone, and cease destroying the garden our dead kinsmen so laboriously planted."
Inuyasha seemed somewhat disappointed, because the stupid grin vanished from his face, but he reached out and took the shard from his brother. Then, abruptly, he turned and sped off in the direction he had come with crazed swiftness.
Sesshoumaru watched him go with a mixture of distaste, bemusement, and a great deal of vexation.
Inuyasha's crazed "MOOWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" echoed through the valley.
'Next time I see you, Inuyasha,' Sesshoumaru thought, 'I will kill you.'
Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Shippou were all sitting huddled against Kirara's warm sides for warmth when Inuyasha returned. They heard him coming long before they saw him coming in a cloud of snow and debris.
However, his momentum was noticeably dying as he sped down the slope toward them. Kagome glanced at her watch, which she wore underneath her gloves.
"Are you ready with your 'sit' command?" Sango asked her, nodding toward the approaching hanyou.
"Won't need it," Kagome replied. "He's back just in time. Caffeine crash in five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one."
"I'VE GOT IT!" Inuyasha shouted triumphantly, skidding to a halt in front of them and spraying them all with snow. "THAT ALBINO DRAG-QUEEN NEVER STOOD A CHANCE AGAINST MY---"
Whatever it was that Sesshoumaru hadn't stood a chance against, they would never know. Inuyasha flopped forward, landing face-first in the snow with one fist still triumphantly upraised.
"Oh no!" Sango exclaimed, looking worried. "Is he dead?"
"No," Kagome said, kneeling beside him. She pried open the fist and, true to the hanyou's words, the Shikon shard was there.
The boy-king Asano knelt in the garden, alone in the bamboo grove. The snow beneath his knees had long since melted and seeped through his white silk robes, but he paid no heed to the chill.
The chill in his heart was greater.
"Heaven preserve me," he whispered, staring blindly into the verdant depths of the grove. "I've betrayed him, and he knows it. Yet what choice do I have? I had to draw him into this; he's the only one who might yet turn back the change that has come over us . . ."
In the king's mind, a darker echo of a thought whispered, 'He is the only one, yet he will never forgive this. It is not in his nature. You have gambled for the lives of your people on a fool's hope that a demon would show you mercy . . .'
"If he cannot save us, then there is no one . . ." Asano murmured.
Then he lowered his face into his hands and wept.
END OF CHAPTER 8