The Poison.

Kanna was jerked away from her train of thoughts and looked up. She had been so concentrated in deciphering the visions concerning Naraku's fate and working out a plan that she did not sense the taiyoukai coming at all. It was either that, or he was just simply fast.

Sesshoumaru tilted his chin up a little to the side, his eyes focusing on the strange looking woman behind Naraku. It was obvious to him that the woman was not human and was entranced with him. The seer was obviously shocked at his sudden, silent entrance and could not tear her gaze away from Sesshoumaru, nor the way the ends of his silver hair swayed with the light hot breeze.

"Naraku, it seems that this Sesshoumaru has caught you in the middle of something huh?" His low voice sailed smoothly, breaking the seemingly long silence and slicing the tension between them like a sharp scythe.

Naraku narrowed his eyes a little and before Kanna knew it, he had hurled out one of his tentacles, plunged it straight through the seer's abdomen and brought out three purplish Shikon no kakkera. The seer gave out a strangled desperate shriek before she dissolved into a mist of gray ashes over the fire-lake.

Sesshoumaru remained unperturbed to what had happened and took Toukijin out from his obi gracefully and unhurriedly, pointing the end of the demonic blade at Naraku. He was not concerned with what Naraku was doing at such a remote and hot place, "this Sesshoumaru shall end everything today, you pathetic hanyou!"

In a blur of white, Sesshoumaru dashed forward with Toukijin raised up across his chest while adjusting the angle of the blade with his wrist. Naraku for the first time did not let out a victorious or evil smirk. He was too angry with the last image he had seen with his own eyes and simply remained inside the red kekai that he erected instaneously when Sesshoumaru charged towards him.

The tip of Toukijin bounced off the kekai as if it was hacking at some elastic ball and Sesshoumaru gracefully flipped backwards on his two feet, not a single strand of his silver hair out of the place. He smirked, "I see that you are still a coward, preferring to hide in that little kekai of yours."

Sesshoumaru's voice was laced with sarcasm and Kanna frowned just a little, her thin eyebrows straightening into a line. She needed the two inu-brothers to work together, at the right time. Not now. She shifted her position to the back of her master, not wanting to be in the way of the attack, even though she knew that Sesshoumaru was not interested in her at all. Kanna could hardly consider herself as a worthy opponent against this taiyoukai.

Naraku pressed his lips together firmly, and his red eyes were ablaze and glinting. Sesshoumaru arched one of his eyebrows, it was rare to see Naraku displaying anger and losing his cool. Is he afraid of me then?

"Sesshoumaru, you have opposed me for a long while... perhaps it is time for me to settle this with you once and for all, now." Naraku could not forget the backview of the two people who could possibly spoil his ultimate goal and get in his way. That masses of silver hair was unmistakeable. He would put a stop to it, he would get rid of these two irritating siblings as soon as possible.

Sesshoumaru narrowed his cold golden eyes at the vile hanyou's boastful threats, he tightened his grip on the hilt of Toukijin and lashed out a burst of energy with one single swipe without another word. The streaks of reddish light emitted from Toukijin touched Naraku's red kekai, in which the whole area was encompassed in a blinding light that Kanna had to turn her face away. Cracks appeared in the ground and rocks of all sizes were flung into the sky.

iJyaki/i Sesshoumaru smirked as the humongous mass of black deadly miasma surrounded him. He himself was an expert user and producer of poison, such miasma would be of no use to him. He tucked Toukijin back into his obi and called forth a string of his youki from his two right fingers and sliced the dense mass of miasma before him neatly into two. He could see an arc of bright green slashing across the black clouds but Naraku was not in front of him.

"Osoi," Naraku's slick voice appeared behind him, too close for comfort, to which Sesshoumaru spun around and instantly sprang away. But a long tentacle was already out and plunged straight right into his abdomen. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in initial shock that he had been caught by such a dirty trick, to which he subsequently glared at the smirking hanyou as the tentacle pierced through his stomach cavity and came out through his back.

Sesshoumaru felt his strength slowly seeping away with his blood as it created a big growing angry red stain on his haori, slowly travelling down his pristine white silk hakamas. Intense sharp pain racketed through his whole body as he bent forward slightly, eyebrows scrunching together in an angry violent frown. The edges of his cool golden eyes were tinged with crimson and some of his silver hair got stuck to the sticky patch of blood on the small of his back.

Sesshoumaru swiftly sliced the tentacle away with his sharp claws in one big swipe and flipped backwards, landing steadily on both feet. He tried to pull his back straight but the pain from the stretched wound forced him to stop before it got worse. Sesshoumaru bent his knees and back a little and looked up to face Naraku, who was standing a distance away with a victorious smile on his face. Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth and pulled out the remaining tentacle that was still embedded within his flesh, not wanting to reveal any indication of pain or defeat.

This lowly hanyou will not defeat a taiyoukai like me!

Sesshoumaru's crimson-tinged eyes glared at Naraku as he took out Toukijin from his obi. But before he could point the katana at his arch enemy, Naraku had already dashed forward with deadly speed and flung a handful of dark gray powder at Sesshoumaru.

Kanna's big empty eyes widened, Naraku indeed had the intention to finish him off. Her heartbeat increased and she wondered for a while whether it was a wrong decision to bring him to the prophetic seer. Everything had turned out so wrong, and it seemed to Kanna that perhaps the prophetic seer was not accurate. Sesshoumaru could not be one of them to stop Naraku in his evil conquest, since he was obviously going to die.

Sesshoumaru was expecting a direct attack and was stunned at the gray powder that now covered his face and his upper torso. Poison, huh? Before he could react, Naraku had delivered a hard kick at Sesshoumaru's chest and the taiyoukai fell backwards, scraping against the hot stony ground for a short distance before coming to a stop. A bright green whip came out from nowhere and lashed across Naraku's face. Naraku dodged in time but could not avoid the slight contact that stung across his left cheek.

He reached up a hand to touch the wound gingerly, there was a deep gash across his cheek and dribbles of blood were trickling down his face. Kanna could not stifle the gasp that rose from her throat as her hands tightened over the rim of her mirror. No one, had been able to deliver a wound or cut to Naraku after he had emerged from Mount Hakurei ten times stronger.

Naraku smiled to himself as he wiped the blood off and the gash healed on its own, "aa, you are afterall Sesshoumaru, the Prince of the Western Lands. I had only needed to slow you down to present to you my specially concocted poison. Seems that I myself was unable to go away without a scratch huh?"

Sesshoumaru stuck Toukijin to the ground and forced himself to sit up. The powder was scentless but it was burning his eyes and the gaping wound in his abdomen. "Hanyou, your mediocre poison would not work against this Sesshomaru!"

Naraku crossed his arms lazily, "ho? I have prepared this specially for you you know. I was not prepared to use it so early but since you have found me, this shall be a test."

Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth at the insinuation of being used as a guinea pig. He had survived through many decades and had always emerged victorious with poison users, for none could rival his own lethal acid-poison. But this powder was different, and he felt as if his eyes were on flames. He used the back of his only right hand and tried to rub away the powder that were on his eyelids. But that did not work and his vision blurred further, as the fiery pain continue to burn onto the skin around his eyes.

The sizzling pain he felt from the gaping hole in his abdomen was also stretching his threshold of tolerance and he finally spat out, "poison that enters by the eyes huh? This kind of dirty trick is expected from a hanyou like you!"

Naraku shook his head, "tsk tsk tsk. Should you not grovel at my feet begging for the antidote instead of provoking me? You will soon go blind, and then die when it infiltrates into your brain. And I wonder what can you possibly do to me, or even to Inuyasha, with the loss of your left arm and both sight?"

Sesshoumaru could feel his anger coursing through his veins and he wanted no more than to transform into his original youkai form. He, the coming Lord of the Western Lands, would not be defeated, insulted and sullied by a dirty hanyou like Naraku. But the energy would not come to his command, he was far too weak from the loss of blood and the poison to perform such a strenous transformation.

He wondered for a split second to whether he would really die here. No one was around with him to witness his demise. Images of a grubby but happy Rin laughing with an annoyed Jaken appeared in his hazy mental canvas. He could almost hear her shrilly childish laughter and suddenly, he realized that he did not touch Rin often, and he now yearned to pat her head.

"Kukukukuku... Sesshoumaru, seems that you are at the hands of my mercy now, isn't it?"

Sesshoumaru growled and released a small amount of his greenish acidic poison at his gaping wound. The poison made angry sizzling sounds and Kanna could smell the acidic smell of burnt flesh. Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth and bit his tongue hard in order not to make any sound or noise as he controlled the small doses of poison to be released. I cannot lose anymore blood... Rin is still around somewhere... The coppery scent of his own blood assaulted his sensitive nose as he tried to concentrate on the task of closing the hole.

Naraku arched one of his eyebrows in surprise and laughed out loud, "do you still want to fight then? Do you want to amuse this Naraku to no end?"

Sesshoumaru was tired of hearing his speech and scratchy laughter. "Urusai," his slightly breathy voice was accompanied with a soft cough that escaped from his throat. With a speed that Naraku and Kanna did not expect from a severely wounded and poisoned youkai, Sesshoumaru gathered his remaining strength and with the rest of his senses, dashed forward and sliced Naraku into two sharp halves with Toukijin. Sesshoumaru then knelt on the ground with one knee, hand still gripping onto the hilt of Toukijin as the blade embedded itself into the ground. He was throughly drained of his strength and had to use the demonic blade to support himself into somewhat of an upright position if possible. He was a taiyoukai, feared by many and he would not lie dead on the ground like a corpse in front of his opponent. Sesshoumaru squeezed his eyes shut as another wave of burning pain hurled against his head. He knew that it would not be long before he loses his consciousness, or his life. The burning pain seemed to consume all of his senses and he felt as if his eyeballs would melt.

Naraku frowned slightly as the two halves of his body joined together seamlessly and stood in front of Sesshoumaru. He truthfully had not expected the last attack from him, even though he knew that he was a powerful, proud and arrogant taiyoukai.

"As I have said just now, today I will surely finish you off. It was a pity that I could not play with you for a bit more while," Naraku sniggered to himself, one down. Inuyasha shall be next.

With that, he fashioned a long katana from his bones and drove it straight into Sesshoumaru's left breast. "This is my last present to you, since you seem to have a penchance for katanas." Sesshoumaru opened his mouth in silence, no sounds of pain were heard but it was written all over his face. The area surrounding his eyes was now red and burnt beyond description, his abdomen reeked of burnt flesh and his own poison. But the katana that drove through his ribcage, into the flesh, and out again caused the taiyoukai to tremble for a while, then sat on his heels and his head rolled forwards.

Blood oozed out from the chest wound, slowly dyeing his white haoris into a deep dark red. But the taiyoukai did not fall on face down, his grip still on the hilt of Toukijin as he knelt into a sitting position, back bent forward and his long silver hair cascading around him like waterfalls.

Kanna marvelled. She never held any true respect for anyone, other than Kagura. But as she witnessed the whole bloody battle, she began to respect Sesshoumaru. He was truly a taiyoukai, never one to cower in fear in front of his enemy. She was simply speechless.

Naraku smiled, he was sure that his bone-katana had pierced through Sesshoumaru's heart. He turned around calmly, as if nothing had happened and gestured for Kanna to move into his red kekai, "iku."

Kanna nodded without hesitation and inwardly sighed to herself in disappointment. The only two people who could free her from her cage were at odds, and one of them had fallen right before her eyes. She wondered whether she could pin what little hopes she had left on Inuyasha.

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taiyoukai - great youkai
obi - sash
hanyou - half-demon
inu - dog
jyaki - miasma
osoi - slow
haori - outer coat
hakamas - pleated pants, normally worn for training/sparring
katana - sword
aa - yes, (same as "ee)
urusai - noisy/annoying (indirectly meaning 'shut up)
iku - go (let's go)