Death and Transfiguration

The Shrine

The day after the full moon dawned bright, brisk, and clear, and everyone awoke remarkably refreshed despite the previous night's revelries. The euphoria of Shippou's fox-berry wine had faded, but its clarity and good cheer remained with them for many days afterwards.

Inuyasha awakened first, and he whistled merrily as he went to off the stream to catch their morning's breakfast. When he returned to the campsite, Izayoi and Shippou were awake and had recovered their clothing (and most of their dignity), but they still giggled and exchanged many a significant glance as they tidied the camp.

Inuyasha had enough tact not to mention certain of the evening's events, but they laughed as they talked about the fun of their autumn-moon festival. Suddenly Izayoi said, "Hey Dad—isn't it about the time of year that we go to Uncle Sesshomaru's shrine?"

"Uncle Sesshomaru? Uncle Sesshomaru?" said Shippou. "Just the thought of calling him by that name makes me shudder. I haven't seen him in years."

"Izayoi's the only one who calls him that," laughed Inuyasha. "But she's safe—he's long gone, and so is Rin, and that little toad Jaken too."

"Oh…he's dead then," said Shippou, a little sheepishly. "I know you two never got along, Inuyasha, but…I'm sorry."

"Who said he was dead?" said Inuyasha. "I said he was gone. At least, that's the story that Jaken told me. Gone with Rin, too."

"I don't get it," said Shippou.

"It's a long story, good for a long trip," laughed Izayoi. "I'll tell you on the way." (And that story is told in full in The Tale of Rin and Sesshomaru.) And it was indeed a long trip, requiring several days of flight on Shippou's back, and several more days of Inuyasha and Izayoi running when Shippou grew tired of carrying them.

In time, they arrived at their destination: a lovely and peaceful canyon, through which a clear and sparkling river flowed. At the bend of the river arose a small hill, ringed with dull gray glass, as though the earth itself had been melted by some supernal force (which, in truth, it had). But the hill that arose from that dull and glassy moat was bursting with life: rich and verdant grasses, lush flowering bushes, and strong saplings. At the top of the hill was a beautiful spreading tree, and the grass underneath the tree was as soft and smooth as velvet.

A charming path wound its way from the stream to the top of the hill; and when they had made their way to the top of the hill and stood underneath the tree at its summit, the secret of the hill's beauty was revealed: the entire hill had been made into a garden, which had been meant to be viewed from underneath the tree. It had not been tended in quite some time, and what had clearly once been neat beds and neatly trimmed bushes were now overgrown with weeds; but even with nature intruding itself over the years, the little garden hill was still quite stunning.

"How…who…?" Shippou was struck speechless by the little hill's beauty.

"It was Jaken—who'd have thought he was a gardener?" said Inuyasha. "He and Rin lived here for years. It's been getting a little run-down since he left, but it still looks pretty good, doesn't it?"

"Is it … OK for us to be here?" Shippou whispered.

"Sure!" said Izayoi. "Mom was Rin's best friend, and we all got along great. We were always welcome when we visited her here. I'm sure she'd be glad for us to be here."

"Well, we didn't come this far just to admire the view," said Inuyasha. "This way."

He led Izayoi and Shippou around the tree to a pair of wooden shrines. One was small and square; the other was short, but quite wide. "This is what we came for," said Inuyasha. "Wait here—I'll be right back." He turned and walked away, leaving Izayoi and Shippou at the shrines.

"What are these?" asked Shippou.

"The small one is what we really came here to visit—it's a shrine for both Rin and Sesshomaru. The big one holds Rin's sword—but there's a nasty barrier around it, so don't even try to touch it. It won't even let my dad open the doors, but Mom could open it and she showed it to me once—but even she didn't like to touch it. Let me see..."

Izayoi carefully extended her hand towards the shrine's door, then she gingerly grasped the handle. "Well...it doesn't seem to mind me. Dad can't even do this much." She opened the doors to reveal a long and very powerful-looking sword, which seemed to glow faintly with a light of its own. "It's let me come this far... I wonder if I can..." she reached her hand towards the hilt, but then stopped suddenly. "Huh—I can hear its voice in my mind. The sword says, 'Not yet.' I wonder what that means..."

Shippou hadn't really been paying attention; he had been absently dragging his toes in a circle on the ground, trying to get up his courage to say something. "Za-chan..." he said timidly; then, standing up tall and straight, he swallowed, took a deep breath, and took her hands between his.

"Za-chan," he said, "This is the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. If I could, I would spend the rest of my days, right here, with you..." He swallowed again, took a moment to gather his courage, and continued, "My heart tells me that we have a lot to do before we can settle down...but when the time is right, and we're ready...will you return here, and live with me...and... and... and bear my children?"

Izayoi turned beet red. "Oh...Po-chan..." she said faintly, and her voice broke as she spoke. She turned her face away for a moment, then she turned towards him, her dark eyes sparkling.

She was just opening her mouth to reply when Inuyasha suddenly returned, bearing a handful of fresh flowers. "Bear my children?" he said rudely. "Keh! I thought you had more class than that, Shippou. You've been hanging around too much with that perverted monk. If that's the best you can do, you don't deserve my daughter."

Shippou turned pink, then purple. "Oh...oh no..." he stuttered, "Oh no, Izayoi, I didn't mean that, I swear I didn't mean it that way...I mean, I really DID mean it, I meant every word...I mean, I...I..."

"Hush, Po-chan." Izayoi smiled and gently laid two fingers across Shippou's lips. "I know exactly what you meant." She tenderly took his face in her hands, looked into his eyes, and she said, "And yes...I will." She kissed him, passionately; and then they embraced, beautiful smiles beaming from their faces.

Inuyasha watched them for a few moments, until he realized that he was smiling just as broadly as Shippou and his daughter; then he cleared his throat loudly and coughed a few times, until they got the idea that he was still there and they released each other. "Well, now that that's all settled," he laughed, "Can we do what we came here to do?"

The three of them knelt before Rin and Sesshomaru's shrine, and Izayoi clapped twice and bowed before it. Inuyasha sat silently for a few moments, then solemnly placed his flowers before the shrine. They sat in silence for a few more moments; Izayoi put one arm around Inuyasha and rested her head on his shoulder, and Shippou grasped his other shoulder reassuringly. Inuyasha smiled at them, and said quietly, "There's no other way to say it. Sesshomaru was a real jerk. But...he was my brother, y'know?"

"I know," agreed Shippou.

They sat before the shrine, lost in their thoughts; then, suddenly, Izayoi said quietly, "Something's wrong. Something's very wrong."

"Yeah...even I feel it," said Shippou. Inuyasha just growled meanacingly.

Something was happening to the sunlight around them. There was barely a cloud in the sky, but it seemed like something was sucking the life out of the very sunlight itself. The world around them was gradually becoming dim and colorless, and they felt their spirits falling as the light around them faded.

"Even Naraku wasn't this evil," said Shippou, clutching at his heart. "What could be doing this?"

Izayoi saw it first. "That," she said grimly.

At first, they thought it was simply a cloud of evil mist, thick, dark, and oily; but then, it congealed into a hideous monstrosity. It was a writhing tangle of evil youkai of every description: insects, lizards, ogres, multi-tentacled horrors with no name; it was a ball of evil, with limbs and eyes and heads and mouths facing in every direction. It could see in every direction, move in every direction, and its mouths opened greedily in every direction.

The largest head, a one-eyed alligator with vicious teeth, oozed to the top of the creature's body and spoke with a chilling, cruel voice. "We are Legion," it croaked. "We have come for the sword, to add its power to our own. Many of us have tried and failed; but it cannot hold us back united. Together, we will make it ours."

"Look," said Inuyasha angrily, "My brother was a jerk, but he was my brother, and that was his sword, and you're gonna have to go through me to get it."

Legion laughed. "A hanyou, a fox youkai, and a halfbreed woman. You think you can stand in our way." It snarled, "You are wrong. You will join us."

From out of Legion's body there arose a harpy's head; it had a cruel beak, covered in dried blood. It opened its mouth, and a hideous voice began croaking a horrible song in a vicious, evil language.

At the sound of the harpy's voice, an intense pain shot through Izayoi's head, and she covered her ears vainly as she tried to stop the sound. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Shippou and Inuyasha were affected the same way, collapsing to their knees, their hands over their ears. Something about the harpy's song was making Izayoi's demon blood boil, and she felt an overwhelming urge to plunge herself directly into the body of Legion and merge with the beast. It took every ounce of her miko's strength to master her youkai blood, calming and controlling it until she was fully herself again, and fully in control.

She opened her eyes, and saw that Inuyasha and Shippou were still in the thrall of the harpy's song. Their eyes were glowing red, and they were panting and sweating, exerting every ounce of their remaining willpower to keep themselves under control.

Shippou managed to speak. "I... za...yoi," he said with great difficulty, fighting to get out every syllable "Can't...hold...out... save... yourself..."

Izayoi rested one hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, and one on Shippou's. "I will never leave you. Never," she said calmly.

Legion's alligator head laughed again. "Good... good. Ours soon. All ours. First you...then the sword." It nodded towards the harpy. "Finish them."

But a new song was in the air; it was Izayoi, still with one hand on her father and one hand on her lover, lifting her own voice in sweet music. It was the lullaby that her mother used to sing her when she was just a baby; and as she sang, a gentle rose glow arose from her and gradually spread to Inuyasha and Shippou.

Legion roared in anger, and the harpy took a breath and began to sing louder; but Izayoi calmly continued her song, and the purifying glow grew ever brighter.

And then it seemed that another voice joined in harmony with Izayoi's. It seemed to come from the air itself: a woman's voice, sweet and clear as a flute, gentle as the morning light, beautiful beyond the music of this world, so lovely that the harpy ceased its song and hung its head in shame. As the new voice joined Izayoi's song, gentle sparkling lights began to fall from the heavens like cherry blossoms falling on the wind. A golden glow suffused Inuyasha, Izayoi, and Shippou, and as the light glowed ever brighter, it seemed to bring with it the color that had been stolen from the world. Soon the sun was beaming brightly again, and the world was filled once again with the beautiful colors of the peaceful garden hill.

Inuyasha struggled to speak. "Ka...Kagome?" he said haltingly; and the demonic fire left his eyes, and he mastered himself, and rose from his knees to stand tall and strong again. Shippou too had come back to himself, and he was staring at Legion with unabashed hatred.

Izayoi finished her song; and she looked into the heavens and said quietly, "Thank you, Mom."

In the sudden silence, Legion roared in anger, and the harpy opened its mouth again; but this time, it was Izayoi's great black bow that sang out, and an arrow flew straight down the harpy's gullet, choking it before it could utter another sound.

With an angry shout, Shippou hurled a ball of foxfire straight into the harpy's open mouth. The harpy gave a strangled cry, and its head exploded in a flash of blue flame.

Shippou stood glaring furiously at Legion, clenching and unclenching his fists. "You...you bastard," he said through clenched teeth, "Nobody has ever done that to me before." He stretched forth his hand, and a pikestaff of solid foxfire flamed into being. He pointed the weapon meanacingly at Legion, and growled, "I will never forgive you."

Inuyasha smiled. "You don't know who you're up against. But I promise you," he said as he drew Tessaiga and an ominous crystalline glitter flashed along its blade, "You won't have to wonder for long."

With a great cry, Inuyasha swung Tessaiga at Legion, and a hail of deadly kongouseki flew at the beast. The diamond spears struck Legion dead center, and all of its heads screamed in pain. Inuyasha spun, and with another stroke, he blasted the creature with the kaze no kizu. Shippou began hurling spears of solid foxfire; those few that did not strike their target set the very ground ablaze where they landed. And then Izayoi's terrifying kiai resounded throughout the canyon, and she loosed a purifying arrow of terrible power, which burned with a blinding light and roared like an angry rocket. The arrow struck Legion dead center, and the creature exploded. Bits of its body flew in every direction, burning with purifying energy and foxfire.

"That...was too easy," said Inuyasha suspiciously, as he looked around at the debris still raining down slowly from above.

"We got him!" shouted Shippou triumphantly.

"No," said Izayoi, her eyes narrowing angrily, "No. We didn't. It's not over yet."

She was right. The gory pieces of the creature that littered the ground all around them began to twitch and gather themselves together, collecting and recoagulating into the beast that they thought they had destroyed. In just a few moments, it had reformed, as ugly and as malevolent as ever.

"It looks...the same," said Shippou.

"Yes," said Izayoi. "The same...but different."

Again, she was right. Legion was still very much a hideous conglomeration of youkai, but there was something different about it—as though the creature had reassembled itself out of different parts.

An ugly blister formed at the top of Legion's bulk, and when it burst, the alligator's head emerged, shaking itself clean of blood and ichor. It laughed cruelly. "You don't know who you are dealing with," is gloated. "We are Legion—we are many. One of us, you might defeat, but you will never be able to best us all."

"Yeah," said Shippou angrily, "Maybe so—but we sure can try!" Blue flame flashed from his hands, taking the shape of a sword, and he ran at the creature and began hacking viciously at the first head he could reach.

"Shippou—no!" shouted Inuyasha. "This guy's way out of your league. Get back—he's mine!" Inuyasha leaped over the creature, and as he flew past he swung Tessaiga, slicing at limbs, heads, eyes—anything he could reach. Izayoi shot it with arrow after arrow, destroying anything that looked vital or sensitive.

But despite their successes, and the screams of the creature in pain, it was no good. Each time a limb or a head was chopped off, a new one—often from a totally different youkai—would grow back.

Inuyasha and Shippou withdrew to Izayoi's position to catch their breath. "There's no end to them, is there?" panted Shippou. "We can get rid of any part of it, but whatever's at the heart of that thing, we can't get at it. It just grows back too fast."

Legion was laughing again. "Tired already?" the alligator's said, grinning toothily. "Then maybe we'd better give you an excuse to rest!" From the top of Legion's body, right next to the alligator's head, there emerged a huge centipede's head. Its three eyes glared at Izayoi, and then it opened its mouth and vomited a spray of poison, directly at her.

Shippou tried to pull Izayoi out of the way, but Inuyasha was faster. He hurled himself directly into the toxic stream, shielding Izayoi and Shippou from it with his own body. Even his red robe could not fully protect him from the poisonous blast, and Izayoi and Shippou shivered as they heard Inuyasha scream in pain, and their stomachs wrenched at the horrible scent of his skin and hair burning.

Legion laughed cruelly. "Oh, the pretty puppy got all burned. We'll have to try harder next time."

The centipede drew its head back to deliver another deadly blast, but its head suddenly split open with a sapphire flash—Shippou had formed a whirling blade out of solidified foxfire, and had hurled it directly at the creature's head, neatly cleaving it in half. The centipede writhed in agony, and its poison oozed out of its split head onto Legion itself, and every part of the creature that it flowed onto screamed and died at its touch. One of Legion's larger arms ripped a tree out of the ground, and using it as a club, beat at the centipede's head until it finally lay still.

"Yeah, you're right," said Shippou, panting from exertion, "You'll have to try harder next time."

"You bastards!" screamed the alligator's head. "We're not finished with you yet." Two long tentacles thrust out from Legion's body, wrapped themselves around one of Inuyasha's legs, and ripped him from Izayoi's arms, where she had been desperately trying to soothe his pain. The tentacles whipped Inuyasha through the air, and slammed him time and again into the ground like a rag doll. With each blow, Inuyasha's yelps of pain grew softer and softer, until unconsciousness finally came over him.

"Well, well, well, so it's finally over," gloated the alligator. Izayoi's shout of anger and grief only made it laugh harder. "I told you that you'd join us...and if we can't add your power to ours, we'll be more than happy to make your body part of ours." It smacked its lips hungrily. "Now...who shall have the honor of consuming this hanyou?"

All the heads and mouths began clamoring for the honor of eating Inuyasha. While the creature was debating with itself, Shippou drew Izayoi aside. "Za-chan...there's still hope. He's still alive, Za-chan." He shook her shoulders gently. "He's still alive. You've got to believe me. There's still hope." Izayoi blinked away her angry tears and nodded. "Now...the first thing to do is get him away from that thing. Any ideas?"

Izayoi wasn't listening to Shippou; she was looking towards the shrine of the sword. "It...it's calling to me," she said distantly.

"What?" said Shippou. "I don't hear anything."

"I do...the sword...it's calling to me. It says, 'Now.'" Her miko's senses saw the barrier around the shrine open to her. "I've got to go now," she said insistently. "This may be my only chance."

"OK, if you think that's what'll help Inuyasha," Shippou said doubtfully, but then he smiled. "I trust you. I'll get the thing's attention." Shippou reached into his vest and pulled out a handful of leaves, which he threw towards the creature. There was a barrage of loud pops, and there suddenly appeared at least a dozen Shippous, each hurling foxfire and insults at Legion.

"Now, while I've got its attention—go. Go now!" Shippou gently pushed Izayoi towards the shrine; she nodded and made for the shrine as fast as she could run.

She dashed into the opening in the barrier, and she felt it close behind her. She knelt before the shrine, and opened the doors all the way. The sword lay before her, pulsing gently, glowing with its own light. She hesitated a moment—she had heard many stories about what had happened to those who had tried even to touch the sword uninvited—but then she squared her shoulders, and said to herself, "I don't care. I've got to save Dad," and without another thought, she grasped the hilt of the sword. There was a blinding flash, and a deafening bang, and suddenly everything went black and silent.