Chapter Three
Gennmaru was awakened from sound sleep by the gong just outside of his quarters. He knew, just by hearing it, that something dire had just happened. On the far side of the room, a sleepy, ten-year-old hanyou sat up and blinked blearily at him.
"What's goin' on, Gennmaru-sama?" the hanyou child asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning as he said that.
"I don't know, Kira. Stay here, while I go find out." Gennmaru ordered, as he got out of bed and quickly got dressed. The moon shone down on the courtyard as Gennmaru strode confidently across it to the place where the gong was situated. One look at his resident seer told Gennmaru that things were worse than he'd thought.
"What's going on, Kou? Why did you awaken me at this time of the night?" Gennmaru asked.
"Gennmaru-sama, I dreamed just now that Sesshomaru-sama has just been struck down by a powerful youkai……….someone far more powerful than him. You need to set out and find him before he dies………….before one of your uncles decides to try and finish him off. Please, set off now, milord! He needs you!" Kou cried, urgently. Gennmaru's eyes widened; his cousin Sesshomaru had been wounded?! And he was near death?!?
"Kou, arrange to have a barrier put in place here and send for the best healer you can get. I'll go and bring him back here so he'll be safe from the rest of our family and can recover in relative peace." Gennmaru commanded, as he rushed back to his quarters and grabbed his sword. Immediately, young Kira was at his heels.
"Kira, did I say you could come along?" Gennmaru asked, coolly. Kira shook his head.
"No, Gennmaru-sama, you did not." Kira replied, quietly.
"Then why are you following me?" Gennmaru asked, again.
"I go wherever you go, milord. After all, you did save my life." Kira said, his loyalty and resolution unwavering. The lesser youkai lord sighed.
"Very well. It seems I cannot convince you to stay here. But you must stay within sight at all times. Something very evil is afoot……….And I do not know if I have the strength to even stand against it." Gennmaru murmured, then thought as he and Kira left the palace, "It seems as though you have stepped up your plans a bit, Naraku." As the pair disappeared into the mists like wraiths, the seer felt some foreboding steal into his mind.
"Keep safe, Gennmaru-sama, young Kira. Return here alive." Kou thought, as he watched them go, then proceeded to carry out his lord's orders.
Kagome watched as Kaede did what she could for Sesshomaru. The past few moments had gone by in a whirlwind; the battle had ended, Kohaku had been snatched away by Kagura once again, and Inu-Taisho had assumed a false form then collapsed.
"These wounds are grave. I don't think he will last the night……" Kaede murmured, as she struggled to get the taiyoukai's bleeding under control. Even though Sesshomaru's throat had not been torn out (as Inu-Yasha and Kagome had initially thought) the wounds were still deep. Inu-Taisho's fangs had done severe damage, nonetheless.
"How is he, Kaede?" Inu-Yasha asked, so tired and concerned that he forgot to add the suffix 'baba' to her name. She shook her head grimly.
"His wounds are severe, Inu-Yasha. Too severe for me to handle. He might not live to see the morn." Kaede replied.
"Dammit……………if only he hadn't been so stubborn! He wouldn't be in this mess if he'd allowed himself to be taken to safety so his wounds could heal!" Inu-Yasha muttered.
"You're the same way, Inu-Yasha. You never give yourself enough time to heal, and you're always worrying those around you by being reckless." Kagome said, gently, as she approached and embraced the worried hanyou.
"I never thought I could actually be so afraid for Sesshomaru……He's dying Kagome…….and not even Tenseiga can save him now." Inu-Yasha murmured, hopelessly. It was then that Miroku appeared at the hut's entrance.
"Inu-Yasha, Kagome-sama, Inu-Taisho is starting to awaken." Miroku said, gravely, his voice also sounding tired and careworn. With a silent nod, both hanyou and schoolgirl walked over to the hut where the former taiyoukai had been laid after the fight had ended.
He was floating in a gray sea. In the distance, he could hear voices and the sounds of battle. Instinctively, he stood and reached for his sword, finding to his shock that he was unarmed.
"What is the meaning of this? How is it that I do not have a single sword with me?!" Inu-Taisho wondered, as he glanced at his empty swordbelt, then back towards the sounds. They were quieter now, almost as though the battle was ending. He stifled a yelp when brilliant light broke into the gray world, struck his neck, then sent him even further into the gray. After a valiant struggle, he finally managed to get to the spot where he had been before, only now to find that there were two doors there.
"You have the right to choose, Inu-Taisho. Do you choose to awaken, or go back to sleep?" a strange voice asked. Without a moment's hesitation, Inu-Taisho responded.
"I choose to awaken." Inu-Taisho said, stubbornly.
"Then follow your nose. It will tell you which door to take." The voice said, almost jokingly, before it stopped speaking.
"Follow my nose, it said………Feh. Well, the door on the left reeks of death. The door on the right smells like……….herbs?" Inu-Taisho wondered, now curious as he opened the door on the right and went through it. He didn't notice when the door on the left opened just a little bit to show a desolate mountain range, and the empty spot where a giant skeleton was supposed to be……..
Kagome watched as Inu-Taisho's brow furrowed, and his eyes opened. For a few moments, the former Lord of the Western Lands looked confusedly around him, then gazed carefully at the faces he saw. But it took that short span of time for all of his senses to return, yet, when they did, his face took on a slight expression of alarm and he sat up, despite his weakness.
"I taste……blood. Did I lose my mind and attack my own son?" Inu-Taisho asked, a little bit shakily.
"You didn't lose your mind, sire, but you were under mind control. A youkai known as Naraku had you under sway by a collar he'd put around your neck. Kagome broke the spell with her arrow." Myoga said, as he hopped over and stood before the formerly dead youkai.
"Myoga….." Inu-Taisho murmured, then looked around at those in the room again. When his eyes met those of Inu-Yasha, he froze.
"Why is he starin' at me like that?" Inu-Yasha wondered, uncomfortably shifting his weight under his father's careful scrutiny. Then the former taiyoukai looked down and gave Myoga a stern look.
"Myoga, how much time has passed since I last saw you, Izayoi, or Inu-Yasha?" Inu-Taisho asked.
"Many years, milord. As you can see, Inu-Yasha has become an adult, and he bears Tetsusaiga as his own." Myoga said, noticing when some confusion crossed Inu-Taisho's features.
"How could I have missed that amount of time? Unless……………" Inu-Taisho trailed off, shaking his head when he thought of the impossible.
"Listen. That doesn't matter now. What matters is whether or not Sesshomaru lives to see the sunrise. You damn near tore his throat out, y'know." Inu-Yasha said, harshly.
"That much I have been able to tell, just by tasting the blood in my mouth….Does anyone else in the Western Lands know of my 'return'?" Inu-Taisho asked.
"No one to my knowledge, Inu-Taisho-sama. And, if we're lucky, no one will know for many weeks yet. News is slow to travel in these parts." Myoga replied. Inu-Taisho nodded thoughtfully, considering everything that he'd been told.
"And yet, the scent of Sesshomaru's blood will alert any nearby youkai to the fact that he has been in a near fatal battle. We may have to leave from here very shortly." Inu-Taisho said, grimly.
"Is the rest of your family that dangerous?" Kagome asked, speaking up for the first time in Inu-Taisho's presence.
"Power struggles are very common in noble families, ere they be youkai or human. Once word reaches the rest of my so-called 'family' of Sesshomaru's defeat, they will come to try and finish him off and take his title." Inu-Taisho murmured, then added, "But I won't allow them to get that close."
"Inu-Taisho-sama, I have a question." Sango said.
"Go ahead." Inu-Taisho replied.
"Do you know of any safe havens where we could take Sesshomaru where he will be able to possibly recover from his injuries?" Sango asked.
"There is but one……..But I don't know if it is even still his domain….." Inu-Taisho mused.
"How long do you think it would take to get there?" Miroku questioned.
"About four days, maybe even a week on foot. If you flew, you could go even faster. But I doubt Kirara could carry all four of you and Sesshomaru." Inu-Taisho said, noticing when some surprised looks adorned the faces of all those in the room. Yet, before any questions could be asked, the former taiyoukai got to his feet and shakily walked out of the room, heading for the room where Sesshomaru now lay fighting for his life.
Inu-Taisho felt dismay immediately upon entering the room where Sesshomaru lay. His chest, abdomen, arms and neck were heavily bandaged, but all were soaked through with blood. Near the younger taiyoukai, an elderly miko sat, giving him a wary look as he stood there.
"How is he?" Inu-Taisho asked, with the faintest hint of fear revealing itself in his voice. The old miko shook her head grimly.
"He's not doing well. The only thing that is keeping him alive is his sword, at this point, milord." The miko said, as the elder taiyoukai kneeled alongside Sesshomaru and placed a hand on his forehead.
"One time, long ago, I told him that if he wanted Tetsusaiga, he had to fight me for it. Tonight he wasn't after a sword, or power. He was, and still is, fighting for his life. How could I have been so weak as to fall under the spell of another?" Inu-Taisho asked, agonizingly.
"It wasn't your fault. Naraku has done something terrible to just about everyone here in this building." The girl in the strange clothing said, as she entered the room and placed a hand on Inu-Taisho's shoulder. He looked at the girl, asking for an explanation with his eyes.
"Kaede-san lost her elder sister to Naraku, Sango, her younger brother and her clan. Naraku has cursed Miroku's whole family. Even Sesshomaru had been used by Naraku to fight against Inu-Yasha. And Inu-Yasha………." The girl trailed off, as she gave Inu-Yasha an uncertain glance.
"I see. So this 'Naraku' has that much more to answer for…..But where do you come in, young lady? I have never seen one so strangely dressed." Inu-Taisho said, curiously.
"May name is Kagome and I'm from the future………I'm also Kaede-san's sister's reincarnation. You see, the miko who guarded the Shikon no Tama from youkai fifty years ago was killed by Naraku, but not before she turned against Inu-Yasha." The girl explained. Inu-Taisho nodded, as things became clearer to him.
"And that is what makes it all the more urgent that we get him to the islands." A strange, feminine voice said, from the doorway that led outside. All in the room looked up, startled that someone was there, and surprised when they saw that the newcomer had the same silver hair and amber eyes that Inu-Taisho, Sesshomaru, and Inu-Yasha shared.
"Arashi………." Inu-Taisho muttered, as the female youkai's cool and calm expression broke, and she rushed forward and hugged him tearfully.
"Father. You're here. You're real…..I thought my nose was playing tricks on me this night." The female inu youkai whispered, as she gave her sire a shaky smile.
"It wasn't. But in some ways I wish it had. I have done this terrible thing to your elder brother; an unforgivable act." Inu-Taisho said, sadly.
"How long are ya gonna blame yourself for something you had no control over? And who is this 'Arashi' anyway?!" Inu-Yasha asked, irritably.
"Arashi is your elder sister, Inu-Yasha. She is between you and Sesshomaru in age….. She was barely a teenager when you were born." Inu-Taisho explained.
"Ah, I see. Then that would make her a Lady of the Western Lands, correct?" Miroku asked, ogling her like he did with any other women that crossed his path. Inu-Taisho nodded, and watched as Sango dropped the Hiraikotsu on Miroku's foot, then backhanded him into the wall. Arashi smirked.
"I take it he's a pervert?" Arashi asked, as she watched the interaction between the pair.
"You have no idea." Kagome muttered, her expression deadpanning as a result.
"Take him to the mainland and drop him in one of the cursed springs there. That'll straighten him out, for certain." Arashi advised, getting a horrified look from Miroku as a response.
"Not a bad idea. The next time he even looks another girl in the eye I'll consider it. I hear that the Spring of Drowned Girl is very nice this time of the year." Sango said, grinning when Miroku made a speedy exit, brushing past another newcomer as he went.
"Well, now, judging by that fellow's expression, I take it the cursed springs were discussed?" a male voice asked, jokingly.
"Hai. Did you see anything out there, Koryu?" Arashi asked, as the man in question stepped into the hut. The hanyou, as he turned out to be, nodded gravely.
"Something sinister is gathering off to the west. There's a gathering miasma, and the scent is that of the nobility of the Western Lands…..We must move quickly." Koryu said, his silver eyes concerned as he gazed at the badly injured form of Sesshomaru.
"I am in agreement. But how can we safely move Sesshomaru-sama?" Myoga asked.
"I can carry all of you in my true form, but I do not think I can fly the whole way to the islands……My full strength hasn't returned yet." Inu-Taisho said, seriously.
"And we still do not know where Jaken and Rin are. I can only hope that Jaken has gotten Rin to the islands and away from Naraku's clutches." Kagome murmured, as all in the hut agreed, even those who did not know Sesshomaru's companions personally hoped that all was well.