A/N: Okay, sorry this chapter is so late getting up, but I have been busy with college and first it was supposed to be up on Thursday, but I sent my editor the wrong version so then I had to resend that to her. This chapter is a bit short, but hey it's better than nothing I suppose. Hopefully during this weekend I can finish all my homework and then get cracking at the next chapter.
Everlasting Love
Chapter Eight
Hikozaemon growled . . . his eyes widening as he headed towards the first shoji door, ripping it open and glaring at the surroundings. Fox toys hung from the ceiling and doors to hide sound, and there were also scent deceivers, a tool was used to hide smells. 'Damn it! That cursed fox!' Growling even louder he moved to the next room, finding the same setting as he had in the last.
"Fuck! You damned fox!" yelled Hikozaemon. 'He must have done this to every single room in the fucking castle . . . it's going to take me all night to find them . . . I have to move quick . . . they could be anywhere!' Pulling out his sword he began the search, going into every room, completely dismantling everything in sight.
Shippo shivered softly as he heard the angry voice echo through out the castle. The pups and children were huddled around him as they sat on the stone floor of the dungeon in one of the secret rooms. He'd beaten Jaken to a pulp to get the imp to show him if and where there were secret rooms in the castle before he finally spilled the beans. Jarlarg and Jaken were currently tied up nearby since they refused to listen to a word he had to say.
"I told you . . ." hissed Shippo.
Jaken and Jarlarg squirmed against their binds but stopped as Shippo bopped them on the head.
"You want him to hear you?"
The two demons stopped squirming and relaxed, slumping against the dungeon wall.
'Inu-Yasha . . . you and Sango had better hurry up . . . I'm just praying he won't find us in here,'
Shippo flinched as the crashing sounds continued to echo through out the dungeon. It seemed that whoever this dog demon was; was ripping the castle apart searching for them.
"Hey. . . Jaken . . . nod or shake your head if there's a way for us to get out of here?" hissed Shippo.
Jaken shook his head slowly, his eyes bulging out more as screams and cries started to be heard now.
'Oh . . . so now the guards start to hear things,' thought Shippo, making a small mental note to talk to Sesshoumaru about his guards.
"Shippo . . ." whispered Natasha.
"What is it?"
"Are we going to die?"
Shippo frowned softly, his eyes shifting over all the children that were huddled up against him, "No . . . you're not going to die . . ."
The fox stood up and grabbed the small sword at his side, cutting the ropes that bound Jaken and Jarlarg.
"Now listen up, I'm going to distract this dog demon away from the dungeons, in the meantime stay here," ordered Shippo and left before either of the demons said anything to him. Slowly slipping out of the secret room and making sure it was shut tightly behind him, Shippo took a moment to think, wondering what he could do.
'I know I have no chance in hell of winning . . . but Inu-Yasha and Sango should be probably be here by morning . . . if I can distract him long enough . . . but how in hell am I going to do that?'
The fox sighed softly, his eyes drifting towards the small bag they had used to bring valuable items along with them; his eyes caught the red color of Inu-Yasha's extra fire rat robes. 'Perhaps . . . that will work for now . . .'
Hikozaemon screamed out in frustration as he tore open another shoji door, revealing even more fox toys. "Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have waited three days to do this! That fucking fox . . . I really am going to kill him slowly . . . "
He moved onto the last room on the top floor, ripping the door open with his sword to find the same setting as the last.
"Fuck! There are four more floors to check and then I still have the dungeons. If I want to get this over with I'll have to hurry or Inu-Yasha will return,"
"I happen to be back right now,"
Hikozaemon froze and slowly turned, his eyes widening as he saw the half demon standing at the end of the hall.
"Oh . . . surprised to see me are you?"
"How . . . when . . ." stuttered Hikozaemon. 'How did he get behind me? I didn't even hear him coming . . . perhaps he came in through one of the windows' "Well . . . I take it with your appearance here . . . that the children must be somewhere safe and out of the castle,"
The half demon smirked, "Pretty fucking smart aren't you . . . of course they're somewhere safe . . . and you'll have to get through me first if you want to get to them,"
Hikozaemon reached for his sword, getting ready to fight but froze again as his eyes remained on Inu-Yasha's hip. 'What . . . there's no sword . . . that's impossible . . . the sword is to keep his demon blood in check . . . what the hell is this?'
"You going to stand there all day or come at me?" asked Inu-Yasha.
"Where's your sword? The Tetsusaiga?"
"Keh . . . like I need it to kick your sorry ass . . ." smirked Inu-Yasha, flexing his claws.
"You'll be dead before the night is through," hissed Hikozaemon, lunging forward, preparing to take the half demons head off, "You're dead!"
Inu-Yasha just smirked, and just as the sword was about to slice through his throat a burst of smoke came out of now where along with the strong smell of demon poison. His nose crinkled, causing him to collapse from his strong sense of smell, almost making him paralyzed. He felt a hand grip his sword and the sound of footsteps heading down the hallway. 'What the hell is this . . . why isn't Inu-Yasha collapsing from the poison . . .' thought Hikozaemon, watching as the half demon disappeared down the hall.
Inu-Yasha jumped out the nearest window, carrying the sword in his left hand. With a small pop and some brief smoke Shippo transformed into his flying pink form, holding onto the fire rat clothes and Hikozaemon's sword.
'Man that was to close . . . if I hadn't brought that poison that Sango had left behind I would be dead right now,' thought the fox as he made his way down to the next floor, floating in the nearest open window and into the next room before transforming back into Inu-Yasha. 'This is all I can for now. I can't believe that Bunrakuken's son is behind this, but for right now all I can do is play this game of hide and seek until the real Inu-Yasha gets back' thought Shippo. His ears twitched silently, listening for Hikozaemon. If he were lucky, the poison would last at least another half hour on the demon before he would be able to move again. Whimpering softly Shippo took a seat on the ground, listening and patiently waiting, contemplating on what he would do next.
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Inu-Yasha could not help the grin that appeared on his face once the castle came into his line of sight. His legs speeding up their motions as he got closer and closer to his destination. 'Damn it . . . I smell quite a bit of dog demon blood . . . and this is Hikozaemon's scent . . . damn it I was right! But I don't smell any of the children's blood . . . which means they must be still alive!' thought Inu-Yasha, picking up the pace towards the castle. The smell of blood growing stronger as Inu-Yasha got closer and closer to his destination. 'Fuck . . . by the smell of blood I can tell that already thirty dog demons are dead . . . that's just what we need, more deaths on our side!' Finally entering the castle gates the snowy ground that they had left behind was a sickening crimson, over thirty dog demons lay dead. 'Looks like he caught them off guard . . .the first ten are hit in the back . . . fucking coward, and then took out the rest of them . . . what the fuck was he using to hide himself?'
A loud scream caught Inu-Yasha's attention to the third floor and then another screamed followed the first. 'That was Shippo's voice!'
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Hikozaemon's eyes widened as the half demon standing before him disappeared and was replaced by the fox, "You!"
Shippo struggled to his feet, he had been caught off guard by the dog demon which had caused him to transform back to his original self.
"Wearing that half demons clothes . . . very clever, you little shit . . . that way I wasn't able to pick up your real scent,"
Shippo finally made it to his feet, shaking a little as he tried to figure out some sort of plan to keep Hikozaemon distracted, "So now what? Going to kill me? Whether I do or not, you won't be able to find the pups!"
The dog demon growled as he made his way towards the fox, picking him up by the tail, "I shall find them soon enough . . . at least with you out of the way it will be less trouble for me," snarled Hikozaemon, flexing his claws, preparing to strike.
"FOX MAGIC, SPINNING TOP!" cried Shippo.
Hikozaemon froze in the middle of his attack as a small spinning top landed on his head, growing bigger by the minute, "What the hell?"
Shippo bit into Hikozaemon's hand, causing the dog demon to release him, running out of the room. The dog demon cried out as he was forced to the floor by the gigantic spinning top, growling and cursing as he swore to give the fox a slow, painful death. Shippo ran as fast as he could down the hall, heading towards the stairs only to run smack dab into a red, fire robbed, pant leg.
"What the hell are you doing Shippo?"
The fox looked up to see . . .
"Inu-Yasha!"
"What the hell is going on?"
"Hikozaemon's in the castle!"
"Keh, I already knew that . . . where are the pups?"
Shippo pointed downward and mouth the word 'dungeons'.
"I see . . . well you go down and join them, I'll take care of this bastard,"
Nodding softly, Shippo bounded down the stairs.
Hikozaemon staggered to his feet, cursing at the head ache spreading through his skull as the spinning top fell the floor, "Come back here you fucking fox!" Running out of the room and down the hall, he came to a skidding stop to see Inu-Yasha standing at the end. Sighing softly he slowly approached, "Oh come now . . . you really don't expect me to fall for the same trick again do you?"
Inu-Yasha quirked an eyebrow up, wondering what on earth he was talking about; Hikozaemon stopped and was about to bop the fox on the head but was suddenly thrown back as he was hit with a right hook.
"Are you just nuts or that fucking stupid?"
Hikozaemon picked himself up off the floor, his eyes widening as he noticed the Tetsusaiga, "You . . . you're the real Inu-Yasha?"
"Hell yeah . . . now are you going to try and bop me on the head again or are we going to have a real fight?" asked Inu-Yasha.
Before Hikozaemon could answer the half demon was right in front of him, giving him another right hook, causing him to crash through the wall and into the nearest court yard.
"Keh . . . and that was for just trying to bop me on the head . . . now I'm going to really kick your ass for trying to lay even one on my pups!" snarled Inu-Yasha, drawing his sword, "Kaze No Kizu!"
Barely dodging the attack, Hikozaemon drew his own sword, charging at the half demon as he landed on the snowy ground.
"Too slow!" smirked Inu-Yasha dodging the sword and swiping Hikozaemon in the back with his claws, "Blades of Blood!"
Hikozaemon cried out as he was attacked from the back, staggering slightly as blood dripped down his arms.
"Keh, compared to Sesshoumaru you move like a turtle,"
"Well father was right about one thing . . . you really are a cocky bastard . . . you think I'm giving it my all here?"
"I know you aren't . . . reason I really haven't tried killing you yet . . . what's your deal anyway? You've had about three days to try and kill the children inside the castle . . . why wait until today?"
"That's none of your fucking business!" snarled Hikozaemon, moving faster then before as he tried to take Inu-Yasha's head off.
Smiling Inu-Yasha easily blocked another attack, "Oh come on now! You're faster than that! I don't want to kill you unless you're giving me all you got!"
"You bastard!" cried out Hikozaemon pushing Inu-Yasha back and attempting another attack.
"Too slow! Kaze No Kizu!"
Hikozaemon cried out as he was tossed back, colliding with the stone wall that surrounded the castle, his sword laid broken beside him.
"Keh . . . way too easy . . ." sneered Inu-Yasha, walking slowly over to his prey.
Hikozaemon slowly lifted his head up, watching as the half demon approached him. 'Well it's either a quick death from him or a slow one from my father . . .'
Inu-Yasha raised his sword, prepared to take down his enemy for good. ..
"Not going to fight back huh?"
"I have lost . . ."
"No you haven't . . . you could easily pick yourself up and fight me with just your claws . . . if you really wanted to complete your mission you would . . . what's the matter? Want a fast death from me instead of dealing with your father when you return? Or perhaps is it that you don't really want to kill the pups?"
"Just kill me and be done with it!"
"Keh, not my style," sighed Inu-Yasha, sticking his sword back in its sheath and picking up Hikozaemon by the throat, "You want to die or not?"
"It's either I get killed by you or by my father!"
"So you would rather be killed by an enemy of war then?"
Hikozaemon didn't say anything, his gaze moving to the side, staring at the ground. Inu-Yasha growled and tossed the dog demon into the stone wall again, going right through it this time.
"You think that's going to kill me?" coughed Hikozaemon.
"Hell no! If I wanted to kill you you'd be dead right now!"
"Then what the hell are you doing?"
"Is that the only choice you think you have right now? Death?"
"Well what the fuck am I supposed to do?"
Rolling his eyes Inu-Yasha walked over to Hikozaemon, picking him up by the neck again, "First of all . . . if you didn't want to fight with your father in the first place . . ."
"Do what?" interrupted Hikozaemon, "Run away? Father would just send someone to kill me or go after me himself!"
"That's not what I was going to say! Now listen here . . . we've heard that you have been trying to take down your father for years . . . what I was going to suggest was that you could fight for us,"
Hikozaemon's eyes widened, "Join you?"
"Well it's better then running away or helping the bastard of a father you have. I think I know why you waited three days to attack the pups . . . you didn't know if what you were doing was right or wrong, am I right?"
Hikozaemon didn't answer.
"Okay so I'm right . . . and before I go on . . . one more thing! How the hell did you get passed Sesshoumaru's guards and managed to hide yourself without anyone noticing?"
"He used this,"
Inu-Yasha turned to see Jarlarg and Jaken walking towards them, the imp holding a cloak in his hands.
"Where the hell have you two been?"
"In the dungeons . . . we didn't believe Shippo when he was saying that there was an intruder somewhere on the castle grounds so he tied us up and took matters into his own hands,"
Inu-Yasha sighed softly, "Okay, so what does that cloak do?"
"All in all, the cloak hides your appearance and scent . . . not even Sesshoumaru would be able to find someone who had this on," said Jaken.
"Clever bastard aren't you?" Inu-Yasha asked Hikozaemon.
"What are we going to do with him?" asked Jarlarg.
Inu-Yasha looked over Hikozaemon, "I think he might want to join us . . . didn't we hear from our spy that he has tried countless times to take down his father?"
Jaken nodded, "At least five times,"
"So what do you say? Join us . . . and then once we beat and kill your father you can take over the southern lands,"
"You're serious?"
"Well you'll have to talk to Sesshoumaru first . . . Jaken and Jarlarg . . . what do you two think?"
Jarlarg looked over at Jaken before turning his eyes back to Inu-Yasha, "He would make a good addition to our side . . . but it is up to Sesshoumaru,"
"Daddy!"
Inu-Yasha looked up to the castle doors to see his two pups running towards him. Dropping Hikozaemon he ran towards his pups, scooping them up into his arms. Shippo soon appeared with Miroku's children staying close to him.
"Please tell me it's safe to come out," said Shippo.
"It is for now," said Inu-Yasha, keeping a tight hold of his two pups.
"He's still alive?" asked Shippo, pointing at Hikozaemon.
"For now . . . Sesshoumaru's going to deal with him once he returns,"
Shippo nodded, "So what now what?"
Inu-Yasha looked around the court yard, seeing a few dead dog demons, making sure his pups did not seem them.
"You . . . are going to take the pups and put them to bed," said Inu-Yasha.
"No!" cried Natasha and Kenichi in unison, clinging to their father tighter.
"Now see here pups . . . I have some things that need to be taken care of . . . your going to go with Uncle Shippo and stay with him . . . I'll be joining you soon okay?"
Both pups whimpered softly but nodded their heads.
"Good pups . . . now listen to Shippo or your going to be getting at tongue lashing from me," warned Inu-Yasha, setting his pups down on the snowy ground.
As the children followed after Shippo Inu-Yasha turned to the others, "Okay . . . Hikozaemon and I are going to gather all the dead bodies,"
"You won't be able to bury them, the ground is too hard," said Jarlarg.
"Well then we'll have to burn them then . . . it's the only thing we can do. How many did you kill?" Inu-Yasha asked Hikozaemon.
"Maybe twenty,"
"Okay then . . . Jaken and Jarlarg . . . find out who the dead are . . . and if we're going to be in deep shit with twenty soldiers dead,"
"Yes my lord," said the two demons.
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Bunrakuken sat silently in his chair . . . waiting and waiting to hear if there was any word from his son. Over a week had passed since Hikozaemon had left for the Western lands . . . and he should have been back by now. His golden his looked up as his daughter walked into the throne room.
"Any word?" asked Bunrakuken.
"No nothing," said Sakurako, "Do you think he's been killed?"
"Possibly . . . unless he hasn't had a chance to attack yet . . . and is still waiting,"
"But you said that Sesshoumaru and all the others were going across Japan to find allies, they should have already left. He should have already killed the children and be back,"
Bunrakuken smile softly, "Or . . . he chickened out . . . and ran away,"
"Ran away? Hikozaemon wouldn't do that,"
"Oh yes he would . . . he has tried to kill me more than once to take over . . . perhaps he is hiding . . . or . . . even worse . . . joining our enemy's side,"
"Father please . . . I'm sure he'll be back soon,"
"No . . . he's not coming back . . . he's been away too long for a simple task. So . . . here's what we are going to do . . ."
TBC . . .