Chapter 5: A Frightful Night, Pt. 2
Disclaimer: Own Inuyasha? Sure, in my dreams.
Sorry this one took a while dudes, I had some serious writers block, and a loophole that I had to fill in properly. I think there are some parts in this chapter poorly written, but I've thought that before and no one seemed to notice so…
Reviews:
Ninalee-chan: I guess you'll just have to read and find out eh? I ain't sayin' nothin'.
Silver-mirror: Well, here it is! Now you'll find out what's happening.
Veglma: Oh I see. And Miroku can fight, but not with anything that involves use of his spiritual powers.
YamiTai: Oh god no! Don't do that! Here's your update, now whatever you do, do not pair Miroku-sama with Kanna! Heehee, hostage situation-ish.
Moonyme: Thank you so much, my confidence just broke the ceiling!
Medlii: Yes, I do love me cliff-hangers!
Thanks for such kind reviews! I loves you alls!
Chapter 5: A Frightful Night, Pt. 2
Miroku moaned lightly as he woke up.
"Where am I?" he asked absentmindedly.
"Damned if I know," came a voice from the corner. Miroku got the feeling that he knew that voice from somewhere… "You smell like Inuyasha," the voice spoke up, "are you he monk that travels with him?"
"Yes actually," answered Miroku, standing up, "and who are you?"
"You don't recognize me?"
"No…"
"Humans… no sense at all," the voice muttered, "It's Koga."
"Koga? What are you doing down here?"
"Some damn demon dragged me down. Now I'm just trying to find my way out."
Miroku nodded, forgetting that Koga would be unable to see it. He suddenly became aware of something rubbing against his foot. He nearly panicked until it let out a high, unmistakable chirp.
"Kirara?" he asked, bending down to pick up the small creature. Kirara chirped again in response. "Thank kami you're safe, Sango's worried as hell about you."
"Yer lucky," said Koga.
"Why?" asked Miroku.
"I nearly had that thing for a snack."
Miroku gulped. He decided to change the subject. "Why do you suppose the demon brought us here?"
"What d'ya mean?" asked Koga.
"What I mean is why did it not kill us or eat us on the spot? It must have some purpose for us if it left us here…"
"Dunno. Damn thing collapses its tunnels every time it leaves, though, so for now, we're stuck here."
"When do you think it will come back?"
"The sooner the better, then I can get out of here."
Miroku let a slow breath escape his lips. How long would he be trapped down here? And what if the beast came back? Would he be able to make his escape? Or would he find himself on the receiving end of its fangs? It was a lot of questions he had to ask himself. And then there was Koga. He might be more humane than some, but he was still a demon. And he knew if Koga got hungry enough, he would find no problem with eating him. Miroku wouldn't stand a chance.
Sango kneeled on the floor, her mind in a state of shock. Just moments ago she had watched as the one man that had always been there for her was dragged screaming to his possible doom. The image of him clawing desperately at the ground with a look of pure terror was permanently branded in her mind. She clenched her eyes tightly, willing herself not to cry, but this only resulted in squeezing out a few salty tears which fell silently to the floor.
Stay calm, Sango, she told herself, nothing ever was achieved by crying. It won't help you get Houshi-sama and Kirara back.
Stumbling to her feet she debated whether or not to jump in the hole and follow its tunnel.
No, I'll need help. I'd better get Kagome and Inuyasha. Nodding at her own decision, she ran off in search of her friends.
"I wonder how Sango and Miroku are doing?" Kagome said to no one in particular.
Inuyasha grunted as he took another sniff of the air. He growled in frustration. "Damn it! I don't understand! I could smell it before, why can't I now!"
"Because it burrows underground," Inuyasha and Kagome turned to see Sango approaching them.
"I thought you were looking for the demon," grunted Inuyasha.
"I was, and I found it," Sango responded her voice oddly emotionless.
"Uh, Sango…" began Kagome, "where's Miroku-sama?"
"He's… he's…" the Taijiya's lips quivered as she failed to keep her emotions in check. Hanging her head she answered in hardly a whisper, "The demon took him."
"Oh no…" Kagome gasped.
"Shit," swore Inuyasha.
"Where did the demon take him?" asked Kagome.
"I'll show you."
She led them to the room where Miroku had been dragged off. The hole in the floor was larger, as more room was needed to bring down Miroku than Kirara, in fact, it was large enough for them to fit down. Inuyasha was the first to jump into the large hole, followed by Sango, and finally Kagome and Shippo.
"So, should we just follow the tunnel?" asked Kagome.
"What other choice do we have?" Inuyasha retorted.
Shippo lit the path with is fox fire as they walked along. The undulated walls of the cavern glowed a menacing green under this light as they proceeded forward.
Miroku had always liked the dark, but now, he was beginning to loathe it.
Damn it… If only I could see! Then he remembered the Kagome's matches. He still had them from when he lit the oil lamp! Rummaging through his robes, he found his goal. Striking one match's bulbous end against the rough side of the box (as Kagome had showed him), he engulfed it in flames. It was a small flame, but it dimly lit an area with a radius of a couple feet around him.
"What the hell is that, Monk?" asked Koga from somewhere across the room.
"It's something of Kagome's," he answered in response. "Ow! Dammit!" The match had burnt down to his fingers and caught him. Bringing his fingers to his mouth he sucked on them absent-mindedly to ease the pain. He began fumbling around blindly on the floor. There had to be something that the demon had dragged in with one of it's pray. Unfortunately, all that he found were little sticks and twigs. Undeterred he kept searching.
Finally, against one wall of the cave he found a large pile of sticks. What a convenience, he thought, I don't even need to make a pile myself. He lit a match and brought it to the pile. After a while it was brought to a steady flame.
Miroku stood back, admiring his work, but when he looked up, something caughts his eye. He gasped.
"What's wrong, monk?" asked Koga.
"I think I just figured out why the demon brought us here," he groaned.
In the middle of the pile sat four, oblong, smooth, rock-like objects, each as large as a mid-size dog. Eggs. The fire licked at their rounded sides as they sat upon their nest.
Then one of the eggs cracked.
"Which way do we go?" asked Kagome.
They had reached a fork in the tunnel. Now they were looking at two possible paths.
"You think it's safe to split up?" asked Sango.
"There's no way to answer that question," muttered Inuyasha, "But we do have to find the bouzu. Sango and Kagome, take the right, I'll go left."
"Allright," they agreed.
Inuyasha darted off to the left, leaving Sango, Kagome, and Shippo to find their way through the path to the right. They walked in silence, Sango's brown eyes fixed straight ahead.
"Are you worried about him?" asked Kagome, mostly just trying to break the unsettling lack of noise.
"Huh? No, of course not. Houshi-sama can take care of himself." A lie, plain and simple. She was worried about him. She had no idea where he was, or if he was even alive. And at least Kirara could fight. With Miroku's spiritual powers nearly unexistant, he was reduced to his fighting skills, which were, at best, decent. He did still have the Kazaana, though… (a/n: Technically, a Houshi is a low-level monk trained in combat, so Miroku does have some skills in fighting. However, as a human, his strength his not exceptional.)
Kagome saw through her lie, of course, but decided against trying to push Sango into admittance.
After a while of walking they came to an end in the tunnel.
"I guess it's a dead end," said Kagome.
Sango nodded, "Let's go back to the way Inuyasha went." Then, just as they were about to leave, they heard a scream.
"Houshi-sama," mouthed Sango.
Miroku backed up against the wall as the eggs hatched even further.
"So the demon brought us here as food for its young," smirked Koga. "They're babies, how hard can they be to kill?" he chuckled as he pushed off the wall onto his feet.
Then, with a great crack, one of the eggs exploded, sending shards off the egg flying off in all directions. Miroku grunted as one sliced a three inch gash in his arm as it sped past him.
Now, standing in front of them, was a half-sized replica of the demon they had seen before.
"Hell," remarked Koga, "That ain't no baby!"
"Some demons do most of their developing within the egg," Miroku responded, pulling his shakujou up in front of him. "It's basically just a smaller version of its mother."
"Weaker too?"
"Possibly…"
The demon shook off some of the slime still coating it from when it was in the egg and stepped from the flames that now were raging around its nest. The other eggs remained still and were soon engulfed by the ever-growing flames.
And then its eyes caught Miroku's. He shuddered at the pure look of maliciousness in them, and somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew what was coming, so when the demon charged, he screamed.
"Damn! We have to get through somehow!" yelled Sango, scratching frantically at the wall of dirt and rock with he wakazashi.
"I'm trying!" Kagome responded as she pulled rocks from the wall.
Then, from the other side of they wall came a high-pitched squeal.
The demon came close to Miroku it pounced. Holding his shakujou protectively, he waited for the hit to come. But it never did. As it was about an inch away from his face, it went flying to the right as a tremendous force collided with it. In its place stood Koga.
"You saved me?" asked Miroku.
"No," growled Koga, "I just attacked a demon. Whether you lived or not because of it is not my problem."
From where it was slumped against the wall, the young demon let out a loud squeal that caused Koga to cover his sensitive ears.
"Shut up, damn you!" he spat as he walked to the struggling demon and, with a swift drop of his foot, crushed its skull like it was made of paper.
"Gah! What's happening?" yelled Miroku as the ground began to rumble.
"Shit," swore Koga, "It called its mother."
Kirara growled from Miroku's feet before transforming into her battle-ready form.
"What is that rumbling?" asked Kagome.
"It's the demon!" yelled Sango. She turned to see the large form tumbling toward them. "Kagome, get to the side!"
They backed up against the walls as closely as they could. The demon drew closer and closer, before running straight on into the wall of rock. A great amount of dust rose up as the wall of rock crumbled easily under the demons force.
"Let's go," said Sango.
"Right," nodded Kagome as they ran through the newly created doorway.
Moments after Miroku and Koga first heard the rumbling one of the walls of their prison of rock exploded in a cloud of dust, and before they knew it they were starring down the demon that had dragged them down there in the first place. For brief moment it seemed quite uninterested in them as it sniffed the air. It walked over to the still-burning nest to find the two un-hatched eggs void of life, and then to its one hatched child. It sniffed at the smaller demon's dead body before letting out a great roar and turning on Miroku and Koga.
"I think we pissed it off…" said Koga.
"We?" exclaimed Miroku, "You were the one that smashed its damn head in!"
"Hey, if I hadn't, you would not be here right now!"
The demon itself seemed uninterested in their conversation, and more so into doing to them what they had done to its child. Letting out another great roar, it charged down the two. They jumped out of the way at the last minute, and the demon ran head on into the wall. Stumbling dizzily it turned and shook its massive head, before once more raising its enraged eyes.
Koga wasted no time in taking on the massive beast, slamming his knee into its chin, and then bringing his heel down onto its skull. The demon fell to the ground, a dazed look in its eyes.
"You ain't so tough when you're not hiding underground!" he smirked.
No sooner than he had said that, one of the demons four tentacles swung from the side, catching Koga in the cheek and sending him clear across the room. His head struck the wall with so much force that he slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"Oh shit," groaned Miroku.
The demons eyes were now focused on him, its tentacles whipping wildly over its head. And then they froze.
"Crap."
With amazing speed, the tentacles shot towards him, the pointed tips seeking blood. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't move, his legs were frozen in place. He wanted to close his eyes, but they would not respond. And just as he was sure he would die, there was a black blur in front of him, and blood, lots of blood.
But it wasn't his.
End Ch. 5
Another cliffie, I suppose. Whose blood is it? Review and find out!