Title: Behind the Blue Moon
Author(s): SkyFire

For Notes/Disclaimers, see part 1.

oOoOo
Part 6

My what?

"Argh! I did not just hear that!"

Of all the responses he could have gotten, that had to be the least-expected. How could the youkai not know about his poison claws? Couldn't he remember--?

Inuyasha bit off a curse even as he took another weak swipe at the tentacles holding him.

More by luck than anything else, the razor edge of the transformed Tetsusaiga sliced through the tentacles wrapped around him.

Landing lightly on his feet, he turned quickly and sliced the purple-faced Sesshomaru free of Naraku's stranglehold. Grabbing his half-brother around the waist Inuyasha leapt, carrying him away from Naraku.

He landed in a stand of bushes at the edge of the clearing, setting the shaken demon down on his feet. He stared briefly into dazed amber eyes then, knowing that it was only a matter of time before those vile tentacles tried for them again, Inuyasha grabbed him firmly by the arms and shook him.

Sesshomaru gasped, awareness flooding his eyes, accompanied by a hint of the fear he was biting back with an effort. When that tentacle had come at him from out of nowhere; when it had seized him by the throat and hauled him from his new friends; when the hold about his neck had stopped his breath, leaving him gasping in mid-air, his body screaming for the air it was no longer allowed -- it had shaken him far more than he would ever admit to anyone.

Now he stared into the eyes of Inuyasha, the one to whom his father had entrusted his wellbeing.

Somehow, he didn't think his father had taken creatures such as the tentacle-sprouting demon -- Half-demon? There was something about that scent -- into consideration.

Inuyasha saw the Demon Lord's brief focus fade out and gave him another firm shake. "Sesshomaru!" he snapped brusquely. "Focus!"

Sesshomaru blinked, stared at Inuyasha. "Yes?"

Inuyasha could sense Naraku's tentacles closing in on all sides. Before the seeking appendages reached them, he had to teach his amnesiac half-brother to use his natural weaponry.

The hanyou cursed under his breath. Right How was he supposed to do that? Being on the receiving end of Sesshomaru's attacks didn't mean that he knew how they worked from the other end!

But then again, did he have to?

/That's it/

"Sesshomaru, about your attacks--"

"The poison claws, you said?"

"Forget that. Now--"

"But how do I--"

Biting off a curse as Naraku's tentacles found them, ending all possibility of a normal -- if a bit rushed -- conversation, Inuyasha once again grabbed his half-brother about the waist, leaping away--

--too late.

The brothers struggled as they were quickly grabbed by the green appendages, separated, and hauled out into the clearing once more.

At the far side of the clearing, Sango and Miroku continued to fight the quickly-diminishing horde of Naraku's demonic minions. Kagome stood a little away, sending her arrows speeding into the mass. All three bore a wealth of mostly-superficial cuts and bruises, but were still going strong.

Naraku stood at the opposite end of the clearing, his tentacles squirming around him, his poisonous wasps in the air all over.

"Inuyasha!" Sesshomaru called out as they were pulled nearer to the smirking Naraku. The tentacles were wrapping firmly around his chest and left leg. He kicked and clawed, but as before the tentacles healed before he could do any noticeable amount of damage. "How do I--" he grunted as the tentacles tightened slightly, squeezing him uncomfortably, cutting his breath short.

"Don't think!" Inuyasha called back. He growled as Naraku squeezed him tightly. He managed to work a hand over to the hilt of the sheathed Tetsusaiga, but couldn't draw it.

"What?" Sesshomaru gasped.

They were getting distressingly close to where Naraku lurked at the apex of the tentacles. As more and more tentacles reached out to hold them, neither paid much attention as the baboon skin was shed, as serrated red and grey pincerlike appendages sprouted from the evil hanyou's back. Were those legs? Crimson eyes glinted malevolently even as his smirk widened, becoming almost gloating.

Sesshomaru, both legs now trapped as well as his chest, continued to claw at the tentacles. /Come on/ he urged his claws, /be poison, like Inuyasha said you can/

His claws, rather unsurprisingly, didn't obey.

Inuyasha managed to rip apart a few of the tentales wrapped around his torso, gulped for air in a series of harsh pants. He could see his half-brother clawing at his own restraints, gasping for air, brow furrowed slightly in fruitless concentration.

"Don't think!" he called again. "You're trying too hard. Your body knows how to defend itself." A gasp as the tentacles around him tightened abruptly. Trying to stop him? "Don't think 'how'. Just do it!"

"But--" A small grimace as the tentacles tightened again.

Fear.

Panic began too set in as he realized that the hold on him was too tight -- he couldn't breathe and his ribs were screaming at the pressure. Desperately he clawed, trying with all he had to make his claws be poison--

--to no avail.

Then it happened.

Mindless with panic even as his vision started to fade out at the edges, he couldn't think about anything other than the fact that he couldn't breathe.

Just couldn't breathe.

Demonic energy rose abruptly in a hazy reddish aura around him as instinct took over.

Poisonous acid hissed.

Claws swiped.

Sesshomaru landed lightly on his feet on the ground, bits and pieces of green raining down all around him.

His hand flicked gracefully. Light coiled, flashed.

Inuyasha landed beside him in anther green rain, Tetsusaiga drawn and swinging before he even fully touched ground.

"Wind Scar!"

TBC...

So what did you think? I think I'm getting a bit better at battle-scenes, but if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears! I'd also love to hear from you, so feel free to click the link down there and leave a message. Do you like the story so far? What would you like to see? What was your favorite part so far? Is it still interesting? Anything, really, except flames...