XVIII: Awakening of Battle

Author: Nefertili

Fandom: Inuyasha

Rating: PG13

Pairing(s): Sesshoumaru/Kikyou

Genre(s): Romance, Angst, AU, Action

Warning(s): More battle scenes, some violence, fluff... What more can I say?

Disclaimer: None of the characters, except perhaps some, are mine. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.

Summary: Two years after ImotC, Sess is challenged to surpass an enemy in recovering a mysterious relic left behind by his mother. But can he protect Kikyou, who now carries his child, at the same time?

A/N: Our Tailwaggy couple rocks, yeah! Go read on! Note that I am no expert in warfare, so pardon me if the battlefield scenes are kinda crappy. I tend to avoid army clashings, but there's no way I can avoid that now... -.-

...o0o...

The silver-white of Sesshoumaru's knee-long tresses stood out from the dark background. The sudden dormancy of their enemies alarmed him slightly, for they were close to breaking clear of the old-growth forest and to the glum atmosphere of the Barren Wastes. Stern canyons, dark obsidian, rock surfaces as sharp as a blade edge...the Barren Wastes were clearly a sadistic trick of nature, a challenge they would now have to pass.

It was late afternoon, already five days since Kikyou and Rin encountered their first dragon, only hours more before Karatake breaks his seal...the third day he had spent apart from Kikyou. His precious mate is currently within the very vicinity of his late mother's domain, and in a few more hours she would receive from Suien herself a crucial weapon vital in defeating his uncle.

But of course, Sesshoumaru knew none of this, and he was constantly worrying that she had landed in the clutches of the evil minions. And just in case that happens, he was already thinking up of the gristliest, the most painful way with which he can send that Isamu to his doom...

"Are we not going to stop for a while, Lord Sesshoumaru?" Jaken asked. Now that Isamu had gone, the job of telling Sesshoumaru's orders to the deer youkai fell upon Jaken. The silver-haired taiyoukai was obviously very displeased with the dark-eyed Lord of the Deer Demons, and Isamu's men were clearly very afraid of him.

"Are we not youkai?" came Sesshoumaru's flat reply. He stepped forward, out of the shade of the great oak that sheltered his regal form. Sesshoumaru turned to face the forbidding dark landscape that now rose before them. "My father's battle with his past enemies were longer, even bloodier. Now tell them we are going!"

"Y-yes, Sesshoumaru-sama!" the froglike demon said, bowing clumsily and running off to repeat the order to the gathering of shikayoukai. The Deer Demons were masters of blending in with the forest background, and no human eye would have discovered the multitude of them hiding among the trees ready for ambush or to protect themselves against possible assault. Jaken had a difficult time making out their well-hidden forms to tell them the order.

Several shikayoukai in their true form emerged from the bushes upon hearing the order, and many more followed suit. Although they followed Sesshoumaru and obeyed his orders at the bidding of their Lord Isamu, they showed considerable reluctance now. Numerous eyes surveyed the rocky wastes of the region beyond the forest, and they refused to move forward until Sesshoumaru himself finally went back and addressed them.

"What is keeping you back?" he demanded more than asked, his annoyance so plain that his cold amber eyes could have started a fire. In the distance, a faint succession of roars could be heard.

Many of the Deer Demons cowered and drew back, but finally a brave one stepped forward and explained why they were reacting as such.

"We are creatures of the forest, Sesshoumaru-sama," the shikayoukai explained. "Once we step on that land, we would lose our ability to merge our forms with the surroundings, and our enemies will be able to spot us easily."

Sesshoumaru thought that it was nonsense, and he hated wasting precious time with these cowards.

"So?" the Demon Lord countered. "Your aura can give you away any time."

"Sesshoumaru-sama," the other demon said, trying in vain to convince the taiyoukai about the imminent danger they were going to face, "we have been successful in our combat partially because we can mask ourselves among vegetation. To enter such a barren land, tree-less and pure rock...we would lose this important asset and we might suffer losses this time-"

The silver-haired inuyoukai's eyes narrowed and he turned his back on the shikayoukai with a snort.

"It was a mistake to allow you to meddle in this war," his icy voice penetrated their ears. "I never should have trusted you. Well then, if you feel cowardly enough to turn back now, do so. I won't have any spineless swine getting in my way."

Sesshoumaru began to walk into the dark canyon, as though it all meant nothing to him. The Deer Demons glanced at each other with worried looks, but his final words served their purpose and soon they began to follow him, first individually, then in groups. Many of them felt it was folly to give up the protection of the forest, but they kept silent and yielded to the will of the inuyoukai.

Jaken lost no time in walking fast to keep in stride with his master.

"With just a few words," he said, looking up admiringly at the silver-haired greater demon, "you were able to make them submit to you. You are truly amazing, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru snorted, but he otherwise said nothing. The light began to fail and the shadows lengthened among the dark crevices of rock with the coming of sunset, but his sharp sense of sight made it easy for him to carry on even in the coming of twilight. He didn't even spare a look of interest at his surroundings, whilst Jaken and the shikayoukai following were regarding the rising rock walls about them with great suspicion.

Another great roar made the rock faces shiver. Sesshoumaru sensed them...they were massing at a single point in the Barren Wastes, and he knew that it is there where Karatake is sealed.

The mere thought of his cruel uncle was enough to make his pointed ears twitch. His mother's killer...a demon twisted by the dirty lust he had for his sister, and that sister was the Lady Suien herself...such combination of foul attributes made Sesshoumaru hate him all the more, even if he had never met Karatake...yet. To him, Karatake was a fool, and Sesshoumaru wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be not right in the head. What sensible person would fall for one's own sister?

He will not stain your dignity for much longer, Mother, Sesshoumaru thought. He will have to die for even daring to defile you...

...o0o...

The night was way advanced when Sesshoumaru finally made out the point of the Minetetsu. It was in the Peak of Iron where Suien sealed her brother a long time ago, and even a fool would know there was much activity going on around the place. Numerous fires were alight at the base of the dark monolith, which rose above the rest of the Barren Wastes like a lone finger.

Masses and masses of the undead minions, far more than they had ever seen, were clustered around the Minetetsu, so many that from their safe distance they can hear fragments of raucous conversations in the crude exchange of sounds they had for a language. If it had been a war of numbers, they would have been overwhelmed in an instant by the entire army of undead. But there was something else that further lessened the morale of Isamu's soldiers.

Clinging on to the sharp face of the vertical peak were two full-sized dragons. They were constantly snapping at each other with their sharp fangs and forked tongues, occasionally striking out with a clawed limb as the other tried to steal his position on the rock. By now the shikayoukai realized that the roars they have been hearing throughout the march came from the two dragons.

The Deer Clan was generally peaceful towards other youkai tribes, but at one time or another they made enemies with other clans over land disputes or some other reasons. The Dragons were long at strife with the inuyoukai, as well as with the shikayoukai for Ryuukossei's kindred were the traditional enemies of the Deer. The shikayoukai and the dragons had avoided conflict by staying away from each other, but it seems this uneasy peace will have to be broken soon.

They hid themselves in the shadows, keeping from the light of the sliver of moon and the stars which sparkled high above, uncaring about the troubles of the land. The night was unusually clear, and but it was cold in the canyons.

"How are we going to stand up against that many?" Jaken worriedly asked of Sesshoumaru, whose expression hadn't changed at all.

"We only need to destroy one person, and they will all crumble," Sesshoumaru answered, as though it was all that simple.

He surveyed the gathering of their enemies with a sharp eye, whilst thinking of what step he should take next. It might have been simple indeed, if he killed Karatake before he can emerge from the seal, but alas, the cunning bastard seemed to have employed the help of all his minions to make sure that they won't even come close to the Minetetsu. The two dragons, no doubt, were on the Peak of Iron to guard their master from any possible assault.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. If only he had known of his mother's plight earlier...he could have avoided all this. Why had no one told him? Why not Mizutori? Why not his father? Or perhaps, even the Inu no Taishou didn't know how Suien met her end...

Why weren't you there when we needed you, Father? Did you already have another woman then?

Sesshoumaru drove those bitter thoughts away. No use thinking of things that had long since passed. The wise thing to do was to put the time that had been given him into good use. He would not get anywhere asking why...he should start asking how.

"Do they appear to know that we are here?" the taiyoukai asked his retainer.

"If they did, milord, they do not appear to be troubled," came Jaken's answer, no less perturbed.

Sesshoumaru looked over his shoulder. Many pairs of jeweled eyes glittered out of the dark and looked back at him with anticipation. The shikayoukai had taken refuge among the crevices of the rock, awaiting his orders. They were clearly vulnerable out of the forest, but hopefully the battle will end soon.

"We attack at dawn," Sesshoumaru said softly. A freezing wind passed over the canyon, making an eerie wailing sound as it passed among hidden rock holes. A small amount of rock crumbled out of the face of a nearby rock wall, the debris falling as a shower down on the dry floor beneath.

Kikyou...I hope you're all right.

...o0o...

A sudden burst of light made the little company huddled in the middle of the misty limbo world cover their eyes. Isamu lead his companions the previous day in a great journey to nowhere, and they had not made any progress in finding Kikyou or the way out of the gloomy miasma.

The darkening of their surroundings was the only proof that it was nighttime, and they knew that it was useless to trek in the dead-looking land without light. They had no fire, and to keep warm they kept close to one another. Mizutori's feathers made a cozy mattress, but nothing could have banished Rin's hunger.

They had been going without food for the past days, but Umegae and Isamu could only shake their heads in despair. Yanagi was fine, for she still lived on her mother's milk. But how were they to survive for long in this formless wasteland? They may have escaped Karatake's minions, yet now they were stuck in this unknown dimension. They had only walked into another prison.

"What is happening?" Isamu asked no one in particular, shielding his eyes from the sudden brightness that engulfed them.

Umegae managed to squint through the whiteness, and she gasped to see a familiar figure walking towards them.

"Kikyou!" she exclaimed. Their other companions looked her way and true enough, the former priestess' form became more distinct as she drew closer. She looked extremely ethereal...a fallen angel, a bright torch illuminating the darkness.

The young demoness stood up and ran towards Kikyou, her arms outstretched. Kikyou appeared to be in a trance, and she did not notice Umegae until the warm embrace became the living proof that the Queen of the Shikayoukai was no apparition. Kikyou burst into tears then; the light that radiated from her disappeared, and they were back in the gloom again.

"Kikyou-sama, it's all right!" Isamu said, rushing towards the two females with Yanagi in his arms. Their surroundings were beginning to lighten, and he can dimly make out their forms in the darkness; it must be near daybreak. "We are here!"

Kikyou didn't answer. She was weeping, and Umegae was doing her best to comfort the young woman. She let her cry against her shoulder, and Umegae gently stroked Kikyou's raven hair. Her first worry was that Kikyou was injured or something happened to her unborn child, but as Umegae examined her in the dim light, Kikyou appeared to be all right aside from a couple of bruises and scratches.

"Rin missed you, Kikyou-sama!" Rin said, every bit as tearful as Kikyou, throwing herself in her foster mother's arms.

Kikyou hugged them all back wordlessly, but she kept on crying and she refused to meet their eyes. Finally, Umegae, running her hands over Kikyou's own, noticed that the former miko kept her right hand in a fist, as though clutching something. She tried to gently pry Kikyou's hand open, but Kikyou's fingers held firm.

"What are you holding, Kikyou?" she asked, trying to look into Kikyou's mahogany eyes.

Kikyou looked up then, and to their surprise, she was smiling amidst her tears. Her eyes searched for Mizutori, and seeing the heron-like demoness looking at her intently, she finally spoke.

"You were right," she said breathlessly, her clenched right hand moving over her heart.

Mizutori tilted her head and stepped closer to the former priestess to hear her better.

"What do you mean, Kikyou-sama?" she asked, perplexed. "I am right about what?"

"You were right about her," Kikyou replied, her voice no less intense, her message no less mysterious to her other companions but Mizutori. "You were right about the Tsukisawa..."

"What's the Tsukisawa?" Isamu tried to ask, but Mizutori's sapphire eyes showed understanding.

"Did you succeed, milady?" Mizutori asked, her conversation with the former priestess incomprehensible to Rin and the shikayoukai.

Kikyou, her right hand still pressed over her chest, bowed her head and whispered, "It... has been... done." She collapsed against Umegae, as though she had not the strength to keep herself on her feet.

"We need to get out of this place," Umegae said urgently, supporting Kikyou with her arms.

"How can we find our way back?" Isamu contradicted. "We must be in the middle of this wasteland now!"

Kikyou spoke again, her voice in a whisper, "The... shinidamachuu... will guide us."

"Shinidamachuu?"

As though to answer Isamu's question, a pair of soul-catching demons with violet eyes and armor-like plates on their heads appeared out of the mist and began to hover around them. At their appearance, Mizutori let out what looked like a half-gasp, half-sob, and she bowed her crested head. To their surprise, they saw beady tears forming on her sapphire eyes.

"Mizutori-sama!" Rin went up to the bird demon and cupped the heron's face in her hands.

"I am all right, little Rin-chan," Mizutori answered. Turning to Isamu and the others, she motioned them to get on her back. "We are going out of here."

They all got on Mizutori's downy back. Isamu and Umegae had given Kikyou her bow and quiver, and she bowed deeply to them expressing her thanks. They changed their sitting positions lest Kikyou slip down once again, with Rin at the very front, then Kikyou, afterwards Umegae and Yanagi. In the rear was Isamu, his naginata ready to combat any assault.

The purple-eyed soul-catchers stayed patiently until they made themselves comfortable. Confident that they were not secure, Mizutori nodded to the shinidamachuu, and they floated into the mist. Mizutori spread her wings and set off with a running start. In a few seconds, they were aloft, flying out of the fog and towards the cloudless lands.

...o0o...

The first rays of the sun had not even broken out of the misty horizon when Sesshoumaru ordered his legions to move forward in attack. He had put into considerations the natural terrain and the winding twists of the canyon when formulating his plan.

The Minetetsu was surrounded by a deep crevice which wound around the base of the peak like a noose. The only way to get past this crevice was by several land bridges on three different points, all leading to different places at the base of Minetetsu. Sesshoumaru had no intention of leading Isamu's troops within the shadow of the Peak of Iron. The rock would crumble under the combined masses of shikayoukai and undead minions.

But he needed to get the minions out of the way. The most reasonable alternative would be to lure them out of the Minetetsu. It would be easy to get those minions trapped in between the many tall rock walls ringing the Barren Wastes, and they could be dispatched by the bowmen of the shikayoukai whom he had positioned on the rock faces. Sesshoumaru knew that it was up to him to take care of the dragons, and after that, Karatake himself. If he was successful, he will be able to destroy his uncle even before he can break his seal.

Many times, Jaken had objected and tried to convince Sesshoumaru to leave the dragons to the shikayoukai, but Sesshoumaru would not waver in his decisions. Those deer demons would be no match to the dragons, and he had felt their fear towards their traditional enemy. No, the dragons were his, and there was no changing that.

They carried out their assault well enough, the renowned speed of the Deer Demons vital in the upcoming drama. They would come near the undead minions guarding all the possible land entryways to the Minetetsu and engage in close combat with the filthy beings, but the shikayoukai managed to withdraw quickly at Sesshoumaru's command. The minions took in the bait, and the great masses began to stampede out of the Peak of Iron like a whole colony of ants emerging out of the anthill.

So quickly did they stampede; so intent were they in pursuing the deer demons who hastily backed away, that many of their own kind were trampled underfoot or fell down the deep crags, pushed to their death by the rapidly shifting multitude. But Sesshoumaru's tactic did work; they were swarming out of the Minetetsu.

Then the unthinkable happened. The two dragons on the peak, previously eyeing the scene with utter boredom as though the demise of their comrades meant nothing to them, opened their mouths and a spurt of dirty yellow liquid spurted out of their throats. This liquid darted to several places where the shikayoukai legions merged with the undead minions, effectively inflicting numerous youkai from both sides indiscriminately with deep wounds as though a scored by a white-hot poker. The dragons were spurting out poison.

Sesshoumaru knew he had to do something quickly. Whipping out his Toukijin, he leaped up the air in flight and sent out blue energy from his sword, targeted at one of the dragons. The attention of the two large beings was diverted at once. Seeing the one person that they really desired to kill...the only son of their master's prime enemy, they began to fight in the earnest now.

Irrelevant bastards, Sesshoumaru thought to himself, effortlessly dodging the interplay of poison being spurted at him. Not that he would be affected by them; he found himself thanking his mother for giving him his immunity to poisons. Shifting his sword to his left hand, he summoned out his Dokkasou from hisright hand and canceled out the dirty yellow bands coming at him.

Out of a sudden, a voice emerged from the cold stone of the Minetetsu.

"Ah, my young nephew is here...I see you have inherited Dokkasou. Just wait a little bit longer, for I am close to being freed from your mother's hateful seal..."

Karatake, his uncle's name passed through Sesshoumaru's mind. In the horizon, red streaks began to mark the coming of sunrise. He had a few minutes to kill the dragons before the dawning of the seventh day marked the end of the centuries-old seal of Karatake...

Eventually, his quick scheming mind helped him benefit from the dragon's abilities instead of being harmed by them. He fought them as though taunting them, using his energy whip instead of Toukijin's kenatsu. They fought him with their poison, as though they haven't yet seen that he could not be affected by it.

Sesshoumaru would evade them, and the sprays of poison would fall on the undead minions, sending more of them into their doom. All this time, they refused to leave their post on the Minetetsu, and Sesshoumaru felt his patience wearing thin.

Finally, he did an intrepid feat that no other youkai living at present would have dared: he darted between the two snapping heads of the pair of dragons, and they promptly snapped at him, seeking to crush him in their baggy mouths.

Sesshoumaru carefully watched their every move, and he narrowly escaped their gaping fangs before one of the giant youkai ended up biting its companion in a death choke on the neck. The dragon died at once, the lumbering form making rocks crumble beneath its weight. It carried many minions with it as it fell on the dark crevice to be one with the many dead corpses down below.

Only one more to go...

Now was the time for Toukijin. Summoning back his poison whip, Sesshoumaru transferred the sword back to his dominant hand and held it before him.

"Souryuuha!"

The attack of blue lightning-like energy wrenched the dragon from its hold on the Minetetsu, but it was not quite dead yet. Truly angry now, the dragon rose to its full height and swiped at Sesshoumaru. He flew higher up in the sky, and the monster followed him up in flight. Sending a few more bursts of energy from his sword, he was able to cut several deep wounds on the dragon's tough hide.

The spiked tail lashed out at him, narrowly missing his torso. At once, Sesshoumaru could not help but remember a flash of memory from his younger years...he and his father on a snow-covered beach...his father with his back to him, facing a full moon, a still-bleeding wound making blood drip down on the fresh snow... (1)

It was after Inu no Taishou's battle with Ryuukossei, after the dragon seriously wounded his father...just before Inuyasha was born...

You are not my purpose for coming here!

His fury unleashed, Sesshoumaru bore down upon the dragon, slicing through the larger demon. The dragon was divided in half, its black blood raining down the flurry of shikayoukai and undead minions running to escape being crushed beneath the corpse.

Sesshoumaru stepped down for a moment on a rock pinnacle. Then, his eyes widened in alarm at the brightness that broke out from the horizon. A maniacal laugh broke through the thin air.

He turned hastily, cursing himself for stopping even a moment, but the Minetetsu was already being rocked by tremors from within. Near its base, a protrusion on the dark obsidian was changing shape, twisting and writhing...assuming a more human form.

"You are too late, Sesshoumaru! You may be valiant, BUT YOU ARE TOO LATE!"

...o0o...

Additional story notes:

1) A flash of memory from his younger years - this scene is shown in the beginning of Movie 3: Tenka Hadou no Ken


Yay, we're finally in /real/ battle! Final judgment is coming! ;P

Eruanne: Oh Eru darling! I finally got to hear from you! I really missed your encouraging words!

Lady Fabmel: I have another story in mind after TUSotM, but I haven't started it so far... I am also thinking of writing a SessKiku one-shot (a reverse IMotC, in some points), but I am not sure about that either.

WingedChunsa: There will be another great use to that hair stick in the next chapter or two. ;P

Cold Kikyo: I really wish that the relationship of most in-laws is like that of Kiky and Suien...

Azn kawaii kikyo the devil: Thank you/huggles/

Mannequin: I /love/ writing scenes about Inupapa and Suien! I wish I can write more of them... -.-

Gossamer Wind: I like Izayoi too, but I show preference towards my own character. :P

The East Wind Melts the Ice: It would be a happy reunion, indeed. ;P