"It's just you and I, brother," Sesshoumaru said. "Another fight to the death. One that will play out differently than our first, assuredly."
"You only wish, Sesshoumaru," InuYasha growled. The Tetsusaiga pulsed in his hand. He crouched, then sprang, swiping out. Sesshoumaru dodged easily.
"Was that aimed at me?" he asked mildly. InuYasha struck out again. The blow skimmed the demon's boa, trimming a few inches of the fur off. Sesshoumaru hissed angrily. "Poison Flower Claws!"
InuYasha ducked away form the green claw attack. Sesshoumaru struck the ground. The soil turned a sick shade of green. While his brother was distracted briefly, InuYasha struck, slicing at his back. He was about to cleave the youkai in two when Sesshoumaru heard the blade sing through the air. He escaped with a long, deep scratch.
"Why are you running?" InuYasha asked. He ran forward, Tetsusaiga ready. "Are you afraid of your little brother?"
Sesshoumaru smirked, swiping out with his green claws again. InuYasha snapped his head back, barely avoiding the attack.
;-:-;-:-;
"InuYami!" Tsugaru whispered, shaking his sister's shoulder. "Wake up!...Please! Wake up!...I'm scared...whenever I'm scared, you're always there to make it better...Wake up!" He started to cry. His sister made no response; only her chest moved as she breathed, fast and shallow.
;-:-;-:-;
Kagome fired another arrow off at the barrier. It pinged off, coming to rest at her feet along with half of the quiverful. The woman strung another arrow to her bow and fired. It met the same fate as the rest. Angrily, she fitted a third, and a fourth. When she had emptied her quiver, Kagome scooped the arrows up again and kept firing.
"Kagome, give it up!" Shippou told her. "You're not going to break it with arrows. This is the third time you've gone through your quiver, and if you keep going, you'll damage your arrows!"
"I will break it!" Kagome snapped back, firing again. "I'll break it if it's the last thing I do! You watch, Shippou!"
Sango sighed and shook her head. "Maternal instincts can make a person crazy," she murmured. "Which is partly why I've decided to not have children."
Miroku turned his head to the side, apparently trying to hide the look of disappointment on his face. Shippou leaned back against Kilala's flank. The demon cat licked his head as if to say, We will find a way.
;-:-;-:-;
InuYasha growled low and lunged. Sesshoumaru ducked back, weaving under him. The hanyou smiled grimly and slashed down. It was what he had been waiting for. The slice made contact with the demon's arm, almost severing it and rendering it unusable. Sesshoumaru grunted. He grabbed the useless limb and tore it off himself. "Clever trick, brother."
"I'm full of 'em," InuYasha replied. He slashed out. Sesshoumaru dodged again.
"Come, now. Surely you can do better than that!"
InuYasha leapt back, calculating carefully. He wasn't going to fall for Sesshoumaru's taunts and make a mistake. Not with his children's lives on the line. He needed a plan...something bold. Something so unbelievable, Sesshoumaru would never know what hit him. Something fast...something like...
Ting! The sound of an arrow ricocheting off of the barrier gave him an idea. Tetsusaiga had shattered the wall once before. Why couldn't it do it again? He just hoped that Kagome was keeping a steady aim on Sesshoumaru. Everything depended on her hitting him. Not killing him, but distracting him. In an act of faith, InuYasha slammed the hilt of his sword into the wall behind him.
;-:-;-:-;
Kagome heard the barrier shatter. She knew she only had one chance. She lifted her bow and released the arrow, praying that it would hit its mark.
;-:-;-:-;
InuYasha snarled as the arrow hissed into the back of his left arm. He tugged the arrow out. His white dog ears tuned into the sound of the barrier reforming itself. He slammed Tetsusaiga again. "Not me!" he shouted.
;-:-;-:-;
Kagome strung another arrow. Wrong mark. She aimed a little more carefully this time. Not for Sesshoumaru's heart. InuYasha would receive the sole pleasure of slaying his treacherous half brother. She released the arrow, and it found its mark in the youkai's knee.
;-:-;-:-;
Sesshoumaru hissed softly. He turned his attention briefly to the new pain: an arrow wound. Tugging the shaft, he found it stuck in the joint of his knee. Now his leg was useless. Things were not going well. He looked up in time to see InuYasha race towards him, Tetsusaiga ready. With a swift yank, the arrow came loose, but the tendons were too damaged to allow full motion.
He only had one chance. Sesshoumaru groped for the life-cord. If he could manage to grab it, no one could harm him. No one would dare. The youkai struggled to focus not on the approaching InuYasha, but on the dropped life. Where was it? Where?
;-:-;-:-;
Tsugaru had it. He had reeled in the thin life and was holding onto it with white-knuckled hands.
;-:-;-:-;
Sesshoumaru spotted it and plunged his claws into the ground. He started to drag himself towards the two children. He gritted his teeth. "Come now, boy...give your Uncle Sesshoumaru what you've got," he murmured. "Give it back." He was making progress, slowly and steadily. Tsugaru panicked and dropped the cord.
In that instant, Sesshoumaru grabbed it!
InuYasha froze. Sesshoumaru held the cord up triumphantly. "You see, brother? I always win...Maybe if you were a full demon, you would have had a chance. Now...just back away..."
But InuYasha's mind had hatched a desperate plan. He held Tetsusaiga high above his head. "Kaze no Kizu!" he cried, and slashed the air. The claws of energy struck Sesshoumaru full on, slicing him in half. He laughed.
"Too late...I already have her..."
All around the dying youkai, the pits of hell opened up. The demons screeched and laid hands on Sesshoumaru, dragging him down. Tsugaru screamed. InuYami's body was being dragged with him. InuYasha dashed forward and sliced the life-cord. Sesshoumaru howled his rage and slowly...vanished.
The barrier collapsed with the sound of a wine glass being dropped. Kilala's roar rent the air as she raced in, paws and tails flaming. InuYasha dropped Tetsusaiga. He ran to his daughter's side, lifting her gently.
"InuYami..." he whispered softly. Kagome crouched beside him, bow in one hand. "InuYami..."
The daughter of Kagome, InuYasha, and Sesshoumaru coughed. The spasms racked her small body, almost destructively. Her fit subsided slowly, and breath rasped in her throat. She opened a golden eye slowly. "D...Dad..."
"Yes," InuYasha murmured, holding her close. "Yes...It's all right, Yami. It's all right."
"No," InuYami rasped. She struggled to free herself from the embrace. "It's not all right, Dad...I messed everything up. I...I put everyone in danger...I—"
"Don't try to talk," Kagome urged gently. "Save your strength."
"I have to say it now...'cause I don't know if I'm gonna...die or not..." InuYami struggled to open both eyes and focus them on her parents' faces. "I'm...sorry. I went into the attic...and I stole the band...Ms. Sango told me to get rid of it...and I tried." She sighed softly. "But then I saw Uncle Sesshoumaru, and he...he made me think you guys were the evil ones..."
"InuYami, you're allowed to make mistakes," InuYasha soothed. "Everyone is."
"But mine was bad...He would've killed...all of you...You guys...Tusgaru...Shippou...Mr. Miroku and Ms. Sango...Kilala...everyone in the world...I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Yami," Kagome whispered, stroking the soft white hair from her daughter's face. "We forgive you. He's gone now...you don't have to worry about him. He was just a bad dream...just go back to sleep and keep on dreaming..."
InuYami's eyes filled with tears. Suddenly she grabbed her father's robe and shrieked, "Daddy...I DON'T WANNA DIE!" She buried her face in his chest and sobbed. She dropped her facade in that instant. For so long she had pretended to be an adult, for so long she had denied her childish wants and fears. Now that she was faced with the ultimate terror, there was no maintaining her mask. She cried like the frightened child she was. Cried until she had no tears left. Her parents soothed her as best as they could. Finally, her sobs calmed into tiny whimpers, and then to soft breaths. InuYasha stood up.
"You won't die," he promised. "Not if I can do anything about it."
Kagome cradled Tsugaru in her arms. "You were brave," she praised. "You were willing to risk your life for InuYami's. I'm proud of you, Tsugaru. You could be a brave warrior like your father."
"I don't wanna," Tsugaru muttered. "I don't wanna fight anyone. I don't wanna kill anyone. I'm too scared. Let InuYami be the brave one. I'll be the one who watches and tells her how good she did."
Kagome smiled at her gentle son. He clung to her tightly, eyes squeezed shut. He shuddered, as if the mere thought of fighting and killing was enough to scare him. "Come on, let's go home and get you cleaned up," she said. "And we can get your sister in bed..." She looked up at InuYasha. The hanyou was still focused on his daughter's face, biting his lip. "I...InuYasha...?"
He looked up. There was something more to his expression than met the eyes, Kagome was sure. He looked...almost hopeful. He nodded. "Let's go back. All of us."
He bent down and sheathed Tetsusaiga without setting InuYami down. His fingers reached up and gently touched his ears, then down to touch InuYami's. The ghost of a smile crossed his face. He ran a claw softly along her red robe, so much like his own. He nodded to himself. He stroked her silvery hair and moved a stray lock from her face. The hanyou stood there, eyes focused on the child in his arms. She had Sesshoumaru's demon blood...but she was his daughter.