Part III: Cut to the Chase (1)
1.
It is the fire that lights itself
But it burns with a restless flame
The arrow on a moving target
The archer must be sure of his aim…
-Rush, "Cut to the Chase", stanza 1
Sango lay quietly against Miroku's robes. Houshi-sama…she thought to herself. Why did you leave me? I still need you! In the silence of her room, she let herself cry until she was so weak that she drifted off to sleep.
Sango awoke later to the still darkness of the night. Slowly she rose up out of her futon. Her clothes were still damp, and she shivered in the cool air. Clutching her arms close to her chest, she moved outside onto the small porch.
"What's wrong?" came a small voice from behind her. Startled, Sango whirled around to face the danger, seeing that it was only Shippou.
"Oh, Shippou, it's really nothing. You should get some rest," Sango said, sighing and looking up into the stars.
"Sango?" Shippou said curiously, sitting on the porch and letting his small legs dangle over the edge. "Are you worried that Miroku won't make it to the Afterlife?"
Sango smiled at the thought, even though that wasn't exactly what she was thinking. "No, Shippou-chan. Not at all. He'll get there," she told the small demon reassuringly.
"Okay," Shippou replied, looking over the edge of the porch again. "But then what are you worried about?"
Sango sighed again and looked down at the little kitsune. "I'm sure my worries are smaller than your own, little youkai," she told him, smiling a bit.
"I don't know about that," the demon replied, grinning, and then becoming serious again. "What's worrying you, really?"
Sango glanced at the demon-child. Nothing got past him, did it? Slowly, she sat beside him, and told him what Miroku had said to her, how she blamed herself for his death, and what he had told her in her unconscious state. Shippou listened to all she said with unwavering patience and, by the time she had finished, Sango's tears dotted the wooden plank floor of the porch.
"Don't worry, Sango. It'll be all right," Shippou said, soothingly. Then he yawned. "I'm gonna go to sleep. Oyasumi, Sango." The little demon rose and left Sango to herself.
Sango stared up at the sky, sparkling with stars. Again, a small tear fell from her eye. Then, without a second thought, she drifted off to sleep.
2.
It is the engine that drives itself
But it chooses the uphill climb
A bearing on magnetic north
Growing farther away all the time
Can't stop…moving…
Can't stop…moving…
Can't stop
-Rush, "Cut to the Chase", stanza 2
Sango awoke the next morning, leaning against a support pole for the hut she and the rest of the Inu-ikkou resided in. Rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes, she brought back the memories of the night before. Reverently, she laid a hand over Miroku's shards and, as if he had given her some sort of direction, suddenly knew what she had to do. Clamping her hand tightly around the shards, she dashed inside, grabbed her Hiraikotsu, called Kirara, and started her journey to Naraku's castle… and, perhaps, one final battle…
"Kaede! Kaede!" Shippou called, running toward the old woman. "Sango's gone!"
"Gone?" Kaede asked, confused. "What is it ye mean, Shippou?"
"She left! She went somewhere, and left this note!" He waved a piece of paper in front of the woman's face.
Kaede snatched the note out of the small demon's hand and read it.
Inu-yasha and others,
Thank you graciously for your hospitality. I greatly appreciate it. Kagome, do not be angry when you find the rest of your shards missing. I took them with me. I plan to defeat Naraku, and wish Houshi-sama back to life. Thank you, once again.
With all my heart,
Sango
Kaede's eyes widened as she read the note. She looked at the small demon. "Go get Inu-yasha and the others. We need to follow Sango."
Sango rode through the mountains on Kirara's back, wind whipping her hair around behind her. As she neared Naraku's castle, the familiar demonic aura hit her with fierceness that could not be described with words. Remembering their last encounter with the powerful Hanyou, she placed her mask over her face and secured it behind her neck. Carefully, she guided Kirara to land on a small cliff close to Naraku's barrier.
She slid off the fire-cat's back and pulled out the vial of Kagome's jewel shards, plus the two she had taken from Miroku. "For you, Houshi-sama," she murmured, carefully making two small cuts in her wrists and inserting two jewel shards each, and then placing Housi-sama's in two cuts on her shoulders. Ready to kill Naraku, she ventured bravely down the mountain.
Gensai sat in Naraku's dining room, sipping tea. "So, Naraku," he said, setting his teacup down. "You desire my help in bringing down these two dog demons you claim are, hmm, how did you put it? 'A threat to your existence?' How can a weak dog demon and a few humans stand up to a Hanyou as strong as you, might I ask?"
Naraku grabbed Gensai by the collar of his haori, twisting gently. "Say that word one more time, half-breed, and I swear, I will kill you." He dropped Gensai to the floor and stood, facing out his window. "I'm not requesting your help, I'm ordering you to kill him, for to save your own life, because if you fail, I personally will kill you." He looked behind him at the half-demon on the floor who was laughing evilly.
"Ah, to be killed by the great Naraku. What an honor!" He laughed harder. "Is that your pathetic attempt at a threat?"
"No, it was not a threat." Naraku stalked over to the half-demon, picked him off the floor as if he were nothing, and threw him through several sets of walls. Gensai skidded to a stop outside of the castle. "It's a promise."
3.
You may be right
It's all a waste of time
I guess that's just a chance I'm prepared to take
A danger I'm prepared to face
Cut to the Chase
-Rush, "Cut to the Chase", stanza 3
Inu-yasha dashed through the forest at early dawn, Kagome holding tightly to his back. "C'mon, Inu-yasha! Can't you go any faster?" Kagome said, Leaning close to his neck.
"No, I can't!" he spat in return. "You're not so light!"
"Don't complain!" Kagome said in return.
Shippou watched the two bickering from above, floating in his puffball form. He focused ahead and a purple-colored dome caught his eye. "I see it! It's right up there," he called down to Inu-yasha and Kagome. "I just hope we get there in time…"
Sango stood at the base of the barrier, waiting for her chance. She gingerly touched her healed wounds, feeling the warmth of the purified jewels. "Please, please work. Otherwise, I don't have a chance in hell of destroying Naraku…" She took a deep breath and, as carefully as was possible, she ventured through the barrier…
Shippou, Inu-yasha, and Kagome met up on the cliff where Kirara was waiting for her mistress. "Great," Inu-yasha said, spitting on the ground. "She's already gone in."
"Damn," Kagome said quietly. "That means we're going to have to go in."
"Yeah? Are you ready to die today?" Inu-yasha asked the girl, clearly fed up.
"Inu-yasha?" Kagome said, semi-calm. "Sit, boy!"
"Ow……" came the strangled voice from a three-foot-deep hole.
"Now, I know your Tetsusaiga was sucked into Miroku's Kanzanna, but we have to help Sango! Otherwise, she's going to die!"
"I hate to say it, Inu-yasha, but Kagome's right. We have to help Sango!" Shippou said, reverting to his small kitsune form.
"Awright, I guess I have no choice. But let's not be too snippy about it later," Inu-yasha said, starting down the path Sango had taken to get to Naraku's castle. Giving the little demon a high-five, Kagome followed after, determined to help her friend.
Sango stepped through the wreckage caused by Naraku throwing Gensai through the walls. She looked around, her hands ready on her weapons. "Where are you, Naraku! Come on out and fight like the coward you are!"
"Hahaha," came the deep laugh, and then…
A bright light seared through her left shoulder, ousting one of Miroku's shards. A man landed before her, with long brown hair and a painted on kabuki mask. "You're…" Sango began, but words failed her as the pain of the hit caught up with her. She fell to her knees.
"Gensai, yes," the man said, bending down to pick up the jewel shard on the ground. He squeezed it in his palm, and it disappeared. "So tell me. Are you Sango, the Taiji-ya that the dead monk so passionately loved?"
"I will tell you nothing, you foul creature," Sango replied spitefully. The man laughed, and the pain in her shoulder came back with a vengeance. She tried to scream, but it came out as a nearly silent squeak. It's something about his laugh, she thought to herself, that triggers the pain.
"I can see in your eyes," the man said, lifting her face so he could see into her brown eyes. "You are the girl. You should have been there when I threatened you in front of him. The look of hatred on his face for me…" he giggled a bit, and a dull ache coincided with the giggle in Sango's shoulder. "…it was priceless."
Sango clenched her teeth to avoid screaming as the man laughed. "So now," the man said, standing and walking away. "You're here to try to kill Naraku and get the jewel shards so that you can bring the monk back to life, am I right?"
Seeing her chance as the man's back was to her, Sango stood gingerly, drew her wrist daggers, and swiped at the man. "You forgot one thing, Gensai," she said, skidding to a stop, "I may be human, but five jewel shards will give me the strength of a demon."
"Damn you," Gensai said. "I will leave you to your business with Naraku. But you and I… we will meet again, I promise you." With those words, Gensai disappeared in a whirlwind of dust.
Sango heard footsteps running up behind her. Expecting it to be Gensai, she turned quickly and whipped up her defenses. However, to her greatest relief, it was only Kagome, Inu-yasha, and Shippou. "You… you came," she said, fainting into Kagome's outstretched arms.
"Inu-yasha," Kagome said, "Go get my medicine box from back by Kirara, will you?"
"Sure," Inu-yasha replied, jetting off to get the supplies.
Kagome looked down at the wound in Sango's shoulder. "Please, Sango… please hang in there…"
Sango awoke in a garden, lying on a bench. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Looking across the garden, she saw a figure clad in deep purple and ebony robes with black hair tending to the roses. "Houshi-sama?" she said inquisitively, standing and craning her neck, trying to get a better look.
The figure looked up and she saw her life reflected in those deep purple eyes. She smiled and felt tears of joy and love fill her eyes. "Oh, Houshi-sama! I thought I'd never see you again!"
The monk smiled in return and stretched out his arms to greet her in a warm hug. "Oh, Sango… Kami knows how long I have waited for this," he told her as she rushed into his waiting arms. "But why are you here?"
"I don't know, Houshi-sama…I don't care! All that matters at this moment is that I'm with you." She snuggled against his chest, feeling the muscles underneath the robes flex as he released her and held her away from him.
"Sango, you don't understand! This is the land of the dead!" He said, gripping her shoulders tightly as tears filled his eyes. "That means that you're…" he nearly choked on the words, but recovered. "You're dead, Sango."
Sango shook her head and backed away from Miroku. "No…" it came out as a small squeak. "No! It's… it's not possible!" Sango backed further away. "I know what you're up to! You're Gensai, playing some trick, trying to stop me from saving Miroku! Well, I'm not falling for it!"
"Sango, stop that," Miroku took a step toward her. He looked below her feet and saw that they were standing on a cliff. As he reached out to grab her to stop her from falling off, she twisted away and, in the process, lost her balance. Miroku's hand closed on air and he watched, helpless, as his Sango plummeted over the edge.
"NO! SANGO!" he yelled, and, without thinking, he threw himself off the edge after her.
Author's notes: Hey there again! It's me…… I know I said there would be nine chapters to this part (And there still will be), but it got to long to put on one part of the disk. So I split it up into two parts. Yeah. So anyway…… SKIT TIME!
Gina: (Completely exasperated) Can't you guys give me one minute ALONE!
Miroku: Not really. After all, you smell sooooo good……… (Caresses her behind)
Gina: (Angry) YOU HENTAI! (Smnacks him a good one) NOW GO AWAY!