Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

A/N: There's a tissue warning for this chapter since it's not exactly a happy one but it has its purpose for future developments.

Chapter Seventy-three: The lucky ones

Kagome ran the back of her hand over her forehead to wipe away the patina of sweat that beaded it and leaned over one of the many bags she kept in the closet.

There had been a severe case of poisoning in the village and she had spent the whole day looking after the man, who still showed no signs of improvement. Everything she had done so far had been ineffective and neither she nor her apprentice — both plant experts — had been able to figure out what had caused it. Asking the man himself had been impossible as the high fever prevented him from being lucid, and his wife had only been able to say that he had felt ill shortly after returning from the village where he had been working. Then she remembered that miraculous plant that had always saved her in similar cases and had proved infallible every time, but she was having difficulty locating it. The usual luck! A man could die and she had run out of that herb without realising it and had not stocked up. She was usually very organised and something like this had never happened to her, but since she had not been present for weeks and others had drawn on her stash while she was away, out of necessity, she should have expected something like this to happen.

"Damn," she screamed, giving voice to her nervousness. She ran a hand through her sweat-soaked hair and tried to regain control by concentrating on her breathing, but it was of little use. "OK, calm down, Kagome; you can still find a solution." Too bad that fate seemed to mock her: that grass grew in a place that Inuyasha always said was dangerous to humans and he had always refused to let her go alone or take her with him. Normally, it was his job to get it for her, but he was still in the West; waiting for him, then, was out of the question because the man would be dead before he returned.

As she pondered the issue, her youngest son, summoned by the unusual shouting, appeared in the little closet. "Hey, Ma, everything is okay?"

"Yes, Toga, don't worry," she replied without even lifting her face from one of the many jars she was fiddling with. Then she huffed and wiped her forehead again — that room was too humid and her mood didn't help. "No, nothing is going well," she finally exclaimed, frustrated. "A man is dying, nothing I have done has helped and I've run of out the last solution." She lifted a small wooden container she had just found, and removing the lid, she was not surprised to find it empty.

The boy approached her and crouched down beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder; by now, they were the same height and he would soon surpass her as his brother already did. She immediately recognised the missing herb because, from an early age, their mother had tried to teach them everything she knew. "Don't worry too much; Muteki and I will go."

Her eyes snapped to him. "No! It's too dangerous."

"Do you want Susumu-san to die?" He asked her, even though he knew he was using a technique that was as cowardly as it gets: playing on guilt. "Isn't he the one who had his first child less than a year ago?"

Her hands trembled as she looked away from her son and took deep breaths. "It's dangerous," she repeated with less conviction, knowing that she didn't actually have many choices. If she prevented her children from going, it would be as if she had killed the man herself, and she would not be able to live with that sin during her long existence. Being a priestess also involved making such choices, and in addition, she had to have faith in her sons' abilities.

"Be careful," she whispered finally. "I will ask Kichiro and Osamu to accompany-"

"No!" the boy interrupted her. "It is better if they stay with you."

"Toga, I will stay in the village safely; you will need them more."

"What would Dad think if he knew we left you completely alone? No!"

"Your father wouldn't even want you in such a place without defence," she contradicted him.

"Please, Ma. Don't you have some faith in us?" He looked at her with a sad expression and a pout similar to Inuyasha's, trying to play it that way. "After all, you trained us too, didn't you? You know we can defend ourselves."

Kagome clenched her fists, inwardly struggling, but the look her son kept giving her finally got the better of her conscience. "Take my bow — no, don't fight me — and prepare some sutras as well before you leave. The sun is still high; go now. I want you home before it has disappeared over the hill."

"It will be all right, Ma; you'll see," Toga told her, leaping to his feet, happy. "We'll be back soon and Susumu-san will be fine." He hugged her and then before he left, he shouted, "Be careful and let Shippo help you!"

As if knowing about her children in a dangerous and helpless place could really allow her to concentrate on anything other than her heavy heart. But she had to pull herself together; she would have to keep the young man alive until her children returned.

The two brothers arrived at the site, remembering their father's directions and those their mother had given them before they left. They immediately spotted the small mountain on which the medicinal plant was growing. The clearing where it stood was particularly bare, and other types of wild weeds — but of no medical use — were growing all over the place. They were so tall that they reached their ankles and beyond.

They walked keeping their senses alert, not at all willing to be victims of an accident or carelessness, and soon before they even reached their goal, they encountered a patch of scorched ground. Looking around, they spotted others, and from the smoke that still hovered around some of them, plus the prevailing smells, they realised that not only had there recently been a fight but someone had also been killed.

"They might still be nearby," whispered Muteki. "The whole thing seems too fresh for them to be really far away. We picked just the right time to come here."

His brother nodded. "Let's hurry up and get back. Even if it weren't for who has been looking for trouble around here, I don't think Susumu-san will last much longer." That said, he took a leap and landed right in front of the base of the mountain. He had just started climbing, not even waiting for Muteki behind him, when the latter's cry reached his ears and, a moment later, he found himself on the ground with the older one's body covering him.

He made to free himself, not understanding what was happening but froze as he heard, simultaneously, several sounds: Muteki hissing in pain, a laugh echoing in the no longer empty clearing, and a hoarse, sarcastic voice.

"Well, well," he heard, "we forgot someone, my friends. These half-demons have come in time for us to free them from a life of suffering and mockery."

Toga looked up to meet purple eyes full of contempt, and then turning, he saw that Muteki was holding his arm, which now sported a bloody wound.

It didn't take him long to take stock of the situation as the smells were the same as those they had smelt just before; those demons were the very ones they had tried to avoid. It had not taken them long to notice them.

The one who had spoken so far was the tallest of the three, smartly dressed and equipped with two swords and three daggers attached to his waist. His sand-coloured hair fell down his angular face, at times covering his eyes and even his lips protruding in a grimace that revealed his short fangs. He had a demeanour meant to convey superiority and importance, but walking around with two stocky lackeys who were rather barbaric in appearance definitely spoiled the image he wanted to give of himself.

They were undoubtedly facing one of those beings who tried to prove their supremacy by attacking the weaker, probably because they had never managed to do more. In short, he was pathetic.

"Let me guess," the voice continued as the two brothers got to their feet. "Of the two, he's the older one, isn't he?" He sneered. "I could tell right away by the way he threw himself at you to protect you. How cute. Don't you think so too?" He asked his companions, turning towards them. "Too bad this act of courage on his part only postponed your end a little."

Toga's golden eyes sent daggers and he clenched his fists, trying to control himself as he slowly began to realise who exactly had been the victims of those buffoons.

"Why on earth would you want to kill us?" asked Muteki, his voice apparently quiet, probably coming to the same conclusion. "Do you perhaps hold some sort of precedence over this uninhabited place?"

In reply, the leader of the three burst out laughing. "Precedence? As if I would ever care to live in this filthy place. But I guess you half-breeds have to make do, right? There is no place for you, nor a person who could ever accept you, so you seek refuge around here. You're all the same. Just like those whiners we took out just now."

"Their parents didn't want them either," one of the two in the back snickered. "They were just a bunch of squealing brats."

"Yeah, they were probably abandoned too," the second one agreed.

"One moment," the leader blocked them, raising a hand. "These here are too well dressed to be runaways. You are clean and armed," he commented, observing them well. "Where did you get those bows?"

Neither of them answered.

"Ah, that hair and those looks; so ardent, so full of hatred. Did I say something to upset you? Oh, no, you are not like those we killed,' he continued, scratching his chin, and suddenly an evil grin replaced the grimace on his lips. "Only one race has those colours, one that is now almost extinct. You won't tell me that...?" He burst out laughing and then began sniffling frantically before laughing louder. "I can't believe it! I just can't believe this stroke of luck! I have to thank you guys for crossing our path; I've been wanting to get revenge on that half-demon who got away from me years and years ago. You are his children, am I right?" His eyes twinkled as he turned towards his two henchmen.

Meanwhile, Toga kept gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as Muteki tried to get him to stay calm — which was easier said than done.

"These two aren't even half-demons," he exclaimed happily. "What, has your father raped some poor girl more than once? Because there is not a single person who would lay even once with such a vile being."

"What are they?" exclaimed one of his companions with a dumbfounded expression.

"There isn't even a name to refer to beings like them. More human than demon," he shuddered as he said it. "You know, years ago I came very close to killing your father; I sought him out because I wanted to have the joy of saying that it was I who had killed the late Inu-no-Taisho's hanyou son. When he escaped me, I was sure he would soon kick the bucket; after all, an ankle-biter like him left to his own devices, how could he survive?"

"Are you so pathetic and useless that to seek a modicum of personal satisfaction you take it out on children?" Toga finally formulated his thoughts verbally. "What is it? Do the older ones scare you? Are you not strong enough to confront someone of your own race?" He knew he had struck a nerve when the demon answered him with a look equally full of hatred and contempt.

"I am simply ridding the world of unwanted and useless beings; I am doing everyone a favour," he growled.

"That's what you say to justify your weakness," retorted Toga, who immediately leapt back to avoid the attack that had just been thrown at him with claws — the same one that had aimed for his head when he had been on the verge of climbing.

"Damn it!" Muteki hissed beside him. "Do you want to make it worse?"

"Oh, there's the big brother once again, trying to protect the little one. He's always been like that, hasn't he? Just the opposite of your father and his half-brother. I came to learn that he wasn't dead precisely because there were rumours about how Sesshomaru-sama was dying to be the one to kill his father's little sin." He snickered once more and then spoke to his two companions, "How famous will I become if word gets out that I managed to kill these two pups, surpassing even Inu-no-Taisho?"

The two giggled like idiots in response.

"That's enough," he ordered when he had enough of their laughter. "I have grown tired of the chatter. Do you have anything to say before you meet your grandfather in that place where human lovers end up?"

At the same moment, Muteki nocked an arrow, and Toga lost his temper. Irritated by the two snickering lackeys and that pathetic demon who kept provoking them — and at the same time unable to keep calm like his brother — he decided he would attack before either of them could draw their swords.

"Sankon Tessou," he shouted, swinging his claws and narrowly missing the chest of the henchman on the right. The demon, a short, fat boar who gave the impression of having a rather small brain, began to flail and scream in pain as purple flames lapped at his arm, slowly burning it. His companion, who was as intelligent as he was, thought well to help him and touch his wound, then began to scream in turn.

"I just missed him," Toga hissed, not happy with the result, let alone the screaming. He had wanted to kill him at the first blow. A moment later, Muteki resolved this by shooting two arrows, one after the other, and aiming at the boars' hearts, ending their lives without them really having a chance to defend themselves.

The leader's expression betrayed surprise and fear for a moment, but he quickly recomposed himself, returning to his mask of rage. He narrowed his eyes and drew a dagger from the belt around his waist and threw it in Muteki's direction; he wanted to get rid of the elder who, of the two, was certainly the more dangerous because he could keep his cool. The young man dodged it by a hair's breadth, still being lightly wounded in the leg; the dagger stuck in the scorched ground behind him.

"You bastards! What on earth are you?" he shouted in fury. "Do you have any idea what you have done?" He threw a second and a third dagger with a precision that rivalled their own — it was evidently a well-thought-out move — but this time, the two brothers were ready and easily erected a barrier in front of them, which worked perfectly to protect them from the demonic weapon.

"How are you endowed with spiritual power? How? It is not possible! You have demon blood in your veins!"

"Be careful," whispered Muteki, although he was aware that their opponent was probably able to hear him. "Those two we eliminated posed no threat; he's probably the one who killed everyone."

"Oh, you're not as stupid as you look then," he addressed Muteki, laughing openly. "You are right to be afraid because I will soon kill both you and your brother and throw your disfigured bodies in front of the castle walls to the West. I have heard that even proud old Sesshomaru has gone mad in recent years and accepted his half-blood brother and taken a human as a mate." He spat on the ground, disgusted. "Your family's must be a real disease; best to eradicate it as soon as possible. No matter how strong your ancestors were, the moment you join with inferior beings and produce beasts, you become scum just the same."

Toga lashed out with another attack, driven by anger, but the demon easily avoided it because it was aimless. "Damn it, not let him provoke you; that is what he wants," Muteki reiterated.

"I would listen to your big brother. Even if it doesn't make that much difference. I will kill him first and then have more fun with you. He doesn't seem so nice; too stoic and calm. You, on the other hand, remind me so much of your daddy. If you knew how furious he was to hear me talk about his dear, poor mommy." He laughed out loud. "But first, I want to know how you were able to use those attacks," he ordered, narrowing his eyes. "If you won't tell me, I have no problem getting it out of your mouth by force."

"And you think you can?" It was Muteki who had spoken this time. "We are in the majority here and with one arrow, you could end up like your comrades. Our spiritual power exceeds even that of many priests who could take you out in the blink of an eye." He smiled to see that the guy, despite his mask, was equally incapable of keeping a cool head. He must have been teased often, he thought, because of his below-average strength and inability to achieve his goals.

"That is, if you succeed. Who is it that your father raped? Did he even dare with a woman helped by the gods? Well, I guess she isn't now that she has been defiled by beings like you and giving birth to hybrids. Or is she a black priestess? That could be the case, and I bet she did some black magic so that you could inherit her rotten power like everything else."

At those words, at hearing the demon sully Kagome's name again, Toga could resist no longer and launched himself at him, even eluding his brother's arm, who had reached out too late to block him.

"NO!" cried a powerless Muteki as he watched Toga throw himself at his enemy, not even noticing the sword the latter had already drawn. The young boy made to attack, but the blade plunged into his side took his breath away and made him keel over, preventing him from using his claws.

"Hold it right there, pup. Be still while you cry. I want to finish your brother first." The demon launched himself to attack Muteki, who was still not very skilled in close-range combat and was also currently lacking a sword.

The two engaged in hand-to-hand combat, and while the shi-hanyou avoided lunges and blades, he attempted to fend off his enemy with his claws, also trying to regain the ground he kept losing. If he didn't put some distance between them, he wouldn't be able to shoot an arrow and would soon find himself cornered; what's more, he wanted to check his brother's state, but he knew that if he looked away from the demon for even a second, he would kill him without a moment's hesitation.

And as he pondered what to do, he felt his heart leap into his throat at the exact moment his back met the rock, declaring the space behind him finished.

The other grinned, showing his perfect teeth. "Your time has finally come; I must say, I expected worse from someone like you." He brought the blade close to the boy's throat and slowly began to slide it, leaving a trail of blood behind him and aiming for the jugular.

Muteki had always been a calm and lucid person and there had been only a few times when he had panicked. Now, however, his composure was proving futile and he could only think that he was not ready to die and that his mother would be destroyed by grief. His eyes were wide open and unable to return to normal size and he only waited for the end that seemed inevitable at that point. He prayed for a miracle.

"Say your last words," the demon said again. Yet, the same grace was not granted to him because he had no time to say his own. When the blade had almost reached its goal, an arrow struck him straight through the heart. A moment later, his body turned to ash as the sword that had threatened Muteki's life fell to the ground with a clangour that reverberated in the clearing that had once again become empty apart from the two brothers.

The elder of the two did not look up to make sure the other was all right but slumped to the ground, on his knees, ashen, and began coughing without being able to stop himself. Toga, who was still bleeding profusely, bandaged his wound quickly, tearing part of his hakama, and rushed to him.

"Big brother! Big brother!" he shouted in panic. "Are you ok?"

A cough preceded words that normally Muteki would never utter and were more the prerogative of Toga and their father. "Fuck," he hissed, almost voiceless and feeling his neck feverishly as if to make sure everything was in place. The wound was shallow, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Fuck," he repeated a second time before coughing again. Then, clinging to his brother, he stood up. "You saved my life, Toga. I was afraid it was all over and that mom might haunt me even in the afterlife for the way I got myself killed."

The other burst out laughing despite the situation, noting that that was probably exactly what Kagome would have done. "Cut the bullshit; like I ever let you die. Besides, you're the one who saved me first and... well," he scratched the back of his head nervously. "It was all my fault; I shouldn't have let him provoke me. You always tell me I'm hot-headed, and if I hadn't thrown myself at him now-"

"Nothing now, Toga. We killed him, didn't we? In fact, you killed him. You must be proud." He clapped a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Rather, your wound?"

Toga shrugged. "Nothing serious. I've already bandaged it up nicely. I'm more worried about Mama's reaction when she sees us coming home all bloody and dirty."

Muteki swallowed. "You're right. It won't be so good." He was about to add that they had already lost far too much time and needed to hurry up and retrieve the herb when a sharp cry interrupted him, catching them both by surprise.

The two brothers looked into each other's eyes and, in a second, forgetting their wounds and near-death experience, sprinted in the direction from which it came. Soon they stood in front of a massacre that made them want to bend in two and vomit even what was not in their stomachs.

A group of more than ten children lay lifeless and brutally disfigured on the ground. Their physical features left no doubt as to their heredity: they were all half-demons of different species, the ones the three from before had killed before they noticed them.

"Damn!" exclaimed Toga, gritting his teeth and slamming a fist on the ground. "They don't look like they've been dead that long. If we had arrived earlier, maybe..."

"We couldn't have saved them anyway," Muteki finished for him, his voice low. "We were barely able to defend ourselves, how could we? The truth is that, no matter how much we've been trained, we're still too young and inexperienced against demons who only aim for our lives."

"Yes, but," the younger one tried to retort.

"No buts. What is the use of blaming ourselves for things that could not have been otherwise? Rather, let us try to understand where the crying is coming from. There must be a survivor. Perhaps the only reason he is still alive is that he sensed the danger and remained silent."

They soon found her buried by the corpses of twin half-demons — cats whose yellow pupils were still dilated and whose eyelids Muteki quickly lowered after murmuring a prayer under his breath. Their bodies were curved protectively around the little one in a last desperate attempt to save her, which, fortunately, had succeeded. It seemed impossible from the way she was now screaming that the infant had been able to remain silent for so long, but in demons, from an early age, the survival instinct was well engaged, and this had spared her life.

The two brothers observed for a couple of seconds the face red from the exertion of the baby who did not appear to be more than a few months old, her cheeks chubby, her ears pointed but covered with a light red hair like the tiny tail that sprouted from the fabric used as a nappy. Her arms and legs, naked like the rest of her body, were flailing in a plea for help. The little one was clearly part kitsune — and dirty too, if the smell she gave off meant anything.

Finally, Muteki picked her up and tried to calm her down, signalling his brother to find something to use as a replacement while he covered her with his jacket.

"Where am I supposed to find it in the middle of this massacre?" he hissed, still panicking and unable to handle all those emotions. He wished he could go back to his mother and curl up in her lap like when he was a child, listen to her tell him that everything would be fine and that it was just a bad nightmare.

"Shh," Muteki silenced him. "Have respect for the dead," he chastised him as he kept cradling the infant, who wouldn't stop crying. She was probably still scared and hungry as well as in need of a bath.

Toga investigated for a long time until he found the small hut that had housed all the children — and they hoped in vain they hadn't been there because abandoned — and felt his eyes moisten as he observed the poverty and filth in which they had lived. At least, he told himself, trying to swallow that lump in his throat, they had not been alone and had tried to defend themselves to the last. His father's words during that first mission a few weeks earlier came back to his mind, and he could not stop the tears from wetting his face: the two of them had been really lucky, and just by imagining his father in the midst of that meadow, amidst the other half-demons, he felt his body tremble.

He only recovered when he heard his brother calling him. He was right; they had no time to lose. There was still a life to save.

In a flash, he retrieved the cleanest strip of cloth he could find and returned to Muteki. Together they cleaned the child, but she did not stop crying, probably due to hunger. They were about to leave the small clearing and reach the next one where the herb was located when Toga froze. "We must bury the bodies!" he shouted.

"I know," the other replied without even looking at him or stopping cradling the infant. "But if we don't hurry Susumu-san will die too. We'll be back tomorrow," he concluded in a tone of finality.

The younger of the two looked over his shoulder one last time, wiped his cheeks and then joined his brother to finish his task.

They were not abandoning them, he told himself; they would return and help them seek some peace. But now, they had to try to save at least one more life.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter and already in the next one you will understand why we have moved on to this adventure of Muteki and Toga.

In the meantime, I inform you that this story will officially have 77 chapters. At the moment I only have to write No.76 but I'll try to do that in the coming week.

So yes, we are nearing the end, but there are still a couple of surprises ahead.

Until next week!