Update March 2017 - another chapter I'm splitting up. My goal now is to try and keep chapters between 2500 and 3000 words...go me!
So many thanks to Rumiko Takahashi for creating such a vibrant world to draw off of.
Lightning Rod
It had taken a day and a half to reach Lady Kaede's house, but they arrived without any kind of interruption from rogue youkai or otherwise. The sun was high in the sky now, mid-day light dancing over the spanning rice fields of feudal Japan. Kagome and the rest of the group were lounging outside on the few steps down from the house, resting and cleaning up their weapons for their next trip. Inuyasha was squatted back on his heels on the lower part Lady Kaede's hill, looking out at his brother who stood out in the rice fields.
As expected, the villagers took a wide berth of him when they arrived, but luckily they were used to Inuyasha and Shippo's presence enough that the appearance of another 'non-violent' youkai didn't faze them too much. It also made their life easier that Inunomaru paid them no attention. Ignore them and they'll soon ignore you apparently.
Kagome noticed Inuyasha's silent gaze down at his brother when she finished cleaning her bow. "So, what'd you guys talk about?" she asked with a wide smile as she sat down next to him and pulled her knees up in front of her.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Ya know, askin' me every time you get the chance ain't gonna get me to tell you any faster."
Her smile just widened, "Hmm, I know," Inuyasha glanced back, baffled, "You don't want to talk about it…and that's okay."
He growled, "Then why do you keep buggin' me about it?"
Kagome looked out at the silent daiyoukai before them and sighed, "Just knowing that you two had a good conversation that you want to keep secret is nice to know," she reassured him, "It shows that you trust each other."
"Wait…that's the only reason?"
"Yup"
He couldn't help but smirk, "Ya know, you really are the strangest person I've ever met."
"Thank you," she said with a happy chirp. With that, she stood up and started walking down the hill.
"Now where're you going?"
"I'm going to invite him to dinner," her voice had her usual determined tone to it, "He's never gonna get used to being with all of us if he stays by himself all the time. I mean, we had to look back every five minutes to make sure he was even in eyeshot the entire way here! I don't think that counts as 'part of the group' do you?"
"Keh," he stuck his nose in the air, "I honestly wouldn't bother."
She put her hands on her hips, "And why not?"
Inuyasha grew slightly more serious, "You know how I get when we go to new villages and stuff? I bet he's no different."
"Oh…yeah." Her eyes fell as she remembered, unless Inuyasha has a youkai or something to keep his attention, he does tend to stay by himself.
She glanced back at Inunomaru, that must be why he's been acting like this, she thought, he must feel out of place being around so many people all of a sudden. In the time it took them to reach Lady Kaede's, Inunomaru had been silent. He greeted them in the morning and bid them good night, but apart from those brief acknowledgments, it had been like he didn't even exist. His reactions must've been out of habit, she decided, so it was probably best to just give him time. If she rushed in too fast, she might scare him away and that wouldn't help anybody, especially his little brother.
She gave Inuyasha a small grin, "You're right."
"I am?"
"Yeah, I shouldn't force him. He'll warm up to us in his own time I guess," she walked back to the house without another word, leaving Inuyasha with a dumbfounded look on his face.
It took Inuyasha a few minutes for him to finally decide that he'd never understand Kagome, let alone women for that matter. Better to just stick with what he knew, so he settled back on the ground and resumed looking out at his brother.
Inunomaru stood so still, unmoving in the strong breeze save his kimono, pelt, and hair. Inuyasha assumed he had heard their conversation, but he didn't really mind. Even though he was disturbingly quiet far too much, Inunomaru wasn't someone who gave the impression he'd care about what others said about him.
I never did ask Myoga if he looks like the old man or not, he thought as he looked him over, I know Sesshomaru supposedly takes after his mother, wonder if he does to? He thought a little bit more than shrugged, "Keh, I'll ask him later," he said with a big yawn.
He was just about to lie back on the grass when Inunomaru changed his position from unmoving statue to rigidly alert. The movement was slight to any normal person's eyes, but Inuyasha's caught the tiny shift like a firework. He rushed up to his feet, hand dashing to the Tetsusaiga at his side.
Miroku was the first to notice Inuyasha jump up. "What is it, Inuyasha?" he asked as he ran up next to him.
The hanyou's eyebrows angled down harshly, "Don't know yet. But Inunomaru's sure riled up from something."
"What's wrong with Inunomaru-sama?" Kagome asked curiously. Once she got next to Inuyasha, her eyes grew alarmed and confused as she looked at his and Miroku's guarded stances.
Sango and Shippo weren't far behind them.
Shippo jumped up on Sango's shoulder, "Maybe we should g…YAHHHHHH," the kitsune's words were cut off as the ground beneath them began to tremor.
As the shaking increased in intensity, the ground started to shift and wave, the trees began ripping from their holds in the earth, and boulders rippled through the dirt like small mountains. Finally, the seams gave way as a massive youkai forced parts of its body through the earth right in front of where Inunomaru was standing. The maroon tentacles were all around it, stretching through the ground and air before crashing onto the land, sending rocks and trees flying.
"Inunomaru! Get out of there!" Kagome screamed.
Before any of them had time to do anything, the silver-haired daiyoukai jumped back from a hurtling tentacle and disappeared, appearing again a few yards in front of them in a full crouch, blades unfolded.
Shippo's eyes were huge. "WOW he's fast!" he yelled, stating the obvious.
"Inuyasha," Inunomaru directed, voice incredibly calm considering the size of the youkai and the destruction it was causing to the countryside.
"Got it," Inuyasha nodded and they charged off, Tetsusaiga transforming at the hanyou's side and glass blades glowing by the daiyoukai's.
Praising their sudden comradery, Kagome couldn't help but smile as she notched an arrow and jumped onto Kirara behind Sango. They soared off in a blast of dust while Miroku and Shippo ran off underneath them.
A huge tentacle crashed down toward Inuyasha. He flipped out of the way and sliced it as another rushed up behind him like a hundred foot dagger. Before he could react, a sacred arrow blasted through it in a flash of purple-white light.
"Thanks!" Inuyasha smirked as the miko and taijiya flew passed.
"No problem," Kagome notched another arrow and shot at the closest tentacle to her, while Sango sent her hirakotsu flying through many at once.
Inuyasha continued slicing up every tentacle that came at him, but every time he cut through one, there seemed to be two more to replace it. He glanced over at his brother. Inunomaru didn't seem to be having much trouble as he dashed smoothly between tentacles, though he also didn't seem to be fighting back, only using his blades when one of youkai's attacks was heading towards one of them.
"What'd I say about helping out, Inunomaru!" He wanted to sound annoyed but it came out as more of a tease.
His brother was almost just as teasing, "I see no sign of the Kaze no Kizu, now do I?"
Inuyasha couldn't help but smirk wider. Alright then. He ran up to a larger bundle and leapt into the air, releasing the Kaze no Kizu at the peak of his jump. The blast rushed forward, shredding the targeted tentacles to pieces. Unfortunately, as with all of his attacks so far, once the dust cleared, there wasn't any sign of injury on the youkai at all.
"What in the royal hell?!" Inuyasha growled as he landed.
Miroku jumped behind him breathing hard. "We're not making any progress, Inuyasha!" he yelled.
"No kidding," Inuyasha continued slashing, "It's like they just grow back!"
"Do you think this could be one of Naraku's incarnations? That would explain why its body keeps regenerating."
"Maybe, but I'm not getting Naraku's scent…LOOK OUT!" he jumped at Miroku and pushed him out of the way as a tentacle burst from the ground. Inunomaru followed behind Inuyasha in a flash and sliced it through with a flick of his wrist before two more came up at their sides.
"INUYASHA!" Kagome screamed down at him. She turned up to Sango with an urgent look in her eyes. Sango nodded without a word and flew Kirara low over the three men. Kagome quickly fired an arrow at the base of one of the youkai's limbs, disintegrating it into ash. Inuyasha sliced the second.
Miroku was the first to recognize what her arrows were doing to the youkai, "Inuyasha! Inunomaru-sama! Kagome's arrows seem to be the only attack that has any sort of impact on the youkai. They appear to be purifying it!"
"Nah, really?! I didn't notice!" Inuyasha growled.
Inunomaru was more receiving to the monk's information, "Do you think your sutras are strong enough to inflict any damage, hoshi-sama?"
Miroku nodded, "Yes…but…"
"You do not have any, do you?"
Miroku shook his head, mildly embarrassed, "No, I ran out of them and have yet to make more."
"Well that helps!" Inuyasha turned from them and yelled back up at Kagome, "Hey, Kagome! Your arrows are the only attack that works on this thing!"
"I know!" she yelled back, "But I don't have near enough to get rid of everything, and its body is still underground!"
"Then just aim at the ground!"
"I don't think…"
He roared harshly, "Just do it!"
Kagome nodded to Sango and she flew them up. She aimed her arrow at the center of the mass of tentacles and charged it as much as she could before firing it through the air like a missile. Just before it hit its target, the youkai seemed to sense the danger and sucked its tentacles back into its body. The blast of purifying energy shot upwards and everything went quiet.
Regrettably, before any hope could raise its head, the dust cleared. Kagome's short lived attack had destroyed the ground covering the youkai but had little impact on its armored hide. Its tentacles shot back out with even more fury and the fight was back on.
"What the hell is this thing made out of?" Inuyasha snarled.
Inunomaru's voice was uneasily soft, "Inuyasha, get everyone out of here."
"And what exactly are you gonna do? Kagome's sacred arrows are the only thing that puts a dent in it! And even a direct shot didn't do anything!"
His brother gave him a quick glare, "Trust me." His face was still calm but it had an insistent edge to it. There was another emotion in his eyes that Inuyasha couldn't quite put his finger on and whatever it was, it wasn't comforting at all.
Though still uncertain, he relented warily with Miroku. They shared a worried look with each other before Miroku turned up to the girls. "Sango, get out of here!" he yelled, "Inunomaru-sama said he can handle this!"
"WHAT?! He's gonna get himself killed!" Kagome yelled back.
Sango looked down at Inunomaru then back to Kagome, "I think we should trust Inunomaru-sama for now. If he needs any help we'll make sure and stay close just in case."
She hesitantly nodded, "Okay." She wanted to trust in his judgment, but she couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Inuyasha did stuff like this when either something big was going to happen…or something bad. She didn't like it one bit.
They joined up with Inuyasha and Miroku and watched apprehensively as Inunomaru walked toward the youkai, his seven foot tall form dwarfed by its size. He stopped within a stone's throw away and froze in place, twin blades angled down toward the ground. The clouds started to swirl unnaturally and grow black above him as the wind picked up out of nowhere. Inuyasha grabbed and covered Kagome with his body as branches started to take to the air. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo braced themselves behind her hirakotsu while Kirara guarded their back.
"What's he doing?!" Kagome yelled as she gripped the hanyou's fire rat kimono tight. A branch whipped past her face and cut her cheek from ear to nose, sending her cringing at the sudden pain and ducking her head into Inuyasha's chest.
Inuyasha didn't answer and strained his eyes from the wind to find his brother again. Inunomaru's body was unmoving from all the wind yet his hair whipped around him like thousands of silver, silk threads. He slowly lifted one blade above his head and the wind changed its sporadic pattern, beginning to swirl around him and up the blade. Purple electricity started sparking within the dust around it, growing larger and larger from the buildup of energy generated. Inuyasha's eyes grew huge as the bolts started to arc from Inunomaru to the sky in bursts, the sparks flowing through his body like a living lightning rod.
When it seemed like the energy couldn't hold any longer, Inunomaru's icy bass resonated through the thunder and wind, "Meibatsu!"
With a swing of his arm, the electricity blasted down at the youkai in a single lightning barrage. The shock-wave hit the others like a brick wall. Inuyasha gripped Kagome tighter to his chest and drove the Tetsusaiga deeper into the ground. He managed to crack his eyes just enough to see the youkai disappear in purple light, then, all went quiet.
When the wind died back down to a breeze and the sky returned to its previous blue, Inuyasha relaxed his body and loosened his protective hold on Kagome, though never relinquishing it completely.
The girl turned in his arms and looked up at him, "Are…are you okay, Inuyasha?" she asked, the cut on her face bleeding freely down her cheek and neck.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he glanced down, "Kagome, your cheek!"
She put her hand up, wincing as she smeared blood all over her face, "Oh…it…it's okay. Nothing a few butterfly bandages won't fix. It looks a lot worse than it feels," she ignored his doubting eyes and looked back over to Sango and the others, "Are you guys alright?"
Miroku was helping Sango up, "Yes, we are fine here."
"That sure was some attack," Sango said, dusting herself off.
Shippo bounced up and shook the dirt off himself like a dog, "No kidding! I've never seen lightning act like that before!"
"How did it vanquish the youkai though?" Miroku asked, "Ordinary lightning would have had the same effect as any of our other attacks, wouldn't it?"
"It must've been some sort of purifying lightning," Sango added, "The color was the same as Kagome's arrows."
Kagome nodded, "Yeah, that's the only…" a familiar jolt hit her suddenly. She spun back to the hole where the youkai had hidden its body, "Wait…I'm sensing a jewel shard!"
"A jewel shard?! Where is it, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked without delay.
She pointed to the hole, "Just down there, it must've been way down deep in the youkai for me not to pick it up."
Shippo hopped next to her, "Hey, where did Inunomaru-sama go?"
Both hands rushed to her mouth, "Shippo's right!" She turned to Inuyasha, "You don't suppose he could've been hit with his own attack?!"
Inuyasha jumped in front of her, "Get on, we'll find that jewel shard and Inunomaru, don't worry."
With that, she jumped onto his back and they took off toward the crater.
Uh oh!
FYI - Meibatsu roughly translates to 'divine punishment'
Till next time ;)