"Hiraikotsu!" The Taijiya bellowed as she hurled the giant boomerang towards the bore-youkai and its dark priestess master.
"Fools, you will hand over the shards of the Shikon no Tama!" The dark priestess Tokikemono, called out to the pack.
"InuYasha, that bore-youkai has two shards in its back hooves!" Kagome informed the hanyou besides her.
"Keh!" He called back raising his fang above his head, he roared out, "KAZE NO KUZI!"
The lightning sang through the waving grass splitting earth in its wake. The bore-youkai jumped in front from the blast to only block the next attack to the dark miko. The bore's screams died out as the shards fell from its form to the soft ground.
With a swift of a hand the shards flew back to the dark miko. "What a wonderful martyr..." The miko smiled clutching the shards into her fist. "No matter..." With a wave of her hand sporting black claws, came forth from the jug at her side a giant ogre, which earthshakingly appeared in front of the team.
"OGRE!" She called to her new pet. The beast turned to her as she flung the two shards to the giant, who caught them in its mouth. The beast permeated and suddenly charged the group with no time to think. The beast immediately went for the miko, Kagome, who had the almost full Shikon No Tama around her neck. The beast clamped its teeth around the fragile girl's form.
"Kagome!" The hanyou roared.
Fear struck, the girl fell limp between the Ogre's teeth.
InuYasha swung at the Ogre, missing it by an inch.
"Dammit, release HER!" He barked.
The dark miko laughed as the beast tightened its grip on the small girl. She winced and gasped as the tip of the fang pierced her flesh.
"KAGOME!" The hanyou roared. "BASTARD, get your grimy fangs off her!" The hanyou screamed as he clipped the Ogre's Achilles, causing the giant to trip and come crashing down. InuYasha fearlessly leaped on top the fallen orgre to reclaim his love.
"You worthless-- I'll show you!" Dark priestess Tokikemono cursed, raising her hands in the air. "Sutoppu!" She called out clapping her hands once.
"EH!" The hanyou grunted to a halt.
"I can't move!" The moushi announced grunting in attempt to move.
"Try as you might, but I hold the power over time!" The dark miko chuckled.
"Strange ability..." The Taijiya commented.
"Yes... nothing I have ever heard of... something so uncontrolled being... "Controlled?""
InuYasha's sword held beside him desperately trying to break free and slaughter the dark miko for hurting Kagome.
"Stop straining yourself half-breed, it's useless..." The dark miko stated as she moved to his side.
"You... SHIT!"
Suddenly a hand shot out taking the hanyou's jaw in it. "I'd silence myself if I were you, less something were to happen to this young girl." She said as she turned the hanyou's head to look down at the helpless girl.
"Now, then... the jewel!" The damned miko smirked bending down to Kagome.
"Oh no. INUYASHA! Don't let her take the shards!" Sango begged the hanyou.
The dark miko's eyebrows curled and her upper lip twitched as she raised her head to scour at the taijiya. "Restrain yourself, you'll only quicken the process of the spell until it stops your own lungs from working." She said returning her attention on the shards around the dead-like Kagome's neck. She reached down into the girl's uniform blouse, bringing the shards to the surface. She began to tug to snap off the chain, but a hand shot up grabbing the intruding wrist.
"NANI?" The dark miko gasped in astonishment. "IMPOSSIBLE!"
Kagome tightened her grip on the priestess's wrist as her eye glowed pink.
"What are you doing?" The dark miko questioned.
"Those don't belong to you!" Kagome barked, burning the flesh of the dark miko's wrist with her touch.
The priestess jumped back summoning the collapsed Ogre's shards.
As they whizzed passed, Kagome's aura surrounded them instantly purifying them so as they returned to the dark miko, she screamed as they burned into her flesh. "NOO! NO!..." She screamed as she disintegrated.
The explosion of light temporarily blinded the group as it faded, dragging a piece of sky with it. The sky burst into another explosion. The wind picked up swirling around, forming a funnel. The sky had darkened into a purple hue. The trees rustled violently as the rip in the sky grew stronger dragging everything into it. The Taijiya regained her movement followed by the monk.
"InuYasha! Kagome!" They both called out in unison.
The screams of Kagome almost became muffled by the swirling winds. "InuYasha!" She screamed as her feet left the ground.
A rush of air ran through the hanyou's body as it dropped and he immediately swung behind him, grabbing the girl's hand.
Kagome screamed as the tunnel of debris and lightning, pulled her off her feet. The sudden grab at her hand caused a jolt to go up her spine, she stopped in mid-air; skirt blowing up as she saw her red ribbon from her kerchief around her shoulders loosen and fly off somewhere in front of her. She stressed to turn her head to see what had latched onto her so roughly.
"InuYasha!" She choked.
"Hold on Kagome!" The hanyou called to her. His muscles in his arm tightened in attempt to pull the small girl back to his body.
With all his strengths, the girl began to slip. First his shoulder went out causing him to wince, then his elbow; following his wrist, which made a loud crack as his feet began to hover off the ground.
"Kagome!" He cried. The girl had curled into a ball from the chill of the strong winds. It was useless; his arm was about to break. Latching onto his lower arm with his other hand he edged his way to the curled up girl.
"Kagome..." He spoke softly wrapping his body around hers. The two flew into the vortex as it suddenly went dead silent.
"Kagome!" Sango cried to the skies.
"What in Kami was that?" The moushi questioned.
Tears began to fill the small kitsune's eyes as the scent of Kagome lingered and then finally disappearing. "Ka- ka-gome-sama..." He sniffled as Kirara let out a sad filled meow.
***
Kagome's cheeks were drenched in tears, as they froze to them, stinging. InuYasha wrapped tightly around Kagome trying to warm her with his Hinezumi.
"Hang in there, Kagome..." He gently whispered into her hair, filling her scalp with warmth.
"What is going on?" The girl asked herself.
***
The winds leisurely began to die down as the couple could feel warmth drag them down. The breath from their lungs left them with jagged gasps. Kagome's stomach felt as if it was trying to escape her insides through esophagus. She clenched her eyes shut as she tried to breathe. InuYasha's arm fell limp at his side as they both felt the ground underneath their feet. He let out a sigh as his sight fought to see. He could feel the girl next to him slip from his grasp. "KAGOME!" He called out franticly. He reached fro her with no success.
Suddenly the feeling of being socked in the head numerous times brought the hanyou to his knees and finally faced down in the dirt.
~^.^~
"InuYasha?" Came a familiar voice from the darkness.
"Miroku... is that you?" He asked drowsily, licking his dry cracked lips.
"Don't move InuYasha, your arm is completely shattered". The moushi commanded.
Suddenly a wave of pain engulfed the hanyou causing him to convulse and unable to catch his own breath.
"Sango, hold him down!" The moushi instructed the Taijiya.
InuYasha could feel his good arm being pressed on by two small hands, and his legs being pressed down by a bottom. He could feel his youkai surface. He felt the dreaded ripples of power permeate from his body.
"Where is it?" He demanded. "Where's my Tetsaiga?" He convulsed again against the two bodies holding him down, he managed to shake away the one at his arm as he rose to knock off the being atop his thighs. He snarled as he felt his cheeks burn with his youkai marks and his nails elongating into the ground under him. "Where's Kagome?" He barked trying to hold back his rage.
"InuYasha, you must remain calm." The moushi's voice reaching to the hanyou's ears.
"HAND ME MY TETSAIGA!" The hanyou demanded. His spine stiffened and felt as if it was bulging out of his thick skin. His knuckles cracked as he raised them in front oh his chest. "What are you waiting for? Hand me my sword!" He snarled.
"InuYasha?" The woman asked.
The youkai sniffed the air trying to locate her. "Sango, where's Kagome? Where's my Tetsaiga?"
Still being unable to see and now about to shred his comrades, he became irritated immensely. "Answer my, DAMMIT!" He snarled.
Suddenly the strong stench of salt filled his sinuses, causing him to become even more annoyed. "Sango?" He barked, but it was the Moushi to answer him.
"InuYasha!" The Moushi stiffened lowering his head to his breast, a silence fell over the small group before InuYasha began to growl. "Kagome..." Miroku paused with a sniffle. He clenched his eyes shut as tears gushed from his eyes. He inhaled to speak with disturbance to leave a person motionless. Suddenly Sango embraced him which surprised him to let out what he was destined to say.
"KAGOME-SAMA IS DEAD!" He belted out leaving a choke and a gasp at the end. Now Sango's cries were loud and noticeable.
InuYasha was stunned. His eyes cleared giving back his sight as he gazed down at his red robed legs. With his mouth open in awe, his eyes blurred and became hot as he tried to think away out of the realization. "Kagome--" He thought.
The two before him, looked at him still awaiting his full reaction.
A low gurgle permeated from the hanyou's throat and soon a roar as his marks appeared and his eyes bled red and fangs drew blood from his tongue. He raised he head for a roar, but halted in his anguish at the sight before him. He let out a cough as his eyes and face cleared.
"Miroku?--- Sango?" He had the look of confusion when he first looked upon his friend's faces. They were holding each other. Sango's arms up with her hands resting on Miroku's shoulders and Miroku's hands on her hips as they sat and stared back at the hanyou.
InuYasha roughly rubbed his eyes. "What the fuck?" He questioned, studying his comrades faces. The woman before him was not his Sango, but more of an older version, with crow's feet ripping the corners of her eyes as a line, just recently began to form from her nostrils to the sides of her lips. Next to her wasn't the man that InuYasha saw as something of a brother, but an even older version of him.
"Miroku?" He asked. The Moushi nodded as the "Sango" wiped away her tears.
"InuYasha, what's wrong?" She asked. The hanyou just sat there, staring at them.
"You're-not--" He began.
Suddenly a small boy ran into the room carrying a jar with his hand over the jar's lips. "Mama, mama Kagoji and me caught a butterfly." The boy announced proudly holding the jar up to her.
She smiled wiping one last tear from her eye and sniffling as she placed a hand on the small child's head. "Why is mama crying?" The boy asked turning his attention from the jar to his ochii-sama. She shook her head as she rubbed his scalp. "Mama is just reminiscing with an old friend, Tousueku..."
InuYasha's ears twisted as he focused on the child. "Ka... go... ji?... Ka-go... me." He whispered unheard by the others.
The two names were similar in that they both had "Ka" which meant "Beautiful" and "Go" which means "Giving", but they ended differently yet similar again. "Me" means, "Eye" and "Ji" means "Love".
"Beautiful giving of love..." InuYasha said aloud.
The two adults looked at him and then Sango turned her attention on the small boy again. "Tousueku... can you go get your sisters?"
The boy nodded and with a quick twist, ran through the hut's entrance flipping the bamboo cover into the air, and then coming back down with a sway trailing.
InuYasha sat in silence as Sango sniffled and Miroku comforted her.
. . .
The boy returned without the jug as his two sisters filed in after him, with the eldest holding the jug under her arm.
InuYasha looked away at their entering as if it were against the rules to look upon them.
Miroku stood, as the children stood in a line facing InuYasha.
"InuYasha?" The Moushi asked signaling him to look up. The monk placed his hands on the eldest daughter's shoulders as he smiled. "InuYasha, this is Kagoji"
InuYasha stared at the girl; in disbelief she was the kid of Sango and the monk.
His eyes caught the girl in discomfort and she looked away. Miroku then proceeded to the second oldest daughter who was about a foot shorter then the first girl.
"This is my baby girl Keiwan." The Moushi said causing the young girl to blush in embarrassment.
InuYasha's ear swiveled when he picked up on her sudden spike of embarrassment. The motion caused all the kids to take notice. Keiwan giggled as Kagoji gulped. The youngest of them all, ran over to the hanyou and took the ears into his hands.
Sango gasped and began to scold the child, but the look on the hanyou's face caught her attention. His eyes bulged out and his skin on his face seemed to tighten. The hanyou roughly pushed the boy away and stood, making his way out from the hut.
The boy, now on his bum on the ground began to cry as he put a hand to his tear filled eyes.
InuYasha stomped through the grounds peering down at the worthless dirt. His face scowled and his brows taking over his eye sight. His chest heaved as his nostrils flare.
Suddenly the strong scent of Sakura trees cleared the air and so the hanyou looked up. "Kagome loved Sakura flowers", he thought. His heart ached and his mind went numb as he spotted the source.
In a narrow passage covered in Sakura trees led to an opening with rocks placed in rows. The hanyou stood in silence as the Sakura scent was taken over by the stench of deteriorating flesh. "A burial ground?" He whispered with a tear down his cheek.
A wind blew through the hanyou, and he winced as if it had gone through his very soul. The scent of dirt was clear and the smell of its untouched body was presented to the hanyou. "The dirt that covers this land is old…"
"InuYasha?" A voice from behind him asked.
The hanyou turned his body, but not his face towards the Moushi "... Miroku." His said, almost unheard and blanketed by the strain in the hanyou's throat.
There stood the four rocks, some with moss growing on them, others with charms. Miroku stepped forward to one of the rocks; he bowed and said a prayer.
"Is this hers?" InuYasha asked.
"Ne... This would be the priestess, Lady Kaede..." The monk answered.
"Miroku... who are the others?"
Miroku proceeded to point to another. "This would be Sango's kid brother, Kohaku..." InuYasha looked down letting out a small "Oh"
Miroku then pointed to another rock. "This would be the priestess Lady Kikyou..." He said softly not allowing himself to look into the hanyou's eyes. "And this would be..." He trailed off dropping his pointed hand to his side.
The hanyou's hair stood up on his arms and his scalp began to tingle along with the points of his fingers. His face drew in a lush red causing his nose and cheeks to burn. A strange thumping began in his left brow as he could feel his heart beat along with it. His jaw tightened clenching his teeth down hard. His eyes grew sore and joints creaked with the deathly silence that had fallen over the two beings and the four graves. InuYasha walked over to the grave and fell to his knees in utter astonishment. "Dammit Kagome..." The hanyou cursed under his breath as his throat tightened and his lungs twisted.
.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
The call of a beast's anguish
~v.v~
Kagome's leg twitched as she lay on top of a bed made of leaves. Her eyes shuddered as she tried to open them, but the sun's light half blinded her. Her scalp felt cold as she new wind was blowing into an open wound. She struggled to sit up but her body would not allow it. Suddenly a stirring came from her left in the bushes. She stressed to turn her head when he came into view. "InuYasha..." She said with relief. She missed the large fangs between his lips and the red blood in his eyes and turquoise pupils. Her vision was fuzzy but she could see the red and silver of her love. He did not speak but stomped behind her. She could not look up as he began to tend to her wounds. "InuYasha..." She said missing the wince of the hanyou. He began to dress her wound when she dozed off. "What... what happened to us...?" She thought to her self.
When she awoke in a daze the hanyou was gone, the warm afternoon air brushed against her bare skin. "Everything's gunna be alright..." She said to herself with a sigh. She sat up and looked around. She then realized where she was. "InuYasha's forest..." She said with a small smile. She stood and found her way to the old Goshinboku. She placed a hand on the mark where InuYasha had been pinned to some fifty'er so years ago. She noticed that the bark had been beaten and worn, and laced with claw marks. "Hm?" She said to herself. A low rumble began to permeate from behind her. She turned awkwardly to find her love, fists clenched and dripping with his blood. His eyes shaded by his hair, but his fangs were baring full view. Kagome took a step back in horror as the grass beside him caught the large blood droplets. "InuYasha?" She whimpered. The sound caused the hanyou to wince again as his mouth began to open. "KAGOME!" He called out viciously with a screaming eerie tone. Spurring blood and spit from his mouth. He looked monstrous to the small girl causing her to quiver. "KAGOME... WHAT COULD YOU BE POSSIBLY THINKING... STANDING UP IN YOUR STATE OF CONDITION!" He demanded. He smirked as he raised his head revealing his blood shot eyes. His back cracked as he took a pouncing stance. "You think I'm gunna let you get killed again." He snarled. Kagome gasped taking a step back against the tree.
"I waited for you... for twenty-two years!" He roared then spitting the blood from his mouth. "Like Hell I'll let you leave me, not after the promise you made me!"
Suddenly his eyes drooped and his face went limp, he slumped and fell to the ground. It seemed he had been in a recent battle.
Kagome refused to take her eyes off of him. "What should I do... it seems that I'm somewhere I should not be..." Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to seek out comfort, but all she found was the hanyou before her. She slowly made her way towards the unconscious hanyou. She bent down, resting on her feet and gently stroked his mane, which was full of blood, twigs, and mud.
"InuYasha... What happened to you?"
. . .
Kagome was able to drag the hanyou so that they could both rest upon the old sacred tree. The branches overhead rocked and creaked as the wind ran through them. The purple on the hanyou's cheeks had not yet reseeded and in his sleep he dragged in ragged breaths and sighs.
"InuYasha..." The girl said softly.
The hanyou winced and stirred in his sleep. The girl held her breath in fear that she had awoke him.
His eye lashes twitched as white shown through.
"InuYasha?" Kagome called to the boy.
InuYasha lay there, motionless.
"InuYasha?" The girl called again quivering.
"Kagome..." The hanyou said emotionless.
"Yes..." The girl answered whispering.
"Kagome..." The beast said in a cruel raspy voice. "Why did you leave me?"
The boy began to heave and his hair stood up as he dug his nails into the ground.
His eyes tighten as tears fell from them. "I didn't mean what I said!"
"Uh-... InuYasha?" The girl said cowering.
"Why did you leave me, Kagome? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?" The hanyou demanded to know as he stood before her quivering form.
"InuYasha?..."
"STOP SAYING MY NAME... YOU SHOULDN'T!" The "Youkai" roared as he violently took a swipe at the girl.
Kagome dodged it barely, falling harshly to the ground.
"InuYasha?" She asked looking up.
"Kagome, wouldn't leave me... Kagome wouldn't want me... Kagome loves me... Kagome wants to kill me..." The youkai stated as he insanely swayed with a grin on his face and tears falling from his eyes.
To be continued...