(sniff) Thanks, you guys! (sniffsniff)
I will thank loyal reviewers personally at the end of the fic, and I will answer any questions/comments at the top of each chapter.
Yes, I know, the real name for Kilala is Kirara, but I like the sound of Kilala better. I have only seen the english version after all. But, Ireely wanna see the japanese...
Nihongo ga kikitaiiiii....
Ja, enjoy!
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Chapter 2
There it was.
The dratted thing had taken a good three days more travel to discover. Yet now, looking at it, no one really felt very triumphant. This would be the hard part.
Naraku's castle was barely visible through the layers of purple smoke and poison gas that surrounded it, but even more disturbing was the enormous black mountain beneath the giant structure.
By the looks of it it was going to take weeks more to climb the high ridge. And to top it off, the cliffs were surrounded by sharp rocks towering at least twenty meters high; it would take a miracle just to get past that.
Sesshoumaru and Kilala were the first candidates up. "Okay, who wants to go first?"
"I'll go," Sesshoumaru said softly. "I won't have problems with poison like the cat."
Kilala growled quietly.
"If I find him I'll bring him back, alive," he added swiftly, "Give me ten minutes. Longer than that and you can come in and find him yourself." Kagome nodded.
"Be careful," Sango called after him. Sesshoumaru formed his floating cloud and drifted upward into the mist. The group looked after him until he disappeared.
"I hope we're doing the right thing," Miroku murmured. "We can't know what he's thinking."
"He knows what he's doing," Kagome said, staring at the fog where he'd vanished. I just hope he gets there in time... Inuyasha...
~~~
Sesshoumaru had been floating for a couple of minutes when he slowly realized the fog was eating away at his transportation. He leaped off, landing in a crouch atop of one of the spike-shaped rocks, hands on his knees.
"Huh." That's never happened before, he thought, puzzled.
Oh well.
The youkai leaped gracfully from ridge to ridge, each jump taking him
about twenty or thirty feet up into the mountain. He really had hoped he
wouldn't have to do it this way, a landslide could be caused below him if
he went too far and he would definitely miss an opening if it was hidden in
rubble.
But, thankfully, a hole in the side of the black mountain was plainly visible, with just the slightest glimmer of light emerging from the entrance. It was very little, but to his exquisite demon eyesight it was easy to see.
Finally the demon lord stepped up to the opening and cautiously peered
inside. It seemed to be leading down a rather long tunnel, light just barely
escaping from an underground room.
That must be it. I remember these dungeons.... I might have used them at
one point.
Sesshoumaru had known this mountain well. A few decades ago he had used
it as a mansion, whereas Naraku seemed content to place his home atop its
peak.
The youkai moved down the pathway with a quickened stride, wondering what changes had been made. A few thousand feet later he found out and had to step back in shock.
He stared down in wonder. It...it couldn't...be...We aren't deep enough down for--for--
Lava.
Boiling, churning, searing lava whose heat was already burning his face from at least five hundred feet down. Sesshoumaru definitely didn't remember putting this in. The cavern had been empty, and on ground level this kind of fire just wouldn't appear. He decided it must be a spell.
The youkai formed his transportation cloud once again and made his way to the path a good fifty feet across the pit. He was halfway there now, watching the roiling mess below.
Suddenly an enormous hand shot out and swiped the air beneath him as an
earth-shattering roar pierced the air, making him start in shock.
Wha--?!
The fist was glowing.
It was made entirely of lava, and abruptly he recognized the bubbles below, not as churning magma, but as eyes. Fire demons. He must have added them as a precaution.
Sesshoumaru rose higher to avoid further combat, but more hands waving with flame shot up from the pit, swinging and shooting burning chunks of rock at their comparatively small target. The demon lord formed his whip and shot the projectiles back at their owners, slapping them in their melting faces. At this distraction he took the opportunity to spray a cloud of poison from his claws, as much as he could muster.
Needless to say, this did not go over well.
"RRROAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!" The monsters had one moment of horrified comprehension before the room burst into unchecked flames and acid. With one great desperate leap Sesshoumaru made it out of the chasm and into the far opening just as it exploded in a fireball of disgusting demon.
"Ugh," he grimaced as the smell of rotting youkai invaded his sensitive nostrils. The demon lord leaned against the cool stone wall, just behind the lip of the entrance. He coughed and choked in the thick yellow smoke. Poison was one thing; he'd built up an immunity to that, using it as one of his own trademark attacks, but this was unbearable. He'd have to wait until the fumes cleared before he brought anyone through here again. It was worse than miasma.
Sesshoumaru sat up and forced his way through the smoke, taking step
after step until he reached another entry.
You owe me big time after this one, little brother.
~~~
Miroku sat on one of the smaller stones at the base of the mountain. His expression was distant.
I wonder which one of those windows Naraku is in... Bet he's watching us right now. Ya know, part of me wants to kill him and make sure the world is rid of him and put everything to rights. That's how it should be...
But another is just getting really, really tired of him.
"Hey, Houshi," Sango said, settling down next to him. "How're your
wounds?"
"Better. Not well, but better," he grinned. The monk sobered quickly. "Thank you. For worrying about me."
Sango looked surprised, then pleased. "Sure."
There was a long silence.
"...Ahem, anyway, uh, how's the kit?"
"He's good. The poison seems to have worn off completely. Now we have an even bigger problem."
"What's that?"
"Now he's hungry," Sango smiled. The two of them laughed softly.
Kagome was seated next to the kit a few meters away, messing with his hair as he sat on her shoulder.
Sesshoumaru... What are you going through? she wondered. Are you going to forgive Inuyasha? Inuyasha, will you forgive him? He needs to have a taste of normal life, of a family, of friendship.
Will he get it from you?
"Kagome!"
The miko turned her head at the sound of Sango's voice. "Look up!" she shouted. "The mountain! The rock! Look there!"
Almost immediately a tiny black dot in the distance exploded outward and shot from the mountainside like the firing of a gun. Yellow and orange flame whose heat could be felt from all the way down the mountain spewed from the mouth of the cavern. Rumbling and violent shaking caused a landslide down the sides-- directly on top of them!
Kagome screamed Sango's and Miroku's name, running toward them; Sango threw herself over Miroku and covered them with her hiraikotsu, Kilala grew full size to try and shield her master from the falling rocks and boulders.
Kagome hugged Shippou tightly to her chest, waiting--
--waiting----
and suddenly, it was over. Smoke was clearing from the base of the shaken mountain, a pile of debris and dust and gravel settling into the... rock?
Sango looked up to see that the sharp, spreading spikes of black stone had absorbed all of the damage and caught the landslide before it hit the ground. There were a few pebbles and bits of ash in their hair, but aside from that they were fine.
Kagome looked up at the mountainside where the rocks had originated from. Sesshoumaru?
"Everyone okay?" she called.
"Yeah, we're fine, but what about Sesshoumaru? He was in there," Sango shouted down.
"We have to help him. That explosion was enough to kill a demon; we have to see if he's--"
"No," Miroku said firmly from under Sango. "We promised him ten minutes. We can't intervene until then."
Kagome looked doubtful, but she nodded. "He's already been gone for about three or four. Six minutes and we go. Agreed?"
Sango and Miroku nodded identically.
Then Sango's expression went from agreement to pink-faced, violated ticked-off-ness as the Houshi underneath her took an extreme liberty with their current position.
Kagome rolled her eyes just in time to miss seeing the demon exterminator clobber the lecherous monk with her Hiraikotsu.
"Humph," she snorted, dusting her hands as she walked off the monk toward Kagome. "Come on Kilala. We're going to the other end of the clearing." Miroku let out a pained, yodel-like sound as the enormous cat leapt from her higher ground onto his stomach and finally into her master's footsteps.
Men...
~~~
"Okay, now I'm mad."
Sesshoumaru glared peevedly at the demon in front of him. The monster was using its jello-like body to form a sort of parody of the demon lord, a weird looking cross-eyed expression on its blue face, tongue hanging out, wearing a collar of some sort. His tail had a big ribbon on it. The funny looking Sesshoumaru doll was dancing around like an idiot, circling the object of its ridicule. Sesshoumaru watched with growing ire as the demon blew a raspberry.
It was a water demon, of the weirdest kind. This monster was not susceptible to poison or acid, every time he shot it at the demon it merely sucked it up into its gooey body. He had been staring the thing down for over four minutes straight and he really was getting ticked off at the creature's audacity. It had been mocking him for too long, by Sesshoumaru's standards.
But then, any amount of time was too long by his standards.
"Curse you, you stupid creature, get out of my way!" he said angrily. He swiped at it only to miss and get spat upon by the mischievious demon.
"Agh!" Sesshoumaru reached for his eyes reflexively, where the demon's excellent aim had hit him. It was only water, he could smell that much, but it hurt like hell. The pressure was so great it had pushed his eyes back into their sockets, he couldn't open them.
The demon lord could still hear the creature's wordless taunts, and now it was circling him in its own form, wrapping itself tighter and tighter around his feet, tripping him.
"Damn you, let me GO!"
The demon responded by immediately engulfing him in its fluid form, and a wave of water swept into Sesshoumaru's mouth and nostrils. He couldn't breathe. The youkai could feel his brain growing numb from lack of oxygen.
Can't...move.... No! I'll be...damned if I'm going to let...an idiotic, sorry
excuse for a demon... like this...kill ME!
"GroaaaaaaAAAAAHHR!" With a long, angry roar Sesshoumaru burst forth
from the demon's body and sprang up in his full beast form, towering over
the tiny puddle.
The demon let out a noise that sounded somewhat akin to a frightened mouse.
Suddenly Sesshoumaru could hear a squelching, slithering sound and he could smell that the demon had changed it position. He was making a run for it!
Oh no you don't.
The enormous dog demon leapt across the cave to where the creature had hidden itself and tried to drag it out by its tail. But his paw only got soaked with its body. Curse it, he couldn't just let this thing get away with--
Abruptly an idea sprang into the demon lord's head. He grinned toothily.
Slowly Sesshoumaru lowered his head, clamped his jaws over the opening,
and sucked the demon out from under the rock. It gave one final "eep!" as
it disappeared down his hallway-sized throat. The youkai shrank back
down into his humanoid form, shaking his head and fixing his eyes
carefully back into place.He laughed, thought for a moment, then gargled.
"Ahh...refreshing." He patted his stomach. "Thanks. I needed that."
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Okay, yes, that was weird. Thank my dad for the "have a water demon"
idea, thank me for the insanity.
Likey? No likey?
Was that reely horrible? Please let me know; I'm trying to make the battles as interesting as possible. Oh and don't worry! We'll find Inu-chan next chapter! Hahahaaaa....
(Evil authoress laugh)
Jaa na! ^_^X