All That I'm Living For
Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not mine, so these characters are not mine.
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Chapter Five
Sesshomaru's hackles raised as the sun went down. Something was wrong. "Jaken!"
"Yes, my Lord?" the imp said, stumbling into the room. He'd been waiting outside, wondering if his Lord would go after the girl.
"Where is Rin?"
"Um, well, she's with your half-brother, my Lord."
Sesshomaru's eyes turned red for a moment. Jaken backed away. "I knew that. What is her exact location?"
"She-she was on her way to a village near Inuyasha's Forest, to . . . . fight a demon." Jaken cringed; he should've told his Lord that earlier.
"Incompetent," Sesshomaru said as he exited through his balcony.
He transformed in mid-jump from a human to a dog, his limbs and torso stretching, white fur growing on his skin; the purple stripes receded and his crescent grew, his eyes rounding and turning blood red.
"My Lord!" Jaken said, running to the balcony rail.
Sesshomaru didn't look back, couldn't waste time. Stupid Jaken! Images of her mangled and broken body flooded his mind, intermixed with images of her smiling face, her voice as she said his name, the complete trust she had in his ability. He could not protect her if he was not near her. He roared. The Tenseiga could not bring her back again, could not be used on the same person twice.
Blood, there was blood and smoke in the air. No, not in Inuyasha's Forest, but near.
"Sesshomaru!" he heard a voice cry from below, in Kaede's village. He was soon pursued by the young miko on the fire neko.
He couldn't stop. The blood, human blood mixed with demon blood. He wanted to close his eyes, didn't want to see her twisted body, but forced himself forward. Time, he needed time, and he didn't have any.
He crashed into the village. "Rin!" he roared, sniffing for her scent. She had been here, but was here no more.
The miko landed next to him. "Inuyasha!" she cried, running to his half-brother's body. "Inuyasha!" she cried again, shaking his body. She drew her hands back, horrified at the amount of blood on them.
Sesshomaru changed back to his human form and stood next to the miko. His brother was dead, the messengers of death already chaining him to hell. The Tenseiga jingled in its sheath; he released it and swiped at the demons, banishing them from his brother's dead body. Something was wrong.
Inuyasha growled, his hair turning silver, and he took a swipe at Sesshomaru, his eyes red and one purple stripe growing down each of his cheeks. Sesshomaru jumped back, uninjured, and surprised at the power Inuyasha wielded; he had seen this power only once, when Inuyasha's demon blood had overtaken his human blood. Inuyasha stood and Sesshomaru saw the gaping hole where his heart should have been. There was nothing to control Inuyasha anymore; the Tetsaiga could not control what was no longer there. Where was Inuyasha's heart?
"Inuyasha!" the miko screamed, grabbing his hakama.
He sniffed her and turned away. He advanced on Sesshomaru, drawing blood with his nails and flinging his 'blades of blood' at Sesshomaru, not bothering to call out the attack. Sesshomaru deflected the attack with his poison claw. Inuyasha would need to be put down; he drew the Tenseiga. "Dragon Strike!"
"Sit boy!" the miko screamed. The sacred beads drew Inuyasha's body to the ground, protecting him from Sesshomaru's attack. She ran to her mate's body and covered his with her own, glaring at Sesshomaru. "Stop!"
Sesshomaru sheathed Tenseiga. "He is a demon."
"I will not let you kill him," she said, her brown eyes determined and her body tense.
"He cannot control himself anymore."
"He is your brother-"
"He has no heart-"
"He is my mate!" she growled, her eyes flashing pink and an aura surrounding her and Inuyasha. For a moment he thought he saw the dead priestess in her eyes, but then it was just her; they were, after all, the same soul.
"Control him," he said, and turned away from her, sniffing the air.
Rin's body was not here; she could still be alive. He stepped over the bodies, searching for any clues that would shed some light on who had done this and where Rin could be now. The fire neko nudged a few bodies, and he saw the monk, kitsune, and demon slayer get up, bruised and bleeding, but alive. He wanted to slay them all for being unable to protect his Rin.
There, to the east, that's where her scent went. "You," he said, pointing at the miko, "come with me and bring my useless brother." He transformed and ran to the east, to his Rin.
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Kagome dragged Inuyasha to Kilala and slung him over the fire neko's back. "I will protect you," she whispered to the neko, rubbing the area above Kilala's nose.
Kilala mewed.
"Let's go!" Kagome said, grabbing Rin's discarded bow and arrows, getting on Kilala's back, and urging the large neko forward.
"Kagome!" Miroku yelled. "Wait!"
"There's no time," she whispered. "Faster! We need to keep up with Sesshomaru."
Inuyasha's unconscious form was behind her, leaning on her, his arms at her sides.
Gods, this couldn't be happening to her. Naraku was dead; no one should have been able to give her this dread, cause her this pain ever again. No one should have been able to cut down Inuyasha; no one even tried anymore. He had proved himself over and over again, but here he lay, on her back, his heart ripped out of his body. Tears streamed down her face as she remembered the exact moment she knew, the moment she knew that everything was wrong.
At sundown, as she was reading to Izayoi, the mark on her neck had begun to burn.
"Kagome!" Sango said. "Your neck; it's bleeding!"
"What?" she said, touching the mark, feeling her neck slick with blood.
Something roared and she ran outside, seeing Sesshomaru transformed and running in the sky above Inuyasha's Forest. She called Kilala and followed, knowing that Sesshomaru was somehow tied to everything. When they landed she knew that Inuyasha was dead, knew that she was too late to save him; she cried bitter tears. Then Sesshomaru brought him back, called him back from the grave, but he wasn't Inuyasha.
When Inuyasha's body opened its eyes, she knew it was the demon—not Inuyasha—that resided in those depths. But she still had power over him; she was his mate; he recognized her scent. And she could subdue him. "Thank you, Kaede," she whispered, and a star blinked at her.
The demon Inuyasha woke behind her, digging its claws into Kilala's hind legs. Kilala growled but didn't buck them off.
"Inuyasha," Kagome said, grabbing his arms and putting them around her stomach. She leaned back and let him sniff her neck. He licked the mark and a shiver ran down her body, forcing a groan from her lips. Now was not the time. She leaned forward and urged Kilala to go faster.
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Sesshomaru reached the end of the trail. "Rin!" he roared. He stomped his remaining front paw, making the mountains shiver.
The miko hung in the air, his brother awake and now intent on ravishing her. She pushed him off the fire neko. "Sit boy!" she said, and he hit the ground, subdued by the spell. She drew an arrow and fired, her sacred power knocking down a barrier he hadn't even seen and lighting the way.
The forest shimmered and then disappeared, replaced with a rocky mountain slope. A demon stood just behind where the barrier used to be, Rin in his arms and Inuyasha's heart in his hand.
"What a nice gift: you brought me the hanyou," it said.
"Die, demon!" the miko screamed, shooting a sacred arrow at the demon. The arrow was reflected back and the miko put up a barrier, protecting her and the neko. "Ha! You'll have to better than that; I've seen that one before!"
Before she could attack again, Sesshomaru pounced on the demon, his back feet pinning the demon to the ground, the impact throwing Rin out of harm's way. Sesshomaru bared his fangs.
The demon laughed and clutched Inuyasha's heart. "Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha rose from the ground, growling.
"Attack!"
Inuyasha roared and flung himself at Sesshomaru, throwing his blades of blood in front of him. Sesshomaru jumped away, releasing the demon, and growled low in his throat, trying to force Inuyasha to submit, to acknowledge he was the alpha male. Inuyasha was only going on instinct now.
"Ha!" the demon said. "He cannot hear you! I have his heart!" It stood and stretched, enjoying the sight before it.
"Sit boy!" the miko yelled, and Inuyasha went crashing to the ground.
"I can't have you interfering with my new toy," the demon said, and it flung a replica of the wind scar at the miko, knocking the miko and neko out of the sky.
Sesshomaru faced the demon. "Who are you?"
The demon shook its head and waved its hand. "It doesn't matter who I am because in the end, you won't be alive to know me. Let's just say, I want the Western Land's."
Sesshomaru growled.
"Inuyasha, rise!" the demon said.
Inuyasha got up again, his silver hair hiding his face, a deep growl emitting from his throat.
"Kill Sesshomaru!"
Inuyasha unsheathed the Tetsaiga, which—amazingly—transformed. His brother could even control the Tetsaiga in his demon form; he was a formidable opponent after all. Inuyasha ran, jumping, the fang transforming into the dragon-scaled blade, and hit Sesshomaru, causing him to step back and transform back into his human form. He lay on the ground, his body bruised but not broken; the Tenseiga had protected him, and Inuyasha's sloppiness could be thanked as well—his brother had not mastered Tetsaiga's newest attack.
"My Lord?" a soft voice called.
Rin got up, holding her arm, trying to dull the pain from the arrow graze with pressure. "My Lord?"
"Rin," he said, getting up and drawing the Tenseiga.
"Ah, your little ward is awake," the demon said. "How beautiful she is! She will fetch a high price."
Sesshomaru's eyes turned red but he didn't transform. "This ends here: Dragon Strike!" Tenseiga's energy transformed into a dragon and attacked the demon, engulfing the demon in its blue lightning. When the dust cleared, the demon wasn't standing.
Sesshomaru collapsed.
"My Lord!" Rin screamed, running to his side.
Before she could reach him a hand struck her, knocking her to the ground. The demon rolled its shoulder. "You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" Rin didn't get up.
Sesshomaru growled but was unable to pick himself up. "Leave her alone."
"But why?" the demon said, crouching before Sesshomaru. "Is she your greatest joy, your best prize—does she warm your bed nicely?"
Sesshomaru clenched his fist and tried to get up again. He failed.
The demon stood. "I had hoped you would be more sport than this, but I guess we can't all get what we want—you certainly can't." He picked up Rin and slung her over his shoulder. "Well," he said, closing his fist and drawing blood, "I will kill you with your brother's weakest attack."
The miko's arrow interrupted him. He scowled. "Still alive?"
The miko advanced and stood between him and the demon, an arrow nocked. "Let her go."
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R & R.
But I need reviews; I need reviews or I will explode—that happens to me sometimes.