Chapter 26
"Shura, I'm not kidding," Inuyasha spoke again, this time even more sternly then before "Give me the jewel." Barely standing the half demon tried with all his effort to move in his niece's direction, but his body would not obey. Shura meanwhile was still gazing at the glowing orb in her palm. Her expression was laced with obvious inner turmoil, but to what degree Inuyasha would never fathom. By touching the tainted jewel Shura had inadvertently fueled the power of her inner witch, and it was that dark soul that now corroded her mind.
Inuyasha watched in horror as Shura closed her fist around the orb, thus beckoning its power. A flash of red-pink light shone out from between the she-demon's clenched fingers, as did a great surge of tainted energy. It merged into Shura's demonic aura, casting away the radiant silver that had once been there, and replacing it with dark, plum colored whips. Soon the purple haze had completely surrounded her in a swirling vortex shielding her from sight.
Inuyasha gulped hard at the scene. So much power would inevitably lead to a transformation, and having seen Shura's true demon form he shuddered to think what kind of monster the sacred jewel would turn her into.
"Inuyasha!" the half demon heard Miroku call from somewhere behind him. The voice was followed by the sound of both his and Sango's running strides.
"Stay back!" Inuyasha ordered sternly without even blinking an eye. Though deep down he was relieved to see his companions, he wouldn't leave anything to chance. Both the monk and the demon slayer stopped in their tracks, but they didn't retreat, nor would they. Not this time.
"What's going on!" called Sango across the distance to the still unflinching half demon.
"It's Shura," he finally replied "She was poisoned and it must have made her hysterical…she's using the sacred jewel…" Inuyasha's explanation was cut off suddenly, when the gusty purple aura enveloping Shura slowed and eventually dissipated. To Inuyasha's surprise however, there was no half crazed, monster dog standing in his nieces place. In fact Shura appeared relatively unchanged. Stricken with relief Inuyasha was half ready to begin chewing her out for her theft of the jewel but then the half demon got a good look at her face. The she-demon's eyes were glazed, almost vacant, and her irises were a hauntingly familiar sapphire blue.
"At last, I have surfaced…" Inuyasha heard his niece whisper, though it was with a voice he didn't recognize, and frankly didn't like.
"What's going on? Who the hell are you?" he snapped defensively, but his questions were ignored. Shura's gaze had fallen elsewhere, to the spot where her father's sword had landed.
"Still weak…. need more power…" was all the more the demoness said as she proceeded to maneuver with slow, unsteady steps. Barely able to move himself, Inuyasha stared on in confusion as his niece gradually made her way over to Tokijin. Considering Shura and her father had dramatically different views when it came to particular matters, the half demon had always figured his brother's sword was beyond Shura's ability to wield. Just as Tetsusaiga rejected Sesshomaru; so Tokijin would surely reject Shura. Inuyasha watched as his niece reached for the sword, and with sinuous fingers gripped hold of the handle. Then with a sharp jerk, she pulled the blade from the earth and held it aloft. The sword revealed no hostility at all. In fact the only visible change that Inuyasha could pick up on was that the vacancy in Shura's eyes had suddenly been replaced with a keen awareness, and a horrible evil.
"At last!" hissed a seemingly crazed Shura to the sky "I'm finally free!"
At the same time some distance from the village Kagura was still brooding over her circumstances. The vines that held her, numerous as they were, were only weeds, and could be easily destroyed with the slightest wind-call from her fan. And as luck would have it, said weapon had been bound in her palm; even the slightest movement of the wrist would be enough to activate it. Kagura shifted her gaze to the dragon youth set in charge of guarding her. At present his back was turned…perhaps if she could…the wind sorceress twitched her fingers ever so slightly…
"Don't even think about it," the dragon's voice made Kagura freeze.
"How did you know…" she began, only to realize the answer an instant later. "A telepath…" concluded Kagura with a much more confidant edge to her voice. The dragon youth shied only the slightest of gazes past his shoulder, but it was enough for Kagura to see the faint color changes present in his iris's. "Well you certainly are multi-talented," mused the wind sorceress after a short pause. This time the dragon ignored her completely, keeping his sights fixed in the direction Sesshomaru had departed from. His posture was tensed, anxious even, and it made Kagura curious to know how her brother was faring.
Then suddenly, the dragon rose. His movement came so quickly it almost made Kagura flinch.
"Something wrong…" inquired the wind sorceress with a playful note just to be annoying, but at that very moment the answer reached her as well. Off in the distance, in the direction of the fallen village, a sinister purple-black, demonic aura was starting to poke above the tree line. Kagura herself had no idea who in that village could be producing such a thing, but obviously Matyeo did.
In the next instant the dragon was sprinting towards the aura, and within moments he had vanished from sight entirely, leaving Kagura alone, completely unguarded and rather confused.
"Apparently so," the wind sorceress answered her previous tease with an even more delighted chuckle. Then with a twitch of her fingers she summoned a single wind blade to make quick work of her leafy bindings.
Inuyasha felt his insides turn heavy and cold. Just when he had started to think the day couldn't turn any worse. Now he had to put an end to Shura's little tantrum, and with her wielding her father's cursed sward no less. Shuddering heavily, Inuyasha tried hard to balance himself and hold Tetsusaiga as a weapon instead of a crutch. But in the end his weakened body wouldn't allow it, and neither, as it turned out would Tetsusaiga. Without the slightest warning the sword reverted loosing all its demonic energy and taking on the appearance of a common samurai blade once more. For a moment Inuyasha was baffled by his swords sudden change…then he remembered the date. It was the night of the new moon!
Horrified the half demon peered up to check the sky. The last traces of the evening sun had already descended past the horizon leaving a murky blue in place of vibrant pinks and oranges. Letting out a small gasp of surprise Inuyasha shifted his gaze to one of his hands. His demon claws were vanishing, as were his ears, silver hair, strength, heightened senses and resistance to…pain! A wave of intense dizziness overwhelmed Inuyasha to the point where he could no longer hold his own weight. In a dazed numbness he sank to the ground. His wounded mortal frame had nothing left to spare.
"Inuyasha…" Miroku's voice sounded abruptly nearby and seconds later Inuyasha felt a set of hands supporting his shoulders from behind.
"Hey Miroku," he replied quietly and with great effort "do me a favor" Inuyasha paused and gazed with heavy brown eyes up at his pair of friends. "You and Sango get the sacred jewel."
"But what about…" the monk started to protest, but Inuyasha cut him off.
"That isn't Shura…not anymore." To that the monk sighed heavily, and then he called out to Sango who had already run several yards ahead.
"You heard the man!"
"Right…" muttered the demon slayer sadly before shifting her attention to the target ahead. "Hiraikotsu" With a mighty heave Sango let her weapon fly. The boomerang was right on track.
A hiss sounded from Shura and a quick leap upwards got her clear of Sango's weapon. Then with blue-eyes shining she aimed Tokijin's point to return an attack.
"No Shura!" a dragon voice sounded suddenly, and seconds later a green blur knocked Shura from the sky. The pair of demons fell to earth and after a rough, toppling landing, their bodies became more clearly outlined in the grass. Shura had taken the force of the fall and was currently sprawled on her back in a complete daze. Matyeo meanwhile was using all his available weight to keep her there. For a moment all was still, then Shura twitched and slowly opened her eyes. Matyeo let out an immense sigh of relief when two familiar golden irises stared up at him.
"Wha…what happened?" murmured Shura, still dazed. She never did get an answer for an instant later one of Naraku's hell insects shot up from the grass nearby, the sacred jewel clasped in its mandible. The force of the fall had apparently knocked the object from Shura's hand, and Naraku wasn't about to ignore the opportunity to get his power source back.
"Oh no you don't!" roared Matyeo as he sprang from his previous pose and sank five curved claws through the insect's frame. The creature's shredded remains fell swiftly to the earth, as did the shard.
While this was going on Shura managed to pull herself into a sitting posture. With the jewel no longer fueling her darker essence the balance within her had fallen back to normal levels. This did not bide well with Tokijin, whose power originated from a dark soul, and so the blade was quick to protest. A sharp pang of electric looking energy coursed from the sword's handle and lept up Shura's unprotected left arm. Shrieking in agony the she-demon released the sword, but her effort came to late. The sword's dark energy had reeked havoc on her arm and even after the weapon left her grip, its power continued to gnaw within. The process was a thousand times more painful then the sting of Naraku's hell insect and it made Shura black out entirely.
Meanwhile, Matyeo had managed to gather the sacred jewel, though he was careful to grip the thing in a piece of torn fabric to avoid infusion. In the sky, more of Naraku's demons had started to rear their ugly heads. At their master's command they were beckoned to retrieve the sacred jewel Goshuri had lost. Many of them lunged, but each time Matyeo made short work of them before had time to swoop in to close. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the dragon, such weaklings were not the only reinforcements present.
"Dance of Blades!" Kagura's battle cry echoed in the air catching the dragon off guard. A rush of crescent-moon shaped wind razors was quick to follow the chant and before Matyeo even had time to move, they were upon him. The wind blades landed with amazing accuracy, shredding Matyeo's garments and causing wide, bleeding wounds to erupt across his torso, shoulders and thighs. One particularly nasty blade even struck his face leaving a diagonal gash that narrowly missed blinding him in the right eye. The force of the attack caused Matyeo to fall backwards to the ground and in the process drop the jewel. Hissing, the dragon rolled painfully onto his belly, and with hateful eyes watched the wind sorceress pluck the Shikon shard from the earth.
"Looks like you're not as talented as I thought," she made it a point to tease before turning away. The group of demons once serving as Naraku's jewel retrievers now acted as a transport for Kagura. Within moments she was airborne and soon after out of sight entirely.
The sight of the retreating wind sorceress flickered only momentarily in everyone's minds, for as disappointing as it was to loose such a large portion of the Shikon jewel, there were far more important concerns at hand.
Though torn and bleeding himself, a driving protective instinct coaxed Matyeo to his feet. The scent in the air told him Sesshomaru had been injured longer and so he was the first the dragon went to. After a gentle tap to the cheek to confirm that his mentor was indeed still alive, Matyeo removed his shirt and bound the dog lord's chest with it in an effort to at least reduce the bleeding. Then the dragon went to Shura. For her bleeding chest-wound he made due with a quick trim of fabric from the bottom of her kimono; seeing as how the outfit had more to spare then either his or her father's. Following this, while his hands were still anointed with Sesshomaru's blood Matyeo was careful to wrap the dog monarch's sword tightly in large, forest fronds so that he could transport it safely. Then, with careful slowness, the dragon eased Sesshomaru atop one shoulder so that his posture followed as natural a curve as possible. Shura was then taken onto the other shoulder, her body draped in an identical fashion to her father's.
It was a rather odd thing for Sango and Miroku to see; Matyeo limping about, each arm curled upward to support a pair of rag-doll dog demons. But neither one commented. They themselves were trying to maneuver their own unconscious companion, and neither of them had demon strength. So it went. Sango and Miroku worked together to carry Inuyasha to the sight were Kirara and Shippo were presently guarding their other fallen companion and Matyeo followed close behind transporting his mentor and best friend.