Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.
New Beginnings
[22] Round One
"Sesshomaru!" Kagome called, bursting into the vast office, his ever annoying secretary trailing behind her in protest.
She had woke up that morning, earlier than she ever had before with her powers out of control and swirling around her, groaning Ryoma's name. Something was wrong with her cousin and she wasn't about to let Sesshomaru's secretary stop her. Her feelings were hardly ever wrong. Something was wrong, she knew and Ryoma was in danger.
Eyes snapping upwards at the priestess' wild-eyed look, Sesshomaru dismissed the secretary with a wave of his hand. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Kagome blinked, surprised to see Inuyasha in his human form wearing a suit, sitting in his brother's office. However, she shook herself from the surprising image and turned her attention back towards Sesshomaru. "It's Ryoma," she said. "There's something wrong!"
Sesshomaru frowned. "Where is he?"
Kagome bit her lips. "Somewhere in the mountains, I thing. Survival training apparently." Her face scrunched up in thought. "Um... monkey... monkey... Oh! Atobe-kun's cabin! They were heading to Atobe-kun's cabin somewhere in the mountains."
"Atobe?"
Kagome shrugged. "Apparently he's a really good tennis player? I don't really know!"
Turning towards his half-brother, Sesshomaru said, "Tessaiga is in the main dojo. I will contact you upon finding the location of the cabin and follow soon after."
"Right," Inuyasha muttered. He slipped the bracelet off his wrist and stuffed it into his pocket. "Come on, Kagome," he said, grabbing a hold of her hand and helping her onto his back. He opened a window and jumped out, onto the rooftop of a nearby building. "How did you know something was wrong?" he asked loudly, over the roar of the wind.
"I had a bad dream," Kagome admitted softly against his ear.
"Don't worry," Inuyasha said gruffly. "If the kid's anything like you, he'll be fine."
"God, I hope so."
They arrived just in time to see a demon attempting to jump onto Ryoma who managed to dodge—barely—by rolling away. Kikumaru, being the fastest, managed to reach Ryoma in time to pull him away from the demon's deadly claws just as the demon struck again. Everyone else grabbed what they could, sticks and stones, and hurled them at the demon, hoping to distract it.
It did little good and the demon swept it's claws in Ryoma's direction once again. Kagome watched in horror but sparks of blue purification energy crackled through the air, catching the demon by surprise and making it jump backwards in shock.
"Ryoma!" Kagome called out.
Everyone turned in the direction of her voice. Inuyasha descended from the air, his long, rough, silver hair flowing freely in the wind. "Kagome," Ryoma breathed, surprised and watched with wide eyes as the priestess raised her arm up, fingers wrapped around the slender surface of a bow. She let loose the arrow notched in her bow, striking the ground next to Ryoma with deadly precision.
"Is that Higurashi-san?" Momoshiro gasped in awe. Eyes blazing and hair flowing, she looked like some sort of warrior princess. The image, unfortunately was ruined by the yankee look-a-like she was currently riding on.
"This is quiet an interesting day," Fuji murmured. Only his glittering blue eyes showed his own awe and shock.
Inuyasha pulled Tessaiga from its sheath, its weight familiar in his hands. "Piss off," he swore, bring the transformed sword onto the demon just as Kagome slid off his back and ran towards her cousin. Much to his surprise, however, the demon fang bounced off the armored skin of the demon, leaving not even a scratch. "Shit—" he managed to get out before the demon turned, sweeping him off his feet with its tail and knocking him into the trees.
"Stay here," Kagome ordered her cousin and his wide-eyed companions. "Don't go past my arrow, it should keep you safe." She turned, watching as Inuyasha pull himself from a tree with a groan. "Inuyasha? Are you all right?"
"How's an arrow going to—"
"Momoshiro!" Tezuka said sternly. "Be quiet!"
"How strong is your barrier?" the half-demon asked, raising his sword high above his head.
"Strong enough." Kagome assured as she stepped behind the barrier her arrow had created.
With a wicked grin, Inuyasha brought his sword down. Wind Scar ripped through the air, heading straight for the demon. The demon roared as it engulfed it but as the energy faded, it appeared completely unharmed. The demon's armored skin was proving to be much stronger than they had first thought.
"I think I'm going to faint," Oishi said, his voice tight and sounding as if he really was going to faint.
The demon screeched loudly in Inuyasha's direction who raised Tessaiga again only to hear another demonic screech from behind him. "What the fuck is going on?" he cried out, spinning around and raised his sword in defense just in time as another demon crashed into him.
Satisfied that the half-demon was occupied with an opponent of his own, the armored demon turned its attention back towards the humans. It jumped towards them, claws out as the humans flinched away, ready to dodge it's attack. The demon's only warning was the fact that the priestess' gaze did not so much as to flicker, despite the oncoming attack. It slammed into the powerful barrier. It screeched in pain and jumped away as powerful sparks of purification shot through the surface of the demon. If it had stayed in contact with the barrier any longer, even its stronger armored scales would do little to stop the purification.
"Stay behind the barrier," Kagome said, tightening her hold on her bow.
"Higurashi-san?" Tezuka asked, alarmed.
"Kagome."
"Don't," she said, turning to stare at her cousin, knowing what he was thinking. "You don't know what you're dealing with."
With that said, she notched her arrow into place, stepped out of the barrier and let it fly. Unfortunately, even backed up with purification powers, the arrows wasn't able to pierce the demon's tough skin, bouncing off upon contact.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha called, busy with his own battle. "Just stay behind that stupid barrier! I'll handle these small-fries."
Another demon burst through the trees and into their field of vision.
"What the fuck?" he swore. Maybe he should stop talking, where the hell were all these demons coming from?
"Just concentrate on your own battle!" she shouted back, dodging the demon's claws but didn't see the tail coming.
Kagome grunted at the impact, seeing stars upon hitting the ground. Kagome rolled onto her stomach, her arrows falling from their quiver. She looked around but her bow was out of her reach and the demon was already making it's way towards her to finish its job. Grabbing an arrow, Kagome jumped onto the demon as it got close enough, catching it completely off guard.
"You stupid demon," she grunted out as she climbed onto its head, dodging its snapping jaws as it flailed around, trying to throw the priestess off. Hands wrapped tightly around her arrow, Kagome thrust it into the demon's eye with as much force as she could manage, sending her purification energy into its body. "Why the hell are you even attacking me?" she asked, as the demon screeched and then was purified into sparkling ashes. She was supposed to bring balance back to the world after all.
Falling roughly onto her knees, Kagome looked up in horror and more and more demons jumped, ran, and flew their way into the small clearing. "What the hell is going on?" she whispered.
"Wakagami-san!" Tezuka called out sharply in alarm.
Kagome turned her head, just in time to see a demon behind her half-demon friend. "Sit!" she shouted, over the cries of all the various demons. Inuyasha went down swearing just as the demon's claws swiped across the air where his head had been moments ago.
More and more demons were coming into the clearing, all of them intent to kill the small cluster of humans and single half-demon. It reminded Kagome of Naraku's army of lower-classed demons. She paled in realization. Like Naraku had before, someone was controlling them, promising false powers and sending them to do the person's dirty work.
Kagome dodged an attack from an airborne demon, looking around for some sort of weakness. Inuyasha's wind scar could only do so much, there wasn't much time before they got tired. Demons jumped at her, attempting to all strike at once but Kagome was ready, her barrier purifying those that came in contact.
A nearby snake demon hissed, jaw opening and spraying out venomous poison in her direction. Kagome stared with wide eyes and quickly took a step back in order to bring up her barrier, she didn't want the snake demon trapped in the barrier with her, after all. Unfortunately for her, her foot caught the nearby corpse of another demon and she went down. Kagome could only roll herself up, cover her head and hope for the best.
The wind swept past her and Kagome looked up to see a familiar face.
"Really, priestess, and to think I had just warned you," he drawled.
"Is that Sasabe?" Inui asked.
"What in the world?" Momoshiro breathed.
"Sasabe-kun!" Kagome cried out. She didn't think she would ever be happy seeing the demon with claws poised dangerously out in front of her.
Sasabe hummed and wiped the acidic venom off his body with a grimace. While his body was immune, his clothes were not and he rather not fight his fellow demons to the death in the nude.
"You stupid Naraku-spawn!" Inuyasha shouted in the midst of his battle. "Get away from Kagome!"
Sasabe rolled his eyes. "He must feel so proud, shouting nonsense when he is in no position to do so."
Kagome stood up, brushing the dirt off her skirt as she did so. "Where are all these demons coming from?" she asked.
"The Jewel, I presume. It's too early for entire demons to appear. The witch must have pulled the demons from their eternal battle with the priestess Midoriko." He dodged an attack, pulling Kagome with him as he did so, shielding the young priestess as the snake demon attempted yet another venomous spray. He narrowed his eyes and shed his human form, his lower half exploding into familiar tentacle-like limps and shooting out in order to rip the snake demon apart.
"Octopus?" Kikumaru whispered in awe.
Kagome paled as a tentacle wrapped around her middle, bringing her into the air and into Sasabe's protective arms. He looked down at her curiously as she shuddered. "Sorry," she said meekly. "It's just... you... you reminded me of Naraku."
He nodded in understanding. "That's to be expected."
Kagome sighed and looked around. The clearing was pretty much filled with demons now and there seemed to be no end of them. "Oh!" she cried, pointing. "My bow's over there! Could you bright it?"
Sasabe nodded. One of his tentacles wrapped around her bow and scooped up her arrows before bringing them to her.
"Thanks!" she beamed, giving the limb a affectionate pat. "That must be so useful!"
Even with the three of them killing demon after demon, the clearing never seemed to be running out of them. "Where the fuck is Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha groaned. "The bastard is taking forever!"
"We should flee. This is a battle we cannot win," Sasabe respond.
"Well, we can't," Kagome said, "Unless you can somehow get everyone out."
Sasabe looked at the group of humans, huddling in the priestess' barrier. "They're only human."
"Sasabe-kun!" she cried in horror. "How could you? They were your teammates!"
He shrugged nonchalantly but then a jolt shot through him and he fell to his knees in pain.
"What's wrong?" the priestess cried, rushing to his side, in order to defend him while he was distracted. "Sasabe?" She pulled him into the safety of her barrier which allowed him to pass despite him being a demon. His former tennis teammates took a step closer to the duo, curious.
"Naraku-spawn?" Even Inuyasha sounded a bit worried, appearing at Kagome's side. Everyone stared at the trio in question.
Sasabe groaned, he could feel the jewel calling for him, its call was stronger than ever. Not to mention... "The witch, she's attempting to use the jewel to control me like she has controlled the demons."
"What?" Inuyasha pulled Kagome away in alarm who only shook her arm out of his grasp and made her way towards Sasabe again.
"It won't be long now," Sasabe murmured, grunting again. Damn, that witch was more persistent than he first thought. What a will power.
Kagome looked at the demons outside her barrier, roaring their frustrations into the sky. She bit her lip. "Are you going to..." she trailed off, not knowing how to ask the question.
"At this rate, yes," Sasabe answered honestly.
Her eyebrows scrunched up in worry. "But—"
"You must kill me before it gets to that point."
More than one person person gasped in shock and disbelief.
"Kill?" Momoshiro screeched. "What are you talking about. Higurashi-san wouldn't—"
"Shut up," Ryoma hissed.
"I won't! You can't—"
"Don't get all friendly with me now," Sasabe said, grunting as another wave of pain hit him. When Kagome didn't answer he looked up at her. He sighed when he saw her expression. While he wasn't familiar with her personally, he knew enough about her understand what that expression meant. She was trying to think of a way to save him.
Inuyasha stared at Kagome who was doing nothing to hide the tears rolling down her cheeks. Leave it to Kagome to cry over someone she didn't like only a week ago. "I'll do it," he said with a grimace, tightening his hold on Tessaiga.
"Don't be a fool!" Sasabe bit out in alarm, reeling back from Inuyasha. "Did you not listen to my story? I am half of Naraku's soul and he created my body! My body is made up of multiple lower-class demons. The minute you cut me down, you'll release them. Do you want to die?"
Inuyasha winced. "Oh."
"I am as much of a shape-shifter as Naraku was," he said, turning his attention back to the crying priestess. "Would it make you feel better if I looked like him?" His gaze slid in Ryoma's direction. "Unless you would like the honor of purifying me and sparing your cousin the burden." Ryoma looked as if he was seriously considering purifying the demon in Kagome's place but Sasabe hoped he didn't take up the offer. While his powers were strong, he had little control of them and if Ryoma manage to only purify half of him, he might as well ask Inuyasha to cut him down.
"No," Kagome whispered, her entire body quivering. "I'll do it." She wiped the tears from her face with a dirtied sleeve, leaving a smudge of dirt behind. With hard eyes she took a step towards Sasabe and dropped down to her knees. She pulled the demon into an embrace, feeling his shuddering body as he fought against the call of the Shikon. "Your name," she whimpered. "Tell me your name." Her entire body was glowing slightly, her powers having risen from the depths of her body and surrounding the two of them like a protective blanket.
"Yukishiro."
An unnatural wind picked up around them, picking up in both speed and strength. as the light surrounding them continued to grow brighter. Ryoma narrowed his eyes. He was pretty sure that there was something rather strange about the entire situation, especially since he had purified a demon on his own only a few minutes ago.
Sasabe—or rather, Yukishiro's eyes widened in shock. Apparently Ryoma wasn't the only one that found the entire situation odd. "Wait, Kagome-sama, what are you—"
"Yukishiro," Kagome said, her voice low and seemed to vibrate with the power held within her body. "Sleep."
Eyes rolling upwards, the demon fell limp in her embrace. And very carefully, Kagome laid him down onto the ground. She stared at the unconscious demon for a moment, smoothing a stray strand of hair out of his face. Behind her, the demons were throwing their bodies against her barrier, hitting it and falling back before they were purified. It was a continuous cycle and there seemed to be an infinite number of demons. "Back off," she snarled. Her barrier immediately responded to her anger, purification power flaring outwards, turning any demon within range into dust.
Kaidou hissed lowly, taking a step backwards despite himself. His first impression on Echizen's cousin was that he hoped that she didn't distract the younger tennis player from his tennis. He was, after all, one of the few tennis players he actually respected. His second was, Momoshiro being distracted wasn't much better. And now... now he didn't know what to think of her or of their their current situation.
Inuyasha laid a comfortable hand on her shoulder. "How long will your barrier hold?"
Kagome frowned, standing up again. She eyed the demons who apparently hadn't learned their lesson, throwing their body against the barrier despite what had happened to their former comrades only moments ago. "Not much longer. When did Sesshomaru say he was going to arrive?"
"Keh, don't count on the bastard." He looked over into Kagome's eyes, which lack its usual warmth. "Come on, let's kick some ass."
Without Yukishiro the fight was a lot harder. There were demons that even Tessaiga wasn't able to cut, forcing Inuyasha to relay on Kagome's purification arrows. On one hand, with the two of them fighting, the demons were ignoring the defenseless humans beyond the barrier, so Ryoma and the rest of his teammates could live longer. On the other hand, not only was Kagome running out of arrows, her and Inuyasha were quickly becoming exhausted.
Even to the untrained eye, it was obvious that the supernatural duo was on the losing side. Tezuka prayed that Wakagami—the elder one, that is—would make his appearance soon; he had no desire seeing two acquaintances sliced into ribbons by something that looked as if it came out of the television.
"Kagome!" Ryoma gasped.
Tezuka turned and everyone watched with building horror as a demon sped toward her unguarded back. His fingers twitched, he was itching to do something—anything—even something as ridiculous and useless as serving a tennis ball into the oncoming demon's face. In the background, he could hear Momoshiro and Kikumaru screeching loudly, trying to catch Kagome's attention, but the their calls was drowned out by the voice of the battle.
Then without warning, Tezuka found himself watching Ryoma burst through the safety of the barrier, speeding his way towards Kagome. "Echizen!" he called out sharply.
Ryoma ignored the cries of his teammates behind him, jumping over snapping jaws, dodging claws and pretty much avoiding the demons with such agility, even Tezuka was surprised. He crashed into Kagome, just in time to avoid getting her head swept off by the demon but not enough to get her completely unharmed.
Large, deadly claws, oozing something sticky and purple swept across Higurashi's back, splattering the ground with her blood.
"Oh my god," Oishi squeaked.
The cousins crashed into the ground, Ryoma grabbing and twisting his cousin around in midair, cushioning Kagome in their fall. The demon pulled back a claw, bringing it down on the pair with a roar only to get swallowed up in a fury of angry blue sparks that exploded from Echizen's outstretched hand.
"Kagome?" Ryoma breathed, rolling his cousin over and holding her up. He winced, he could feel her blood coating his fingers.
"Fuckin' shit!" Inuyasha swore, jumping down in front of them protectively. "Get her behind the barrier, kid!"
Ryoma wasted no time as the demons behind him were rising upwards, snarling and hissing, excited about the priestess' downfall. He shook his head and picked Kagome up, grimacing at the feel of her blood dripping down his arm. He was no Inui and wasn't sure how much blood a human could lose before dying but he knew enough to realize that Kagome was losing too much too fast.
He reentered the barrier, his teammates giving him space, choosing to keep quiet about the obvious worried expression on Ryoma's face. Even Atobe kept his mouth shut. He placed Kagome down as carefully as he could, rolling her over onto her stomach and stared at the remains of Kagome's back. "What do I do?" he asked, his voice tight.
"Put pressure on it," Tezuka said, pulling his shirt off and pressing it onto her back, ignoring Higurashi's groan of pain. "Stop the bleeding for now, we'll worry about everything else later." He eyed the purple goo, frowning and hoped that it wasn't what he think it was. He didn't know if Higurashi's human body could handle poison, especially at that amount, from a demon.
"I-I can sew it up. Where's a first aid kit?" Oishi asked, coming out of his shock.
Fuji shook his head. "It's outside the area we're supposed to stay in."
At that Ryoma looked up and looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of his backpack beyond the bodies of demons.
"You're not planning on going back there, are you?" Atobe asked, shocked. Ryoma had witnessed first-hand what the monsters beyond the barrier could do. But then again, hadn't the younger man gotten rid of a couple with strange blue sparks?
Kagome groaned again, mumbling something under her breath. "...ma..."
Ryoma leaned closer. "Kagome?"
Behind her eyelids, her eyes were moving rapidly as if she was dreaming. "Ryo... ma. A... way," she murmured, her body began to glow a light pink. "Get away."
Ryoma blinked. "What?"
And then light around Kagome's body faded, sinking into the depths of her skin before exploding outwards, throwing everyone around her away. Ryoma crashed into a tree, he could feel several ribs cracking upon impact. The last thing he remembers before falling unconscious was every demon Inuyasha had been fighting beforehand, being purified into dust.
So, I do proofread my chapters and everything but every single time I go back and reread it, I always find another mistake. I apologize for that. Maybe I should get a beta...