Naraku's mind games
Usagi rose quietly with the tip of his head peeking up from the bushes. Katana was still in her blood lust, and the scene was still as bloody as when they left, the water shed occasionally by the spear she held making blood and water mixed puddles on the floor.
Kohaku rose got up beside him. "Nows our chance..." he whispered. Usagi acknowledged it with a grim nod. With an intense war cry, Kohaku threw his scythe at Katana. He wasn't meaning to hurt her, so he threw it too far, as only to get her tangled up in the bone chain.
She blocked it with her water spear; the water flowing up and down the thin outline. The scythe was stopped in its tracks disturbing the water a bit but then settling. Kohaku pulled it back , leaping to dodge the tip. It flew back, and Usagi, armed with his arm guards (the blades normally hidden under his white bandaging type things on his wrist), came up, running past her and slashed one across her shoulder. It got her. Usagi stopped in realization. This was the first time he had ever used a weapon except for the occasional sword. Normally rabbit demons didn't use anything, or at an extent only bow and arrows because of their speed. But since Usagi had more strength then speed, he had trained with spears.
This was also the first time he drew blood on another purpose...
He stood there, awestruck, torn between running away and striking again. Katana saw his hesitation and threw her sword like a arrow at him.
Kohaku watched, horrified, as the sword neared Usagi, who was still stuck in place.
"Usagi! Get out of the way!" he yelled. Usagi, unstuck by his words, widened his eyes as he saw the sword coming. He did a graceful back flip, over the sword, and grabbed it's handle from the other side. He smirked.
"Thank you, Katana for surrendering your weapon."
Kohaku breathed in relief. Katana's eyes reddened even more and she screamed with rage.
Usagi and kohlrabi whipped around as a bathing red light filled the area, to see the light surrounding Naraku, and then him rising into the air. Kohaku froze in shock. "N-Naraku...?"he whispered almost silently.
Usagi looked just as astounded. The red light was absorbed into his chest, and immediately, he stirred, still suspended by the remaining red light, now a pinkish color since it's main component was gone.
He stood up, on the pink platform made of light. He looked down and sneered, his lips curved cruelly up.
"I live for revenge." was all he said before dive dropping directly on Katana, his tenticles now emerging from underneath him. One lunged for Katana, but she dodged gracefully, flipped back over and stabbed it squarely with her water spear. It snarled and split away from the main body. As Katana turned on it and speared it through, another tentacle made to stab her in the back. She jumped way, but only to avoid it hitting her heart, instead it went straight through her right elbow area.
"Uh..." she groaned. Usagi, suddenly remembering that killing Katana wasn't their purpose, began waving his arms madly and shouting, "Stop Naraku! She isn't herself!"
Naraku only looked down and sneered. "Getting her out of her blood lust won't avenge everyone." and he prepared for a tentacle to spear Usagi, if he hadn't jumped away at the last moment. On the ground, he rolled over to see Katana's water spear jabbing where he was supposed to be.
She was trying to kill me too...? the terrifying thought dawned on Usagi. Kicking himself mentally for trying to be hero by sacrificing himself, he grabbed the sword he had taken from Katana, and charged on Kohaku's cue. Katana turned to him, but he made a sharp hairpin bend and to Kohaku, and ran behind him. It took a few seconds for Katana to realize what was going on. Kohaku didn't waste precious gifts like that one. His scythe flew out of his hand, wrapping around Katana's shoulders. Kohaku pulled and cued for Usagi to charge now. Now that her attention was safely towards Kohaku, Usagi was easily able topple her over, knocking her off her feet with the sword hilt.
She sprung back up, branched the sword from Usagi and pointed it at his neck. His legs turned to jelly underneath him as he tried to move and found he was stuck.
Kohaku, on the other hand was shouting words of meaning to Naraku, who had only one chant. "Revenge is what I live for." he replied to every one of Kohaku's reasonings.
"Usagi!" Kohaku yelled, when he realized what was happening. Naraku took chance of the distraction and swept (flung) Kohaku into the trees. He went flying, high above the canopy tops.
Usagi looked on in horrified wonder, and gulped. A second later, though, a figure emerged from the spot Kohaku was thrown. A second of listening to his pounding heart later, Usagi realized with relief that it was Kouga, with the boy in his arms. Kouga smirked cockily, and yelled, "HEY! Leave the kids alone! I'm your enemy!"
Usagi eyed the tip of the sword at his throat. This battle was getting more confusing by the second. Naraku and Katana were trying to kill each other, Usagi and Kohaku were trying to get them to stop, only resulting in both the warring partied trying to kill them as well. On top of that, those other people from Naraku's childhood were here against Naraku, and Katana was trying to kill them 'cause she wanted to spill blood, and Naraku was their enemy. If they would kill Katana or not, he didn't know...sheesh.
He shook his head, his neck skin scraping against the tip of the blade. He had almost forgotten about that.
He looked up into Katana's eyes, blood red, but not without darks and lights. They were still starry, but now downturn into a cruel expression. Usagi stared back, fear present clearly in his eyes. He was too young to die. He was too young to kill or to witness blood shedding like this.
"Are you going to have all the fun?" Inuyasha asked Kouga, now in fierce battle with Naraku's many tentacles, darting out from the woods with Kagome on his back. Damn Kouga, always taking the spotlight!
"Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered, looking around the blood stained field at Naraku's mother, father and servants bodies, cruelly tossed to the side, all with gaping wounds somewhere. He shook his head grimly. This...is horrible.
She didn't know who these people were, but the way they had been slaughtered alone was enough to get her miko powers in a rage. As Inuyasha leaped to a safe place for her, she flinched suddenly. "KAGOME!' he yelled. She looked down to see her hands glowing with blue miko energy (the color of miko energy in sadness induced anger), digging into his shoulder, beginning to purify through his haori.
"Kagoshima, do you want to purify me?!" he yelled in desperation. Kagome smiled sheepishly and pulled her hands back. She jumped off as soon as Inuyasha landed.
Usagi looked at Katana again. She was too busy to notice him, occupied with watching Inuyasha bring out his tetsuiga. Usagi stealthily tried to crawl away. Katana looked down at him and realized that he was now at least three feet form the tip of her sword. She looked back and forth from Usagi to Inuyasha, wondering which person to kill first. Deciding that Inuyasha would be better, she faced him, ignoring Usagi totally as he made his getaway.
Tossing her spear from hand to hand so fats it was a blur, she formed a whirlwind. Inuyasha smirked. Perfect! If Naraku wasn't going to attack with demon energy, then he could use hers and shoot it at him.
Seeing the scraping of Katana's whirlwind energy, he let it surround the tetsuiga, then in an instant, turned to Naraku and let all hell break loose. The normal gold energy of his backlash wave was a bluish tint today because of the water demon energy he was harnessing. It flew straight as an arrow towards Naraku's huge mass of tentacles. Naraku's eyes widened visibly. That was one hell of an attack, but hardly likely to take him out by it self. Good thing Kagome was stuck in place with her mouth opened at the sheer brightness of the tetsuiga.
He formed a slimy barrier with his tentacles lapping over other to protect his main body, all the protection he had against it. He couldn't form a barrier over his gigantic body mass, so he simply formed a plate like shield between his tentacle wall and himself.
Inuyasha panted hard, there was no way his tetsuiga could break through all that and manage to kill Naraku too...
Naraku's eyes widened with shock. He grunted softly, wondering what the hell had happened. Slowly, within his dimming vision, a figure with flying red hair and hellish eyes came into view, jumping out on his rear. He looked down. A spear was sticking out from his chest. How strange. In these few minutes of doubt, his barrier flickered and waned away, with his tentacles spitting and hissing in every direction in pain he felt. Clearing a path for the oncoming backlash.
It disintegrated its way through the mass now disorderly mass of tentacles, and reached Naraku. Its reflection raging brightly through his eyes, he fell limp, and the water spear returned to Katana's hand.
The tentacles slacked immediately and Inuyasha straightened. Kagome was awed. "Inuyasha...that was one hell of a wind scar!"
"Wait? It's over?!" Inuyasha was having a hard time believing Naraku was dead.
Katana, conveniently forgetting that they were there, calmly sat down and once again with an air of curiosity, examined her now bloodstained water spear.
Sesshomaru emerged from the forest. "Little brother, that was much too easy." he said, prodding at a tentacle close to him.
It stayed limp. "But there's the smell of death all over him!" Kouga protested from his place putting Kohaku down by a pale Usagi.
"Didn't he do this once before?" Sango asked, her and Miroku having just reached there, due to Kilala finding it hard to fly between trees.
"Yes, when even my wind tunnel disappeared!" Miroku completed. The rosary was taken off and the wind tunnel was there, as strong as ever.
"That means, he's not dead?" Inuyasha poked Naraku's fallen body.
"Er...Master Inuyasha, you shouldn't poke dead things like that!" a voice came. Inuyasha looked down in surprise. "Mioga? When did you get here?" Mioga crossed his arms and sighed. "Its a long story. You see when-" he was rudely cut off by Inuyasha, saying, "He really must be dead! 'cause Mioga's here...he has a danger sensor, you know!"
Mioga 'humphed. "I'm not sure I appreciate the-" he gulped. Before him stood Sesshomaru, in a dramatic heroic yet pretty ( for lack of better word) pose. His hair swished with the wind as he sheathed the sword he was holding out. Mioga gulped. Demon blood...must have taste...
Unable to control his glee, he jumped out, straight onto the path of Sesshomaru's nose. He didn't even get to it when he was swatted annoyedly by a palm. "You do remember, Mioga, what I warned you about last time when you tried sucking my blood?" he sneered coldly at the tiny flea floating down to earth.
I think he goes into blood lusts too...just not the same kind the hanyous do. Sesshomaru thought absentmindedly. He turned to end this battle once and for all with Katana. Approaching her, he drew his poison whip and surveyed her sitting figure. He seemed stuck in place, his hand which he had reached out to kill her with seemed stuck fast. A barrier, he realized. He jumped back just in time to see a remote gleam of green flash in a sphere around Katana.
Damn, I can't get through. It seems she makes the same kind of infuriatingly impenetrable barriers like Naraku did...
"So, what do you think we should do?" Sorai asked, shutting her fan and tucking it in her robes. "First, we have to bury these people. I know they're only demons and that ones a human" he pointed to Naraku's father, "But we just can't leave them lying around like this!" Miroku suggested.
"Your talking now?" Kohaku asked grumpily, already haven buried half the bodies. His face was tear tracked, as was Usagi's but his voice was unnaturally gruff.
Sango silently looked up from where she was sitting. Kohaku...he seemed to like his second family. He didn't remember her. And...he was burying his other family, just as she had buried hers. She got up solemnly, and walked over to where Kohaku and Usagi were hard at work. She see him clearly, now, the pained expression on his face when his eyes flitted across one of their faces. He shouldn't have to bury them, look at them. Without uttering a word, she calmly picked up the body (which happened to be Taru's) by the legs and carried it to the petite grave Usagi was digging. Kohaku looked up. Why was this girl helping him? She didn't know him. She didn't even know Taru. Yet she seemed...sad. Why? Was she doing this for his sake?
A flood of memories came back to him, how this girl always had the same grievous expression when she looked at him even in battle, how she refused to fight him, how she kept on calling 'brother'...
Maybe...? Naraku had told him that he was an orphan, and Naraku's parents had adopted him out of goodwill...but he never had any memories before that. Occasionally he went to errands for Naraku...and he had fought these people before, but he had always previously assumed that he must have had his reasons...
Why were they helping him then? Was it because he realized that Naraku was only after revenge now? The vague memory of when Naraku had tried to stab him with a tentacle in his recent battle came back to him. He would kill anyone to get revenge on Katana. Was this why they were helping him? Because Naraku was mindlessly killing to get revenge...that was just crazy though!
Who would kill more innocent people to get to one person who killed innocent people? That would leave you no less then the actual murderer!
Casting his eyes to the ground, he had a feeling he had to this. In a soft spoken voice, heartfelt, "Thank you."
Sango's eyes flitted up in astonishment. A single tear dropped down, more out of sudden relief then anything else. Kohaku...he didn't hate her. For some odd reason she had dreaded this time, when she would meet him only to find out that he didn't remember her, and because she was an enemy of Naraku, he hated her as well.
She screwed her eyes shut. He didn't hate her...but he didn't remember her either. She could wait, or just build memories with him as her little brother anew. There was no need to rush. Naraku was gone.
She nodded, keeping her face down and concentrated on carrying the deceased to the grave.
"Soooooo...should we just sit back here and watch the soap opera?" Inuyasha asked, leaning back calmly against a tree in a casual tone. Sango, Sorai, and Kagome at once shot him withering glares, Sesshomaru sighed hopelessly, and Shippo and Kouga echoed, "He's never going to learn is he?"
"Sit boy." CRASH
"That was, my dear friend Inuyasha, ENTIRELY your fault. You don't have to be so insensitive." Miroku lectured Inuyasha, who was now lying face first in the dirt.
"Really, Inuyasha. You could have learned some people skills from ME at least, and you know very well how good I am with people, another reason Kagome loves me m-"
"-Want."
"I suppose you are having a lot of fun just randomly interrupting people's conversations with you damn subjugation spells, aren't you, mi-"
"-Fluffy."
"I sure am glad I don't have a necklace, that way every time I try something on Sango I would be-" he gulped, and taking a punch, promptly fell to the ground.
"Ah...I remember why I don't have a necklace. Kagome packs one hell of a punch!" he rolled over on his back.
"You three are stupid. After seeing that Kagome was in a bad mood, you still go and make her mad!" Inuyasha commented, putting his chin under his hand.
"I wasn't trying..." Kouga said hoarsely.
"Stupid miko gets mad at everything!" Sesshomaru complained.
"Figures you would say, not loving her the way I do!" Kouga spouted off some more romantic lines.
"WANT. Kouga, keep your mouth shut, or I'll w-a-n-t until you can't move." a threat came from afar.
"Who said I even LIKED her?" Sesshomaru raised his eyebrow.
"Both of, you shut up." Inuyasha said, irritated at still not being able to move.
"So...what's happening?" Miroku tried small talk.
"You too. Shut up." he said stingily.
"You all are just in a bad mood! Let us get up and enjoy the fullness of life! Look the birds are singing, three girls are in front of us, the trees are green, the girls are pretty, the wind is blowing, there are three beautiful girls..." Miroku suggested.
"Houshi, if you don't stop trying to poison those thankfully un-perverted people's minds, this boomerang is coming after your good for nothing ass!"
He gulped.
"As I said before, women are scary." Inuyasha consoled the scared Miroku. Really scary...
"Vicious." Miroku offered.
"Some of them..." Kouga admitted.
"Notice why I'm single?" Sesshomaru asked rhetorically.
They all looked uncomfortably in the distance. He sighed. "You all are hopeless. Hopeless and in love. Making you even more pathetic."
Kouga and Miroku didn't even deny it, it was Inuyasha who flushed and stuttered, "W-what? I'm perfectly fine thank you."
Miroku glared, Kouga looked slightly relieved, and Sesshomaru gave him a withering glare. Stop lying for once, little brother. Sheesh, it gets annoying...
"Will you quit lying around and do something useful?" Sorai asked, hands on her hips.
"Like we're trying to just lie here!?" Kouga complained back.
She sighed. "Kagome, get these guys off the ground!" she called over her shoulder.
"Sorai, they're stuck to it themselves. Not my fault. If you want to peel them off, go ahead, but they deserved it and I'm not going to even try." came her reply.
Sorai sighed and bowed her head a bit. "See ya guys when you get off the ground. Toodles!" She waved the back of her hand as she turned away.
"See? I told you women were evil." Sesshomaru lectured his logic.
"You say it like you have a lot of experience..." Inuyasha muttered.
"You have no idea, mutt." Kouga muttered back with shifty eyes avoiding Sesshomaru's glare.
"Am I the only one feeling left out?" Miroku asked himself. Sesshomaru closed his eyes. Why on earth he was stuck with THEM he had no idea. He had committed no sin this great to require punishment by these fools company. Unless you call all the villages he murdered, the people he had murdered...and uh...countless other cases of manslaughter?
Why was his mind working against him anyways? He was a DEMON. It's what they do. They couldn't blame him.
"No idea of what?" Inuyasha asked. "He never had a girlfriend when I lived with him."
"I've been to his castle loads of times, being the prince of the wolf demon tribe that lives in his lands...I have to go there for ceremonies and stuff." a grin crossed his face and seeped into his voice. "Over my lifetime of knowing him, he's had at least 600 plus girlfriends...but then again considering how OLD he is, that isn't much..."
Sesshomaru glared at Kouga. Damn lying wolf. He was never interested in women. He only had one, ONE other girl he liked before, and she, falling prey to a fight, was killed before he even had a chance to like her properly. Needless to say her killers had been poison whip-éd.
Of course, he was so pretty he always a number of women lusting over his looks... it was a very good thing he wasn't quite as perverted as his father...
Aren't we a little too self assured of nonexistent beauty?
Hark who's talking. What did you think when you saw me?
I'm a hopeless teenager. You can't blame me.
He shook his head.
You say that Inutashio was a pervert?
Where do you think Inuyasha came from?
I didn't think that...
Izayoui got married to my father after a very long spell of them seeing each other...
Miroku and him would have been best friends...
You can say that again.
Mirkou and him would have been best friends.
Why are you saying that again? I heard you the first time.
You said to say it again... seeing Sesshomaru groan loudly made Kagome smirk.
Kagome straightened. There. It was done, the bodies were buried. Normally Inuyasha and Miroku would not let the girls touch them and bury them, but they were busy kissing the dirt, and Sango wanted to spend time with Kohaku, so they hadn't intervened.
She glanced up at her older sister. She was sitting in the shade, watching Kohaku and Usagi sit together. Sango smiled slightly. It seemed that Kohaku had found himself a best friend. There was a silence between the two, yet it was perfectly clear from the slightly grievous spaced out expressions, that both of them were thinking of their families. Refusing to cry again.
Kagome walked over to Sango and plopped down beside her. Sango spoke unpredictably. "Kohaku...he liked these people. And he found himself a friend." Kagome nodded and yanked Sango's long brown hair a bit. She yelped and turned to her. Kagome smiled. "Kohaku...don't worry about him."
Sango nodded silently. She had no reason to worry. Naraku was gone and Kohaku had plenty of time to remember her. Stilt, when she thought about what she had to do, it made her terribly sad. She to take out his jewel shard...and set him free.
Kohaku's sudden yell startled them all. Turning their heads towards the commotion, they caught another eyeful of red light, this time emanating out of Usagi's forehead area. The place, Kohaku remembered in one heart stopping memory of surprise, where Naraku had placed his fingers...after Kohaku held him down. If Naraku were to take his life...and him knowing that he helped catch Usagi in the first place...he would never forgive himself. Please let it only be the spell of Naraku's power on Usagi breaking...he prayed as hard as he could.
"What?" cried Usagi, unable to see the light of yet. He got up and ran to the nearest puddle of water, about a good thirty feet from where he and Kohaku were reflecting.
Staring into in the murky water, he cursed. The water was stained with blood and dirt, he couldn't even vaguely see his reflection.
"Usagi! W-what's happening to you?!" Kohaku yelled. Usagi jumped up when he could suddenly see the red light began filtering out from under his forehead bangs.
"He's being taken for Naraku's life!" Miroku cried out in disbelief. He was a minion too?
Kohaku got up so fast he was dizzy. Not bothering to regain his balance, he broke out in to a sprint, tripping over his own feet in his haste all too often. He lurched forward, but temporarily regained his balance enough to roughly stumble by Usagi, who was currently frozen in shock. He could barely see the lights dimmest rays, but it was enough for him to realize which event was unfolding.
"Usagi..." Kohaku said, drawing his best friends attention.
" You're...being used..." Kohaku felt bile rising in his throat. Naraku would take another life, FOR REVENGE?! He couldn't take Usagi! Usagi was his best friend! The best friend in the who wide world. His friend.
He wouldn't forgive anyone who hurt him. And now, he was being used...and he had helped make him a minion in the first place! He hated himself with such ferocity, along with the mere thought to Usagi dying, bringing sparkling tears to the corners of his eyes.
"Usagi...I'm sorry...I h-h-helped him..." he wailed, sitting on his knees by Usagi.
"Hurry! Someone, kill Naraku again!" Miroku shouted suddenly. If Naraku was using him, then stabbing his body would cause the child's soul to go back to him...right?
Sesshomaru flew up from the place he was resting. Drawing his whip, he crackled it on Naraku's body. They hadn't bothered burying that this yet, assuming it would disintegrate itself. The poison whip hissed and spat, spreading deadly corrosive poison acid all over Naraku's body, eating away at the flesh. Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder. Katana was still in her barrier, oblivious to everything. It was almost as if she attacked on command... her hair was still a furious red, but her eyes had more a pinkish tinge now.
As the light began to brighten to a blinding point, Usagi felt a weight on him. It was Kohaku, hugging him, holding his best friend close. Usagi was jerked upwards, causing Kohaku to fall with an 'oof' below him. The last thing the rabbit demon saw before being completely engulfed in the red light, and that strange jerky sensation, was the sight of Kohaku sitting helplessly in the mud, tears tracking down his face.
"U-usagi?" Kohaku sniffed. The light twirled around him once, then shot like a jet towards Naraku's fallen body. The red light absorbed into it, leaving a pink residue, lifting Naraku up high above all their heads. They all stared, speechless, as Naraku smirked, once again brought back to life.
"I spread my poison over you. Why are you alive?" Sesshomaru asked in a regal tone. "You were spreading poison over a corpse. The life I have now, is new." Naraku answered smirking. Sesshomaru leapt out of the way as a tentacle tried to pierce him from the back.
Kohaku stood there, shaking in a mixture of sadness, pain and anger. He had tears falling down into the dirt, in several places from his eyes, yet his expression was one of undeniable murderous fury.
Perhaps because of the jewel shard in his back...? Sesshomaru mused, pondering over the flaring red aura around the ex-demon slayer's small frame. Or was it the same kind of aura type thing that even humans gave off when in extreme emotion? Demons always had an aura, and some powerful holy people had a pure one too. But this was pure rage surrounding Kohaku now.
"You...you.." Kohaku struggled to think of a word to fit the vile being in front of him. "NARAKU! HOW COULD YOU?!" he bellowed as loud as he could.
"Die, Naraku." he said, quieter. Flinging his arm out, his scythe went flying, this time to kill. He didn't want to capture him like he did to Katana, he wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill Naraku, slit his throat, burn his body and decapitate him before slicing his tentacles into little bits and showering them in the ocean! This wasn't Usagi's soul he was trying to kill. It was simply a life force that used to be Usagi's. This wasn't even Naraku.
The scythe slit across one tentacle and through another. Kohaku pulled it back and threw it again, now joined in fighting by everyone else. Even Katana was attacking Naraku, but the only difference that kept her from being on their side, was that she also attacked them if she got the chance. It was pretty much a three sided fight, with the most populous side had two parties, one the Inu-tachi and the other Kohaku and Usagi (now gone), who didn't trust anyone, although they didn't attack anyone except for Narkau.
"HIRIKOTSU!" Sango yelled, flinging her boomerang to cut up an entire circle of tentacles while on Kilala. Rearing up behind the boomerang, she grabbed it and hurled it back the other way. Kilala flew after the boomerang so her mistress could catch the huge thing from this side, then on the other after throwing it again.
Flying high above Naraku, she spied down to see a tentacle, coming dangerously close to Sorai, unknown to her. "SORAI! Behind you!' she called. Sorai, after glancing up, whipped around and unleashed her wind blades. Sango took an intake of breath. This is a dangerous play, the one we're playing. She couldn't keep tabs on everyone AND fight too. She just had to trust them but when she could, she would definitely shout out a warning.
000000000000000000000000000000000
"KAGOME! Shoot an arrow!" Inuyasha yelled over his shoulder, getting ready to unleash his windscar.
Off to the side,Katana lunged, using her water spear. She pointed it towards it towards Sesshomaru's chest (the person she was currently trying to kill), jerked , only to realize that Sesshomaru was behind her. Before he could land, tossing her spear from hand to hand to create a small tornado, she knocked Sesshomaru off balance and began sucking in things with a power three degrees short of Miroku's windtunnel.
"What the-" Miroku began. How can she create a whirlwind? Wasn't she supposed to be half a water demon? But then again...he thought, surveying the water spear, that spear is pretty powerful...
Fumbling with the beads on his hand, he ripped them off, unleashing his windtunnel. Katana lurched with wide eyes. Who was this, battling her whirlwind? She whipped around her spear faster. Pretty soon they all would be thrown off balance. What she didn't think of in her blood thirst, though, was the fact there was an entire forest behind her, facing Miroku with her in the middle. Some of the trees also happened to be rotten. And with the power of her whirlwind and Miroku's windtunnel, it would be only a matter of time until one of those heavy trees came up behind her and and -CRACK
She got the point only after she was struck. Katana pressed forward on the ground, at least TWO huge rotting trees pinning her down. She could throw them off in a few seconds, but unfortunately for her, she didn't have that kind of time.
"Despicable." Sesshomaru echoed as his whip made its way to end Katana's life. He jerked back when he realized she was in the air, held up with one of Naraku's tentacles through her heart. Blood dripped down, all the way to the ground, in a sick kind of rainfall. Her eyelids turned burgundy for one short moment, then her eyelids drooped, her body falling limp. I...can't move. I can't... breathe. Is that...blood? Ooh...pretty...
Kagome gasped and screwed her eyes shut. She didn't want to see this. She didn't want to hear Katana's last thoughts, echoing through her mind. She didn't want to see the blood saturated in her kimono, then slowly dripping down, in some places, painfully slow, drop by drop, and in some places coming out so fast it was spurting. She didn't want to see it all.
KAGOME! BEHIND YOU! A voice came. She opened her eyes and ducked down, falling flat on the ground. When she looked up, she saw a tentacle where her body was a second ago.
She looked around thankfully for her savior. It turns around it was actually Miroku, not being able to yell out the warning, only think it. She held an arrow upwards, and let her energy flow through it, causing it to go white hot with miko energy which scorched and purified any demon blood it came across. To all gods she hoped that she would never have to use this technique on Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Kouga or Sorai. After stabbing it through the tentacle and watching it fall slack, she straightened and drew her bow in front of her. It was so much easier to blame Naraku for Katana's death, even if she WAS in a blood rage. She had a bone to pick with Naraku, she thought, as she fired another arrow at Naraku's main body. A tentacle took the brunt of the attack. She loaded again. Her fingers were starting to bleed with gripping the huge supply of arrows she had, but she refused to stop. She would keep firing until she hit his black heart.
Inuyasha stood, panting. He had unleashed at least five consecutive windscars by now, but Narkau always made a wall of tentacles, and then regenerated them. The problem was when he was shooting windscars he was open to attack, and to prove that he sported plenty of cuts and gashed all across his body. If only he could get to the main body of Naraku...
Kouga spun around and around, his whirlwind itself like a barrier which no tentacle could penetrate, lest the fear of being ripped off by the high speed of wind. In between rotations, he would occasionally dart out and slash one of those vile beings with his sword, or rip it off with his claws and fling it in the forest so it couldn't regenerate that fast. He breathed hard, stopping his tornado for another hit on Naraku. But this time it was different. The tentacle didn't try to attack from the front; where he was stabbing. And why should it too? It had someone in the back doing it's job; right? He lurched to the side, managing to avoid the tentacle piercing through his head, but didn't get off scotch free. The tentacle shot through his shoulder instead. His head jerked back in pain. He screamed. The muscle, he could feel the muscle ripping, jerking, being pulled out; the the tentacle doing it's best to wriggle around and feel every corner of the newly made hole. It was inside him...slimy...sliding over his bone...oh god... he could feel it licking his bone...making circles with the smallest tip over and on his tissue... he blood poured out of his shoulder. He grimaced, and with effort, freed his legs, and was back in the whirlwind before Naraku had a chance to stop him, nor to rip the jewel shards of his legs. Once to the side though, he stopped and vomited for as long as he could before Naraku forced to move again. Oh god...that feeling...retching!
Sorai danced around the huge mass of tentacles with her fan out and ready to shoot her wind daggers. Her occasional attack, wind blades, was much more difficult to keep going, yet it was that which actually had a slight chance of getting through the flood of tentacles.
Sango chanted a war chant in her mind. Dodge tentacle, block with hirikotsu, duck, throw boomerang, jump to catch, roll to the side, slash with sword and so on. It was like the dance of battle, in which most of the time the tentacles kept to the routine. When she didn't keep up, well, that was the reason of the various wounds all over her.
Sesshomaru flew around the entire battle field on his cloud. He attacked whenever he saw the chance to do serious damage, or occasionally guarded someone's back if they were unaware of a lurking tentacle. So far, everyone except for Sorai and Sango owed them their lives. He had even saved Kohaku once. It was a good thing he was able to go around keeping tabs on everyone.
Miroku was busy. Intensely busy. He had tentacles to fight off, the ones coming for him from all sides. He couldn't use his windtunnel, because on cue, the saimyoushou showed up. Bummer, he thought as he swatted another tentacle away from him body. But in the end he had to. He opened his windtunnel at the sight of Sango being overwhelmed by tentacles, and too exhausted to go on much longer. He was out of range. He took a look at his hand, and forgot his doubts.
Kohaku's scythe whizzed through the air, brilliantly deadly. He still didn't like blood, and fighting, but he was trying to avenge Usagi. That required bloodshed. He was sad, but consoled him with the fact that the person he was fighting was neither Usagi nor Naraku. It was a revenge crazy demon. Determination hardening, he gritted his teeth and thought, this is an evil demon, one not worthy of living, and he would be the one to slay him. He would avenge Usagi.
Kagome pressed her lips together in concentration. Go! She willed. Her arrow sped through Inuyasha's windscar, creating a holy path for the energy to rear up even more. Naraku's eyes widened. This might be dangerous.
With a wave of his hand, a barrier was created around him.
"Oh no not again!" Sango complained. "Don't you ever fight?" she asked the towering halfdemon.
Kagome willed as hard as she could. Naraku deserved to die. This wasn't fair. He didn't deserve to live. The arrow flared with white light. He should be sent to the depths of hell. Taking so many innocent lives...the white light started with a pink tinge, and got redder as Kagome's anger rose at the thoughts of Naraku's atrocities.
Naraku's tentacles, already jutting out from the barrier, formed a slimy withering shield infront of the arrow. The arrow purified them all without a seconds haste and the fell to the ground. Naraku stared on in horror as the arrow purified its way to his barrier, the windscar backing it up. This was happening towards his face. From the other side of his mass of octopus look-a-likes, was the hiraktsu cutting its way through with Sesshoamru's whip, both aided by toujikin, Miroku's sutras, (he was now collapsed on the ground due to taking in poison) Sorai's wind daggers and Kouga's occasional physical help.
Kohaku stood still. He was waiting for a special time. When that time came, he would put an end to the revenge crazed monster he once called 'brother'.The time came. He moved. His scythe swung around Naraku's weakened barrier, and wrapped around it once, twice, until the arrow shattered it like glass.
The chain tightened and the scythe tip swung in a blur, around and around until no one could keep could track of it. Then, instantly, Kohaku knew it was over. This was it. The scythe tip slit his throat, dragging across the neck flesh.
Is this it? Naraku though to himself. It is. He'd lost everything. His revenge, his family, Kohaku, his plan for world domination, lost the jewel shards. The last thought he had was that he'd lost his life as well. His head drooped, and his limbs slackened. The body of the Great Under Lord Naraku fell to the ground; defeated once and for all.
Sorai let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She swept a glance across the exhausted fighters. Straighting from her fighting stance, she took a deep breath, and with a wide smirk, called out as loud as she could, "TEN. NINE. EIGHT. SEVEN. SIX. FIVE. FOUR. THREE. TWO. O-I KNEW IT!! HA-ha!" She stumbled over the collapsed bodies of her comrades (who had conveniently fallen at the countdown), and fell on her knees. I'm not much better myself.... she thought as sheer enervation caused her to shut her eyes and fall into a deep slumber, covered with dirt, grime, blood, sweat and filth, like everyone else, and now mud from where they were resting their fatigued bodies.
Hakudoushi looked over the field. Naraku. He's dead. He realized, staring at the body. I have completed my life purpose...Now that he thought about it; was it really so necessary to go this far to kill his enemy? Become a hanyou by the same methods as Naraku, send Katana after him, have her killed...is revenge really that important?
With a turn and flash of white hair, Hakudoushi stepped off the tree he was currently in, flinging himself off it backwards. Landing with an 'oof' he cursed angrily and stared at the veins showing on his wrists. Damn hanyou blood...I don't want to live anymore. My life purpose is complete. I have gotten revenge, I never wanted this demon power. I want to die a pure human! Why won't you let me die if I throw myself off of somewhere?!
Shaking his head, he limped off into the thicker and deeper parts of Demon Glade.
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This is it folks.
NOT! Hah! Don't worry, there is still a few chapters to go for these charcters. THIS STORY IS NOT COMPLETED YET. It WILL go on. These is still stuff to take care of! Tell me how you like this...(you probably didn't cause it wasn't funny at all, all death and fighting...but come on!)