*IMPORTANT UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE*
A/N: Okay, I FINALLY fished re-reading my own story (I can't believe how much I have forgotten) and to top that all off, I just realised I do no remember the 3rd movie's ending. I'll have to make up my own alternative ending as I cannot go back to watch it again. I lost all of my Inuyasha files when I formatted my PC earlier this year. Anyways…. Onto the chapter.
IMPORTANT EDIT/UPDATE: I'm not MIA or 'away' or not writing anymore. If you actually take a look at my profile page I posted about a year ago that I'm taking a break (I'm posting it here now cause I am getting a lot of fan mail and unexpected reviews lately on this story). I've got some stuff to deal with and I don't know how long it'll take. It's not my intention to leave this story unfinished but I don't know what the chances are of me updating again any time soon. Unfortunately I can't tell you when I'll be back or if I'll be back. Thank you though for those loyal readers and reviewers. Much appreciated.
~Lily von Rider
*IMPORTANT UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE*
Chapter 18
Sango entered Kagome's room. Although she had not witnessed the whole Inuyasha-Sesshōmaru-Kikyo moment, you needn't be a genius to figure out that Kagome was hurting.
"Kagome-chan, are you okay?" Sango asked when she saw the girl just laying on her bed.
Kagome was silent for a while before she finally spoke, "Every time I think we're finally rid of Kikyo she just comes back again."
Sango sat down next to Kagome on her bed and put her hand on Kagome's back.
"How long do you think she'll stay?" Kagome asked Sango.
"Probably not long. Kikyo was revived with her hatred for Inuyasha. She will probably leave when she has recovered fully."
"I hope so," Kagome said. 'But why did Sesshōmaru attack Inuyasha because of it?'
The moon was shining in the sky over the Dog village. It has been quite a while since they have encountered Sou'unga and this made Inu no Taishō worried. Why hasn't the sword come looking for them? Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru have proved to have bonded (even if it was just a little bit and both were too stubborn to admit it) and perhaps they were ready to fight Sou'unga together.
In the past few days Sesshōmaru had done a lot that nobody thought possible of him. He had protected his brother several times and the last time they fought (besides earlier today), he only wanted to test Inuyasha's strength. Today, Sesshōmaru gave Inuyasha somewhat of a warning but at the same time pointing out one of his weaknesses that might hold him back: Kikyo. Inu no Taishō was not too sure was Inuyasha's weakness over Kikyo was (she was a dead soul trapped in a clay vessel after all) but Inuyasha had to learn not to let his (human) emotions get in the way.
This only proved to Inu no Taishō that Sesshōmaru had Inuyasha's best interests at heart – even if he would not admit it, or show it. He heard the door open and then close behind him and he welcomed the scent of Izayoi.
"I hate to break your thoughts," Izayoi said.
"You're always welcome," Inu no Taishō smiled at his wife.
"I overheard Inuyasha and Kagome talking earlier," she said. "I think we need to move faster, and kill Sou'unga and Takemaru."
"This, I know," Inu no Taisho said and sighed. "It's what I am thinking of right now. The reason I brought them here was to get them to bond – to prepare them for what's in store for their final battle with Sou'unga. Both proved to have bonded a little at least. But I do not know what would happen if I tossed them out of the field with Sou'unga. Both of them are stubborn and they have their pride. If either one of them decides to ignore everything they've went through with each other the past couple of days – they would end up not working together and Sou'unga would have a shot at winning."
"I know you are worried," Izayoi said and rested her hands on his shoulders (he was just in his kimono). "But do you not think the only way to find out is to put them out there? Both have proven to be quite stubborn on the battle field but the longer we stay here the more damage Sou'unga makes on the rest of the world. And then there is Naraku, someone I do not know but as I understand Inuyasha and Kagome, he is a threat to everyone. We're holding them back from defeating this Naraku."
"Then maybe we should start moving out," Inu no Taishō said. "Sou'unga is not coming to us. I guess we'll have to go to it then."
Izayoi smiled then placed a soft kiss on Inu no Taishō's lips.
'I do hope they're ready…' Inu no Taishō thought.
The sun soon showed its face and Sesshōmaru proved to be an early bird. He walked down the hallway and passed all of the closed doors. When he reached a certain one, he opened the door without knocking.
"Sesshōmaru," Kikyo said with her back to him. "Has your father not taught you any manners?"
She had just finished getting dressed and put her arrows on her back.
"Seems my visit will be irrelevant," Sesshōmaru said.
"I got what I came for," Kikyo said.
"Which was what exactly?"
"I needed a place to stay to recover. But I can't kill Inuyasha, not now," Kikyo turned around to face Sesshōmaru after picking up her bow.
Sesshōmaru remained silent and watched Kikyo leave the room.
"Until we meet again," Kikyo spoke and walked away.
Sesshōmaru's eyes narrowed from suspicious but left the girl to leave. That was what he came here for in the first place: he wanted to ask her to leave. Even if she was dead, Kikyo still had some dignity left within her soul corrupted by hatred. Sesshōmaru left the room and closed the door behind him. He looked outside of the window and saw that Inuyasha and his father were inside the dojo. It must be quite the mission to teach a hanyō the balance between his human self and his demon self.
Soyahana put a plate down next to Izayoi (who was sitting at a desk and writing something) and plastered herself into a comfy chair next to her sister-in-law.
"It's already noon and those two are still at it in the dojo," she said.
"Then how come you're so exhausted?" Izayoi put the pen down and turned to what seemed to be a tired Soyahana.
Soyahana just laughed, "I was doing some training just now with the soldiers."
"We're probably going to leave once your brother is done with Inuyasha's training," Izayoi said. "Probably tomorrow then."
"To pursue Sou'unga – I know," Soyahana said with a glint of sadness in her eyes. "I know Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru have to work together to defeat it, ō-aniki told me all about those swords back then. It's just the resurrection I don't get. After they kill Sou'unga, will you guys still be here?"
"Probably not," Izayoi turned around back to the desk, "The dead does not belong here."
Soyahana was just about to say something when they heard a big bang coming from the dojo.
"What is it now?" Izayoi pondered and looked outside of the window.
"Probably just ō-aniki and Inuyasha," Soyahana said.
"No!" Izayoi exclaimed. "Kane!" she jumped up from her chair and raced out the door.
"What?" Soyahana jumped up and jumped over to the window. She saw Kane was standing there in his full demon form (he had smashed a piece of the dojo out) but he soon returned to his human appearance. She quickly jumped out of the window and made a safe landing on the ground on her knees.
"Izayoi-sama?" Miroku asked when he saw her running towards the staircase.
"Kane is down by the dojo with Inuyasha and his father, call Sesshōmaru, please," she asked him before she continued downstairs.
"Of course," Miroku said and looked around wondering where Sesshōmaru might be.
"No need to, I heard her," Sesshōmaru walked out of Inuyasha's room (he had been fixing his wall that he exploded – as his father instructed him to do). He walked over to the window and saw some bickering going on between Kane, his father, Inuyasha and Soyahana. He could clearly hear that Kane wanted to fight Inu no Taishō for the kingdom but when he unsheathed his sword he pointed it at Inuyasha. 'This is not good,' Sesshōmaru thought.
"Miroku," Sesshōmaru said.
"Uh… yes?" he was caught a bit off guard by Sesshōmaru saying his name (after all it's not everyday that it happens).
"Go get Kagome, then come down," he instructed him before jumping out of the window. He landed right in between Inuyasha and Kane (on his feet) and unsheathed Tōkijin, "Your fight is with me."
Kane laughed, "I don't care who I fight, and I'll kill all of you if you stand in my way."
Sesshōmaru's eyes narrowed and he instantly threw an attack towards Kane (who was smirking) and he jumped in to the air unsheathing another sword (having one in each hand as of now). He landed on his feet a few feet away from the dog family.
"Sesshōmaru, you don't have to do this," Inu no Taishō said knowing how much Sesshōmaru despised being his father's heir.
Sesshōmaru remained silent but it was as if Inu no Taishō could hear his thoughts, 'I've spent all this time proving Inuyasha's strength to you. Now it's my turn.' And within an instant Sesshōmaru and Kane charged at each other.
After Izayoi arrived at the scene, Miroku, Sango and Kagome also go there (no one knew where Setsuko, Jaken, Rin or Sango were but it was their best guess that Setsuko was keeping them (well mostly Rin) at someplace same).
"Kagome what are you doing here?" Inuyasha said as if scolding her.
"I don't know," Kagome answered. "Sesshōmaru said I should come.
'What the-?' were both Inuyasha and his father's thoughts.
Kane smirked and as he hit Sesshōmaru to the side he instantly charged at Inuyasha. Inuyasha (by reflex) immediately pulled out Tessaiga and blocked Kane's attack.
"Bastard! What do you want with me?" Inuyasha managed to throw Kane a bit backwards.
"Your fight is with me!" Sesshōmaru said and attacked Kane from behind. Kane turned around and blocked the attack.
"I don't care who my fight is with," Kane said and then suddenly two clones stepped out form hi body standing next to him (exact replicas of him).
"How low," Sesshōmaru said and jumped backwards from Kane's force.
Inu no Taishō's eyes narrowed and hew drew his sword.
"How did he do that?" Kagome asked.
"I'm not much of a demon expert, but being a yōkai exterminator we're required to know certain stuff. As I understand it: every demon family has a specialty running through their veins," Sango answered.
Miroku looked at Izayoi (Soyahana was a bit closer to the battlefield than the rest of them), "I'm guessing in Inu no Taishō's family it is poison, then in Kane's making replicas of themselves?"
"Yeah," Izayoi answered. "It's not a much respected ability though."
"Why not?" Sango asked. "Something like that could be very useful on the battlefield."
"So us humans seem to think," Izayoi said. "But yōkai see it as a weakness. You see, Kane is trying to target Inuyasha for some reason none of us know of at the moment. Sesshōmaru is interfering with that plan and by him making the replicas it just proves to Sesshōmaru and his father that Kane wouldn't be able to defeat Sesshōmaru without the help of accomplices."
"That makes sense," Miroku said. "But why would Sesshōmaru want Kagome-sama here?"
"That confuses me as well," Izayoi answered.
The battle between the dog demons went on and Inu no Taishō was getting impatient with Kane and his replicas. Every time one of the replicas seems to be beaten, he would just make the one disappear and make another one pop up somewhere. If he lets one of his replicas get killed, it would do severe damage to Kane himself.
One of the Kanes managed to hit Tessaiga out of Inuyasha's hand (and it landed a few feet away from Inuyasha) and pinned him to the ground.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled.
"This can't be good," Miroku said.
Inu no Taishō saw this and immediately jumped away from his Kane opponent and fought away Inuaysha's from him. Inuyasha immediately got up but before he could get to Tessaiga one of the Kane's took it out of the ground (and it instantly started burning his hand). At first Kane ignored the burning sensation then later yelled out, "Bitch!" and tossed it even further away from the battlefield.
"Oh no!" Kagome yelled out and ran towards the Tessaiga.
"Kagome-chan!" Sango ran after the girl in an attempt to protect her if anything should happen.
'He's after Tessaiga?' Sesshōmaru questioned when he saw the scene with Kane and Inuyasha's sword. 'So I was right…'
The battle went on and Izayoi saw Setsuko peeking through a window at the battle scene. She disappeared just as fast as well. Kane saw Kagome was getting closer to Tessaiga and immediately felt threatened.
"Stupid girl!" Kane yelled and immediately launched an attack towards her.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled and started to run over to her and Sango but he knew he'd be too late.
The attack exploded and the two girls could not be seen between all of the smoke and dust.
"Kane, I didn't know you could be this low," Inu no Taishō said in between fights with his Kane opponent.
When the dust and smoke had settled they could only see a fire sphere – no barrier. It soon faded and Setsuko stood in front of the two girls with her sword in front of her. She had shielded them.
"T-thank you," Kagome said.
"Go get that sword," Setsuko ordered. "I'm not too sure what the story around that sword is, but as I understood Inuyasha can't be left alone for too long without it."
Kagome and Sango nodded their heads then got up and ran towards the Tessaiga again.
Setsuko lowered her sword and got ready to engage in battle, "You know what Kane? I'm really pissed off." Sestuko's eyes started to glow red and she swung her sword around. Walls of fire started to surround everyone and everyone on the battlefield were barely visible to the human eye.
As the smoke would weaken her, Soyahana decided to go stand over by Izayoi and Miroku (also in attempt to protect them if anything should go wrong with the flames).
Kagome got her hands on the Tessaiga and Sango held her Hiraikotsu before them to protect them from the flames.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called. She needed to locate him in order to give him his sword. "Why isn't he answering?"
The fires started to settle down and soon enough everybody was visible again except there was only one Kane now – the original one.
"What happened?" Miroku asked.
"The smoke," Izayoi said.
"You know how a yōkai's nose is sensitive to that. Kane's replicas must've gotten too much damage from attacks and smoke, or he just got too weak to keep them here," Soyahana said.
All the yōkai on the battlefield were in some sort of 'recovering' state. Most of them were on their knees and holding their noses but as soon as they recovered they got back up to their feet and could smell the fresh air again – except it wasn't just fresh air.
"What's that yōki?" Inu no Taishō asked.
'This isn't what I wanted,' Sesshōmaru thought and looked over to Inuyasha, recognising the yōki from the previous encounters he had had with this Inuyasha.
Inu no Taishō saw his son turning to face Inuyasha and he did the same. Inuyasha's whole body was pulsing and the yōki that surrounded him was like that of a full demon's – such as himself.
Kane was also caught off guard as no further actions were taken by him. In fact, the yōki that he smelled coming from Inuyasha was much like the yōki that came from Inu no Taishō (in his full demon form) and Sesshōmaru's for that matter.
"No, this can't be happening," Izayoi said.
Yes, it was happening. Inuyasha looked up at the crowd and they met the red-eyed Inuyasha.
A/N: Again, this chapter was probably shorter than most, but longer than the last one. I had a lot of trouble with inspiration for this chapter, although right now I know more or less where I want to go with the story (after finally re-reading the entire story). I'm trying to give Miroku, Sango and Shippō bigger parts in here, but it's not working as they were only more of side characters in the third movie. So my neglect of them is not so much on purpose. This is after all a Inuyasha family fanfic. I'm more focused on them.
As far as coupling goes, this is not going to end in Inu/Kag pairing because I'm not just going to suddenly kill Naraku and jump to the end of the manga in this fanfic. It's just my 'replacement' of the third movie. So expect fluff, but nothing more.
Anyways:
Take a look at my profile page, I added some links (including a picture of Soyahana). Check them out.
(UPDATE 2009: I'm not MIA or 'away' or not writing anymore. If you actually take a look at my profile page I posted about a year ago that I'm taking a break (I'm posting it here now cause I am getting a lot of fan mail and unexpected reviews lately on this story). I've got some stuff to deal with and I don't know how long it'll take. It's not my intention to leave this story unfinished but I don't know what the chances are of me updating again any time soon. Unfortunately I can't tell you when I'll be back or if I'll be back. Thank you though for those loyal readers and reviewers. Much appreciated.)
*IMPORTANT UPDATE 26 JUNE 2011*
I realise it's been a while and I don't particularly have good news for any of you. I finally watched Inuyasha Kanketsuhen (somewhere at the beginning of this year) and now that the show is over it kind of just died in my brain. I remember back in 2005 when I started writing The Sword that Brings us all together it was my way of making peace with the story's 'lack of end'. My original plan was to write the third movie as an ending for the show. But now that the show is over I have no such purpose within myself anymore and I reiterate: it died within me. Don't get me wrong, I still love Inuyasha and the whole anime and whatnot I'm just over it now. I started watching Inuyasha when I was 16 and I'm 21 now. My interests have changed. I started writing fanfiction when I was 12 and it's almost been ten years. I'm not into it anymore. I still write, just no longer fanfiction, although I must admit I miss those days. It was fun while it lasted but let's be realistic over here: I'm not a teenager anymore and I actually have a life outside of the computer. The job I have requires a lot of dedication and majority of the times I get home late at night and then I'm just not in the mood for anything other than a relaxing bath, some TV or nice music and bed. I'm not saying that I'm leaving, once again, no, by all means I really don't want to... in fact I want to continue I'm just having trouble with this Inuyasha fanfic. Although I hate to disappoint I cannot make any promises. I'm leaving it here as one day I might have time/inspiration to finish it. No promises whatsoever... just an update. But believe me this story lingers in my brain more than I'd like it to. On a last note: I struggle to find passion within fanfiction so it's more difficult to write fanfiction for me. Anyway, just want to say thanks for all of my reviews, all the emails I've been getting regarding this story and all of my loyal readers. This is not a goodbye. Just an update :) Stay well xxx
(On a side and unrelated note: I've downloaded all of the episodes again and am going to rewatch the entire anime over the next couple of weeks/months. So just to give you all some hope that might bring it all back to life within me. Like I said: huge fan of the show. It's just over so it 'switched off' in my brain. So keep an eye out ;) ).
~Lily von Rider