Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, only my oc :(
"Someone's heading this way. Should we warn Lord Tono?" asked a guard outside the young lord's castle.
"Perhaps, but we might not have to. If he gets close enough, we'll just kill him," responded the other guard.
They'd been guarding the entrance of the fortress all night. They hadn't seen any type of action, until about a minute ago. Someone was slowly approaching them.
"You there!" called out the first guard. "Come any closer and you'll die!"
His orders were disobeyed as the stranger inched closer. It was revealed that the stranger was hidden beneath a dark green cloak. Chills went down the spine of the guards.
The first guard smugged, "have it your way vermin!"
He lined his bow with an arrow and shot at the cloaked stranger. He stared in complete horror when the stranger continued towards them. He fired more arrows at the approaching menace, but they were to no avail. The second guard took his chance to strike. He swung with his sword, but the stranger ducked down and kicked him back. He was kicked with such force, that he flew back and made an indent in the castle wall. The other guard looked on in terror and dropped his bow to the ground. The menace was now right in front of him. He turned to run, but was caught by the back of his neck. The stranger leaned in close by his ear.
"I believe these belong to you," whispered a woman's voice.
Before he could react, he was stabbed in the back by a cluster of his own arrows. She let go of his limp body and slowly stepped over it. She walked to the entrance, but before going inside she turned to pray.
….
"Lord Tono! My lord! Come quickly! Someone has gained entrance to the fortress. He's defeating all the soldiers!" cried one of the surviving men. "It's only a matter of time before he comes for you as well."
He was talking to the young Lord's silhouette from behind a curtain.
"Bring her to me. After all, I am the one she's after," he answered.
"Her? You mean to tell me that a mere woman is responsible for this?" asked the guard in shock.
"That is no mere woman," answered the lord. "Tell her I'm here waiting. Go at once!"
The guard obeyed and went to fetch the culprit responsible for everything.
"So, Shiori, you've come at last," thought Naraku.
Not long after that, Shiori's silhouette became visible. Naraku watched her slice right through the curtain and stare dead at him. She pulled down the hood of her cloak and silently walked to him.
"You've certainly made quite the entrance, Shiori. I thought it was your style to go about undetected, yet you've left a trail of witnesses." Naraku jeered darkly.
"What witnesses?" she answered coldly.
"You've killed them all?"
She cut her eyes at them, "I did them a favor. Now they won't be tricked into working under you."
He laughed darkly, "Haven't you learned by now that humans are expendable?"
"This form you've taken is that of the original Tono, correct?" she asked.
"Yes, I slew him and took on his identity. The people of this castle didn't even notice the switch. What weaklings they were. Don't you agree, Shiori?"
"I'm not here to talk about that," she snapped. "What have you done with Emi?"
"I thought you would have noticed it by now. She's not here," he answered.
It was true; Shiori hadn't sensed Emi anywhere near the fortress. She wasn't even able to sense Naraku's presence. Was he suppressing his demonic aura while inside of the fortress? Something seemed a bit off.
"Where is she?" she demanded.
"She's under the care of my incarnations in a different castle," he answered. "I'm afraid it's only the 3 of us."
"the 3 of us?" she asked.
All of the sudden, Reika appeared in the doorway. An evil smile played across her face.
"Shiori, you appear to be in good health. Looks like I'll have to fix that!" she slyly said.
"2 against 1, how interesting," responded Shiori with heavy sarcasm.
"Oh there's no need to worry, I won't be participating. Only observing," said Naraku. "After you entered, I put up a barrier. So there will be no outside interference."
"They intend to make sure I'm killed this time," thought Shiori.
"You should have killed me when you had the chance," Reika said to Shiori. "The biggest mistake you made was not killing me with the orb. This time, I'll kill you for sure!"
Reika lunged toward Shiori with a sword. Shiori blocked the attack with her own sword.
"Another gift from your friend?" asked Shiori referring to Reika's sword.
"That Naraku is certainly a lovely fellow. He intends to help me destroy you!" cried Reika swinging at Shiori.
She narrowly missed slicing her in half. She instead sliced down part of the wall. Shiori jumped through the whole and ran down the corridor.
"Running away?" called Reika flying after her.
"Ha," scoffed Shiori. "I simply want more room to fight."
She ran out into the courtyard and turned to face Reika.
"Hell wrath!" she cried while swing the sword.
Reika put up another demonic barrier that blocked Shiori's power.
"Did you think that just because I didn't have my staff, I wouldn't be able to create more barriers?" Reika laughed. "My dear, you should have looked closer. You won't win this time!"
Shiori looked at Reika's forehead and saw 7 tainted jewel shards. They were imbedded in her forehead, but weren't visible until now.
Shiori grimaced, "you're absolutely despicable! How could you stoop this low? It was bad enough when you were using shards in your staff. But this time you've imbedded those accursed things into your body."
Reika held out her hand and fired a blast at Shiori.
"I'll do whatever it takes to kill you!" she shouted.
Shiori rammed her way through the blast and punched her in the face. She knocked away Reika's sword in the process. Reika's body went soaring back into the castle.
"How did she get so close to me that fast?" thought Reika. "I wasn't able to put up my barrier. It's just like our last encounter!"
She opened her eyes to find Shiori looming down at her. Her sword was unsheathed and pointed right at her nose. Shiori's eyes were full of disgust.
"Haven't you realized it by now? You're deteriorating. The more you draw power from the shikon jewel, the more tainted your soul will become. Soon, your body will dissolve to nothing. Tennin bodies aren't meant to be contaminated with such things," she said.
"Don't listen to her, Reika. She only means to destroy you. You have the upper hand," boomed Naraku's voice.
The shards in Reika's head became even more tainted. They started glowing with dark demonic power. Reika rose to her feet and slashed at Shiori. Before Shiori could counter, Reika put her barrier back up.
"You won't win this time! I will be the one to kill you!" She screeched.
She hurled a wave of energy at Shiori; Shiori wasn't able to strike her back because of the barrier. It was much stronger than before.
"Her body is swelling with evil demonic aura. This barrier isn't as strong as the one surrounding the castle."
Shiori jumped to the roof tops, but was quickly pursued. She barely missed an attack by Reika. She was serious about finally killing her off. Every time Shiori got close enough to Reika's barrier, she was knocked away.
"Why is she afraid of letting me close to it? Is she afraid I'll purify it? But that doesn't make sense. This barrier is far more powerful than the previous one I destroyed. And I barely managed to destroy that one."
"It's useless to resist!" shouted Reika. "You will die here!"
"I see it now. The barrier…..it has a weak spot in it. Reika's body hasn't been completely corrupted by demonic power. Even though she strengthened her barrier, it's not created with pure demonic energy. If she wasn't a tennin, then that spot wouldn't be there."
"Idiot! You're too foolish to realize that you're slowly killing yourself. This is what Naraku wants!" screamed Shiori.
She transferred her spiritual power into her sword and flung it at Reika. It struck the barrier with extreme force, and the weak spot began to swirl with energy. Shiori quickly lunged forward and jabbed the spot with her blade. Reika screamed as the barrier shattered around her. Shiori knocked her off the roof and onto the ground.
"You're pathetic," Shiori spat. "All this because of your fear of me? When will you realize that I'm not interested in overthrowing your reign? I don't care about you or any of the other tennin? You've let your paranoia get the best of you."
"Shut-up!" screeched Reika. "You're just trying to trick me! I won't fall for such trickery!"
Reika was completely losing it. Her hair was disheveled and dirty. Her once fancy kimono was now tattered and torn. She stared up at Shiori with eyes as dark as coal. She was a shadow of her former self.
"It's always been you! Ever since you came along, you've been plotting against me. If it weren't for that worthless father of yours, I wouldn't be in this mess! You can go to hell with him!"
Reika formed a triangle with her hands and fired a triangular blast.
"Devil's Demise!" she shouted as she reflected the attack back.
Reika didn't have enough time to escape the counter attacked. She screeched as she felt her own attack raging through her body. Had it not been for those shards in her body, she would have been dead already.
"Go ahead and do it," said Reika weakly. "Kill me."
"Is that what you want? Sorry disappoint, but I have nothing to gain by your death," said Shiori coldly.
"If you don't, you'll never leave this place. Have you forgotten about the barrier surrounding the castle? If you want your freedom, all you have to do is kill Reika," echoed Naraku's voice.
"I refuse to prove her right," she answered. "I will not strike her down in cold blood."
"Oh? Not even to defend yourself?"
"She's no longer a threat to my life!"
"How about now?" said Naraku suddenly poofing in front of Reika.
He waved his hand over Reika's forehead. Shiori looked at Reika's pulsating body. It was glowing with dark demonic power.
"I thought you said you wouldn't be participating," said Shiori dryly.
"Well, I couldn't abandon a friend in need. And since you refused to kill her, I thought I'd make things a little more…interesting," he darkly stated.
Reika suddenly rose to her feet and stared Shiori down. Her body began to morph into a giant creature. Her ears became pointed and her dark eyes turned an ominous yellow. Her smooth skin was replaced with dark black fur. Reika had been transformed into a giant feline creature. She barred her fangs at Shiori who showed no fear.
"You really give a new meaning to the term cat fight, don't you?" she deadpanned at Naraku.
"Shiori, you never cease to amuse me," he said with a smug.
"This guy….."
Reika rammed her paw down on Shiori who leapt out of the way. She roared as she continued to bash at her.
"Great, I've gone from hellhounds to pussyfoots. This is absolutely ridiculous! If I can just find some way to purify those shards in her forehead."
Shiori flew up to Reika's head and tried to jab her in the forehead. But Reika opened her mouth and fired a blast at her. Shiori was thrown back and smashed into the castle.
"Shiori, why not just do the obvious? Kill her. Don't waste energy aiming for the shards. Kill her," boomed Naraku's voice.
"I will not be a pawn in your evil games," she said jumping back to her feet. "That blast she hit me with, it was purified. I wonder…"
She swung a series of attacks at Reika, who angrily charged after her. She was determined to smash this pest. Shiori ran underneath Reika and slashed at her stomach. Reika roared in pain as she tried to squish her opponent. Shiori flew up to Reika again and attacked her forehead. An aggravated Reika fired a purification beam at Shiori, who doged it. Shiori watched as the beam shot towards the edge of the barrier. She immediately fired an attack of her own.
"Purifying blast!" she cried.
Shiori's purifying blast merged with Reika's own spiritual energy. The 2 created a swirling vortex of power that hurled straight for the barrier. As soon as it struck, the entire barrier obliterated and the air became purified.
"What?" thought Naraku. "Impossible….She broke through my barrier."
Reika cringed when she came in contact with the purified air. She blindly clawed at Shiori. Reika was definitely weakening in strength and power.
"The only reason you destroyed my barrier is because you did it from the inside," said Naraku. "You wouldn't have been so fortunate had you been outside of it."
"Sounds like someone's a sore loser!" called Shiori.
"I haven't lost just yet, Shiori," he said floating into the sky in a swarm of miasma. "Don't forget, I still have your precious sister."
"Where the hell do you think you're going bastard?"
She went after him but Reika blocked her with her giant paw. She swatted at her, but was deflected back.
"Get out of my way!" Shiori hollered as she flew after Naraku.
Reika mercilessly pursued Shiori in an effort to kill her. Shiori carefully avoided Reika's claws as she followed Naraku's energy level. She refused to let him escape her.
"If I lose him, he'll move Emi to a new location for sure. I can't let that happen." She turned to look at the charging Reika. "I still have this matter to deal with. But I can't kill her. It's exactly what everyone expects of me. I won't prove them right!"
"Shiori, are you still following me? You really do care about your sister." Naraku's voice taunted. "I've already told you the deal. In order to have her back, you must kill Reika."
"I will not be controlled with ultimatums," she snapped.
"If you don't you will die!"
"I'm not afraid of death!" she called out as she moved out of Reika's way.
"Then embrace it," he answered darkly.
Reika shot another mouth beam at Shiori. She was beginning to run out of options. She would have to kill Reika. It's not that she cared about Reika's life—she didn't! She just didn't want to prove everyone, including Reika, right. For years, Reika's been spreading fear throughout the tennin community. She had everyone convinced that Shiori would one day attempt to murder their beloved queen and take over the sacred lands. She was already voted public enemy number 1 in the tennin world. If Shiori killed Reika, she would fulfill everyone's fears. Reika herself had already fallen victim to her paranoia and fear of Shiroi. She became so desperate, that she accepted help from Naraku. Shiori figured either she found a way to justify this to her subjects, or she didn't tell them. Even if the tennin were watching everything through their enchanted waters, they couldn't hear what was going on. For all they knew, Reika was using Naraku as a last resort. The only thing that could see and hear what was going on right now, was Reika's mirror. Shiori doubted that Reika would leave it for her subjects to use. It was all so hopeless. No matter what, she would end up looking like the bad guy.
They came to another fortress, but this one had no barrier around it. What was Naraku planning this time? It was then that she sensed them, Inuyasha and his friends. They were heading this direction. Shiori flew towards them, naturally, Reika chased after her.
"Inuyasha!" she shouted when she finally saw them.
Inuyasha's eyes widened when he saw Reika, "What the hell Shiori!"
"Is that a giant cat?" shrieked Kagome.
"It's Naraku! I know you guys must have sensed him by now!"
"The cat's Naraku?" asked Inuyasha. "But that's not the same scent we were tracking."
"No! This is the evil tennin queen," shouted Shiori.
Inuyasha and his friends leapt out of the way as Reika rammed down her paw.
"Why is it never a normal visit from you?" He shouted as ran to her side. "What's going with Naraku? Is he inside that fortress?"
"I don't have time to explain! I need to know if you can catch his scent?" she asked.
Inuyasha jumped to avoid Reika, "wait….I can smell it. That's definitely him. Why wasn't I able to sense him before? Until a few minutes ago, his scent just disappeared."
"He was concealing his scent from you. Inuyasha, go after Naraku, quickly! You can't let him escape from there!" she turned to Kagome and Miroku, "I need you guys to help me stop her."
"Sure," said Kagome.
"Okay, I'm going after Naraku!" called out Inuyasha.
"I'm coming with you!" shouted Sango as she jumped on kirara's back.
"Sango," said Miroku softly, "please be careful."
"You too," she said.
Inuyasha and Sango ran after Naraku while Shiori, Kagome, Miroku, and Shippo stayed behind. Reika roared as she slammed her paw down at them. Shiori knocked her away.
"I'll take care of this with my wind tunnel," said Miroku unraveling his rosary beads.
"No!" cried Shiori and Kagome in unison.
"She has jewel shards in her forehead," said Kagome. "But they're tainted."
"Yes," Shiori nodded. "We need to purify them. I need for both of me to lend me your spiritual power."
"I don't think my spiritual power is sufficient enough," confessed Miroku. "Just Kagome's and yours should be enough."
Shiori shook her head, "Do you remember when I said Kagome's arrow wouldn't be enough to purify me? I'm only half tennin, and that's a full tennin. It'll be even more difficult to purify her now that she's been contaminated by those jewel fragments. I need all the spiritual power I can get."
"Very well, I just hope my suturas will be enough," said Miroku.
Reika rammed her way towards them; Miroku grabbed Kagome out of the way.
"I don't know how we'll be able to pull this off. I just hope Inuyasha and Sango are doing okay," thought Kagome.
….
"Be careful Sango, I can smell his evil scent all around here. He may try to jump out and surprise us. Stay on your toes," Inuyasha instructed.
"Right," she answered back.
Sango had her hiraikotsu out in front of her, ready to attack. Inuyasha stood behind her and faced the opposite direction. He held out tessaiga and waited for any movement. Kirara stood in the middle of them and faced the entrance to the castle. All of them stood quietly stood in the courtyard and waited for an attack. Suddenly, Naraku's tentacles shot up from the ground.
"Move!" called Inuyasha.
Sango hopped on Kirara and took to the sky, Inuyasha jumped out of Naraku's grasp. More of the tree root like tentacles shot out in every direction. They quickly began destroying them.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled as she hurled her giant boomerang towards the roots.
She zipped through the advancing roots and caught her weapon. Inuyasha moved in and hacked his way through the roots.
"Windscar!" he shouted as jumped to the air and swung tessaiga.
Inuyasha quickly destroyed all the roots in the courtyard. He landed back on his feet and ran inside.
"Let's go Sango!" he called over his shoulder.
"I'm right behind you!" she answered as she and kirara followed.
Inuyasha lead the way as he followed Naraku's scent. They quickly ran passed room after room until they found the source of the scent. But it wasn't Naraku—it was Kagura.
"Well, I see you managed to make it this far," said the wind sorceress. "It's too bad you won't leave here alive."
"Kagura," spat Inuyasha. "Tell us where Naraku is!"
She smiled evilly as she held her fan in front of her face, "I don't have to tell you anything! Dance of blades!"
Suddenly, a swarm of wind and blades formed from her fan. Sango jumped back and blocked the attack with her hiraikotsu. She destroyed much of the castle in the process. Inuyasha also took a step back from her.
"Is that all?" he scoffed. "You already know that I've mastered the windscar. Give up now!"
"I don't think so!"
She fired another attack with her fan and destroyed another portion of the wall. Sango looked over her shoulder and saw a woman lying on the floor. She was unconscious. Sango and Kirara quickly ran to the woman's side as Inuyasha fought with Kagura.
"This girl, could she be Shiori's sister?" thought Sango. "Shiori must have been tracking Naraku here to save her. Wait? Where has he gone?"
Sango placed the young woman on Kirara's back and searched around. Where had Naraku run off to? She could sense that he was near—but where?
"Windscar!" Inuyasha called.
Kagura attempted to divert Inuyasha's attack but was still hit. She was blown back to the ground.
"You see! I told you Kagura!" Inuyasha boasted.
"I was merely a diversion," she said weakly.
"What?" he exclaimed.
More of Naraku's tentacles shot from the ground and enclosed Inuyasha, Sango, Kirara, and Emi. He began pumping miasma into the enclosed space.
"I've summoned you all here to test out my new miasma," said Naraku as he suddenly appeared. "I'm hoping it's so powerful, that even a full blooded tennin won't be able to withstand it."
"You bastard!" hollered Naraku as he attacked the tentacles. "Huh? Why can't I slash my way through?"
Sango looked at Emi, who wasn't responding at all to the miasma. She pulled out her gas mask and put it on. Inuyasha turned over to them.
"Stand back," he said as he attempted another windscar. "Why isn't it working?"
"Inuyasha's windscar's not working against Naraku's roots?" Thought Sango.
"It's useless," said Naraku. "You won't be able to hack through these roots quite as easily!"
"Inuyasha, we have to wake up this girl! She may be the key to getting out of here!" said Sango.
…
Shiori shot a purifying blast at, though she was severely weakened, it wasn't enough to destroy Reika. Kagome shot another one of her sacred arrows, while Miroku flung as many sutras as he could. Nothing they did seemed to work. Reika was determined to keep fighting them. Reika turned to fire at them, but Miroku put up a spiritual barrier.
"Shiori, we can't keep this up much longer," said Miroku. "She's too powerful."
"Yeah, and I'm out of arrows. That was my last one," said Kagome.
"I can transform into an arrow for you?" said Shippo taking the shape of an arrow.
"Thanks Shippo, but it's too dangerous. We wouldn't want to sacrifice you that way. It'd be different if you were transforming into the bow," said Kagome.
"All though it doesn't seem like it, we've done a lot of damage to her. But perhaps we've been attacking the wrong way," said Shiori eyeing Miroku's staff. "Lend me your staff."
"Yes, of course," he said giving it to Shiori.
Shiori took the staff and lined it on to Kagome's bow, "Kagome, grab the otherside of the bow and staff."
"Uh….sure," she said grabbing the bow and staff.
"I see what you're doing now, I'll go keep her busy with more sutras," said Miroku running back to the raging Reika.
"Kagome," said Shiori firmly. "We only have one shot at this—literally. Please, don't fail me."
"Eh," said Kagome shyly. "Talk about pressure."
Miroku fought Reika off as long as he could before she went rampaging past him.
"Are you ready?" asked Shiori.
"As ready as I'll ever be?" answered Kagome.
"Ready," said Shiori.
Reika came charging for them.
"Aim," said Kagome.
Reika was almost at their throats.
"Fire!" they shouted together.